Long-term Burrowing Crab Population Abundance Data from the Georgia Coastal Ecosystems LTER Fall Marsh Monitoring Program

This data set includes long-term observational data on burrowing crab abundance at 10 Georgia Coastal Ecosystems marsh sites used for annual plant and invertebrate population monitoring. Crab abundance was determined by performing surveys of crab hole occurance within replicate 625 square centimeter quadrats and converting the counts to number per square meter. Surveys were performed annually during October within the mid-marsh and creek bank zones at GCE marsh study sites 1 through 10 (i.e. n = 4 per zone at each site). Surveys were also performed in an additional high marsh Juncus zone at several sites beginning in 2009 (i.e. n = 4 quadrats per site). Note that this census method does not differentiate which species made a particular hole and therefore only estimates total burrowing crab abundance, potentially including species Uca pugnax, Uca minax, Uca pugilator, Armases cinereum, Eurytium limosum, Sesarma reticulatum and Panopeus spp. Crab holes that are not actively maintained are quickly covered by tidal activity and other sediment disturbances, therefore plugged holes were assumed to be unoccupied and excluded from the counts. This data set includes cumulative observations from 2000 to 2022, and will be updated annually to include the prior year observations.本数据集涵盖佐治亚海岸生态系统（Georgia Coastal Ecosystems，GCE）10处盐沼样地的穴居蟹丰度长期观测数据，此类样地常规用于开展年度植物与无脊椎动物种群监测。穴居蟹丰度通过以下流程测定：在重复布设的625平方厘米样方（quadrat）内开展蟹洞调查，再将统计得到的洞孔数量换算为每平方米的蟹只数。调查于每年10月开展，覆盖GCE盐沼样地1至10号的中潮滩与溪岸带区域，每个样地的每个对应区域布设4个重复样方（即n=4）。2009年起，部分样地额外增设了高潮滩灯心草（Juncus）带的调查工作，每个样地布设4个样方（即n=4）。需注意，本次普查方法无法区分单个蟹洞的挖洞物种，因此仅能估算穴居蟹总丰度，潜在涵盖物种包括Uca pugnax、Uca minax、Uca pugilator、Armases cinereum、Eurytium limosum、Sesarma reticulatum以及Panopeus属物种。未得到持续维护的蟹洞会因潮汐活动与其他沉积物扰动迅速被泥沙掩埋，因此本调查将堵塞的蟹洞视为空置状态，不计入最终统计数量。本数据集涵盖2000年至2022年的累计观测数据，后续将每年更新，纳入上一年度的新增观测结果。