Trait data captured from literature sources, field observations (2015-2018) and measurements of sessile marine invertebrates from 12 coastal sites across a geographic gradient spanning the sub-arctic to the tropics. Invertebrates observed were from an experiment that manipulated predation for three and 12 months.

Table of Contents

• Coverage
• Dataset Description
  • Methods & Sampling
  • Data Processing Description
• Data Files
• Related Publications
• Parameters
• Project Information
• Funding

Methodology:

Traits were collected from field measurements, observations, or literature sources. For field measurements, an average of five individuals per taxa were photographed for color, structural defense, and growth form determination.  All other traits except water content and organic content were collected from the literature. A brief description of the sampling procedure for determining water content and organic content is in the following section below. 

 

Sampling and analytical procedures:

For field measurements of organic and water content, an average of five individuals per taxa were collected and used for dry weights (DW) and ash free dry weights (AFDW) to calculate water content as [(1−(DW/WW)) x 100] and organic content as [(1−(AFDW/DW)) x 100]. We then calculated a single mean trait value per taxa to be included in the trait table.  

BCO-DMO Processing Notes:

• Converted numbers in scientific notation to standard form 

Coverage: Eastern Pacific in four coastal regions: Ketchikan, Alaska; San Francisco, California; La Paz, Mexico; and Panama City, Panama

Description from NSF award abstract:
Global patterns of biodiversity demonstrate that most of the species on earth occur in the tropics, with strikingly fewer species occurring in higher-latitude regions. Biologists predict that this global pattern of species diversity is likely shaped by thee ecological interactions between species. Yet few detailed experimental data exist that demonstrate how species interactions influence natural communities from the tropics to the arctic. Therefore, a significant opportunity exists to transform our understanding of how these fundamental species interactions shape patterns of biodiversity across the globe. Furthermore, these species interactions have the strong potential to limit potentially harmful biological invasions by non-native species, which are often transported by human activities that can breach historical dispersal barriers, such as ocean basins and continents. Biological invasions can cause undesired ecological and economic effects and are considered one of the primary drivers of global change. Through extensive field research on marine ecosystems along the Pacific Coast of North and Central America, from the tropics to the subarctic, this project will study ecological factors that shape global patterns of diversity and limit biological invasions.

Biologists have long theorized that the latitudinal diversity gradient may be shaped by stronger species interactions, such as competition and predation, occurring in the tropics than at higher latitudes. Prior research suggests that predation pressure is indeed stronger at lower latitudes, but it is unclear how interactive effects of predation and competition structure communities to maintain these diversity patterns in ecological time. This project represents an international research program to expand ecological understanding of species interactions across latitude. The objectives are to determine the relative influences of two primary species interactions, competition and predation, on patterns of species diversity, community assembly and sensitivity to species invasion. Field research will employ a large-scale experimental approach that focuses on sessile marine invertebrate communities across 47 degrees of latitude (over 7000 km). Experiments will manipulate levels of predation and competition for one year and will be conducted in four regions, ranging from the subarctic to the tropics: Alaska, California, Mexico, and Panama. Communities of sessile marine invertebrates, composed of both native and non-native species, will be examined iteratively under different predation and competition regimes to evaluate community dynamics. The relative importance of a suite of factors, including environmental conditions and recruitment rates, to interaction outcomes will be evaluated.