10.5061/DRYAD.2V7M4
Ellingsen, Kari E.
Norwegian Institute for Nature Research
Yoccoz, Nigel G.
The Arctic University of Norway
Tveraa, Torkild
Norwegian Institute for Nature Research
Hewitt, Judi E.
National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research
Thrush, Simon F.
University of Auckland
Data from: Long-term environmental monitoring for assessment of change:
measurement inconsistencies over time and potential solutions
Dryad
dataset
2018
macrobenthos
oil and gas industry
data comparability
taxonomic resolution
2018-12-07T00:00:00Z
2018-12-07T00:00:00Z
en
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-017-6317-4
305744 bytes
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CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
The importance of long-term environmental monitoring and research for
detecting and understanding changes in ecosystems and human impacts on
natural systems is widely acknowledged. Over the last decades a number of
critical components for successful long-term monitoring have been
identified. One basic component is quality assurance/quality control
protocols to ensure consistency and comparability of data. In Norway, the
authorities require environmental monitoring of the impacts of the
offshore petroleum industry on the Norwegian continental shelf, and in
1996 a large-scale regional environmental monitoring program was
established. As a case study, we used a sub-set of data from this
monitoring to explore concepts regarding best practices for long-term
environmental monitoring. Specifically, we examined data from physical and
chemical sediment samples and benthic macro-invertebrate assemblages from
11 stations from six sampling occasions during the period 1996-2011.
Despite the established quality assessment and quality control protocols
for this monitoring program, we identified several data challenges, such
as, missing values and outliers, discrepancies in variable and station
names, changes in procedures without calibration, and different taxonomic
resolution. Furthermore, we show that the use of different laboratories
over time makes it difficult to draw conclusions with regard to some of
the observed changes. We offer recommendations to facilitate comparison of
data over time. We also present a new procedure to handle different
taxonomic resolution so valuable historical data is not discarded. These
topics have a broader relevance and application than for our case study.
Faunal data: Long-term environmental monitoring for assessment of change:
measurement inconsistencies over time and potential solutionsData on
soft-sediment macrobenthos from 11 regional stations collected at the
southern part of the Norwegian continental shelf (Region I, i.e. the
Ekofisk-region) from six sampling occasions during the period 1996-2011.
The data were extracted from the Environmental Monitoring Database (the
MOD-database), owned by the Norwegian Oil and Gas Association. We used a
version of the MOD-database from March 2013.R1Bio_22.09.14.txtR script:
Long-term environmental monitoring for assessment of change: measurement
inconsistencies over time and potential solutionsData analyses, including
the procedure of lumping/splitting taxa in the species list prior to data
analyses. All analyses were done using R. Data on soft-sediment
macrobenthos from 11 regional stations collected at the southern part of
the Norwegian continental shelf (Region I, i.e. the Ekofisk-region) from
six sampling occasions during the period 1996-2011 are given in the file
“Faunal data”.MOD-DRYAD.R
Norwegian continental shelf
North Sea