Dataset: Percent cover measure of mussel bed succession on rocky shores due to intra-population variation in dogwhelk drilling

Name: Percent cover measure of mussel bed succession on rocky shores due to intra-population variation in dogwhelk drilling
Published: 2024-01-24
Keywords: Eco-evolutionary Dynamics, Nucella canaliculata, succession, rocky shores, oceans

Cite This Dataset

DOI:10.26008/1912/bco-dmo.918518.1

Spatial Extent: N:38.323515 E:-123.078133 S:38.323515 W:-123.078133

Bodega Marine Reserve, California

Temporal Extent: 2020-05-25 - 2022-08-29

Project:

Coastal mosaics of local adaptation and the eco-evolutionary dynamics of a marine predator-prey interaction (Coastal Adaptation)

Principal Investigator:

Eric Sanford (University of California-Davis, UC Davis-BML)

Student:

Emily K. Longman (University of California-Davis, UC Davis-BML)

BCO-DMO Data Manager:

Shannon Rauch (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, WHOI BCO-DMO)

Version:

Version Date:

2024-01-24

Restricted:

Validated:

Yes

Current State:

Final no updates expected

Percent cover measure of mussel bed succession on rocky shores due to intra-population variation in dogwhelk drilling

Abstract:

Despite growing interest of eco-evolutionary dynamics, there have been few experiments that test the importance of these feedbacks in natural ecosystems at the community level. A selection experiment on intra-population variation in dogwhelk (Nucella canaliculata) drilling was performed in the laboratory. Dogwhelks were given one of four early-life diet treatments (thin-shelled Mytilus trossulus mussels, two treatments of M. californianus from two populations known to differ in shell thickness, and acorn barnacles) for the first 3 months of life. Surviving adult dogwhelks were outplanted to field cages at Bodega Marine Reserve to test the ecological consequences of divergent phenotypes. Mussel bed succession was quantified by percent cover of sessile organisms in the plots over the course of approximately one year.

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Archival Copy

Version Date	Archive	Persistent Identifier	Date Assigned
2024-01-24	Marine Biological Laboratory/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Library (MBLWHOI DLA)	10.26008/1912/bco-dmo.918518.1	2024-01-26

Methods & Sampling

To test the ecological consequences of phenotypic variation in dogwhelk drilling, Nucella canaliculata dogwhelks were outplanted to field cages and the effects on mussel bed succession were quantified as changes in percent cover of sessile species. In May of 2020, sixteen large plots of mid-intertidal mussel bed were cleared to bare rock at the Mussel Point site in Bodega Marine Reserve. The communities were left to naturally develop for a year until they were at a mid-successional stage. Stainless steel mesh cages with removable lids were then placed in the 16 areas in May of 2021. Cages were attached by bolting the cage to the rock and sealing the edges with marine epoxy (Z-spar splash zone compound). Cages were in a block design with 5 cages placed in the 16 areas. In July of 2021, 5 adult dogwhelks were placed in each cage. Cages within each block received dogwhelks from the same family (dogwhelks from the same egg capsule cluster were considered a family of snails), with each cage getting dogwhelks from a given early-life diet treatment, plus one was a reference cage that did not get any dogwhelks. Mussel bed succession in the cages was quantified approximately every eight weeks for the next year (a total of 7 experimental checks, plus one check before the outplant of dogwhelks). The lids of the cages were removed, and photographs were taken of each plot. These photos are in the attached Supplemental File "Percent Cover Images.zip". Percent cover of sessile species was quantified from the photographs using image analysis by tracing polygons around individuals of a given species and dividing the total area by the area of the caged plot. Species were grouped into seven functional groups for analyses: bare rock, acorn barnacles, gooseneck barnacles, mussels, other sessile animals, coralline algae, and a final group of algae and surfgrass.

Data Processing Description

ImageJ was used to analyze photos of the plots. Species were grouped into seven functional groups for analyses: bare rock, acorn barnacles, gooseneck barnacles, mussels, other sessile animals, coralline algae, and a final group of algae and surfgrass.

BCO-DMO Processing

- Imported original file "Percent cover measure of mussel bed succession on rocky shores due to intra-population variation in dogwhelk drilling.xlsx" into the BCO-DMO system.
- Renamed fields/columns to comply with BCO-DMO naming conventions.
- Added columns for site Latitude and Longitude.
- Converted the Date column to YYYY-MM-DD format.
- Saved the final file as "918518_v1_pcnt_cover_mussel_bed_succession.csv".

Data Files

File
918518_v1_pcnt_cover_mussel_bed_succession.csv (Comma Separated Values (.csv), 98.99 KB) MD5:4150a2863d1b066560418e30e1fc2609 Primary data file for dataset ID 918518, version 1

Supplemental Files

File
Percent_Cover_Images.zip (ZIP Archive (ZIP), 1.76 GB) MD5:fad2f1e399122d397359f8b33613c899 Supplemental file for dataset ID 918518. This .zip file contains the photos of the field plots that were used to analyze percent cover.

More Information about this dataset

Funding Sources

Funding Source	Award Number
NSF Division of Ocean Sciences	OCE-1851462

Deployments

None available yet

Instruments

Camera

Supplied Name: Olympus Tough Tg-6 digital camera

Supplied Description:

Used to take photographs of each plot.

Instrument Type

Generic Name: Camera

Acronym: camera

Community Identifier: http://vocab.nerc.ac.uk/collection/L05/current/311/

Generic Description:

All types of photographic equipment including stills, video, film and digital systems.

Parameters

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

Supplied Name	Supplied description	Supplied Units	Standard Name
Block	Block number. Plots were grouped into blocks such that 5 experimental plots were placed near each other. Each block contained dogwhelks from the same family, with each cage randomly assigned to contain snails from one of the four early-life diet treatments, plus a reference cage with no dogwhelks.	unitless	sample
Plot_Number	Unique identifier for each plot.	unitless	sample
Family	Families (dogwhelks from the same egg capsules cluster were considered to be full or half siblings and classified as a family) were given a unique identifier.	unitless	sample
Site_Latitude	Latitude of the Bodega Marine Reserve field site.	decimal degrees	lat
Site_Longitude	Longitude of the Bodega Marine Reserve field site (negative values = West).	decimal degrees	lon
Treatment	Early-life diet treatment. Four treatments were used in this study: (1) a control diet of thin-shelled M. trossulus, (2) M. californianus from Soberanes Point, (3) M. californianus from Bodega Marine Reserve, and (4) acorn barnacles (Chthamalus dalli).	unitless	treatment
Family_x_Treatment	Each family by diet treatment was given a unique identifier.	unitless	sample
Date	Date of experimental check. Format: %Y-%m-%d	unitless	date
Check	Check number. Cages were checked approximately every 8 weeks for the next year for a total of 8 experimental checks, including one check (0) completed before the snail outplant.	unitless	sample
Bare_Rock	Percent cover of bare rock in plot.	percent (%)	percent_cover
Acorn_Barnacles	Percent cover of acorn barnacles in plot.	percent (%)	percent_cover
Mussels	Percent cover of mussels in plot.	percent (%)	percent_cover
Gooseneck_Barnacles	Percent cover of gooseneck barnacles in plot.	percent (%)	percent_cover
Other_Sessile_Animals	Percent cover of other sessile animals in plot.	percent (%)	percent_cover
Coralline_Algae	Percent cover of coralline algae in plot.	percent (%)	percent_cover
Algae_and_Surfgrass	Percent cover of algae and surfgrass in plot.	percent (%)	percent_cover

Database

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Dataset: Percent cover measure of mussel bed succession on rocky shores due to intra-population variation in dogwhelk drilling