GENERAL INFORMATION 1. Title of Dataset: Data from: Sea turtle epibiosis: global patterns and knowledge gaps 2. Author Information A. Co-Principal Investigator Contact Information Name: Joseph B. Pfaller Institution: Caretta Research Project / Archie Carr Center for Sea Turtle Research and Department of Biology, University of Florida Address: PO Box 9841, Savannah, GA 31412, USA / PO Box 118525, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA Email: jpfaller@ufl.edu B. Co-Principal Investigator Contact Information Name: Nathan J. Robinson Institution: Fundación Oceanogràfic, Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias Address: Av. del Professor López Piñero, 7, 46013 València, Valencia, Spain Email: nathanjackrobinson@gmail.com 3. Date of data collection (single date, range, approximate date): 2019-01-01 to 2020-12-31 4. Geographic location of data collection: N/A (data were collected online) 5. Information about funding sources that supported the collection of the data: The authors received no specific funding for this work 6. Abstract: This database serves to summarize over 100 years of sea turtle epibiont research. We conducted a two-tiered literature search to compile all records of sea turtle-epibiont interactions along with their associated metadata. A structured search was conducted in Web of Science, Google Scholar, and Sea Turtle Online Bibliography (Archie Carr Center for Sea Turtle Research, University of Florida), then an unstructured literature search was conducted by reviewing the reference lists of all relevant publications and reports from the structured search. We included any peer-reviewed scientific article, thesis/dissertation, conference presentation, and official report that contained information on sea turtle epibiosis. From each applicable reference, we extracted data on all reported sea turtle-epibiont interactions according to the data categories and descriptions listed below (Table 1 in Robinson and Pfaller 2022; doi link when available). We constrained our database to only include records of sea turtle-epibiont interactions from (1) turtles surveyed in the wild, (2) animal epibionts (i.e., Kingdom Animalia), and (3) macro-epibionts (>1 mm). For the seven global sea turtle species, we identified 304 studies conducted between 1886 and 2020 that included a combined total of 1717 sea turtle-epibiont interactions involving 374 unique epibiont taxa from 11 Phyla. 7. Research domain: Biological sciences SHARING/ACCESS INFORMATION 1. Licenses/restrictions placed on the data: N/A 2. Citation/Link to publications that cite or use the data: Robinson NJ, Pfaller JB (2022) Sea turtle epibiosis: global patterns and knowledge gaps. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution.[doi link when available] 3. Links to other publicly accessible locations of the data: N/A 4. Links/relationships to ancillary data sets: N/A 5. Was data derived from another source? Data were derived from a two-tiered literature search of published scientific articles and grey literature (i.e., government reports, theses and dissertations, and conference presentations) conducted between 2019-01-01 and 2020-12-31. A. If yes, list source(s): Web of Science, Google Scholar, and Sea Turtle Online Bibliography (Archie Carr Center for Sea Turtle Research, University of Florida) 6. Recommended citation for this dataset: Pfaller JB, Robinson NJ (2022) Data from: Sea turtle epibiosis: global patterns and knowledge gaps. Dryad Digital Repository. [doi link when available] DATA & FILE OVERVIEW 1. File List: Pfaller_Robinson_2022_Global_Sea_Turtle_Epibiont_Database.csv - This file includes 11 worksheets: the first worksheet contains a global database of all sea turtle-epibiont interactions compiled from an exhaustive literature review and the remaining 10 worksheets contain the species- and RMU-specific datasets used to conduct rarefaction analyses in Robinson and Pfaller (2022) (see 2 under SHARING/ACCESS INFORMATION). 2. Relationship between worksheets: Each species- or RMU-specific worksheet was compiled from the global database ("Global.Sea.Turtle.Epibiont.Data"). 3. Additional related data collected that was not included in the current data package: N/A 4. Are there multiple versions of the dataset? No A. If yes, name of file(s) that was updated: i. Why was the file updated? ii. When was the file updated? METHODOLOGICAL INFORMATION 1. Description of methods used for collection/generation of data: The Methods used to develop this global database are described in Robinson and Pfaller (2022), an open access publication in Frontiers of Ecology and Evolution [doi link] 2. Methods for processing the data: The Methods used to develop this global database are described in Robinson and Pfaller (2022), an open access publication in Frontiers of Ecology and Evolution [doi link] 3. Instrument- or software-specific information needed to interpret the data: The Methods used to develop this global database are described in Robinson and Pfaller (2022), an open access publication in Frontiers of Ecology and Evolution [doi link] 4. Standards and calibration information, if appropriate: N/A 5. Environmental/experimental conditions: N/A 6. Describe any quality-assurance procedures performed on the data: N/A 7. People involved with sample collection, processing, analysis and/or submission: In addition to the authors listed above, Alex Smith and Abi Ferrazzini helped in collating data and Lourdes Rojas helped track down many difficult-to-access articles DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR: Pfaller_Robinson_2022_Global_Sea_Turtle_Epibiont_Database.csv > Global.Sea.Turtle.Epibiont.Data 1. