Data from: Basin-scale biogeochemical and ecological impacts of islands in the tropical Pacific Ocean

Abstract

In the relatively unproductive waters of the tropical ocean, islands can enhance phytoplankton biomass and create hotspots of productivity and biodiversity that sustain upper trophic levels, including fish that are crucial to the survival of islands’ inhabit- ants. This phenomenon, termed the island mass effect 65 years ago, has been widely described. However, most studies focused on individual islands, and very few documented phytoplankton community composition. Consequently, basin-scale impacts on phytoplankton biomass, primary production and biodiversity remain largely unknown. Here we systematically identify enriched waters near islands from satellite chlorophyll concentrations (a proxy for phytoplankton biomass) to analyse the island mass effect for all tropical Pacific islands on a climatological basis. We find enrichments near 99% of islands, impacting 3% of the tropical Pacific Ocean. We quantify local and basin-scale increases in chlorophyll and primary production by contrasting island-enriched waters with nearby waters. We also reveal a significant impact on phytoplankton community structure and biodiversity that is identifiable in anomalies in the ocean colour signal. Our results suggest that, in addition to strong local bio- geochemical impacts, islands may have even stronger and farther-reaching ecological impacts.

Data set and method

For each island, an algorithm detected the Island Mass Effect (IME) from climatological satellite chlorophyll maps as a contour enclosing the island and surrounding high-chlorophyll waters, termed IME region. A reference (REF) region of the same size was detected alongside each IME region, enclosing nearby non-IME waters. The IME and REF regions were used to build the IME database described in Messié et al. (2022), that includes variables related to satellite chlorophyll, primary production, and PHYSAT phenoclass diversity metrics in IME and REF regions on a climatological basis.

This data set includes 4 files:

• island_database.csv: information regarding the 664 islands and shallow reefs where the IME detection was applied
• IME_masks.nc: monthly climatological masks for the IME and REF regions for all islands,
• IME_database.nc: IME database as a function of island and climatological month (chlorophyll, primary production, and phenoclass-derived variables calculated within the IME and REF masks).
• PHYSAT_climatology.nc: climatological maps for each PHYSAT phenoclass, used to calculate phenoclass-derived variables in the IME database.

See details regarding data sources and calculations in Messié et al. (2022).