Apparent differential phenotypic responses by kelp forest grazers to disease-driven removal of sea star predators; [Data: Tegula shell morphology, GSI, stable isotope analysis]

The potential for aquatic gastropods to display phenotypic plasticity in response to predator cues is well documented in experimental settings. However, long-term physiological responses to predator exposure are difficult to evaluate at large scales in the field. Thus, it is currently unclear (a) the extent to which comparatively dilute predator cues experienced by natural snail populations influence morphometric development and (b) whether energetic costs associated with defensive morphology have allometric impacts on other life history characteristics (e.g., reproduction). The 2013 sea star wasting disease outbreak in central California, USA provided a unique framework for a large-scale natural predator removal experiment, comparing shell morphometrics and gonadosomatic index of subtidal Tegula turban snail populations at kelp forest sites where local predatory sea stars were completely absent (SS-) with paired sites maintaining low predator densities (SS+). All three snail species di..., Dataset includes shell morphometric measurements and tissue (C & N) stable isotope analysis from subtidal Tegula turban snails (T. brunnea, T. montereyi, T. pulligo; total N = 300)  collected from three regions along the central California coast. Field collections were conducted in 2014-2015 after the widespread outbreak of sea star wasting disease, and snails were collected haphazardly by divers on SCUBA from paired sites within each region, selected based on the presence (SS+) and absence (SS-) of predatory sea stars. Detailed methods for data collection and processing are published in Wetmore & Anderson (2024). , , # Apparent differential phenotypic responses by kelp forest grazers to disease-driven removal of sea star predators

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GSI, shell morphology & stable isotope data for Tegula spp. in response to sea star wasting disease

## Description of the data and file structure

Contains data on Tegula species, collection location, shell morphometric measurements, and biomass measurements for predator present (SS+) and predator absent (SS-) study sites in three central California study regions, with measurements in columns and individual samples in rows.

### Variables

SampleID- Unique numerical identifier (1-300) randomly assigned to each individual snail at time of sample processing

Area- Categorical identifier designating the study region where an individual was collected: Monterey (\"MON\"), Big Sur (\"BIS\"), San Luis Obispo (\"SLO\")

SeaStar- Categorical identifier designating whether an individual was collected from a paired SS+ site with predatory sea stars present (\"Present\") or SS- sit...