Table of Contents

• Dataset Description
  • Methods & Sampling
  • Data Processing Description
• Data Files
• Parameters
• Instruments
• Deployments
• Project Information
• Funding

Vermetid gastropods were counted were calculated on the 192 reefs in 2007, 2009, 2012 and 2014. Beginning in 2012, reefs 129-144 and 193-198 were manipulated for a project studying the effects of Vermetid removals; information pertaining to this manipulation can be found in the project “Spatial patterns of coral-vermetid interactions: short-term effects and long-term consequences”. All data collected on reefs 129-144 and 193-198 beginning in 2012 can also be found under that project. For each reef, the number of Ceraesignum maximum were counted. These data are meant to begin a census of the vermetids present in each site and on each reef to examine spatial and temporal variation in vermetid abundances.

Location: Moorea, French Polynesia (17.48 degrees S, 149.82 degrees W)

Sampling and Analytical Methodology:
A diver swims up to one of the patch reefs and counts all of the vermetids present on each of the 192 reefs; starting in 2007, Dendropoma maximum (vermetid snail) were counted.

Materials: snorkel gear and dive slate

Data Processing:
(NA)

BCO-DMO Processing Notes
- Generated from original file "LTR_VermetidCounts.csv" contributed by Rebecca Atkins
- Parameter names edited to conform to BCO-DMO naming convention found at Choosing Parameter Name
- Any blank rows removed

Description from NSF award abstract:
Ecologists have long been interested in the factors that drive spatial and temporal variability in population density and structure. In marine reef systems, attention has focused on the role of settlement-the transition of pelagic larvae to a benthic stage-and on density-dependent processes affecting recently settled juveniles. Recent data suggest that co-variance in settlement and subsequent density-dependent survival can obscure the patterns of density dependence at larger scales, a phenomenon called cryptic density dependence. This research will explore the mechanisms that underlie the spatial covariance of settlement and site quality - a process that has received little attention in the standard paradigm. These mechanistic studies of cryptic density dependence will facilitate the development of new frameworks for fish population dynamics that incorporate larval ecology, habitat quality, density dependence, life history, and the patterns and implications of spatial covariance among these factors. More generally, the work provides a specific empirical context, and a general theoretical treatment, of cryptic heterogeneity (hidden individual variation in demographic rates).

Note: Drs. Craig W. Osenberg and Ben Bolker were at the University of Florida at the time the NSF award was granted. Dr. Osenberg moved to the University of Georgia during the summer of 2014 (current contact information). Dr. Bolker moved to McMaster University in 2010 (current contact information).