Date Range:
Thursday, August 22, 2019
Publication Date:
Wednesday, July 14, 2021
To test the hypothesis that M. pugnax reduced benthic microalgal biomass, we selected ten plots (0.0625 m2) with fiddler crabs present (determined by the presence of burrows and either feeding pellets or crabs) and counted burrows within the plot. Each crab plot was paired with a reference plot (lacking burrows, feeding pellets, or crabs) that was 1–2 m away, for a total of 20 plots. Plot pairs were at least 10 m apart from each other due to the patchiness of M. pugnax colonies. We estimated the biomass of benthic microalgal functional groups (diatoms, cyanobacteria, and green algae) on the sediment surface with a handheld fluorometer (BenthoTorch, BBe Moldaenke, Germany) in duplicate samples within each plot.
On going collections.
Version 01: February 10, 2021, data and metadata updates to comply with importation to DEIMS7 and LTER Data Portal. Used MarcrosExportEML_HTML (working)pie_excel2007_Sep2020.xlsm 9/17/20 1:11 PM for QA/QC to EML 2.1.0.