Abstract:

Benthic macroinfauna samples were collected in the subtidal zone from two sites in upper Terrebonne Bay, Louisiana, near areas where WormCams had been deployed. Cores were collected in May (one location only), July (one location only) and August 2013 (two locations). Macroinfauna were identified to the lowest possible taxonomic level. WormCam study data and associated hydrographic data collected in the same area are available through GRIIDC Unique Dataset Identifiers (UDIs) R1.x139.144:0007 and R1.x139.144:0024, respectively.

Suggested Citation:

Shivarudrappa, Shivakumar, Rabalais, Nancy N.. 2019. Benthic macroinfauna collected from the subtidal zone in Terrebonne Bay, Louisiana from 2013-05-28 to 2013-08-07. Distributed by: GRIIDC, Harte Research Institute, Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi. doi:10.7266/n7-pxdv-gw42

Purpose:

Subtidal infauna were collected near areas where WormCams had been deployed to provide possible ground-truth data for what might be seen in the images from the WormCams. The types of infauna are key to the level of bioturbation and the depth of the redox potential discontinuity layer.

Data Parameters and Units:

Month Collected: Month samples were collected in the field, Year Collected: Year samples were collected in the field, Date Collected: Date samples were collected in the field (MM/DD/YY), Site: User-defined identifier assigned to each sampling location, LAT (decimal degrees): Latitude of sampling location in decimal degrees, LONG (decimal degrees): Longitude of sampling location in decimal degrees, Replicate #: User-defined identifier for replicate samples, Abundances of categories of organisms encountered in subtidal samples (units are individually counted).

Methods:

Cores were collected by hand from subtidal areas adjacent to the WormCams, using three, 3 inches (7.62 cm) diameter cores (45.6 cm2 area) to a depth of 10 cm. Samples were collected by wading out to a depth of approximately 1 meter and placing all three core tubes on the underwater sediment surface all at once, to diminish disturbance of overlying water on the other tubes during extraction. Cores were sieved in the field at 0.5 mm (500 µm), transferred into sample jars, and fixed/stained in 10% formalin-Rose Bengal solution in the field. Samples were processed in the lab by pouring off the formalin through a 0.5 mm sieve and rinsing gently & thoroughly with tap water to remove formalin residue, then transferring 1-2 teaspoons of material at a time into gridded counting trays and examined under a dissecting scope. Macroinfauna were identified to the lowest possible taxonomic level.

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