DOI: 10.5061/dryad.0rxwdbsdt
title: Data from: High-resolution monitoring of Salish Sea estuarine communities through participatory science

description: Agents of global change, such as climate disruptions, habitat loss, and
 biological invasions, affect nearshore and intertidal ecological
 communities in acute and chronic ways. Biological monitoring aims to track
 the changes in ecological communities over time, yet temporal mismatches
 between sampling regimes, environmental stressors, and corresponding
 ecological responses of interest often limit the utility of monitoring
 data for testing hypotheses related to these changes. Participatory
 science, alternatively “citizen science”, can increase the geographic and
 temporal scale of monitoring and can be a tool to address this limitation.
 By improving statistical power through higher resolution and a larger
 scale of data, participatory science programs can detect how global change
 alters highly dynamic ecological communities. In this study, we evaluate
 insights from a participatory science dataset (Washington Sea Grant Crab
 Team) on nearshore mobile epifaunal communities in the Salish Sea, how
 they differ across habitat types and over time, and how they responded to
 an atmospheric heatwave. Nearshore communities varied across channel,
 lagoon, and tideflat habitat types, with community metrics and species
 identities aligning with the environmental characteristics of each habitat
 type. Though these communities experience high seasonal variability,
 habitat type differences were consistent over the seven years of data
 collected. While some sites did experience extreme excursions of water
 temperature as a result of the 2021 atmospheric heatwave, neither short-
 nor long-term impacts were detected in the ecological communities
 monitored at the regional scale. Two factors are likely important in this
 conclusion: 1. We monitored mobile epifauna, which may be able to migrate
 to mitigate extreme events and 2. Water temperatures during the heatwave
 rarely exceeded those experienced at the sites during other times of year.
 The seasonal variability of the ecological communities observed in these
 dynamic environments suggests avoiding snapshot sampling in favor of an
 approach that offers high temporal resolution, as some participatory
 science programs can, to be able to accurately disentangle effects of
 acute stressors from the noise of natural variability.
description: # Data from: High-resolution monitoring of Salish Sea estuarine
 communities through participatory science Dataset DOI:
 [10.5061/dryad.0rxwdbsdt](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.0rxwdbsdt) ##
 Description of the data and file structure This dataset is a subset of the
 Washington Sea Grant Crab Team monitoring network dataset compiled
 specifically to investigate whether pocket estuary mobile epifauna showed
 changes consistent with the 2021 atmospheric "Heat Dome". The
 Crab Team monitoring network, launched in 2015, was designed for early
 detection and tracking of invasive European green crab, along with
 monitoring of all other mobile epifauna observed in baited traps. The
 monitoring is conducted by trained volunteers and staff at partner
 agencies. This dataset consists of species abundance observations
 aggregated by sample (site by month) for sites within the Salish Sea
 geography of Washington. Additionally, temperature records for a subset of
 sampled sites documents water temperature at the site-level. Full study
 description is available in the manuscript: Rubinoff et al. 2025 Frontiers
 in Marine Science. ### Files and variables #### File:
 all_abundance_wide_format.csv **Description:** Species abundance records
 from Crab Team monitoring sites aggregated by survey (month by site
 effort). Each site is categorized by morphology of pocket estuary habitat
 type ##### Variables * Year: Year of sampling effort * SiteID: Numerical
 site identification number * Month: Month of sampling effort * habtype:
