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
(same tethered organism, different predator)

​Dataset: Fear behavior with predators: tethered Nucella lamellosa in the presence of predator Pisaster ochraceus
https://www.bco-dmo.org/node/948222
(different tethered organism, different predator)

Pisaster ochraceus, Cancer productus, and Tegula funebralis were collected along the coastline of Sonoma County, California in 2018. Both Pisaster and Tegula were sampled at Carmet Beach (38.372172 N, 123.076438 W), and the Cancer crabs were gathered subtidally from Doran Beach (38.309334 N, -123.048703 W). 

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. For Tegula, we used 20 mesocosms each with ten Tegula and an individual Pisaster (86.7mm +/- 14.4mm from madreporite to tip of longest arm). Ten of the mesocosms contained tethered snails and the other half had untethered snails. We used a similar approach with 20 Cancer crabs (136.8mm +/- 10.8mm carapace width).

We ran a linear regression on logged proportion of snails surviving with tethering, duration of the experiment, and their interactive effects as fixed factors.

Organism identifiers (taxonomic names used in dataset metadata):

Scientific Name, Life Science Identifier (LSID)
Tegula funebralis, urn:lsid:marinespecies.org:taxname:534190
Nucella lamellosa, urn:lsid:marinespecies.org:taxname:404218
Pisaster ochraceus,urn:lsid:marinespecies.org:taxname:240755
Cancer productus,urn:lsid:marinespecies.org:taxname:440382

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

* Raw data and analysis R-scripts for three related datasets were packaged into the supplemental file Tegula_tethering_with_predators_analysis_package.zip (no modifications to files). The zip file was attached to two datasets (BCO-DMO datasets 959435 and 959441).

* Data table from submitted file "Cancer tegula teth stats.csv" was imported into the BCO-DMO data system. Table will appear on this dataset page as Data File:
959435_v1_predation_t-funebralis-cancer.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.