Senckenberg dogger bank long-term monitoring: First dataset on amphipods

TL;DR

This paper presents the first detailed dataset of amphipods collected from Dogger Bank in the North Sea, supporting biodiversity monitoring and ecological research.

Contribution

The study provides the first species-level amphipod dataset from Dogger Bank using open-access standards.

Findings

8444 amphipod specimens from ten species were identified across 13 families and 14 genera.

The dataset is published open-access via OBIS and GBIF following Darwin Core standards.

The data support research on amphipod distribution patterns and environmental drivers in the North Sea.

Abstract

This dataset includes unique occurrence records of amphipod specimens collected during the 2024 annual Senckenberg Long-Term Monitoring Project in Dogger Bank (a shallow sand bank in the central North Sea), Cruise DOG24. This cruise was part of an ongoing effort to monitor biodiversity, which has occurred annually from 1991 to 2024 by the Marine Zoology Department at the Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum. Amphipods, key components of marine benthic ecosystems, were sampled by beam trawl over the Dogger Bank’s stable sandy substrate. A total of 8444 specimens of ten species belonging to 13 families and 14 genera were identified using morphological methods with Leica M60 and DM750 microscopes. This study presents the first species-level identification of benthic amphipods in the Dagger Bank, providing a taxonomically resolved dataset that serves as a reliable identification key for future monitoring efforts in the area. Data were structured and published to the Ocean Biodiversity Information System (OBIS) and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) following the Darwin Core (DwC) standard. This dataset is the first-hand data ever published open-access from the Senckenberg Long Term Monitoring Project since 1991. This dataset also supports a broader research project aimed at (i) revealing the distribution pattern of amphipods in the North Sea, (ii) identifying environmental drivers of species distribution and diversity, and (iii) evaluating the response of the amphipod community to ecosystem changes.

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