Benthic Macroinvertebrate Communities Associated with an Artificial Giant Kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera) Forest in Lüderitz Bay, Namibia

This dataset contains benthic macroinvertebrate abundance data collected from an artificial giant kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera) forest and reference habitats in Lüderitz Bay, Namibia, during June–July 2025. The dataset includes: Raw and cleaned data: -Sediments Raw Data – original counts from Van Veen grab and sediment cores -Sediments_Clean_Data – processed sediment data for analysis -SWB-INT Rocky Raw Data – original rocky intertidal counts (R1-R5) -Rocky_Data_Clean – processed rocky intertidal data -SWB-INT Rocky Field Data – field observations -SACFOR-based scale – semi-quantitative abundance categories used for rocky intertidal -Kelp holdfast – epifauna from M. pyrifera holdfast (qualitative) -Laminaria holdfast – epifauna from L. pallida holdfast (qualitative) Analysis outputs: -R Notebook Report (Report.html) – complete reproducible analysis with code, tables, and figures -Biodiversity indices (Species richness, Shannon diversity, Pielou's evenness) per sample -NMDS ordination scores -Statistical test results (Kruskal-Wallis, Dunn's post-hoc, PERMANOVA) Methods: Van Veen grab (subtidal), sediment cores (sandy intertidal), time-constrained active search (rocky intertidal). Identification to family level using standard taxonomic keys for the Benguela Current region. This study provides baseline data for artificial kelp forest biodiversity in the Benguela Upwelling System, comparing communities across a spatial gradient: offshore artificial kelp forest (AKF), nearshore shallow artificial kelp zone (NKZ), intertidal rocky shore with native kelps (INT-Rocky), and intertidal sandy shore (INT-Sandy).