Mobile organisms found in tide pools during community surveys at John Brown’s Beach, Sitka, Alaska, USA from 2018 to 2020 (NCEI Accession 0291986)

Acquisition Description:
Surveys were conducted at John Brown’s Beach (57.05 N, 135.37 W), near Sitka, Alaska, USA. Specific site information is included in the file "Tide_Pool_Characteristics.csv" under Supplemental Files.

Sampling and analytical procedures:
We selected 36 tide pools to study and surveyed each using a flexible quadrat with 10cm x 10cm mesh openings. At the beginning of the survey, the perimeter of each tide pool was delineated using a piece of cord, then the pool was drained using a bilge pump and a bucket. The surveyors then laid down the mesh quadrat and used it to measure the total bottom surface area of the tide pool. The surveyors then collected and counted all mobile invertebrates present and, when finished, replaced the mobile invertebrates and refilled the tide pool with the previously removed water. This dataset includes only the mobile organism abundance data from the study. See "Related Datasets" section for sessile species data percent cover data.

Known Issues:
There are multiple small gaps in the data. Dead mussels and dead barnacles were not assessed in the first set of surveys. The time of the pools being drained and refilled was not recorded during the surveys between January and May 2019. There were also a pair of tide pools (22 and 23) that were connected, preventing accurate volume measurements from being taken.

WoRMS Taxa Match:

BCO-DMO checked the provided taxonomic names using the World Register of Marine Species Taxa Match tool (WoRMS). All names matched a known name exactly, though one contains a misspelling in the species name compared to the accepted name. The following are details on the results of the Taxa Match:

in dataset Pentidotea wosnessenskii ; accepted name Pentidotea wosnesenskii