Marine intertidal organisms found in experimental clearings on sheltered shores in the Gulf of Maine

Experimental clearings in macroalgal (Ascophyllum nodosum) stands were established in 1996 to determine if mussel beds and macroalgal stands on protected intertidal shores of New England represent alternative community states. Circular clearings 1, 2, 4, and 8 m in diameter were made in Ascophyllum stands at 12 sites on Swan's Island, Maine. Each site also had an uncleared control. The sites are nested within four bays. The purpose of this data set is to provide access to data on densities and percent cover in the 60 experimental plots from 1996 to 2002. Data include densities of mussels (Mytilus edulis and Modiolus modiolus), an herbivorous limpet (Tectura testudinalis), herbivorous snails (Littorina littorea, Littorina obtusata), a predatory snail (Nucella lapillus), a barnacle (Semibalanus balanoides), and fucoid algae (Ascophyllum nodosum and Fucus vesiculosus), and percent cover by mussels, barnacles, and fucoids. Published analyses of the data set show that succession depends on clearing size and not on site-specific differences.

1996年，研究人员在新英格兰受保护潮间带海岸的泡叶藻（Ascophyllum nodosum）大型海藻群落中设置实验清理样区，旨在探明该区域内的贻贝床与大型海藻群落是否属于两种交替稳定的群落状态。研究团队在缅因州天鹅岛（Swan's Island）的12个样点的泡叶藻群落内，设置直径分别为1、2、4、8米的圆形清理样区；每个样点同时保留未经过人为清理的对照样地，所有样点嵌套于4个海湾之中。本数据集旨在公开1996年至2002年间60个实验样地内的物种密度与盖度百分比数据。数据涵盖的指标包括：紫贻贝（Mytilus edulis）与厚壳贻贝（Modiolus modiolus）、草食性帽贝（Tectura testudinalis）、草食性螺类（滨螺Littorina littorea、光滑滨螺Littorina obtusata）、掠食性螺类（荔枝螺Nucella lapillus）、藤壶（Semibalanus balanoides）以及褐藻（泡叶藻Ascophyllum nodosum、墨角藻Fucus vesiculosus）的种群密度，以及贻贝、藤壶与褐藻的盖度百分比。已发表的针对该数据集的分析结果显示，该潮间带群落的演替进程仅取决于清理样区的大小，而非样点本身的特异性差异。