The project aims to produce comprehensive data product of the occurence and absence of (phyto)plankton species. As a basis, data from EMODnet Biology are used. The selection of relevant datasets is optimized in order to find all planktonic species, and exclude all species that are not planktonic. The occurences from EMODnet Biology were complemenented with absence data assuming fixed species lists within each dataset and year. The products are presented as maps of the distribution of the 20 most common species of (phyto)plankton in the Greater Baltic Sea.

Probability of occurrence of different macroinvertebrate benthic species in the North Sea. This product was created using DIVAnd, an interpolation method that takes into account several environmental variables and physical coastlines.

The data product on benthic living modes (Beauchard, 2018), was based on an extensive compilation of data on benthic abundance and biomass. However, this dataset was only present as a data file, without the underlying scripts to reproduce the result. With the present data product, we correct this procedural gap. This dataset differs in details from the file underlying the data product on living modes. Datasets were selected that were sufficiently similar in methods for sampling (either boxcore or grab), sampled surface (in the order of 0.1 square meter, although the exact value is variable - it can be found back in the data files) and sieves (1 mm and 0.5 mm sieves were included). For all datasets, abundance was either used directly from the given abundance in the dataset, or calculated from the given counts and area sampled.

Gridded abundance maps of marine mammals (sperm whale, short beaked common dolphin, common bottlenose dolphin, Atllantic spotted dolphin) around the Azores. This product was developed with DIVA (Data-Interpolating Variational Analysis). Data was provided by the Azores Fisheries Observation Programme (POPA).

Gridded abundance maps of marine birds from the North Sea. All the bird species of this dataset are indicator species for Descriptor 1 Biodiversity of the MSFD for the North East Atlantic. This product was developed with DIVA (Data-Interpolating Variational Analysis). Data was provided by JNCC (Joint Nature Conservation Committee): Dunn, T. 2012. JNCC seabird distribution and abundance data (all trips) from ESAS database. Data downloaded from OBIS-SEAMAP (http://seamap.env.duke.edu/dataset/427).

Gridded abundance maps of seal species. This product was developed with DIVA (Data-Interpolating Variational Analysis). Data was provided by JNCC (Joint Nature Conservation Committee): Dunn, T. 2012. JNCC seabird distribution and abundance data (all trips) from ESAS database. Data downloaded from OBIS-SEAMAP (http://seamap.env.duke.edu/dataset/427).

Gridded abundance maps of commercial fish species. This product was developed with DIVA (Data-Interpolating Variational Analysis). Data was provided by ICES (IBTS dataset - Fish trawl survey: ICES North Sea International Bottom Trawl Survey for commercial fish species. ICES Database of trawl surveys (DATRAS). The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea, Copenhagen. 2010. Online source: http://ecosystemdata.ices.dk.). The maps show clearly the dramatic stock depletion of the last decades in the North Sea. Scale: log-transformed CPUE.

Gridded abundance map of marine birds around the Azores. This product was developed with DIVA (Data-Interpolating Variational Analysis). Data was provided by the Azores Fisheries Observation Programme (POPA).

These products are a series of gridded abundance maps of microorganisms in the North Sea from 2007-2008 at four different depth ranges. Micro-organisms are vital for the functioning of marine food webs (considered in MSFD descriptor 4) and are the main drivers of the global biogeochemical cycles. This product was developed with DIVA (Data-Interpolating Variational Analysis). Data was provided by NIOZ (C. Brussaard - Brandsma, J.; Martínez Martínez, J.; Slagter, H.A.; Evans, C.; Brussaard, C.P.D. (2013). Microbial biogeography of the North Sea during summer. Biogeochemistry 113(1-3): 119-136. dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10533-012-9783-3 ).

Gridded abundance map of Caretta caretta around the Azores between 1998 and 2002. This product was developed with DIVA (Data-Interpolating Variational Analysis). Data was provided by the Azores Fisheries Observation Programme (POPA).