Abstract:

Fish diet data, salt marsh habitat data and tidal data from 1953 to 2017 were collected via literature search of previously published literature, public National Estuarine Research Reserve data sets and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration tidal buoys in order to assess the relative importance of marsh associated prey items in the diets of transient estuarine fish from Texas to New York (grouped by broad geographic regions).

Suggested Citation:

Ziegler, Shelby, Fodrie, Fredrick (Joel). 2019. Fish diet and salt marsh habitat data from Texas to New York, 1953-2017. Distributed by: GRIIDC, Harte Research Institute, Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi. doi:10.7266/n7-mw9x-0y68

Publications:

Ziegler, S. L., Able, K. W., & Fodrie, F. J. (2019). Dietary shifts across biogeographic scales alter spatial subsidy dynamics. Ecosphere, 10(12). doi:10.1002/ecs2.2980

Purpose:

To assess the movement of energy via trophic interactions from the marsh to estuarine habitats and better understand how future perturbations may affect secondary production in coastal habitats along the East and Gulf coasts.

Data Parameters and Units:

In all worksheets “NA” indicates that data was not available. Worksheet: Fish Diet Data Reference: Journal reference or dataset from which the data was obtained; Year published: Year the data or paper was published; Location: Description of the site location where data cited in journal or dataset was collected; Geographic region: General geographic region assigned by current dataset authors to the data collected from journals or datasets (Gulf of Mexico, South Atlantic, Mid Atlantic); State/Territory/Region: Broader location descriptor where original data was collected; Lat: Latitude where original data from paper or dataset were collected, if provided; Long: Longitude where original data from paper or dataset were collected, if provided; Year: Year when original data from paper or dataset data was collected, if provided; Month: Month when original data from paper or dataset data was collected, if provided; Season: Season when original data from paper or dataset data was collected, if given; Study type: Indicates laboratory or field study; Habitat type: Broad habitat type assigned to where fishes for diet study were collected (in original data source); Species: Species name (Genus species) of predator; Common name: Common name of predator; Group: Group assigned by current dataset authors to predators to bin across regions if different species within the same Genus were used (i.e. Flounder); Life history stage or size: Descriptor of life history stage or size of predatory fishes; Collection methods: How predatory fishes were collected; Prey item: Prey item name from original data from paper or dataset; Prey item final name: Prey item name assigned or grouped for analysis by current dataset authors; Not given: Indicates the data type was not given in original data source (i.e. there was no specification whether the data was percent frequency, number, volume, weight or raw numbers from fish stomachs); Percent frequency: The percent frequency (how often) a given prey item was present in predator diets. NAs indicate reference did not have percent frequency data; Percent number: The percent of the total number of prey a given prey item was found in predator diet. NAs indicate reference did not have percent number data; Percent volume: The percent of the total volume of prey a given prey item was in predator diets. NAs indicate reference did not have percent volume data; Percent weight: The percent of the total weight a given prey item was in predator diets. NAs indicate reference did not have percent frequency data. Worksheet: Habitat Data Reference: Journal reference or dataset from which the data was obtained; Year published: Year the data or paper was published; Location: Description of the site location where data cited in journal or dataset was collected; Geographic region: General geographic region assigned by current dataset authors to the data collected from journals or datasets (Gulf of Mexico, South Atlantic, Mid Atlantic); State/Territory/Region: Broader location descriptor where original data was collected; Year: Year when original data from paper or dataset data was collected, if provided; Month: Month when original data from paper or dataset data was collected, if provided; Species: Species of plant that was sampled; Distance: Distance in meters (m) landward from the tidal creek-marsh platform boundary. A negative number indicates moving away from the defined marsh edge seaward or toward open water; Shoot density (m2): Shoot density for a given plant species per meter squared; Sd.e: Standard error of shoot density data taken from papers where the mean shoot density for an entire site was given; Shoot height (m): Shoot height for a given marsh plant species in meters; Live.dead.total: Identification for whether plant biomass in a plot was live, dead, or both live and dead (total). NAs indicates that the paper or data set did not have biomass data; Biomass (g/m2): Value for above and belowground biomass in grams per meter squared. Worksheet: Tide Data Station ID: NOAA Tide Gauge Station Identification Number; Location: Description of the site location of the tidal gauge; State: U.S. state in which the tidal gauge is located; Lat,Long: Latitude and Longitude in Decimal Degrees of the tidal gauge; Geographic region: General geographic region assigned by current dataset authors to the tide gauge locations (GoM=Gulf of Mexico, SA=South Atlantic, MA=Mid Atlantic); Mean tide: The difference in height between mean high water and mean low water; Mean sea level: The arithmetic mean of hourly heights observed over the National Tidal Datum Epoch. Shorter series are specified in the name; e.g. monthly mean sea level and yearly mean sea level; Mean tl: The arithmetic mean of mean high water and mean low water; Mhw: The average of all the high water heights observed over the National Tidal Datum Epoch. For stations with shorter series, comparison of simultaneous observations with a control tide station is made in order to derive the equivalent datum of the National Tidal Datum Epoch.

Methods:

Some sources of public data are listed in the worksheets. Tide gauge data was downloaded from https://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/map/index.html. Vegetation data from National Estuarine Research Reserves: NERRS SWMP Vegetation Monitoring Data can be downloaded from NOAA https://coast.noaa.gov/digitalcoast/data/

Individual Files: