Taxon occurrence data of benthic macrofauna and megafauna from the Barents Sea, and associated stable carbon and nitrogen stable isotope values.

Sampling event Observation
Latest version published by The Nansen Legacy Project on May 4, 2026 The Nansen Legacy Project

Download the latest version of this resource data as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A) or the resource metadata as EML or RTF:

Data as a DwC-A file download 380 records in English (105 KB) - Update frequency: not planned
Metadata as an EML file download in English (36 KB)
Metadata as an RTF file download in English (12 KB)

Description

Sampling of benthic invertebrates was conducted at five methane seep locations and additional non-seep locations in the Barents Sea and west and north of Svalbard between 2014-2018 between May and Sept. Samples were obtained from grabs, cores, a remotely operated vehicle or dredges. The data set contains the taxa occurrences associated with their carbon and nitrogen stable isotope values.

Data Records

The data in this sampling event resource has been published as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A), which is a standardized format for sharing biodiversity data as a set of one or more data tables. The core data table contains 380 records.

2 extension data tables also exist. An extension record supplies extra information about a core record. The number of records in each extension data table is illustrated below.

Event (core)
380
ExtendedMeasurementOrFact 
760
Occurrence 
380

This IPT archives the data and thus serves as the data repository. The data and resource metadata are available for download in the downloads section. The versions table lists other versions of the resource that have been made publicly available and allows tracking changes made to the resource over time.

Versions

The table below shows only published versions of the resource that are publicly accessible.

How to cite

Researchers should cite this work as follows:

Åström, E., Bluhm, B., Rasmussen, T. (2026). Taxon occurrence data of benthic macrofauna and megafauna from the Barents Sea, and associated stable carbon and nitrogen stable isotope values [Data set]. NIRD RDA. https://doi.org/10.11582/2026.8nzv4vvl

Rights

Researchers should respect the following rights statement:

The publisher and rights holder of this work is The Nansen Legacy Project. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY 4.0) License.

GBIF Registration

This resource has been registered with GBIF, and assigned the following GBIF UUID: 89f4e968-2eed-4897-9fea-d99e878210c2.  The Nansen Legacy Project publishes this resource, and is itself registered in GBIF as a data publisher endorsed by GBIF Norway.

Keywords

Benthos; seep; stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes; Barents Sea; Svalbard; Observation

Contacts

Emmelie Åström
  • Originator
  • Point Of Contact
  • Post-Doc
UiT The Arctic University of Norway
NO
Bodil Bluhm
  • Originator
  • Professor
UiT The Arctic University of Norway
NO
Tine Rasmussen
  • Originator
  • Professor
UiT The Arctic University of Norway
NO

Geographic Coverage

Barents Sea including west and north of Svalbard

Bounding Coordinates South West [74.9, 10.15], North East [80.483, 34]

Taxonomic Coverage

No Description available

Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Arthropoda, Nemertea, Sipunculida, Annelida, Chordata, Priapulida, Echinodermata, Mollusca, Porifera, Cnidaria
Class Holothuroidea, Polychaeta, Bivalvia, Octocorallia, Pycnogonida, Gastropoda, Demospongiae, Echinoidea, Cephalopoda, Ophiuroidea, Malacostraca, Asteroidea, Teleostei
Order Nudibranchia, Cardiida, Pectinida, Amphipoda, Ophiurida, Decapoda, Gadiformes, Apodida, Carditida, Tetractinellida, Valvatida, Myida, Sabellida, Euphausiacea, Sipuncula, Ophioscolecida, Arcida, Osmeriformes, Cumacea, Nuculanida, Neogastropoda, Molpadida, Pantopoda, Perciformes, Phyllodocida, Malacalcyonacea, Echiuroidea, Littorinimorpha, Eunicida, Paxillosida, Terebellida, Amphilepidida, Pleuronectiformes, Camarodonta, Octopoda, Lucinida
Family Trichobranchidae, Bathypolypodidae, Arcidae, Agonidae, Travisiidae, Yoldiidae, Nymphonidae, Hyperiidae, Thoridae, Nephtheidae, Euphausiidae, Myriotrochidae, Bonelliidae, Epimeriidae, Uristidae, Pectinidae, Ophiuridae, Colidae, Eusiridae, Cardiidae, Dendronotidae, Benthopectinidae, Osmeridae, Hyalogyrinidae, Buccinidae, Pleuronectidae, Nephtyidae, Golfingiidae, Tellinidae, Stegocephalidae, Maldanidae, Eupyrgidae, Ampeliscidae, Scalibregmatidae, Pandalidae, Zoarcidae, Sebastidae, Gammaridae, Ophioscolecidae, Calliopiidae, Crangonidae, Polynoidae, Theneidae, Cuspidariidae, Solasteridae, Opheliidae, Cottidae, Alcyoniidae, Astartidae, Phyllodocidae, Siboglinidae, Propeamussiidae, Lumbrineridae, Ctenodiscidae, Terebellidae, Myidae, Naticidae, Gadidae, Molpadiidae, Strongylocentrotidae, Flabelligeridae, Rissoidae, Diastylidae, Ophiopholidae, Thyasiridae

Project Data

AeN: https://arvenetternansen.com/; CAGE: https://site.uit.no/cage/ VISTA: https://vista.no/content/governance-vista-programme

Title The Nansen Legacy project; VISTA; CAGE
Identifier AeN; VISTA; CAGE
Funding Nansen Legacy with support from the Norwegian Research Council (grant number 276730); VISTA (grant number 6172); CAGE Center of Excellence from the Norwegian Research Council (grant number 223259).
Study Area Description Barents Sea including west and north of Svalbard

The personnel involved in the project:

Emmelie Åström

Sampling Methods

Sampling of benthic macro- and megafauna was conducted inside and outside of cold seeps. Seeps were identified based on acoustic signals from flares visible on an echosounder, and/or visually from camera systems where gas bubbles, microbial mats and methane-derived carbonate outcrops were seen. Fauna were sieved from sediment, sorted and identified to lowest possible taxon, names standardized to WoRMS, and frozen at -20 deg C.

Study Extent Barents Sea including west and north of Svalbard

Method step description:

  1. Tissues were freeze-dried for 24 h, pulverized, weighed into tin capsules, and analyzed for carbon and nitrogen stable isotope composition at the University of Oslo in a Thermo Fisher Scientific EA IsoLink IRMS system. Details in Åström et al. 2022 Frontiers in Marine Science, Sec. Deep-Sea Environments and Ecology, Volume 9, https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.910558

Bibliographic Citations

  1. Åström et al. (2022) Chemosynthetic and photosynthetic trophic support from cold seeps in Arctic benthic communities. Frontiers in Marine Science, Sec. Deep-Sea Environments and Ecology, Volume 9, https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.910558 https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.910558

Additional Metadata

Acknowledgements
Alternative Identifiers https://doi.org/10.11582/2026.8nzv4vvl