Macrobenthic colonization on artificial seagrass units in a Halodule wrightii meadow — Suape Bay, Brazil

This dataset contains abundance records of benthic macrofauna that colonized Artificial Substrate Units (ASUs) deployed in a monospecific meadow of Halodule wrightii in Suape Bay, Pernambuco, northeastern Brazil. The experiment was carried out during the dry season, with ASUs deployed on 8 December 2016 and the final collection on 6 February 2017, and assessed the combined effect of habitat structural complexity and exposure time on the structure, succession, and functional organization of macrobenthic assemblages. ASUs consisted of 10 cm² plates of synthetic grass (polyethylene filaments) fixed 5 cm above the bottom, at three complexity levels: short grass (SG, 12 mm; 11,392 filaments·m⁻²), medium grass (MG, 30 mm; 67,192 filaments·m⁻²), and tall grass (TG, 50 mm; 10,240 filaments·m⁻²). A balanced design was applied, with three replicates per grass type at each of six exposure times (2, 5, 10, 20, 30, and 60 days), totaling 54 ASU samples. Additionally, on day 30 of the experiment, 9 samples from the natural meadow were collected (3 replicates at each of 3 randomly selected points) and treated as a reference condition. The full set of 63 samples documented 9,439 individuals belonging to 133 taxa across nine phyla (Annelida, Mollusca, Arthropoda, Echinodermata, Cnidaria, Platyhelminthes, Nemertea, Sipuncula, and Chordata), with Crustacea, Mollusca, and Annelida accounting for approximately 97% of total abundance in ASUs. The dataset supports analyses of community structure (PERMANOVA, PERMDISP, CAP, nMDS), alpha diversity profiles via Hill numbers (q⁰, q¹, q²), partitioning of beta diversity into turnover and nestedness components, indicator species analysis (IndVal), and modeling of the relationship between functional traits and assemblage structure (DistLM). Each taxon was classified by feeding habit and substrate position, based on the BIOTIC, WoRMS, and Polytraits databases. Files included: species_abundance_wide.csv — abundance matrix (PRIMER format), rows = taxa, columns = samples species_abundance_long.csv — same data in tidy/long format sample_metadata.csv — metadata for the 63 samples (treatment, exposure time, sampling date, depth, sediment type, etc.) species_metadata.csv — taxonomic list and functional traits for the 133 taxa README.md and data_dictionary.md — full documentation (English and Portuguese versions included) Associated article: Silva, G.F.; Santos, S.N.; Craveiro, N.; Rosa Filho, J.S. Exposure time and habitat complexity shape turnover-driven functional succession in benthic macrofaunal assemblages colonizing artificial seagrass units (under review). The DOI of the article will be added to Related identifiers upon publication. License: CC BY 4.0 — free to share and adapt with attribution.本数据集收录了定殖于人工基质单元（Artificial Substrate Units, ASUs）的大型底栖动物丰度记录，这些ASUs被布设于巴西东北部伯南布哥州苏阿佩湾的单优种海草（Halodule wrightii）草甸中。 本实验于旱季开展，ASUs于2016年12月8日布设，最终采样于2017年2月6日完成，旨在探究生境结构复杂度与暴露时长对大型底栖动物群落结构、演替过程及功能组织的综合影响。 ASUs为固定于底质上方5 cm处的10 cm²合成草（聚乙烯细丝）平板，设置3种复杂度梯度：短草组（SG, 12 mm；11392 根细丝·m⁻²）、中草组（MG, 30 mm；67192 根细丝·m⁻²）以及高草组（TG, 50 mm；10240 根细丝·m⁻²）。 本研究采用平衡实验设计，6种暴露时长（2、5、10、20、30和60天）下每种草型设置3个重复样本，总计54个ASU样本。此外，在实验第30天，于天然海草甸随机选取的3个点位各采集3个样本（共9个）作为参照组。全部63个样本共计记录了9439个个体，隶属于9个门的133个分类单元，分别为环节动物门（Annelida）、软体动物门（Mollusca）、节肢动物门（Arthropoda）、棘皮动物门（Echinodermata）、刺胞动物门（Cnidaria）、扁形动物门（Platyhelminthes）、纽形动物门（Nemertea）、星虫动物门（Sipuncula）以及脊索动物门（Chordata）；其中甲壳动物、软体动物与环节动物的个体数约占ASU样本总丰度的97%。 本数据集可支撑以下分析方向：群落结构解析（含PERMANOVA、PERMDISP、CAP、非度量多维标度nMDS）、基于Hill数（q⁰、q¹、q²）的α多样性剖面分析、将β多样性分解为周转与嵌套组分的分析、指示物种分析（IndVal），以及功能性状与群落结构间关系的建模（DistLM）。所有分类单元均基于BIOTIC、WoRMS及Polytraits三大数据库，按摄食习性与底质栖息位置完成功能分类。 数据集包含以下文件： 1. species_abundance_wide.csv：丰度矩阵（PRIMER格式），行代表分类单元，列代表样本 2. species_abundance_long.csv：整洁长格式的同一份丰度数据 3. sample_metadata.csv：63个样本的元数据（含处理组、暴露时长、采样日期、水深、底质类型等信息） 4. species_metadata.csv：133个分类单元的分类学列表与功能性状数据 5. README.md与data_dictionary.md：完整说明文档（包含英文与葡萄牙语两个版本） 关联研究论文：Silva, G.F.; Santos, S.N.; Craveiro, N.; Rosa Filho, J.S. 《暴露时长与生境复杂度驱动人工海草单元附着大型底栖动物群落的周转型功能演替》（已投稿待审）。论文的DOI将在正式发表后补充至相关标识符中。 许可协议：知识共享署名4.0（CC BY 4.0）——允许自由共享与改编，需注明原作者。