Georgia Coastal Ecosystems LTER Data Set Details

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GCE-LTER Data Set Summary

Accession:

INV-GCEM-2409

Research Theme:

Aquatic Invertebrate Ecology (Monitoring)

Contributors:

Steven C. Pennings, John Williams, Jonah Rigdon

Title:

Fall 2023 crab population monitoring: mid-marsh and creek bank abundance based on crab hole counts at GCE marsh, monitoring sites 1-10

Abstract:

This data set is the Fall 2023 estimate of crab densities at the GCE-LTER marsh sites used for population monitoring. Crab abundance was determined by counting the number of crab holes within a 625 cm^2 quadrat and converting the counts to number per square meter. Counts were made in the mid-marsh and creek bank zones (n = 4 per zone) at GCE sites 1 through 10. Note that this census method does not differentiate which species made a particular hole and therefore only estimates total burrowing crab abundance, potentially including species Uca pugnax, Uca minax, Uca pugilator, Armases cinereum, Eurytium limosum and Sesarma reticulatum. Crab holes that are not actively maintained are quickly covered by tidal activity and other sediment disturbances, therefore plugged holes were assumed to be unoccupied and excluded from the counts.

DOI:

(not assigned)

Key Words:

Animalia, Aquatic Invertebrate Monitoring, Armases, Armases cinereum, Arthropoda, Bilateria, Brachyura, crabs, creek bank, Crustacea, Decapoda, density, Ecdysozoa, Eucarida, Eumalacostraca, Eurytium, Eurytium limosum, fall, GCE, Georgia, Georgia Coastal Ecosystems, Grapsoidea, intertidal, LTER, Malacostraca, marshes, mid-marsh, monitoring, mud, Ocypodidae, Ocypodoidea, Panopeidae, permanent plots, Pleocyemata, population dynamics, Protostomia, Sapelo Island, Sesarma, Sesarma reticulatum, Sesarmidae, Uca, Uca minax, Uca pugilator, Uca pugnax, USA, Xanthoidea

LTER Core Area:

Population Studies

Research Themes:

GCE2 Q2 - Domain Patterns, GCE3 Area2 - Patterns within the Domain, Aquatic Invertebrate Ecology

Study Period:

09-Oct-2022 to 19-Oct-2022

Study Sites:

GCE1 -- Eulonia, Georgia, USA
GCE2 -- Four Mile Island, Georgia, USA
GCE3 -- North Sapelo, Sapelo Island, Georgia, USA
GCE4 -- Meridian, Georgia, USA
GCE5 -- Folly River, Georgia, USA
GCE6 -- Dean Creek, Sapelo Island, Georgia, USA
GCE7 -- Carrs Island, Georgia, USA
GCE8 -- Alligator Creek, Georgia, USA
GCE9 -- Rockdedundy Island, Georgia, USA
GCE10 -- Hunt Camp, Sapelo Island, Georgia, USA

» Download Geographic Coverage: Google Earth

Species References:

Armases cinereum, Eurytium limosum, Sesarma reticulatum, Uca minax, Uca pugilator, Uca pugnax

Project References:

Marine invertebrate monitoring

Downloads:

Data Table: INV-GCEM-2409 (Main data table for data set INV-GCEM-2409, 88 records)

Access: GCE Members only (public release on 23-Feb-2025)

Metadata: Text (ESA FLED), XML (Ecological Metadata Language)

Data Formats: Spreadsheet (CSV) [9.15kb], Text File [7.71kb], MATLAB (GCE Toolbox) [88.67kb], MATLAB (Variables) [83.77kb], Text Report [133.80kb]

Column List:(hide)

Column	Name	Units	Type	Description
1	Year	YYYY	integer	Calendar year sample was collected
2	Month	MM	integer	Calenday month sample was collected
3	Day	DD	integer	Calendar day sample was collected
4	Site	none	integer	GCE study site code
5	Zone	none	integer	Marsh zone
6	Plot	none	integer	Plot number
7	Location	none	string	Geographic location code in the GCE Metadata Database for the sampling plot
8	Flag_Location	none	string	QA/QC flags for Geographic location code in the GCE Metadata Database for the sampling plot (flagging criteria, where "x" is Location: manual)
9	Location_Notes	none	string	Notes on location assignments and geographic accuracy
10	Longitude	degrees	floating-point	Geographic longitude in decimal degrees
11	Flag_Longitude	none	string	QA/QC flags for Geographic longitude in decimal degrees (flagging criteria, where "x" is Longitude: x<-180="I", x>180="I", manual)
12	Latitude	degrees	floating-point	Geographic latitude in decimal degrees
13	Flag_Latitude	none	string	QA/QC flags for Geographic latitude in decimal degrees (flagging criteria, where "x" is Latitude: x<-90="I", x>90="I", manual)
14	Quadrat_Area	cm^2	floating-point	Areal measurement of the quadrat frame
15	Hole_Count	Count	floating-point	Number of crab holes recorded in 625 cm^2 quadrat
16	Hole_Density	Count/m^2	floating-point	Calculated number of crab holes per meter squared

Citation:

Pennings, Steven C. 2024. Fall 2023 crab population monitoring: mid-marsh and creek bank abundance based on crab hole counts at GCE marsh, monitoring sites 1-10. Georgia Coastal Ecosystems LTER Project, University of Georgia, Long Term Ecological Research Network. https://gce-lter.marsci.uga.edu/data/INV-GCEM-2409

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