Abstract. Benthic foraminifera are important components of the
ocean benthos and play a major role in ocean biogeochemistry and ecosystem
functioning. Generating ecological baselines for ocean monitoring or
biogeographical distributions requires a reference dataset of recent census
data. Moreover, the information from their modern biogeography can be used to
interpret past environmental changes on the seafloor. In this study, we
provide the first comprehensive quantitative benthic foraminifera database
from surface sediments of the eastern Pacific (BENFEP). Through the
collation of archival quantitative data on species abundance and their
homogenization according to the most recent taxonomic standards, we are able
to provide a database with 3077 sediment samples, corresponding to 2509
georeferenced stations of wide geographical (60∘ N–54∘ S) and water depth (0–7280 m) coverage. The quantitative
data include living, dead, and living plus dead assemblages obtained from
50 published and unpublished documents. As well as describing the data
collection and subsequent harmonization steps, we provide summarized
information on metadata, examples of species' distributions, potential
applications of the database, and recommendations for data archiving and
publication of benthic foraminiferal data. The database is enriched with
meaningful metadata for accessible data management and exploration with R
software and geographical information systems. The first version of the
database (BENFEP_v1, Diz et al., 2022a, https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.947086)
is provided in short and long format, and
it will be upgraded with new entries and when changes are needed to
accommodate taxonomic revisions.