Data for 'Sea Star Wasting Syndrome impacts to intertidal communities via mass mortality of a keystone predator'

To test whether the absence of keystone predation due to disease produced changes to the species composition of rocky intertidal communities, I took advantage of a natural experiment involving mass mortality of the keystone predator <i>Pisaster ochraceus </i>from Sea Star Wasting Syndrome. This data contains records of mussel size, mussel position, mussel bed depth, species composition, and changes to the sea star populations of the North American Pacific coast.

为探究由疾病引发的关键种捕食作用（keystone predation）缺失是否会改变潮间带岩相群落（rocky intertidal communities）的物种组成，本研究利用了一场由海星消瘦综合征（Sea Star Wasting Syndrome）导致关键捕食者赭色海盘车（Pisaster ochraceus）大规模死亡的自然实验。本数据集收录了北美太平洋沿岸的贻贝尺寸、贻贝栖息位置、贻贝床深度、物种组成以及海星种群变化的相关观测记录。