Mussel bed community data for: Intraspecific variation in a marine predator changes intertidal community through effects on a foundation species

Intraspecific variation is an important form of biodiversity that can alter community and ecosystem properties. Recent work demonstrates the community effects of intraspecific variation in predators via altering prey communities and in foundation species via shaping habitat attributes. However, tests of the community effects of intraspecific trait variation in predators acting on foundation species are lacking despite the fact that consumption of foundation species can have strong community effects by shaping habitat structure. Here we tested the hypothesis that intraspecific foraging differences among populations of mussel-drilling dogwhelk predators (Nucella) differentially alter intertidal communities through effects on foundational mussels. We conducted a nine-month field experiment where we exposed intertidal mussel bed communities to predation from three Nucella populations that exhibit differences in size-selectivity and consumption time for mussel prey. At the end of the experim..., The dataset was collected after the completion of a nine-month intertidal mussel bed experiment in the mid-intertidal zone testing the effects of intraspecific variation in dogwhelk predators in the genus Nucella. In the experiment, there were 32 plastic Vexar mesh intertidal cages bolted to a relatively flat area of rock, and each contained California mussel bed communities. The cages were treated with dogwhelk predators from three different populations. The goal was to test the effects of differential predation by the dogwhelk populations on the mussel bed physical structure and ecological community. At the completion of the experiment, each cage was photographed from above. Then, the entire community in each cage was removed by hand and frozen for later analysis. The frozen samples were then sorted by species (or as close as we could get to species), classified, weighed, and measured by hand in a laboratory. Dogwhelk data refers to the populations, sizes, and masses of dogwhelk preda..., The comma separated values (.csv) files can be opened by free software such as Google Sheets or Open Office. The R script can be opened using R statistical software or RStudio/Posit, which are also free., # Intraspecific variation in a predator changes intertidal community through effects on a foundation species

***

These four datasets were collected after the completion of a nine-month intertidal mussel bed experiment in the mid-intertidal zone. In the experiment, there were 32 plastic Vexar mesh intertidal cages bolted to a relatively flat area of rock, and each contained California mussel bed communities. The cages were treated with dogwhelk predators from three different populations. The goal was to test the effects of differential predation by the dogwhwelk populations on the mussel bed physical structure and ecological community. The entire community in each cage was removed by hand at the completion of the experiment, then frozen for later analysis. The frozen samples were then sorted, classified, and measured by hand in a laboratory. Dogwhelk data refers to the populations, sizes, and masses of dogwhelk predators used as treatments in the cages. Drilled mussel data refers to th...