Benthic invertebrates from intertidal mudflats at the on the coast of Virginia, 2016

We surveyed benthic invertebrates, primarily infauna, during the summer of 2016 on several intertidal mudflats using wet- sieved sediment cores. Infauna cores (25 cm diameter, 10 cm deep) were taken along 100 meter transects (4 sites; 2-4 transects per site; 4 cores per transect). Polychaete individuals were identified to family, while other taxa were identified to phylum or lower. Some groups were counted together, as follows: Gastropods (sea slugs, nudibranchs, snails); small crustaceans (amphipods, isopods and shrimp); large crustaceans (crabs); bivalves (clams). The cnidaria group here is composed of burrowing anemones, Enteropneusta is the acorn worm and Diptera here is burrowing fly larvae. Data Table 1 provides the numbers of different taxa from each core taken along each transect at each site. Additionally, the AFDW (ash free dry weight) of the infauna sampled is included. Data Table 2 provides a summary of the polychaete biodiversity data presented in Spreadsheet 1, with the total counts for each polychaete family found at the four different sites. Samples were collected during May of 2016. Polychaetes were identified using Polychaete Key for Chesapeake Bay and Coastal Virginia (Bartholomew 2001).