Oyster survival difference experiments in low quality reefs in Mobile Bay, AL in September 2019

This dataset contains survivorship of oysters planted in low quality reefs to determine how induced defenses and habitat structural complexity influence basal prey survival. Oysters (a basal prey) induced to grow stronger shells were planted with control oysters along transects spanning the center of the reefs to outside the reefs. Oysters were left in the field for two days before individual oyster survival was assessed.

Predators often produce nonconsumptive effects (NCEs) in their prey in the form of behavioral or morphological changes. Such changes often have larger or equal consequences for population dynamics as the predator directly consumes individual prey. However, it is not well understood how predators feeding across multiple trophic levels cause cascading NCEs that interact across prey trophic levels or how the prey survival benefits from these interactions change across contexts. These data help demonstrate how NCEs can influence population dynamics across space and quantify the strength of these context-dependent interactions.

Data were collected by Drs. Benjamin Belgrad, Lee Smee, and Marc Weissburg from the Dauphin Island Sea Lab and Georgia Institute of Technology.