Dataset: McKeon_et_al_2012 Multiple Defender Effects

We used feeding trials to quantify the efficacy of defense for four exosymbiont treatment groups: Trapezia + Alpheus, Trapezia, Alpheus, and No Exosymbionts. Twenty replicates in total were conducted for each exosymbiont treatment in a temporally blocked design with two replicates in each of ten temporal blocks. Trials were conducted in a large octagonal flow-through seawater tank approximately 0.5 m deep and 2 m across. The tank was divided into eight equal sections using plastic screening. Each section was provisioned with a seastar refugium constructed from concrete blocks. We placed Pocillopora colonies into the tank from the field during mid- to late afternoon. To minimize variation driven by search time, a single Culcita was placed directly on top of the coral colony. The following morning, we measured the coral size (length, width, height) and the feeding scars left by the Culcita (length, width, depth). We calculated volume consumed as an ellipsoid (4= 3pabc , where a  is half the length, b is half the width, and c  is half the depth).