Relative abundance of a dominant estuarine fish and spatial extent of structured habitats in Middle Marsh, North Carolina, USA

Structured biogenic habitats in estuarine and coastal landscapes (or seascapes) augment nekton species’ production; yet, landscape setting may make restored habitats functionally redundant to co-occurring habitats for some species. Few relationships between recruitment enhancement and continuous landscape metrics have been quantified, limiting our ability to incorporate functional redundancy into restoration practice.
To address this gap, we quantified two landscape metrics, percent structure of proximal habitat and near distance to co-occurring structured habitats, for experimentally restored oyster reefs in an intertidal landscape in Middle Marsh, North Carolina, USA. We then examined the relationships between each landscape metric and recruitment enhancement of juvenile pinfish (Lagodon rhomboides), a species that uses multiple biogenic habitats and has high site fidelity as juveniles.
We estimated that reefs with < 33% proximal structured habitat within 15 m and < 59% within 5..., Data quantifying pinfish (Lagodon rhomboides) use of restored oyster reefs and control plots in Middle Marsh, Rachel Carson Estuarine Research Reserve, North Carolina, USA were collected from 1997 - 1999 for a prior publication: Grabowski, J. H., Hughes, A. R., Kimbro, D. L., & Dolan, M. A. (2005). How habitat setting influences restored oyster reef communities. Ecology, 86(7), 1926–1935. https://doi.org/10.1890/04-0690 (hereafter Grabowski et al. 2005). Fish data retained by the current study (Davenport et al., 2024) were collected via trap sampling using minnow traps (44.5 cm long x 24.3 cm diameter with 5-mm mesh screen and ~2,5 cm openings on two opposing sides) and modified Morton fish traps (0.7 m long x 0.6 m wide x 0.25 m high, with steel rebar frames and 5-mm nylon mesh walls containing two opposing 7 cm diameter tunnel openings)  that were unbaited and set monthly from August through November 1997 and April through November 1998 and1999 during the day. Additional species w..., , # Relative abundance of a dominant estuarine fish and spatial extent of structured habitats in Middle Marsh, North Carolina, USA

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.bvq83bkjm](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.bvq83bkjm)

## Description of the data and file structure

Data quantifying pinfish (*Lagodon rhomboides*) use of restored oyster reefs and control plots in Middle Marsh, Rachel Carson Estuarine Research Reserve, North Carolina, USA were collected from 1997 - 1999 for a prior publication: Grabowski, J. H., Hughes, A. R., Kimbro, D. L., & Dolan, M. A. (2005). How habitat setting influences restored oyster reef communities. *Ecology*, *86*(7), 1926–1935. [https://doi.org/10.1890/04-0690](https://doi.org/10.1890/04-0690) (hereafter Grabowski et al. 2005). The data were used to compare relative pinfish abundances at restored oyster reefs and control plots within three habitat settings: 1) mud flats, 2) adjacent to salt marsh (emergent vegetation), and 3) between salt marsh and submerged a...