Dataset: Thethered Calcinus hermit crabs remaining on sand vs. Millepora coral from Virgin Islands National Park in the Great Lameshure Bay, St. John, US Virgin Island from 2010-2011 (St. John LTREB project)

The study was conducted in St. John within the Virgin Islands National Park (VINP). The majority of our analyses focused on the shallow fringing reefs of Great Lameshur Bay and was completed in 2010 and 2011. Surveys in July and August 2010 focused on the natural history of the association by evaluating Millepora spp. for colony size and population density of C. tibicen. Surveys were repeated between June 2011 and August 2011 and expanded to the north and east shores of St. John to test the generality of the observations initially made in 2010. In 2011, manipulative experiments were conducted to test the functional basis of the Millepora-Calcinus association and evaluate whether it could be described as a commensalism.

These data were published in Brown D, Edmunds PJ. (2013)

Original submitted excel file in data file section.