Multiple images of the seafloor at six sites across a broad latitudinal range in the Barents Sea in the Arctic were collected in July 2017 on the month long scientific cruise JR16006. The dataset includes environmental variables for each accompanied image. Each image (406 x 341mm) has density of fauna from different functional groups. We have 13 different functional groups based on other similar studies. The aim was to look at the effect of climate change in the Arctic on the biology of the seafloor. Funding was provided by the NERC Changing Arctic Oceans ChAOS project.

This dataset contains occurrence records and associated metadata for the zooplankton species Calanus finmarchicus that were compiled from multiple open access databases. A file containing the corresponding background points is provided, along with gridded environmental variables for each season (Jan-Feb-Mar, Apr-May-Jun, Jul-Aug-Sep, Oct-Nov-Dec) and era (1955-1984, 1985-2017) that were assessed in this study. Together these data were used as input files for the MaxEnt ecological niche model within the peer reviewed article: Freer JJ, Daase, M, Tarling GA, (2021) Modelling the biogeographic boundary shift of Calanus finmarchicus reveals drivers of Arctic Atlantification by subarctic zooplankton, Global Change Biology. Finally, an R Markdown document is provided to enable data users to replicate the model optimisation and prediction steps using the input data files within this repository. Funding was provided by: UKRI Natural Environment Research Council (NERC): DIAPOD (NE/P006213/1), NERC and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF): CHASE (NE/R012687/1), Norwegian Research Council: Deep Impact project (300333).