Oyster survival differences in high-quality reefs from Skidaway Island, GA from July to October 2019

This dataset contains the survivorship of oysters planted in high-quality reefs to determine how induced defenses and habitat structural complexity influence basal prey survival. Oysters (a basal prey) induced to grow stronger shells were planted with control oysters along transects spanning the center of the reefs to outside the reefs. Oysters were left in the field for two days before individual oyster survival was assessed.

Predators often produce nonconsumptive effects (NCEs) in their prey in the form of behavioral or morphological changes. Such changes often have larger or equal consequences for population dynamics as the predator directly consumes individual prey. However, it is not well understood how predators feeding across multiple trophic levels cause cascading NCEs that interact across prey trophic levels or how the prey survival benefits from these interactions change across contexts. These data help demonstrate how NCEs can influence population dynamics across space and quantify the strength of these context-dependent interactions.

Data were collected by Drs. Benjamin Belgrad, Lee Smee, and Marc Weissburg from the Dauphin Island Sea Lab and Georgia Institute of Technology.

本数据集收录了种植于优质礁体中的牡蛎存活数据，旨在探究诱导防御与栖息地结构复杂度如何影响基础猎物的存活情况。研究人员将诱导生成更坚硬壳体的牡蛎（作为基础猎物）与对照组牡蛎一同，沿礁体中心延伸至礁体外的样带进行种植。所有牡蛎被置于野外环境两天后，再对单只牡蛎的存活情况进行评估。

捕食者通常会通过行为或形态变化的形式，对猎物产生非消耗性效应（nonconsumptive effects, NCEs）。相较于捕食者直接捕食单个猎物，这类变化对种群动态的影响往往更大，或至少与之相当。然而，目前学界尚未明确：跨多个营养级觅食的捕食者如何引发在猎物营养级间相互作用的级联非消耗性效应，以及此类相互作用为猎物带来的生存益处如何随环境背景发生变化。本数据集有助于阐明非消耗性效应如何在空间尺度上影响种群动态，并量化这些依赖于环境背景的相互作用的强度。

本数据集由来自多芬岛海洋实验室（Dauphin Island Sea Lab）与佐治亚理工学院（Georgia Institute of Technology）的Benjamin Belgrad、Lee Smee与Marc Weissburg三位博士采集。