Benthic biota of chilean fjords and channels in 25 years of cruises of the national oceanographic committee

ABSTRACT The CIMAR program (Marine Research Cruises to Remote Areas) run by the Chilean Navy through the National Oceanographic Committee has been developed since 1995, focused on Chilean

fjord and channel zones (~41–56°S; “CIMAR-Fjords”) and Chilean remote islands (“CIMAR-Islands”). Samples and data was collected on biotic and abiotic variables on all these cruises, both

from the water column and benthos. Our work standardizes, compiles, and summarizes the published information on benthic organisms for twenty-one CIMAR-Fjords cruises developed in the first

25 years of the program, plus the Southern Ice Fields Cruise 1995 (precursor of the CIMAR program), which includes the distribution, abundance and geographic location of cruises sampling

stations. The data set includes 8,854 records from 880 different localities, corresponding to 1,225 species from 24 different phyla (four kingdoms) and more than 150,000 individuals. Only

two cruises did not record any benthic sampling. The fjords and channels of Chilean Patagonia have high biodiversity, so we hope that our data set will serve as a baseline for ecological

studies and ecosystem conservation. SIMILAR CONTENT BEING VIEWED BY OTHERS SIBES: LONG-TERM AND LARGE-SCALE MONITORING OF INTERTIDAL MACROZOOBENTHOS AND SEDIMENT IN THE DUTCH WADDEN SEA

Article Open access 11 February 2025 A GLOBAL, HISTORICAL DATABASE OF TUNA, BILLFISH, AND SAURY LARVAL DISTRIBUTIONS Article Open access 19 July 2022 THIRTY YEARS OF NUTRIENTS AND

BIOGEOCHEMISTRY IN THE NORWEGIAN, GREENLAND AND ICELAND SEAS, 1990–2019 Article Open access 06 May 2023 BACKGROUND & SUMMARY The Marine Research Cruises in Remote Areas (CIMAR, acronym

in Spanish) have been carried out continuously since 1995, covering Chilean coastal and oceanic areas that are difficult to access and far away from the main ports of the country1. This is a

research initiative by the Chilean Navy, developed through its National Oceanographic Committee (CONA, by its acronym in Spanish). CONA is an organization whose main function is to

coordinate the institutions that carry out research and activities related to marine sciences in Chile. It currently has 31 member institutions—universities and various public and private

organizations that develop marine sciences in Chile. This program has a specific research component in the Channels and Fjords of Patagonia in southern Chile (~41°S to ~56°S), called

“CIMAR-Fjords Cruises”. These places require complex logistics to carry out research and are of great socioeconomic importance; until the mid-1990s there was little scientific information

about them, except for some foreign explorations with little or no national participation2,3,4,5,6,7. An exploratory marine scientific research cruise was carried out in 1995 in marine

waters adjacent to the Ice Fields8 coordinated by the National Oceanographic Committee, to promote basic oceanographic studies. Numerous expeditions, the majority led by foreigners, have

documented benthic species in the Patagonian zone of the fjords and channels in southern Chile, including Mollusca9,10,11,12,13,14,15, Crustacea16,17,18, Polychaeta19,20, and

Foraminifera21,22,23 among others. Some studies have sought to advance our understanding of specific groups by offering reviews of specific taxa, biogeographical studies, catalogues, or

lists of species24,25,26,27. Over the course of the CIMAR program’s first 25 years, 362 research projects have been completed on its cruises, resulting in more than 400 publications in

scholarly journals1, plus the publication of their data in annual cruise reports. The majority of this data was gathered during the so-called CIMAR-Fjords Voyages, which made up 21 of the 25

cruises of the CIMAR program, that focus in the fjords and channels of southern Chile (between 41°S and 56°S).Each research cruise included a significant amount of work on the benthic

compartment, where a wide variety of benthic organisms were collected and described in both the cruise reports8,28,29,30,31,32,33,34,35,36,37,38,39,40,41,42,43,44,45,46 and several

peer-review publications (e.g.25,47,48,49,50,51,52). The objective of this study was to compile all the benthic records of the CIMAR-Fjords cruises, as well as the 1996 exploratory cruise to

the Southern Patagonian Ice Fields. The assembled database is anticipated to serve as a baseline for new research projects and initiatives in the area. This data descriptor presents a

database with 8,854 records from 880 different localities, corresponding to 1,225 species from 24 different phyla (four kingdoms) and over 150,000 individuals. METHODS STUDY AREA With a long

coastline and a variety of intertidal and subtidal environments, the fjords and channels of southern Chile exhibit distinctive oceanographic conditions that are mostly explained by the

fluctuating influence of oceanic, glacial, and pluvial waters. These features makes these environments highly sensitive to environmental pressures (climate change, marine pollution and

fishing extraction, among other stressors)53. This area encompasses the Chiloense Marine and Channels and Fjords Southern Chile Ecoregions in the Magellanic Biogeographic Province54. A

significant portion of the various environments seen in the fjords and channels of southern Chile have been described in reports and publications related to the CIMAR-Fjords Cruises (Fig. 

