Table of Contents

• Coverage
• Dataset Description
  • Methods & Sampling
  • Data Processing Description
  • BCO-DMO Processing Description
• Data Files
• Supplemental Files
• Related Publications
• Related Datasets
• Parameters
• Project Information
• Funding

See "Related Datasets" section for other datasets to be published in Ng & Gaylord (2025, in-prep).  These datasets are also listed on the "Related-Resource" page for that results publication https://www.bco-dmo.org/related-resource/948176
​
All datasets in this project can be viewed from the "Dataset Collections" of the project page https://www.bco-dmo.org/project/712799

Of particular note are:

Dataset: Fear behavior with predators: tethered Tegula funebralis in the presence of predator Pisaster ochraceus
https://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/959441
(different tethered organism, same predator)

Dataset: Fear behavior with predators: tethered Tegula funebralis in the presence of predator Cancer productus
https://www.bco-dmo.org/node/959435
(same tethered organism, different predator)

Pisaster were collected at Carmet Beach (38.372172 N, 123.076438 W).  Nucella lamellosa were collected at Washington Park in Anacortes, Washington (48.502190 N, -122.691865 W) in July 2018.

We introduced predators to snails that either displayed a fear response or did not to determine the baseline and enhanced culling rates in the fear and no-fear treatments respectively. For the enhanced culling rates where prey did not have a behavioral fear response, (i.e. did not leave the water in the presence of predators), we tethered a subset of our snails when subjecting them to predators. These latter trials provided data on predation rates when snails spent 100% of their time underwater such that they could not implement their standard fear-induced flight responses. We tethered snails using 10mm long mono-filament line attached to the shell with cyanoacrylate adhesive and to the base of the mesocosm using epoxy. Snails were distributed uniformly over the mesocosm. We crossed our tethered treatment with the morphological induction treatment for the predation trials similar to the trials measuring the intensity of behavioral fear response. We created ten mesocosms each containing five tethered Nucella. Half of the mesocosms contained induced Nucella and the other half contained Nucella that had not been induced. We also created ten mesocosms with five untethered Nucella each; half of these latter mesocosms again contained induced Nucella and the other half again contained Nucella that had not been induced. This overall setup for Nucella allowed us to estimate the culling rates for when Nucella displayed no fear response, a behavioral fear response, a morphological fear response, or both. The mesocosms were checked twice a day for predation events, and the predation trials lasted until all of the snails had been consumed.

We ran a linear regression on logged proportion of snails surviving with tethering, duration of the experiment, and their interactive effects as fixed factors. For Nucella, we also added the average retraction distance of the Nucella within each container as another predictor, along with the three-way interaction with tethering and duration of the experiment.

Organism identifiers (taxonomic names used in dataset metadata):

Scientific Name, Life Science Identifier (LSID)
Nucella lamellosa, urn:lsid:marinespecies.org:taxname:404218
Pisaster ochraceus,urn:lsid:marinespecies.org:taxname:240755
 

See "Supplemental Files" for analysis package (R-language).

* Raw data and analysis script were bundled into file Nucella_predation_analysis_package.zip with no file changes. Attached as a supplemental file.

* Data table from submitted file "Predation stats.csv" was imported into the BCO-DMO data system. Values "" and "nd" imported as missing data values. Table will appear on this dataset page as Data File:
948222_v1_predation_n-lamellosa.csv (with other download format options).

* Column "Date" renamed to "Date_local", and "Time" renamed to "Time_local". [US/Pacific local time]

* New column "ISO_DateTime_UTC" added by combining "Date_local" and "Time_local" with timezone conversion to UTC in ISO 8601 format.

* Any column names with characters other than letters, numbers and underscores were renamed to meet BCO-DMO naming conventions designed to support broad re-use by a variety of research tools and scripting languages. [Only numbers, letters, and underscores.  Can not start with a number]

Missing Data Identifiers:
* In the BCO-DMO data system missing data identifiers are displayed according to the format of data you access. For example, in csv files it will be blank (null) values. In Matlab .mat files it will be NaN values. When viewing data online at BCO-DMO, the missing value will be shown as blank (null) values.

* Taxonomic identifiers added to the metadata (Life Science Identifiers (LSID)). Names matched using the World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) on 2024-01-02.

NSF Award Abstract:
The absorption of human-produced carbon dioxide into the world's oceans is altering the chemistry of seawater, including decreasing its pH. Such changes, collectively called "ocean acidification", are expected to influence numerous types of sea creatures. This project examines how shifts in ocean pH affect animal behavior and thus interactions among species. It uses a case study system that involves sea star predators, snail grazers that they eat, and seaweeds consumed by the latter. The rocky-shore habitats where these organisms live have a long history of attention, and new findings from this work will further extend an already-large body of marine ecological knowledge. The project provides support for graduate and undergraduate students, including underrepresented students from a nearby community college. The project underpins the development of a new educational module for local K-12 schools. Findings will moreover be communicated to the public through the use of short film documentaries, as well as through established relationships with policy, management, and industry groups, and contacts with the media.

Ocean acidification is a global-scale perturbation. Most research on the topic, however, has examined effects on single species operating in isolation, leaving interactions among species underexplored. This project confronts this knowledge gap by considering how ocean acidification may shift predator-prey relationships through altered behavior. It targets as a model system sea stars, their gastropod grazer prey, and macoalgae consumed by the latter, via four lines of inquiry. 1) The project examines the functional response of the focal taxa to altered seawater chemistry, using experiments that target up to 16 discrete levels of pH. This experimental design is essential for identifying nonlinearities and tipping points. 2) The project addresses both consumptive and non-consumptive components of direct and indirect species interactions. The capacity of ocean acidification to influence such links is poorly known, and better understanding of this issue is a recognized priority. 3) The project combines controlled laboratory experiments with field trials that exploit tide pools and their unique pH signatures as natural mesocosms. Field tests of ocean acidification effects are relatively rare and are sorely needed. 4) A final research phase expands upon the above three components to address effects of ocean acidification on multiple additional taxa that interact in rocky intertidal systems, to provide a broad database that may have utility for future experiments or modeling.