摘要：Benthic prokaryotes include Bacteria and archaea and dominate densities of marine benthos. they play major roles in element cycles and heterotrophic, chemoautotrophic, and phototrophic carbon production . To understand how anthropogenic disturbances and climate change might afect these processes, better estimates of prokaryotic biomasses and densities are required. Hence, I developed the ProkaBioDen database, the largest open-access database of benthic prokaryotic biomasses and densities in marine surface sediments . In total, the database comprises 1,089 georeferenced benthic prokaryotic biomass and 1,875 density records extracted from 85 and 112 studies, respectively. I identifed all references applying the procedures for systematic reviews and meta analyses and report prokaryotic biomasses as g C cm −3 sediment, g C g −1 sediment, and g C m −2 . Density records are presented as cell cm −3 sediment, cell g −1 sediment/ sulfde/ vent precipitate, and cell m −2 . this database should serve as reference to close sampling gaps in the future.
