Abstract:

Abundances of benthic macroinfauna were measured in conjunction with field-deployed sediment oxygen demand chambers at four sites on the Chandeleur Sound side of the Chandeleur Islands in the Fall and Summer of 2015 and 2016. Cores (15 cm diameter, 15 cm depth) were collected after each sediment oxygen demand measurement was completed in the field, and additional cores were collected for infauna only (with no SOD measurement; either 10 or 15 cm diameter; 15 cm depth). Each sediment core was sieved using 0.5 mm mesh. Each sample was preserved in 95% ethanol and Rose Bengal stain. All organisms that were alive upon collection and therefor stained were picked out using a dissecting microscope, and placed into separate vials with 95% ethanol for preservation. Animals were identified to lowest taxonomic classification possible, and abundance of each taxa was determined. Abundances are presented as individuals/m2. These data are associated with the dataset: Sediment oxygen demand in shallow water habitats around the Chandeleur Islands in 2015 and 2016.

Suggested Citation:

Kelly Dorgan, Sarah Berke. 2017. Macroinfaunal abundance in shallow water habitats around the Chandeleur Islands in 2015 and 2016. Distributed by: GRIIDC, Harte Research Institute, Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi. doi:10.7266/N7CF9NFD

Purpose:

Infaunal samples were collected from oiled and unoiled sites in seagrass (Ruppia and Thalassia) and open sediment habitats to determine whether infaunal community structure had recovered from oil exposure during the Deepwater Horizon spill. Metrics of diversity and NMDS analysis were conducted to determine whether communities differed significantly between heavily and lightly oiled sites as well as among habitats. These data were collected as part of the ACER consortium.

Data Parameters and Units:

CORE ID DATA 1: Core ID - Description: Unique identifiers for each core sampled. This ID includes sample site (Chandeleur Islands [CI]), station (A, B, C1, C2), Habitat (Unvegetated Sediment [O], Ruppia [Rup], Thalassia [Thal], Marsh [M]), Sampling date (ddmmyy), core type (Metabolism data also collected [M], Whole Infauna Core with no SOD data [W]), replicate number (#), Light/Dark distinction for metabolism cores (L, D), and whether the submerged vegetation was cut (cut) (pertains only to accompanying metabolism data). 2. Sampling Trip - Description: Season in which sampling was conducted in the Chandeleur Islands (Summer 2015, Fall 2015, Summer 2016, Fall 2016) 3. Date - Description: Date sample was collected from the field (yyyy-mm-dd). 4. Site - Description: Site codes corresponding to different sampling locations around the Chandeleur Islands. Site A was located at (29.864039N, -88.842443W), Site B was located at (29.894658N, -88.828155W), Site C1 was located at (29.92758N, -88.8293W), and Site C2 was located at (29.9338N, -88.82949W). 5. Location Latitude - Description: Latitude for each sampling site (decimal degrees). 6. Location Longitude - Description: Longitude for each sampling site (decimal degrees). 7. Habitat: Describes the habitat type from which the sample was collected as well as indication of whether the above-ground vegetation was clipped (cut). Habitat types included unvegetated, open sediment habitat adjacent to either Ruppia or Thalassia beds (Open), Thalassia sp. seagrass beds (Thalassia), Ruppia sp. seagrass beds (Ruppia), Thalassia sp. manually cut at the sediment surface and removed prior to sample collection (Cut Thalassia), and Ruppia sp. manually cut at the sediment surface and removed prior to sample collection (Cut Ruppia). 8. Light.Dark - Description: A category that pertains to the condition of each chamber during SOD measurements (for cores with accompanying SOD data). Light (L) corresponds with chambers that permitted ambient light to penetrate into the chamber to facilitate photosynthesis. Dark (D) corresponds with chambers that were constructed to exclude ambient light to minimize the dissolved oxygen contribution from photosynthesis. Light or Dark conditions are not relevant for whole infauna cores, therefore entries here for these cores are left as NA. 9. Core Type - Description: Indication of whether the core was collected with corresponding oxygen consumption data (M) or without (W). 10. Core Diameter - Description: Diameter (cm) of acrylic tube used for sample collection. CORE ABUNDANCE DATA 1. ID - Description: This column is a concatenation of the following 5 columns, for the purpose of creating a unique name for each taxon. 2. Taxa - Full taxa identification given as Phylum.[Sub Phylum if given].Class.Family.Genus.Species. Not all taxa were identified to species level. 3. Phylum.Subphylum - Description: The minimum level of identification of infauna organisms. Phylum and Subphylum are divided by a period. 4. Class - Description: The identified Class of each taxon. Those without a Class distinction are entered as c. 5. Family - Description: The identified Family of each taxon. Those without a Family distinction are entered as f. 6. Genus - Description: The identified Genus of each taxon. Those without a Genus distinction are entered as g. 7. Species - Description: The identified Species of each taxon. Those without a Species distinction are entered as sp. 8. The following columns are Core Sample IDs which correspond to the associated Core ID dataset which provides the physical and environmental details of each core sample. Under each core ID is the abundance of each taxa within each sample given as individuals per square meter.

Individual Files: