About the Project

Estuaries provide critical habitat for shrimp at multiple life-stages. Because shrimp have a short life cycle, growing from larval stage to adult over the course of a year, their populations are very sensitive to changes in environmental conditions in the estuary. This project helped build a better understanding of how shrimp populations are responding to changing climate conditions, weather events, and habitat modifications at various stages of their life cycle. This information is critical to the management of the multi-million-dollar shrimping industry.

About this Resource

This project generated five datasets from analyses of historical long-term datasets and field sampling at three NERR sites in the southeast US: North Inlet-Winyah Bay, ACE Basin, and Sapelo Island. The dataset description provides more information about each dataset.

Dataset 1: Experimental data on density dependent competition between and among juvenile brown and white shrimp.

Dataset 2: Phenology metrics for juvenile penaeid shrimp estuarine habitat use.

Dataset 3: Long-term postlarval penaeid shrimp abundance.

Dataset 4: Species composition, abundance, and size for estuarine nekton, zooplankton, and benthic infauna collected in 3 southeast US Reserves in 2023 and 2024. These data have been embargoed until 31 March 2026, at which point they will become publicly available.

Dataset 5: Estuarine finfish diet composition and penaeid shrimp consumption These data have been embargoed until 31 March 2026, at which point they will become publicly available.

Questions about these datasets can be directed to:

Robert Dunn, North Inlet-Winyah Bay NERR, [email protected]