Dataset: ASU Fragmentation – Trap Fauna CPUE

Name: Epibenthic faunal densities sampled from within Artificial Seagrass Units (ASU) in Back Sound, NC from June to October 2018
Published: 2023-03-15
Keywords: artificial seagrass units, catch per unit effort, contiguous versus patchy, percolation probability, density, epibenthic fauna, biota, oceans

Cite This Dataset

DOI:10.26008/1912/bco-dmo.891859.1

Spatial Extent: N:34.707 E:-76.589 S:34.701 W:-76.603

Temporal Extent: 2018-06-05 - 2018-10-25

Project:

Collaborative Research: Habitat fragmentation effects on fish diversity at landscape scales: experimental tests of multiple mechanisms (Habitat Fragmentation)

Principal Investigator:

F. Joel Fodrie (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, UNC-Chapel Hill-IMS)

Co-Principal Investigator:

Lauren Yeager (University of Texas - Marine Science Institute, UTMSI)

Scientist:

Cori Lopazanski (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, UNC-Chapel Hill-IMS)

Abigail K. Poray (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, UNC-Chapel Hill-IMS)

Amy Yarnall (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, UNC-Chapel Hill-IMS)

Contact:

Amy Yarnall (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, UNC-Chapel Hill-IMS)

BCO-DMO Data Manager:

Taylor Heyl (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, WHOI BCO-DMO)

Version:

Version Date:

2023-03-15

Restricted:

Validated:

Yes

Current State:

Final no updates expected

Epibenthic faunal densities sampled from within Artificial Seagrass Units (ASU) in Back Sound, NC from June to October 2018

Abstract:

To parse the ecological effects of habitat area and patchiness on faunal community structure and dynamics of estuarine nekton, we employed artificial seagrass unit (ASU) landscapes at a scale relevant to habitat fidelity of common fish and macroinvertebrates in our temperate study system, Back Sound, NC. These ASU landscapes were designed along orthogonal axes of artificial seagrass area (i.e., percent cover of each landscape = 10-60 percent) and fragmentation per se (i.e., percolation probability; 0.1-0.59) to delineate their independent and interactive effects on seagrass fish and macroinvertebrate communities. To examine potential differences among faunal responses to habitat configuration within structured habitat (i.e., artificial seagrass) versus matrix habitat (i.e., sand/mudflat) within the borders of the landscape footprint, fish densities (catch per unit effort; CPUE) were sampled with baited minnow traps at three locations within each landscape from June to October 2018. Faunal densities were sampled within the largest ASU patch of each landscape (“largest patch”) and at two locations within the matrix: 1-meter away from the largest patch ("near-patch") and bisecting the largest interpatch distance ("interpatch"). Interpatch samples were not taken in landscapes with 0.59 percolation probability, as they only had one patch. Minnow trap samples were collected by Drs. F. Joel Fodrie and Amy H. Yarnall for the Estuarine Ecology Laboratory of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Institute of Marine Sciences.

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Archival Copy

Version Date	Archive	Persistent Identifier	Date Assigned
2023-03-15	Marine Biological Laboratory/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Library (MBLWHOI DLA)	10.26008/1912/bco-dmo.891859.1	2023-03-28

Methods & Sampling

From June to October 2018, epibenthic faunae (primarily juvenile) were sampled on Oscar Shoal and an adjacent unnamed shoal in Back Sound, NC, USA (34°42′20" N to 34°41′60" N, 76°36′ 15" W to 76°35′17" W) with baited (approximately 8 pieces of dry dog food, Able et al., 2015) Gee-style minnow traps (41-centimeters long, 22-centimeters wide, 0.3-centimeter galvanized mesh-wire cylinders, with 4-centimeter diameter funneled openings). One trap was deployed within the largest patch of each landscape on nine occasions and at each of two of the matrix locations on four occasions. Each minnow trap deployment lasted 24 hours, at which time all faunae were enumerated, identified to the lowest taxonomical level possible, and released.

