Dataset: Crustracean population surveys pre- and post-hurricane Irma from seagrass flats in the Florida Keys, USA from 2017 to 2019

Work was conducted in shallow (less than 1 meter) seagrass and algal flats off the southern coast of Summerland Key, FL (24.65989, -81.45571) before and after the landfall of Hurricane Irma. We assessed the effects of the storm on mesograzer populations building off of work we had been doing at this site in years prior to Irma’s landfall. We randomly deployed one-meter-squared quadrats across the shallow seagrass habitats (pre-Hurricane Irma in June-July 2017 and post-Hurricane Irma in May 2018, and June 2019) and collected all of the algae found within the quadrat. All mesograzers were removed from algae and seagrasses, sorted by morphospecies, and imaged.

33 algae samples were collected in June-July, 2017, 50 algal samples were collected in May 2018, and 10 samples were collected in June 2019. All algal samples were transported to the lab where mesograzers were separated from the algal material (n = 21,430 individuals), sorted into morphospecies categories (n = 50 crustaceans; n = 18 ophiurids), and preserved in 70 percent ethanol. The total number of individuals grouped by morphospecies within each algal sample was tallied.