McMurdo Sound, Antarctica: Benthic macrofaunal abundances in Explorers Cove in 1970s and 2010 and in Salmon Bay in 1988-89 and 2010

In 2010 we had the opportunity to revisit historical transects and experiments set up by Dayton et al. in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s. Using the SCINI ROV we were able to revisit sites we had dived previously, including some deeper sites that are no longer diveable by current United States Antarctic Program policies. Revisitng these sites enabled us to study and document long-term changes in benthic biota at McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. These are data on benthic macrofaunal abundance collected in the 1970s, late 1980s, and 2010. We are making these data available to researchers for future observations of community change in the nearly pristine environment of the Ross Sea, Antarctica.2010年，我们得以重新考察Dayton等人于20世纪60、70及80年代设立的历史生态样带与实验场地。借助SCINI遥控无人潜水器（Remotely Operated Vehicle，ROV），我们能够重新造访此前曾开展过潜水作业的点位，其中包括部分因现行美国南极计划（United States Antarctic Program，USAP）政策而无法再进行潜水作业的较深点位。对这些点位的重访，使我们得以研究并记录南极洲麦克默多湾（McMurdo Sound）底栖生物群落的长期变化。本数据集涵盖20世纪70年代、20世纪80年代末以及2010年采集的底栖大型动物丰度相关数据。我们将这批数据向研究人员公开，以供未来开展南极洲罗斯海（Ross Sea）近乎未受干扰的原始近海环境中群落变化相关观测研究使用。