Document Type

Dataset

DOI

10.20429/data.2019.01

Publication Date

2019

Description

These data were collected as part of the seed predation study which examined the role of different seascape metrics with seed consumption in a New York estuary. Data collected include number of seeds consumed, size of the seagrass patch in which the seeds were deployed, location of the seed predation unit either in sand, or when placed in seagrass, whether the unit was in the center or edge of the patch, the patch ID, and total seagrass area within different sized buffers around the location of the seed predation unit.

Comments

See included readme files at each directory level for codes, variables, and viewing instructions.

Start Date

6-29-2012

End Date

9-14-2012

Methodology

Seed predation units (SPU) were used to tether seeds in place. SPU were deployed into different sized patches, ranged from 0.28 to 28.48m2. We also placed SPU on unvegetated sand substrate >1m from the edge of any seagrass patch. For the 40 largest patches, we placed SPU at both at the edge (within 1 m of the edge of the patch) and at the interior. In addition, we also placed 53 SPU in adjacent (~1 m) un-vegetated sand habitats. SPUs were deployed for at least 1 week (weather forced us to leave some of the units in the field for longer). Consumption was standardized to seeds eaten per day. Any seed not recovered was considered consumed, as SPUs placed in laboratory mesocosms – 95-L Rubbermaid tubs with a flow rate of ~5L min-1 - did not lose seeds over a 2-week period.

We conducted this analysis using the 2-, 4-, and 8-m buffers for habitat cover values, but present results in the main text for only the 4-m buffer. Briefly, we conducted a buffer analysis using ESRI ArcGIS software to explore the percent cover of seagrass within a number of buffer zones surrounding the point of the SPU. We opted to use seagrass cover as a proxy for configuration as the amount of seagrass cover in an area surrounding often covaries with patchiness and distance between patches. We used multiple buffer zone options for our analysis, including buffer zones with a 2m, 4m, 8m, 16m, 32m, and 64m radius surrounding the point of each individual SPU, resulting in buffer areas of ~13 m2, 50 m2, 201 m2, 804 m2, 3217 m2, and 12868 m2, respectively. Unfortunately, our ability to detect seagrass cover was bounded by the area surveyed, and so any buffers that extended beyond the boundaries of the survey area were excluded from analysis. This resulted in losing 0, 6, 11, 20, 53 and 129 of the 212 total SPUs deployed across the different buffers from the analysis, respectively.

All sampling was done by coauthors Lisa Jackson and Bradley Furman. Data was plotted and reviewed for entry errors by John Carroll before submission.

Coverage

Data were collected along the south shore of Shinnecock Bay, located in Southampton, New York. Data were sampled subtidally, approximately 2.5km east of Shinnecock Inlet (40.842278°N, 72.476484°W ) and 400 m from shore (Figure 1). Depths at this site ranged from 0.25 to 1.25 m MLLW. Surficial sediments consisted of siliceous sands low in organic and nutrient content. Area sampled was a 250 m (parallel to shore) x 225 m (perpendicular to shore; total area 56,250m2) area mapped via aerial images.

Language

eng

File Size

119 KB

File Format

.csv, .txt, .zip

Rights

This data is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Please cite this data set and the related publication in any publications that use this data.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

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