Water quality and phytoplankton community composition data in the Mullica River - Great Bay and the Toms River - Barnegat Bay in New Jersey from 2020-09-16 to 2020-11-08 (NCEI Accession 0283634)

This dataset includes water quality data and phytoplankton community composition data collected from 6 sites along Mullica River-Great Bay and 6 sites along Toms River-Barnegat Bay in New Jersey from April-November 2020-2022. All samples were collected from surface waters. Temperature (ºC), salinity (ppt), optical dissolved oxygen (mg/L & percent saturation), pH, and turbidity (FNU), were collected using a YSI multiparameter sonde (EXO2). Two surface grab samples were taken in acid-washed 500 mL amber Nalgene bottles and stored on ice to measure dissolved organic carbon (DOC mg/L), Nitrate/Nitrite (mg/L), Ammonium (mg/L as ion), Ortho-Phosphate (mg/L), Total Phenolic Content (TPC µg/L gallic acid equivalents), and chlorophyll a (mg/L). In 2022, surface water was filtered through a 200 μm mesh and 10 mL transferred to a 15 mL falcon tube with 1% lugols solution to identify phytoplankton community composition using Sedgwick-rafter. The preserved phytoplankton samples were analyzed by identifying plankton in x100 magnification until at least 300 algal cells were counted. Mullica River-Great Bay sites were always collected during ebb tide, while tidal cycle varied for sampling of Toms River-Barnegat Bay.