1), including biotic and abiotic aspects, demonstrating differences in diversity and abundance of various taxa. This work covers a total of 880 locations with benthic information of biota

recorded in the CIMAR-Fjords Cruises, plus the Southern Ice Fields Cruise 1995 (Fig. 1). The samples cover 25-years, from August, 1995 to October, 2019 (Table 1). Five cruises covered more

than half of the total sampled sites: CIMAR-2 (114 sites), CIMAR-11 (96), CIMAR-16 (91), CIMAR-3 (82) and CIMAR-7 (77). The sites cover the three southernmost administrative regions of Chile

(Los Lagos, Aysén and Magallanes), and their nine provinces. The provinces with the largest number of sites were Aysén (in Aysén Region, 221 sites), Última Esperanza Province (in Magallanes

Region, 178 sites) and Chiloé (in Los Lagos Region, 101 sites), accumulating 500 sites among the three provinces. TYPES OF SAMPLING AND PRESERVATION The database contains records of 8854

occurrences of benthic species. Samples were collected using the following methods and sampling gears: Agassiz or modified Agassiz trawl (3625 occurrences), Box corer (3010), Scuba and

intertidal sampling (1097), Van Veen and other combined sampling devices (874) and undetermined sampling gears (248). The record book of the first 25 years of the CIMAR cruises1 was used to

identify the many studies that reported benthic biota observations, from the intertidal to the deep sea (Fig. 2a). The reports of the 1995 Southern Ice Fields Cruise8 were also investigated

to identify benthic dataset. The data were selected from official information sources (Hydrographic and Oceanographic Data Centre of the Chilean Navy and National Oceanographic Committee of

Chile) by searching for articles on the World Wide Web; all information sources were downloaded, organized and systematized (Fig. 2b). In the case of the World Wide Web, the Google Scholar

and Web of Science portals were used and the search strategy consisted of systematically using keyword combinations (e.g. “CIMAR-Fjords”, “CIMAR-Fiordos”, benthic, benthos, [main taxa] and

any other derivations and combinations of terms that may be necessary). For each corresponding paper or report, all the records of the declared benthic biota were extracted, comparing and/or

complementing the records present in both reports and papers (Fig. 2c). All occurrence records were tabulated and arranged in spreadsheets according to the DarwinCore standard55,56. Then,

the entire data set was analysed, and the taxonomy updated as required in accordance with the World Register of Marine Species57. Finally, the dataset was published in GBIF through the

Integrated Publishing Toolkit (Fig. 2d). DATA RECORDS The data were recorded under the DarwinCore standard55,56 in a matrix named “Benthic biota of CIMAR-Fiordos and Southern Ice Field

Cruises”58. The occurrence dataset contains direct basic information (description, scope [temporal, geographic and taxonomic], methodology, bibliography, contacts, data description, GBIF

registration and citation), project details, metrics (taxonomy and occurrences classification), activity (citations and download events) and download options. The following data fields were

occupied: Column 1: “occurrenceID” (single indicator of the biological record indicating the cruise and correlative record). Column 2: “basisOfRecord” (“PreservedSpecimen” for occurrence

records with catalogue number of scientific collection, “MaterialCitation” for any literature record). Column 3: “institutionCode” (The acronym in use by the institution having custody of

the sample or information referred to in the record). Column 4: “collectionCode” (The name of the cruise). Column 5: “catalogNumber” (The repository number in museums or correlative number).

Column 6: “type” (All records entered as “text”). Column 7: “language” (Spanish, English or both). Column 8: “institutionID” (The identifier for the institution having custody of the sample

or information referred to in the record). Column 9: “collectionID” (The identifier for the collection or dataset from which the record was derived). Column 10: “datasetID” (The code

“CONA-benthic-biota-database” for entire database). Column 11: “recordedBy” (Author/s who recorded the original occurrence [publication source]). Column 12: “individualCount” (Number of

individuals recorded). Column 13: “associatedReferences” (Publication source [report and/or paper/s] for each record). Column 14: “samplingProtocol” (The sampling gear for each record).

