The variables in biota_data.csv describe the contaminant and biological effect data in biota used in the 2019 assessment of the UK's Clean Seas Environment Monitoring Programme. The column headers are:

seriesID
Description: timeseries identifier
Unit:
Type: categorical
Levels: 5971
Note: identifies the data (typically a station / contaminant / species combination) that were grouped together into a timeseries and modelled to assess status and trends

station
Description: station identifier
Unit:
Type: categorical
Levels: 301
Note: monitoring station – links to station information in biota_stations.csv

species
Description: species
Unit:
Type: categorical
Levels: 14
Note:
Aequipecten opercularis: AphiaID = 140687
Cerastoderma edule: AphiaID = 138998
Crassostrea gigas: AphiaID = 140656
Gadus morhua: AphiaID = 126436
Limanda limanda: AphiaID = 127139
Merlangius merlangus: AphiaID = 126438
Mytilus edulis: AphiaID = 140480
Nucella lapillus: AphiaID = 140403
Ostrea edulis: AphiaID = 140658
Pecten maximus: AphiaID = 140712
Platichthys flesus: AphiaID = 127141
Pleuronectes platessa: AphiaID = 127143
Spisula solida: AphiaID = 140301
Venerupis corrugata: AphiaID = 181364

sex
Description: sex
Unit:
Type: categorical
Levels: F, I, M, X
Note: see ICES reference codes for SEXCO

year
Description: monitoring year
Unit:
Type: discrete
Range: 1999, 2018
Note: for some data suppliers, monitoring is in winter and e.g. sampling in December 2017 and January 2018 would be regarded as having come from the same monitoring year

date
Description: sampling date
Unit:
Type: discrete
Range: 1999-01-01, 2018-09-21
Note:

time
Description: sampling time
Unit:
Type: continuous
Range: 00:00:00, 23:29:00
Note:

latitude
Description: sampling latitude
Unit: decimal degrees
Type: continuous
Range: 50.1, 61.01
Note:

longitude
Description: sampling longitude
Unit: decimal degrees
Type: continuous
Range: -7.43, 2.91
Note:

sampleID
Description: sample identifier
Unit:
Type: categorical
Levels: 22850
Note: data from different matrices (e.g. LI and MU) in the same fish have different sampleIDs

matrix
Description: sample matrix
Unit:
Type: categorical
Levels: BI, ER, HML, LI, LIS9, MU, SB, WO
Note: see ICES reference codes for MATRX

group
Description: contaminant group
Unit:
Type: categorical
Levels: BDE, bioeffect, CB, dioxin, imposex, metal, organoMetal, PAH.parent, pesticide
Note:
BDE = polybrominated diphenyl ethers
bioeffect = biological effects
CB = polychlorinated biphenyls
organoMetal = tributyltin and derivatives
PAH.parent = parent polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons

determinand
Description: contaminant
Unit:
Type: categorical
Levels: 50
Note: see ICES reference codes for PARAM; data submitted as CHRTR and VDSI have been relabelled as CHR and VDS respectively

metoa
Description: method of chemical analysis
Unit:
Type: categorical
Levels: 25
Note: see ICES reference codes for METOA

concentration
Description: concentration of contaminant or equivalent for biological effects
Unit: see unit column
Type: continuous
Range: 0, 438946
Note:

unit
Description: unit of the concentration measurement and its uncertainty
Unit:
Type: discrete
Levels: %, d, mins, nmol/min/mg protein, nr/1000 cells, pmol/min/mg protein, st, ug/kg ww, ug/ml
Note:

qflag
Description: less-than qualifier for the concentration measurement
Unit:
Type: categorical
Levels: "", "<", "D"
Notes:
"D" indicates the measurement is left-censored at the limit of detection; i.e. the measurement is below the limit of detection, but it is not known by how much; the limit of detection is given in the concentration column.
“<” indicates the measurement is left-censored by an unspecified censoring criterion (which could be the limit of detection); the value of the censoring criterion is given in the concentration column.
"” indicates a non-censored measurement

uncertainty
Description: uncertainty in the concentration measurement
Unit: see unit column
Type: continuous
Range: 0.0000025, 35276
Note: analytical uncertainty expressed as the standard deviation; not applicable to some biological effects measurements

LNMEA
Description: mean length
Unit: cm
Type: continuous
Range: 0.1, 103
Note: length of monitoring organism, or mean length if several individuals were pooled; there are unit errors in these data, so the data should be used with caution

DRYWT
Description: dry weight of the sample
Unit: %
Type: continuous
Range: 2.46, 91.6
Note: all values are above the limit of detection

DRYWT.uncertainty
Description: uncertainty in the dry weight measurement
Unit: %
Type: continuous
Range: 0.028, 12.4
Note: analytical uncertainty expressed as the standard deviation

LIPIDWT
Description: lipid weight of the sample
Unit: %
Type: continuous
Range: 0.09, 81.4
Note:

LIPIDWT.qflag
Description: less-than qualifier for the lipid weight measurement
Unit:
Type: categorical
Levels: "", "D"
Note: see qflag

LIPIDWT.uncertainty
Description: uncertainty in the lipid weight measurement
Unit: %
Type: continuous
Range: 0.019, 10.1
Note: analytical uncertainty expressed as the standard deviation

noinp
Description: number of individuals pooled in the sample
Unit: nr
Type: discrete
Range: 1, 500
Note:

FEMALEPOP
Description: % of the sample that are females
Unit: %
Type: continuous
Range: 17, 100
Note: used to model imposex data when submitted as a pooled sample

CMTQCNR
Description: Comet assay cells screened
Unit: nr
Type: discrete
Range: 13, 168
Note: used to model Comet assay (%DNATAIL) data

MNCQCNR
Description: Micronucleus assay cells screened
Unit: nr
Type: discrete
Range: 1000, 5000
Note: used to model Micronucleus assay (MNC) data