Species abundance and species richness from 2019-07-02 to 2019-10-29 at restored and natural oyster reefs located in Middle Marsh, Beaufort, N.C (NCEI Accession 0276507)

Data were collected for a project evaluating faunal succession states in both restored and natural oyster reefs located in the same comparative environment. Using space-for-time substitution, we sampled crustacean and fish host-parasite taxa from x3 replicate treatments of Natural reefs, as well as reefs restored in the years 1997, 2000, 2011, and 2016. We hypothesized that infra-communities of trophically transmitted parasites were more reliable indicators of succession trajectories and overall oyster reef trophic complexity. In contrast to the diversity of free-living taxa, which was highly variable, parasite diversity increased through time (2016 to 2011 to 2000 to 1997), and data from the older reefs (2000, 1997) was not different from that collected from Natural reefs.