Snail Hunger and Size Effects on Tide Pool Trophic Cascades

Field experiments on the California Coast tested how prey state alters trait-mediated indirect interactions between predatory seastars, herbivorous snails, and microalgae. The data document the effects of snail hunger level and body size on grazing behavior and resulting algae cover. The study was authored by Sarah A. Gravem and published in 2020.

Use Cases

• Analyze the relationship between snail hunger level and grazing behavior to quantify its effect on algae cover.
• Model the impact of snail body size on antipredator behavior and the resulting strength of trophic cascades.
• Examine the interaction between predator presence and prey state variables like hunger and size on community-level outcomes.

Strengths

• Data originates from controlled field experiments on the California Coast, providing ecological realism.
• Explicitly tests the understudied link between individual prey state and community-level processes.
• Published under a CC0 license, allowing for unrestricted reuse and analysis.

Limitations

• The sample size and number of experimental replicates are not specified in the provided metadata.
• Data is limited to a specific rocky intertidal system, which may not generalize to other ecosystems.
• The dataset's structure, columns, and file formats are unknown, complicating immediate analysis.

Provenance

Source

Dryad digital repository.

Collection Method

Short field experiments conducted in rocky intertidal tide pools.

Freshness

Last updated in 2020.

Geography

Rocky intertidal tide pools on the California Coast.