Burrowing shrimp density inside and outside whale feeding pits, Washington State, USA

Description

My goal was to quantify burrowing shrimp densities inside and outside of whale feeding pits and whether they differ from each other and from natural densities from within the tide flat when whale pits were not present. This data represents information about Neotrypaea californiensis densities. To quantify shrimp density we used a manual sediment coring method. Within 1 m2 centered on the 0.25m2 quadrat, five points were cored, and at each point, the coring device (13 cm diameter, 36 cm deep) was sunk a total of three times (to 70 cm total). Burrowing shrimp were put into 5 size categories recruits, Extra small (XS), Small (SM), Medium (MED), and Large (Lrg). Notable findings: shrimp densities were lower inside pits than outside pits and were lower than natural densities prior to the occurrence of feeding pits. Densities outside pits did not differ from densities within the sediment prior to the occurrence of pits.

Institutions

• University of Washington

  Washington, Seattle

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