102 urn:lsid:arphahub.com:pub:73abe0ce-d97c-5d7c-bee5-b8e6e6fe6a17 ARPHA Preprints preprints Pensoft Publishers 10.3897/arphapreprints.e70609 70609 Data Paper Amphipoda Asteroidea Bivalvia Decapoda Echinodermata Echinoidea Gastropoda Holothuroidea Isopoda Malacostraca Ophiuroidea Ostracoda Pinnipedia Polyplacophora Porifera Pycnogonida Sphenisciformes Tunicata Biodiversity & Conservation Biogeography Marine Biota & Ecosystems Cenozoic Antarctic Polar The Belgica 121 expedition to the Western Antarctic Peninsula: a high resolution biodiversity census Danis Bruno bdanis@ulb.ac.be https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9037-7623 1 1 Christiansen Henrik https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7114-5854 2 Guillaumot Charlène 3 Heindler Franz Maximilian 2 Jossart Quentin 3 4 Moreau Camille https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0981-7442 3 Pasotti Francesca https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8971-8195 5 Robert Henri 6 Wallis Ben 7 Saucède Thomas https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6056-4447 8 Université Libre de Bruxelles, Bruxelles, Belgium Université Libre de Bruxelles Bruxelles Belgium KULeuven, Leuven, Belgium KULeuven Leuven Belgium Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium Université Libre de Bruxelles Brussels Belgium Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium Vrije Universiteit Brussel Brussels Belgium UGent, Gent, Belgium UGent Gent Belgium EMC2, Brussels, Belgium EMC2 Brussels Belgium Ocean Expeditions, Sydney, Australia Ocean Expeditions Sydney Australia UMR 6282 Biogéosciences, Univ Bourgogne Franche-Comté, CNRS, Dijon, France UMR 6282 Biogéosciences, Univ Bourgogne Franche-Comté, CNRS Dijon France

Corresponding author: Bruno Danis (bdanis@ulb.ac.be).

Academic editor:

2021 25 06 2021 1 F37EFBFC-47CC-57D1-A283-30623A6076E0 24 06 2021 24 06 2021 Bruno Danis, Henrik Christiansen, Charlène Guillaumot, Franz Maximilian Heindler, Quentin Jossart, Camille Moreau, Francesca Pasotti, Henri Robert, Ben Wallis, Thomas Saucède This is an open access preprint distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

This dataset relates to the biodiversity census carried out during the Belgica 121 (B121) expedition to the Western Antarctic Peninsula from February to March 2019. One of the aims of the campaign was to explore the surroundings of the Gerlache Strait and to carry out a detailed biodiversity census focusing on inter- and subtidal shallow-water areas using both classic descriptive marine ecology methods as well as state-of-the art techniques (habitat mapping, genetics, trophic ecology). The biodiversity census was carried out onboard a nimble research vessel, RV Australis. This dataset will offer access to the raw data on biodiversity occurrences, obtained using a range of methods described in this data paper.

New raw biodiversity data for a poorly sampled region (Western Antarctic Peninsula) with a special focus on shallow ecosystems.