Oyster survival differences in mesocosm experiments at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab, AL between July and August 2019

This dataset contains survivorship differences between oysters set in a mesocosm experiment to determine how induced defenses, habitat structure, and the presence of apex predators shape intermediate consumers feeding behavior and basal prey survival. Oysters (a basal prey) induced to grow stronger shells were planted with control oysters both inside sheltered locations and in exposed locations along with predatory mud crabs (an intermediate consumer). This setup either had a blue crab or no apex predator added to the system whereupon individual oyster survival was checked every 24 hours for three days.

 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.

本数据集收录了中型生态箱实验（mesocosm experiment）中牡蛎的存活率差异数据，该实验旨在探究诱导防御(induced defenses)、栖息地结构以及顶级捕食者(apex predators)的存在如何调控中间消费者(intermediate consumers)的取食行为与基位猎物(basal prey)的存活率。实验将被诱导生成更坚硬壳体的牡蛎（作为基位猎物）与对照组牡蛎一同投放至遮蔽位点与暴露位点中，并同步投放掠食性泥蟹（作为中间消费者）。该实验系统分别添加蓝蟹或不添加顶级捕食者，随后连续三天每24小时检查一次牡蛎个体的存活情况。

捕食者通常会通过行为或形态变化的形式，对猎物产生非消耗性效应(nonconsumptive effects, NCEs)。此类变化对种群动态造成的影响往往与捕食者直接捕食猎物个体的影响相当，甚至更为显著。然而，目前学界尚未明确：跨多个营养级(trophic levels)取食的捕食者如何引发跨猎物营养级相互作用的级联非消耗性效应，以及这些相互作用为猎物带来的生存收益如何随环境背景发生变化。本数据集有助于阐明非消耗性效应如何在空间尺度上影响种群动态，并量化此类依赖于环境的相互作用的强度。本数据由来自多芬岛海洋实验室与佐治亚理工学院的Benjamin Belgrad、Lee Smee及Marc Weissburg博士收集完成。