Blue Crab Densities in a Landscape Context on the Virginia Coast, Summer 2019

Table 1 Crab Data : Blue crab ( Callinectes sapidus ) abundance was sampled at twenty-four sites in Spider Crab Bay, Cobb Bay, and South Bay (comprising two large seagrass meadows: "South Bay" for the northern portion and "Ship Shoal" for the southern portion) as part of a study to evaluate the drivers of blue crab spatial patterns across restored seagrass meadows in the coastal bays of Virginia, USA. The four meadows are representative of seagrass meadows in the region that have recovered after experiencing large declines due to wasting disease and storms (Orth et al., 2006). Each meadow contained six fixed sampling sites. Each captured crab's morphological and demographic characteristics were evaluated; as such, data are presented at the individual level. Table 2 Landscape Data: Landscape measurements were taken for twenty-four sites in Spider Crab Bay, Cobb Bay, and South Bay (comprising two large seagrass meadows: "South Bay" for the northern portion and "Ship Shoal" for the southern portion) as part of a study to evaluate the drivers of blue crab spatial patterns across restored seagrass meadows in the coastal bays of Virginia, USA. The four meadows are representative of seagrass meadows in the region that have recovered after experiencing large declines due to wasting disease and storms (Orth et al. 2006). Each meadow contained six fixed sampling sites. All landscape measurements were made using QGIS 3.14.0 (QGIS.org 2020). Seagrass landscape measurements were calculated using maps developed from aerial imagery by Orth et al. (2019). Oyster reefs polygons were mapped by Ross and Luckenbach (2009). Salt marsh polygons were mapped by Berman et al. (2011) and modified based on imagery from Planet Team (2019).