Table of Contents

• Coverage
• Dataset Description
  • Methods & Sampling
  • Data Processing Description
• Data Files
• Related Publications
• Parameters
• Instruments
• Deployments
• Project Information
• Program Information
• Funding

Environmental sensor data describing Palau lake environments, 2011-2015. Reported parameters include depth, temperature, conductivity, salinity, oxygen, pH, light, and chlorophyll.

* NOTE: The P.I.'s are using this dataset to write papers. Please contact them before using these data to make sure you are not duplicating efforts.

The sonde with sensors was deployed manually from a raft or other floating craft (e.g. Caddis Fly inflatable seat). The sonde was lowered at one meter intervals and, at each depth interval, the reading was allowed to stabilize before readings were transcribed from the handheld meter to a dive slate in the field. Following return to the laboratory, data on the dive slate were entered into a spreadsheet, a preliminary plot made, and any apparent erroneous data (e.g. density inversions) were double-checked for accuracy of transcription and corrected as necessary.

BCO-DMO Processing:
- added conventional header with dataset name, PI name, version date
- renamed parameters to BCO-DMO standard
- reformatted date from dd-Mon-yy to yyyy-mm-dd (ISO date format)
- replaced blanks cells with nd
- removed blank lines and unmatched quote ('); eg. isn't becomes 'is not'

This project will survey the taxonomic, genetic, and functional diversity of the organisms found in marine lakes, and investigate the processes that cause gains and losses in this biodiversity. Marine lakes formed as melting ice sheets raised sea level after the last glacial maximum and flooded hundreds of inland valleys around the world. Inoculated with marine life from the surrounding sea and then isolated to varying degrees for the next 6,000 to 15,000 years, these marine lakes provide multiple, independent examples of how environments and interactions between species can drive extinction and speciation. Researchers will survey the microbes, algae, invertebrates, and fishes present in 40 marine lakes in Palau and Papua, and study how diversity has changed over time by retrieving the remains of organisms preserved in sediments on the lake bottoms. The project will test whether the number of species, the diversity of functional roles played by organisms, and the genetic diversity within species increase and decrease in parallel; whether certain species can greatly curtail diversity by changing the environment; whether the size of a lake determines its biodiversity; and whether the processes that control diversity in marine organisms are similar to those that operate on land.

Because biodiversity underlies the ecosystem services on which society depends, society has a great interest in understanding the processes that generate and retain biodiversity in nature. This project will also help conserve areas of economic importance. Marine lakes in the study region are important for tourism, and researchers will work closely with governmental and non-governmental conservation and education groups and with diving and tourism businesses to raise awareness of the value and threats to marine lakes in Indonesia and Palau.

(adapted from the NSF Synopsis of Program)
Dimensions of Biodiversity is a program solicitation from the NSF Directorate for Biological Sciences. FY 2010 was year one of the program.  [MORE from NSF]

The NSF Dimensions of Biodiversity program seeks to characterize biodiversity on Earth by using integrative, innovative approaches to fill rapidly the most substantial gaps in our understanding. The program will take a broad view of biodiversity, and in its initial phase will focus on the integration of genetic, taxonomic, and functional dimensions of biodiversity. Project investigators are encouraged to integrate these three dimensions to understand the interactions and feedbacks among them. While this focus complements several core NSF programs, it differs by requiring that multiple dimensions of biodiversity be addressed simultaneously, to understand the roles of biodiversity in critical ecological and evolutionary processes.