Abstract:

Abundances of benthic macroinfauna were measured in conjunction with field-deployed sediment oxygen demand chambers at two sites around Tampa Bay, Florida, in the summer of 2015. 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). 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 therefore 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 the abundance of each taxon was determined. Abundances are presented as individuals per square meter. These data are associated with the dataset: Sediment oxygen demand in shallow water habitats around Tampa Bay in 2015 and 2016 (GRIIDC dataset R4.x262.000:0009).

Suggested Citation:

Susan Bell. 2017. Macroinfaunal abundance in shallow water habitats around Tampa Bay in 2015. Distributed by: GRIIDC, Harte Research Institute, Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi. doi:10.7266/N7765CFX

Purpose:

Infaunal samples were collected from unoiled reference sites in seagrass (Halodule and Thalassia) and open, unvegetated sediment habitats to investigate infaunal community structure. The goal was to compare these communities with those that were impacted by oil exposure during the Deepwater Horizon spill sites in the Chandeleur Islands, northern Gulf of Mexico. Metrics of diversity and NMDS analysis were conducted to determine whether communities differed significantly between sites as well as among habitats. These data were collected as part of the ACER consortium.

Data Parameters and Units:

CORE IDs 1: Core ID - Description: Unique identifiers for each core sampled. This ID includes sample site (Tampa [TB]), station (FDS, WM), Habitat (Unvegetated Sediment [O,BS], Halodule [Hal], Thalassia [Thal], Marsh [M]), Sampling date (ddmmyy), core type (Metabolism [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, or also read as a C after the habitat distinction) (pertains only to accompanying metabolism data). 2. Sampling Trip - Description: Season in which sampling was conducted in the Tampa Bay (Summer 2015) 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 Tampa Bay. Site FDS (Fort De Soto) was located at (27.637241N, -82.698169W), and Site WM (War Memorial) was located at (27.475968N, -82.770803W). 5. Location Latitude - Description: Latitude for each sampling site in decimal degrees. 6. Location Longitude - Description: Longitude for each sampling site in 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 Halodule or Thalassia beds (Open), Thalassia sp. seagrass beds (Thalassia), Halodule sp. seagrass beds (Halodule), Thalassia sp. manually cut at the sediment surface and removed prior to sample collection (Cut Thalassia), and Halodule sp. manually cut at the sediment surface and removed prior to sample collection (Cut Halodule). 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. ABUNDANCE DATA 1. Taxon- Description: Full taxa identification given as Phylum.Class.Family.Genus.Species as a catanation of the taxa identification columns. Not all taxa were identified to species level. 2. Phylum - Description: The minimum level of identification of infaunal organisms 3. Class - Description: The identified Class of each taxon. (Value c indicates that the class was not identified for the animal in question.) 4. Family - Description: The identified Family of each taxon. (Value f indicates that the family was not identified for the animal in question.) 5. Genus - Description: The identified Genus of each taxon. (Value g indicates that the Genus was not identified for the animal in question.) 6. Species - Description: The identified Species of each taxon. 7. 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. Abundance is in individuals per square meter

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