 Type of classified pocket estuary habitat * MEGR: Number of *Metacarcinus
 gracilis* (Graceful crab) in sample * GAAC: Number of *Gasterosteus
 aculeatus* (3 spined stickelback) in sample * HEOR: Number of *Hemigrapsus
 oregonensis* (hairy shore crab) in sample * LEAR: Number of *Leptocottus
 armatus* (staghorn sculpin) in sample * BROK: Number of broken back
 shrimps ( Pandalidae & Hippolytidae) in  sample * CYAG: Number of
 *Cymatogaster aggregata* (shiner perch) in sample * HENU: Number of
 *Hemigrapsus nudus* (purple shore crab) in sample * LOBE: Number of
 *Lophopanopeus bellus* (black clawed crab) in sample * HECR: Number of
 *Hermissenda crassicornus* (opalescent nudibranch) in sample *
 PAHI: Number of *Pagurus hirsutiusculus* (hairy hermit crab) in sample *
 BAAT: Number of *Batillaria attramentaria* (Asian mud snail) in sample *
 CAPR: Number of *Cancer productus* (red rock crab) in sample *
 GOBY: Number of gobies (Gobiidae) in sample * ELFS: Number of eel-like
 fishes (Pholidae and Stichaeidae) in sample * SAND: Number of sand shrimp
 (Crangonidae) in sample * SYLE: Number of bay pipefish (*Syngnathus
 leptorhynchus*) in sample * ILOB: Number of *Ilyanassa obsoleta* (Atlantic
 dogwhelk) in sample * BUBB: Number of bubble shells (*Haminoea spp. AKA
 Haloa*) in sample * PONO: Number of *Porichthys notatus* (plainfin
 midshipman) in sample * SPID: Number of spider crabs (Majidae) in sample *
 PAGR: Number of *Pagurus granosimanus* (grainy handed hermit crab) in
 sample * OLMA: Number of *Oligocottus maculosus* (tidepool sculpin ) in
 sample * NASS: Number of Nassa snails (*N. mendicus* and *N. fraterculus*
 combined) in sample * AMCO: Number of *Amphissa columbiana* (wrinkled
 amphissa) in sample * LISI: Number of *Littorina sitkana* (Sitka
 periwinkle) in sample * ARFE: Number of *Artedius fenestralis* (padded
 sculpin) in sample * OCIN: Number of *Ocinebrellus inornatus* (Japanese
 oyster drill) in sample * TECH: Number of *Telmessus cheiragonus* (hairy
 helmet crab) in sample * NULA: Number of *Nucella lamellosa* (frilled
 dogwinkle) in sample * COAS: Number of *Cottus asper* (prickly sculpin) in
 sample * CAMA: Number of *Carcinus maenas* (European green crab) in sample
 * PAMA: Number of *Palaemon macrodactylus* (Asian shrimp) in sample *
 DEEX: Number of *Dendraster excentricus* (eccentric sand dollar) in sample
 * STDR: Number of *Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis* (green sea urchin)
 in sample * FLAT: Number of unidentified flatfish in sample * LISC: Number
 of *Littorina scutulata* (checkered periwinkle) in sample * MEMA: Number
 of *Metacarcinus (AKA Cancer)* magister (Dungeness crab) in sample ####
 File: species_codes.csv **Description:** Table key for species codes used
 in all_abundance_wide_format.csv. ##### Variables * SpCode: Four-letter
 code used for shorthand of each species in taxonomy * SpName: Scientific
 name or taxonomic group of species * Group: Animal type #### File:
 DailyMaxTemperature.csv **Description:** Daily maximum water temperature
 values recorded at monitoring sites in June and July for all recorded
 years. These data were primary observations recorded with temperature
 loggers (either iButton DS 1921 or HOBO MX2201) on-site within 10meters of
 trap locations. Loggers were deployed so as to always be submerged in
 water. ##### Variables * Index: Ordering variable * mdy: Date of
 observation * SiteNum: Numerical identification of site * year:
 Observation year * x: Water temperature value in degrees C * md: Date of
 observation * yd: Day of year ## Code/software Files are provided in .csv
 format which is broadly readable/viewable by many software types. ##
 Access information Other publicly accessible locations of the data: *
 wsg.uw.edu/crabteam *
 [https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/matt.chadsey/viz/CrabTeamV2_5/Summary_Program?publish=yes](https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/matt.chadsey/viz/CrabTeamV2_5/Summary_Program?publish=yes)