Known Issues:
The study area and artificial landscapes were directly impacted by Hurricane Florence during 13-16 Sept 2018. Despite ASU re-enforcements made prior to Florence's landfall (i.e., additional lawn staples and cable ties), our landscapes experienced substantial disturbance akin to natural seagrasses in the vicinity, in many cases completely removing or burying ASUs which altered the landscape percent cover and fragmentation per se parameters. Holding the original landscape 234-square meter footprint constant, post-Florence landscape percent cover and percolation probabilities were recalculated both including and excluding ASUs that were fully buried under sediment. Trap samples were taken both before and after Florence. Due to considerable landscape parameter alterations over this timeframe and potentially confounding disturbance influences, caution should be taken in examining post-Florence faunal densities.

Data Processing Description

All data were entered electronically into an Excel spreadsheet.

BCO-DMO Processing Description:
- Adjusted field/parameter names to comply with BCO-DMO naming conventions
- Missing data identifier ‘NA’ replaced with blank (BCO-DMO's default missing data identifier)
- Converted dates to format (YYYY-MM-DD)
- Added "Latitude" and "Longitude" columns and rounded to three decimal places

Data Files

File
asufrag_trapfaunalcpue.csv (Comma Separated Values (.csv), 109.88 KB) MD5:1612ebad8f96834b47df54d20c31f334 Primary data file for dataset 891859.

More Information about this dataset

Funding Sources

Funding Source	Award Number
NSF Division of Ocean Sciences	OCE-1635950

Deployments

None available yet

Instruments

digital thermometer

Supplied Name: ExTech 39240

Supplied Description:

Instrument Type

Generic Name: digital thermometer

Generic Description:

An instrument that measures temperature digitally.

minnow trap

Supplied Name:

Supplied Description:

Instrument Type

Generic Name: minnow trap

Generic Description:

shore fishing gear

Refractometer

Supplied Name: VeeGee STX-3

Supplied Description:

Instrument Type

Generic Name: Refractometer

Generic Description:

A refractometer is a laboratory or field device for the measurement of an index of refraction (refractometry). The index of refraction is calculated from Snell's law and can be calculated from the composition of the material using the Gladstone-Dale relation.

In optics the refractive index (or index of refraction) n of a substance (optical medium) is a dimensionless number that describes how light, or any other radiation, propagates through that medium.

Parameters

Date and time formats are described in python strftime() syntax.

Supplied Name	Supplied description	Supplied Units	Standard Name
Site_ID	Artificial seagrass unit (ASU) landscape name (Percent cover value-Percolation probability value)	unitless	Site_ID
Latitude	Latitude North (South is negative) of sampling site	decimal degrees	lat
Longitude	Longitude East (West is negative) of sampling site	decimal degrees	lon
Per_cov	Percent cover of ASUs in a 234 square meter landscape footprint (10, 22.5, 35, 47.5, 60)	percent (%)	percent_cover
Frag	ASU landscape fragmentation per se indexed by percolation probability (0.1, 0.225, 0.35, 0.475, 0.59)	unitless	site_descrip
Date_In	Date of minnow trap deployment Format: %Y-%m-%d	unitless	date_start
Time_In	Time of minnow trap deployment in format hh:mm (24 hour)	unitless	time_begin
Date_Out	Date of minnow trap retrieval Format: %Y-%m-%d	unitless	date_end
Time_Out	Time of minnow trap retrieval in format hh:mm (24 hour)	unitless	time_end
H_tide	Time of high tide proximate to minnow trap deployment in format hh:mm (24 hour)	unitless	time
L_tide	Time of low tide proximate to minnow trap deployment in format hh:mm (24 hour)	unitless	time
WaterTemp_C	Surface water temperature at time of minnow trap deployment	degrees C	temp
Sal_PSU	Surface salinity at time of minnow trap deployment	PSU	sal_ss
Trap_class	Location type of minnow trap deployment within ASU landscape (largest patch, near-patch, inter-patch)	unitless	site_descrip
Cell_coord	Cell coordinates designate a grid position within the ASU landscape. Each landscape was designed as a grid of 15 x 15 cells, each of which may or may not be occupied by an ASU. Landscape cell coordinates are identified by C (column; out of 15) number and R (row; out of 15) number.	unitless	no_bcodmo_term
Cell_class	Habitat type of cell within ASU landscape (ASU = artificial seagrass unit; MTRX = mudflat matrix)	unitless	site_descrip
Sp_name	Common name of fauna species	unitless	common_name
Sci_name	Scientific name of fauna species	unitless	species
Length	Total length of fauna	millimeters (mm)	length

Database

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Dataset: ASU Fragmentation – Trap Fauna CPUE