Dataset: P. herbstii: Trait mediated indirect effect (Ecology, 2012)

Following the experiment used to collect the dataset “Refuge_use”, we used the same individual crabs to test the strength of the trait-mediated indirect effect of toad fish on scorched mussels, as a function of the proportion of time that mud crabs used the oyster shell refuge as determined from the previous experiment. This experiment was conducted over five nights, and was conducted for each crab on the nights following the conclusion of the Refuge_use experiment. We maintained the same treatment order in the two experiments (i.e., crabs either received no cue or received cue treatments first in both experiments). The experiment was set up in an identical manner to the experiment described above, except that 40 scorched mussels (15–25 mm shell length) were first allowed to attach naturally overnight using byssal threads to the oyster shells. Crabs were placed in the first treatment (either presence or absence of risk cue) and were allowed to forage for 48 h. We assessed mussel consumption at the end of this time. We then starved crabs for 24 h to restandardize hunger, and then repeated the 48-h trial with each crab receiving the other risk cue treatment.