The soil food webs in this collection represent a total of 32 belowground communities studied by Neutel et al. (2007), from two natural successions in sandy dune soils: one on the Waddensea Island of Schiermonnikoog in the north of the Netherlands and the other at Hulshorsterzand, on the Veluwe, in the central Netherlands. The study sites, which constitute the two gradients, represent four consecutive stages in chronosequences of early primary vegetation succession, increasing in aboveground and below-ground productivity. The Jacobians of the 32 food webs (two series, four stages with four replicates per stage) were calculated by Neutel et al. (2007) from observed average biomass data of the respective systems, and inferring steady-state biomass flow data using a procedure described by Hunt et al. (1987). The Jacobians represent the interaction strengths of the species in the two food webs, evaluated at equilibrium.

Mesopelagic fish were sampled in the Scotia Sea using a 25 m2 opening and closing rectangular midwater trawl during five research cruises on RRS John Biscoe and RRS James Clark Ross. Nets sampled discrete layers, from the surface to 1000 m during austral spring, summer and autumn. The data include 17726 individual fish records from 66 taxa, the most abundant of which were myctophids of the genera Electrona, Gymnoscopelus, Krefftichthys and Protomyctophum and bathylagids (Bathylagus sp.). Length (standard length, total length or pre-anal fin length) was measured for the majority of specimens (16837), with sex and weight data also collected for many. The work was conducted as part of the BAS Ecosystems Programmes funded by the UK Natural Environment Research Council.

The soil food webs in this collection represent seven belowground communities from native and agricultural soils. The seven communities are from experimental research sites in the USA, Sweden and the Netherlands. The Jacobians of the seven food webs were calculated by de Ruiter et al. (1995) using the empirical biomass data of the respective systems, and inferring steady-state biomass flow data using a procedure described by Hunt et al. (1987), see further references below. The Jacobians represent the interaction strengths of the species in the two food webs, evaluated at equilibrium.

This is a mixed data set held in six excel files, containing processed acoustic backscatter data, mesopelagic fish abundance and swimbladder contents from night time sampled RMT25 nets, plus net catch data for all fauna combined and dominant mesopelagic fish in night time RMT25. Acoustic backscatter data is from 6 latitudinal acoustic transects spanning the Scotia Sea, obtained during cruises JR161, JR177, JR200, JR15002 and JR15004 (two transects). Data were collected using a Simrad EK60 echo sounder at 38 kHz. The EK60 was run continuously between Stanley (Falkland Islands) and Signy (South Orkney Islands). Fish data was collected using RMT25 night time net samples from 5 cruises JR161, JR177, JR200, JR15004 and JR16003. The data set focuses on 11 species of mesopelagic fish Bathylagus species, Cyclothone species, Electrona antarctica, Electrona carlsbergi, Gymnoscopelus braueri, Gymnoscopelus fraseri, Gymnoscopelus nicholsi, Krefftichthys anderssoni, Protomyctophum bolini, Protomyctophum tenisoni and Notolepis species. Abundance and proportion data was obtained for combined fish species, and identified by net tow and latitude. Biomass for all fauna and the 11 fish species was calculated from RMT25 night catch log data. Myctophid gas presence absence was determined from a combination of dissection, Computed Tomography and soft tissue X-ray. Funding was provided by the NERC grants NE/L002434/1 and bas010017. This data is embargoed until August 2019.

The Antarctic food webs represent two entire above-belowground communities from Signy Island Reference Sites on Signy Island, one of the South Orkney Islands in the Maritime Antarctic. The two communities are a dry moss community (Antarctic dry tundra) and a wet moss community (Antarctic wet tundra). These two communities were the focus of intensive biological study by personnel from the British Antarctic Survey over the course of a decade in the 1970''s, of which the results were finally compiled into a meta-analysis by Davis (1981). The Jacobians of the dry and wet tundra were calculated by Neutel and Thorne (2014) using the empirical biomass and flow data of the respective systems from Davis'' analysis. The Jacobians represent the interaction strengths of the species in the two food webs, evaluated at equilibrium.

This dataset compiles fish length and weight measurements from the RMT-25 net hauls carried out on Discovery 2010 cruises (JR161, JR177, JR200) in the Scotia Sea, Southern Ocean in spring 2006, summer 2008, and autumn 2009. The dataset comprises of the station net hauls only. Research cruises were led by British Antarctic Survey aboard the RRS James Clark Ross. Net hauls were conducted along a transect from the Antarctic Polar Front to the sea ice zone in the Scotia Sea. Hauls included in this dataset are depth stratified (1000-700 m, 700-400 m, 400-200 m, 200 m to surface). Individual fish lengths, and weights were measured on board. Where weights were not measured, length-weight regressions have been used to estimate fish weight. This data set accompanies the paper by Belcher et al. in Marine Ecology Progress Series, titled, Respiration rates and active carbon flux of mesopelagic fishes (Family Myctophidae) in the Scotia Sea, Southern Ocean.