Column 15: “eventDate” (The date-time or interval during which the record occurred). Column 16: “eventRemarks” (Comments or notes about the event). Column 17: “continent” (Location). Column

18: “country” (Location). Column 19: “countryCode” (The standard code for the country in which the location occurs). Column 20: “stateProvince” (Location, refers to the Administrative Region

of Chile). Column 21: “county” (Location, refers to the Administrative Province of Chile). Column 22: “municipality” (Location, refers to the Administrative Commune of Chile). Column 23:

“locality” (The specific name of the place). Column 24: “verbatimLocality” (The original textual description of the place). Column 25: “verbatimDepth” (The original description of the

depth). Column 26: “minimumDepthInMeters” (The shallowest depth of a range of depths). Column 27: “maximumDepthInMeters” (The deepest depth of a range of depths). Column 28:

“locationRemarks” (The name of the sample station of the cruise). Column 29: “verbatimLatitude” (The verbatim original latitude of the location). Column 30: “verbatimLongitude” (The verbatim

original longitude of the location). Column 31: “verbatimCoordinateSystem” (The coordinate format for the “verbatimLatitude” and “verbatimLongitude” or the “verbatimCoordinates” of the

location). Column 32: “verbatimSRS” (The spatial reference system [SRS] upon which coordinates given in “verbatimLatitude” and “verbatimLongitude” are based) Column 33: “decimalLatitude”

(The geographic latitude in decimal degrees). Column 34: “decimalLongitude” (The geographic longitude in decimal degrees). Column 35: “geodeticDatum” (The spatial reference system [SRS] upon

which the geographic coordinates given in “decimalLatitude” and “decimalLongitude” was based). Column 36: “coordinateUncertaintyInMeters” (The horizontal distance from the given

“decimalLatitude” and “decimalLongitude” describing the smallest circle containing the whole of the location). Column 37: “georeferenceRemarks” (Notes about the spatial description

determination). Column 38: “identifiedBy” (Responsible for recording the original occurrence [publication source]). Column 39: “dateIdentified” (The date-time or interval during which the

identification occurred.) Column 40: “identificationQualifier” (A taxonomic determination [e.g., “sp.”, “cf.”]). Column 41: “scientificNameID” (An identifier for the nomenclatural details of

a scientific name). Column 42: “scientificName” (The name of species or taxon of the occurrence record). Column 43: “kingdom” (The scientific name of the kingdom in which the taxon is

classified). Column 44: “phylum” (The scientific name of the phylum or division in which the taxon is classified). Column 45: “class” (The scientific name of the class in which the taxon is

classified). Column 46: “order” (The scientific name of the order in which the taxon is classified). Column 47: “family” (The scientific name of the family in which the taxon is classified).

Column 48: “genus” (The scientific name of the genus in which the taxon is classified). Column 49: “subgenus” (The scientific name of the subgenus in which the taxon is classified). Column

50: “specificEpithet” (The name of the first or species epithet of the “scientificName”). Column 51: “infraspecificEpithet” (The name of the lowest or terminal infraspecific epithet of the

“scientificName”). Column 52: “taxonRank” (The taxonomic rank of the most specific name in the “scientificName”). Column 53: “scientificNameAuthorship” (The authorship information for the

“scientificName” formatted according to the conventions of the applicable nomenclatural Code). Column 54: “verbatimIdentification” (A string representing the taxonomic identification as it

appeared in the original record). The information sources (see Fig. 2b) provided a total of 107 publications (22 cruise reports and 85 scientific papers; see Fig. 2c). Nineteen of the 22

cruise reports reviewed provided species occurrence records8,28,29,30,32,33,34,35,36,37,38,39,40,41,42,43,44,45,46, one provided qualitative or descriptive data, with no recorded

occurrences31, and two did not provide information on benthic biota (CIMAR-9 and −23 cruises). Of all the scientific papers reviewed, 74 provided records of species occurrences (Table 2),

while 11 did not provide any record, as they were data without occurrences of geographically referenced species or with descriptive or qualitative information: Foraminifera59,60,61,62,

Annelida63,64,65,66, Fishes67, Mollusca68 and Echinodermata69. The phyla with the highest number of publications were the following: Annelida (present in 18 reports and 21 papers), Mollusca

(in 14 and 20), Arthropoda (in 10 and 18), Echinodermata (in 10 and 9), Chordata (in 10 and 9) and Foraminifera (in 4 and 10). The information registry includes data on occurrences and

number of individuals for 8,854 records (files in the database), representing 1,225 species (Fig. 3). The main taxa in terms of occurrence and number of species were Annelida (mainly

Polychaeta), Foraminifera, Mollusca and Arthopoda (mainly Crustacea), together accumulating ~70% of total occurrences and ~73% of the total species (Fig. 3). The large number of recorded

occurrences of Myzozoa (10%) should be highlighted, which, however, only represent about 32 species. Echinodermata represented ~8% of occurrences and 7% of species. The cruises with the

highest number of occurrences were CIMAR-2 (with 1,424), followed by CIMAR-8 (1,040) and CIMAR-16 (813) (Fig. 4). Three dominant taxonomic groups were recorded in most cruises, except for

cruises CIMAR-1, CIMAR-4, CIMAR-17, CIMAR-18 and CIMAR-24 (Fig. 4). The cruises with the highest number of species recorded were CIMAR-2 (with 335), CIMAR-3 (328) and CIMAR-8 (323) (Fig. 5).

