Dataset: Whelk size distributions: individuals
Deployment: Menge_2014

Study system:
Our study included 4 sites along the Oregon coast: Strawberry Hill (44.250°N-124.115°W) and Yachats Beach (44.319°N-124.109°W), located on Cape Perpetua, and Fogarty Creek (44.837°N-124.0587°W) and Boiler Bay (44.832°N-124.061°W) located on Cape Foulweather (Fig.1). Cape Perpetua is a rocky headland adjacent to a wide continental shelf offshore that promotes retention of propagules such as larvae and phytoplankton (Menge et al. 2015). As a result, Cape Perpetua intertidal sites are characterized by high phytoplankton productivity and high recruitment of invertebrates (Menge et al. 1997, 2004, 2015). Cape Foulweather, in contrast, is characterized by a narrower offshore continental shelf, which leads to reduced retentiveness, lower invertebrate abundance, and high macrophyte abundance. Prior to the onset of SSWD, densities of P. ochraceus could be as high as 8 individuals m-2 at Cape Perpetua and 4 individuals m-2 at Cape Foulweather sites (Menge et al. 2016).

Whelk size distributions
With P. ochraceus at low densities, whelks presumably were relieved from both competitive and consumptive pressure. Thus, we predicted that whelks would become both more abundant and larger in size as a result of greater food resources and less predation. We measured whelk size distributions at the same four sites used in our vertical abundance surveys. We haphazardly placed 0.0625 m2 quadrats in the intertidal and extracted all whelks in the quadrat taking care to include small individuals. Whelks were sorted by species and measured with calipers to the nearest millimeter. This sampling was done in a semi-stratified pattern vertically along the shore within areas of intermediate wave exposure until we had at least 200 individuals of each species at each site. Size distribution surveys were conducted in July in 2014 and 2015. When possible, all counts were conducted in a single day at each site in order to minimize the chance of repeatedly counting the same individuals.