QICS Data: Meiofauna Community Response to a Controlled Sub-Seabed CO2 Release

A 37-day controlled CO2 release experiment was conducted from May 2012 to May 2013 in Ardmucknish Bay. The dataset contains meiofaunal community data, including higher taxa and nematode species identifications, collected before, during, and up to one year after the release. It was generated by Plymouth Marine Laboratory under the QICS program funded by the Natural Environment Research Council and the Scottish Government.

Use Cases

• Assessing changes in meiofauna community composition based on taxa identifications before, during, and after a CO2 release.
• Modeling the impact of sub-seabed CO2 leakage on shallow marine sediment ecosystems based on the described field experiment.
• Evaluating the recovery of benthic fauna over a one-year period following a controlled environmental disturbance.
• Correlating chemical changes in sediment and water column with biological community data from the same monitoring campaign.

Strengths

• Data collection spans a full year, including pre-release, 37-day release, and post-release monitoring periods.
• Meiofauna were identified to higher taxa and, where possible, to nematode species level by a specialized laboratory (Plymouth Marine Laboratory).
• The experiment was a controlled field-scale release, providing direct observational data on a simulated CCS leakage event.

Limitations

• The dataset was under embargo until publication of a research article, estimated for end of 2015; its current public availability status is unclear.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count and file size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

British Geological Survey (BGS), Plymouth Marine Laboratory

Collection Method

Field-scale controlled CO2 release experiment with meiofaunal sample collection and taxonomic identification.

Time Range

2012-05 to 2013-05

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-28 14:05:10.708152; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Ardmucknish Bay, Scotland, UK