Three or fewer dominant taxonomic groups were recorded only in the CIMAR-1, CIMAR-4, CIMAR-17, CIMAR-18 and CIMAR-24 cruises (Fig. 5). The latitudinal bands 42°S and 45°S are those with the

highest number of occurrences (Fig. 6), while the 56°S and 46°S bands had the fewest. The highest number of species was recorded in the 52°S and 50°S latitudinal bands, while, as with the

occurrences, the lowest values corresponded to the 56°S and 46°S latitudinal bands (Fig. 6). TECHNICAL VALIDATION The biodiversity data was formatted according to the Darwin Core

standard55,56 of the GBIF platform. Each occurrence was entered according to its record in all the sources of information present: cruise reports and/or publications. Then each occurrence

checked against the original coordinates published in the cruise reports. The depth data, sampling gear, individual count and –when applicable– the biological collection repository number

were also compared between the primary information sources (cruise reports) and publications. A considerable number of occurrences were corrected after this comparison (total: 302

occurrences), mainly by adjusting their coordinates or other location data; these modifications were noted in the database in the “georeferenceRemarks” or “eventRemarks” column, depending on

the nature of the modification. A total of 77 occurrences did not record geographic location (latitude and longitude) and could not be inferred from any source. Finally, all the

nomenclature was verified by using World Register of Marine Species57, “WoRMS Taxon match” tool. CODE AVAILABILITY No custom code was used. REFERENCES * Comité Oceanográfico Nacional. _CIMAR

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Decapoda) en los fiordos occidentales entre la boca del Guafo y estero Elefantes. _Cienc. Tecnol. Mar_ 30, 135–140 (2007). Google Scholar  Download references ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We acknowledge

the contribution of the project “Regional development strategies and public digital transformation: Development of supporting tools for assessment of future climate change scenarios in the

Chilean Patagonia” (FONDEF ID19I10236) developed in collaboration between CSIRO Chile Research Foundation, University of Magallanes (UMAG) and other institutions. We appreciate the kindness

of the personnel of the Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service of the Chilean Navy through Hydrographic and Oceanographic Data Centre for providing original reports and data (1st Lt. Claudio

Caro, Ms. Carolina Calvete, Ms. Patricia Álvarez and Mr. Juan Fierro). C.A. thanks the contribution of the project “Articulated System of Research on Climate Change & Sustainability in

Coastal Zones of Chile” (PFUE-RED21992) of the Ministry of Education of Chile. AUTHOR INFORMATION AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS * Departamento de Ciencias y Recursos Naturales, Universidad de

Magallanes, Punta Arenas, Chile Cristian Aldea & Leslie Novoa * Centro de Investigación Gaia-Antártica, Universidad de Magallanes, Punta Arenas, Chile Cristian Aldea * CSIRO Chile

Research Foundation, Santiago, Chile María Paz Acuña, Ignacia Acevedo-Romo & Francisco Bravo Authors * Cristian Aldea View author publications You can also search for this author

inPubMed Google Scholar * Leslie Novoa View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * María Paz Acuña View author publications You can also search for

this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Ignacia Acevedo-Romo View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Francisco Bravo View author publications

You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar CONTRIBUTIONS C.A. gathered and systematized the literature, obtained the original sources of information, prepared and

transformed the original data to GBIF standards and created dataset metadata. He also wrote the Data Descriptor. L.N. collaborated directly in the entire process developed by C.A.,

especially in preparing and transforming the original data to GBIF standards. M.P.A. supervised data management and publication as well as metadata and Data Descriptor writing and figure

editing. I.A. collaborated in the technical validation of the data. F.B. supervised data management and publication as well as metadata and Data Descriptor writing. CORRESPONDING AUTHOR

Correspondence to Cristian Aldea. ETHICS DECLARATIONS COMPETING INTERESTS The authors declare no competing interests. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION PUBLISHER’S NOTE Springer Nature remains neutral

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http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. Reprints and permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE Aldea, C., Novoa, L., Acuña, M.P. _et al._ Benthic biota of Chilean fjords and

channels in 25 years of cruises of the National Oceanographic Committee. _Sci Data_ 10, 82 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-023-01990-x Download citation * Received: 01 September 2022

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