Four stations were investigated: two in the First Inlet named Galeso and Scaletta and two stations in the Second Inlet of Mar Piccolo Cimino and Battendieri. Samples were collected seasonally for one year (2012) with three replicate in each station. A total of 3987 specimens with a total biomass of 914.85 g, were determined. Benthic macroinvertebrate composition was characterised by Annelida, Crustacea Mollusca, Echinodermata, Tunicata, Bryozoa and Platelminta. Mollusca (60%) and Crustaceans 34.3% followed by Cnidaria (2.14%) dominated the communities while all other species, represent a negligible part.

aquatic invertebrate data of a longterm monitoring program "acidic streams" (1985-1999), containing 5 different sampling sites, taxa recorded in abundance classes.

Dyspanopeus sayi (Smith, 1869) is a marine crustacean decapod species. It was collected for the first time on mussel culture of Mytilus galloprovincialis from Mar the Piccolo of Taranto. A total of 14 specimens were recorded in September 2011 (11 individuals) and May 2012 (3 ovigerous females). The data suggest a slow spread of this invasive species northwards to the Central Mediterranean Sea, however it is necessary to maintain high vigilance in order to prevent its spread to the mussel-culture of the Mar Piccolo. The first reporting of Caprella scaura (Crustacea, Amphipoda) in the Mar Piccolo of Taranto was noticed on 2008. C. scaura was collected during one year, from January 2008 to December 2008, on seaweed beds and on the algal cover of rocky substrates, at depths of 0.5 m, using a square metal box (50 x 50 cm). The results suggest that the population had successfully established at this location, albeit with great density fluctuations. It is highly probable that C. scaura has been introduced, either from eastern Mediterranean or Indo-Pacific populations, by a combination of vectors including independent natural dispersal and attachment. During a visual survey in August 2018, several specimens of Malleus regula (Mollusca, Bivalvia) were noticed on the poles of mussel farms and rocky substrata at about 2 m depth in the first inlet of the Mar Piccolo. The absence of earlier records of this newcomer may be attributed to a very recent introduction or to the fact that it may have been overlooked until now.

This dataset collects the available information on abundances of stoneflies, caddisflies and aquatic beetles present in the streams and rivers of the Sierra Nevada (southern Spain) from different sources. Data include the location of the sampling sites where these insects were recorded, the available abiotic characteristics of their habitats and information on the number of individuals, the life stage in which they were collected and, for adults, their sex. All data coming from reaches belonging to streams and rivers above 800 m of altitude have been considered (not including records of these insects from high mountain lakes or other lentic habitats). The dataset is composed of 1,718 sampling events carried out between 1905 and 2022 in approximately 60 different water bodies, 15,347 occurrences belonging to more than 203,000 individuals, and 10,173 records of associated measurements (23 physico-chemical parameters). The dataset is the result of a comprehensive review of scientific literature and of integrating the Smart EcoMountains project data and the Sierra Nevada Global-Change Observatory’s long-term monitoring data. This information will be valuable for those studying past distributions and abundances of the species present in the dataset, as a basis for building predictive models or just studying temporal trends.