Planktonic Copepod Community Structure in North West Cape, Australia, 1997-1999

Over 120 species of pelagic copepods were identified from samples collected during austral summers of 1997/1998 and 1998/1999 near Australia's North West Cape. The dataset includes community composition, abundances, biomass, and environmental variables from 8 stations along a 36km transect, captured by the Australian Ocean Data Network. Sampling captured the impact of Cyclone Tiffany in early 1998, enabling before-and-after comparisons.

Use Cases

• Modeling copepod community composition based on environmental variables like temperature, salinity, and nutrients.
• Analyzing the impact of a tropical cyclone (Tiffany) on pelagic ecosystems using before-and-after event data.
• Studying cross-shelf biodiversity gradients using data from 4 inshore and 4 offshore stations.
• Correlating zooplankton abundance and biomass with primary and bacterial production rates.

Strengths

• Identifies over 120 copepod species, with detailed family-level breakdowns (e.g., 22 species in Corycaeidae).
• Includes concurrent environmental measurements (temperature, salinity, chlorophyll a, nutrients, production rates).
• Captures a natural experiment with sampling before and after Cyclone Tiffany in January-February 1998.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Freshness should be verified; last metadata update is 2026-06-04.

Provenance

Source

Australian Ocean Data Network

Collection Method

Field sampling from 8 stations along a 36km cross-shelf transect.

Time Range

Austral summers of 1997/1998 and 1998/1999

Freshness

Data collected 1997-1999; metadata last updated 2026-06-04.

Geography

North West Cape, Western Australia