Abstract
Estuaries are crucial ecosystems where human activities deeply affect numerous ecological functions. Here we present a survey dataset based on the monitoring of fish nursery grounds of the Seine estuary and eastern bay of Seine collected once a year using a beam trawl during three distinct periods (1995-2002, 2008–2010 and 2017–2019). The surveys happen at the start of autumn in order to maximize the catchability of juvenile fish. The beam trawl mainly targets benthic and demersal species on a study area that extends over 600 square kilometers. The dataset includes abundance and densities of 161 species for 634 hauls performed around 40 stations each year. These data can be used by fishery scientists and ecologists motivated by early life stages of commercial species or by the impact of human disturbances, such as harbor developments, on estuarine communities.
Highlights
Background & SummaryMonitoring programs for ecological purposes provide valuable information
Marine historical ecology, which relies on the resulting datasets, is becoming popular[1]
The Seine estuary is located on the French coast of the eastern Channel
Summary
Monitoring programs for ecological purposes provide valuable information. Their interest increases as time series lengthen over the years. The Seine estuary is located on the French coast of the eastern Channel It is a very dynamic environment, where two contrasting backgrounds coexist and shape the ecosystem: intense human pressure on the one hand, and crucial ecological function on the other. Juveniles would display reduced fitness parameters such as growth and survival, which would in turn regulate their abundance in a retro-control loop[15,16] Once they reach sexual maturity, individuals tend to leave the nursery for more suitable ecosystems. The dataset allows the exploration of changes at a community or population level in time and space It can help understanding how the nursery function may change through time and how it is impacted by human disturbances. Scientific exploitation of earlier versions of the dataset already identified such impacts at the community level[21] and for the sole population[22]
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