Samples were collected on open ocean research cruises and coastal research cruises in locations throughout the Pacific and Atlantic oceans: The tropical North Atlantic (R/V Seward Johnson, SJ0609, in June 2006), the tropical South Atlantic and Benguela Upwelling system (CoFeMUG, R/V Knorr, KN192-05 Nov 2007), a transect through the North and South Pacific (R/V Kilo Moana, KM0701 Feb 2007), the San Pedro Channel off Southern California (R/V Seawatch). The SPOT0509 cruise on R/V Seawatch was a single day cruise in May 2009 to the San Pedro Ocean Time Series station (33.55, -118.4).
Pacific: Transect from Hawaii to Brisbane, Australia
North Atlantic: From Cape Verde to Barbados
South Atlantic: Brazil to Namibia
North Pacific from Hawaii to Bering Sea
Costa Rica Upwelling dome
Samples for all cruises, except the tropical North Atlantic and the South Pacific (from New Caledonia to Australia), were collected by taking a 100 ml sample from a Niskin bottle on the CTD rosette, filtered through a 0.4 um polycarbonate filter, and frozen at -20 °C until DNA extraction. In the North Atlantic and South Pacific, larger volumes (1-2 L with the volume always determined) were filtered onto 0.2 um polyethersulfone filters and frozen in liquid nitrogen.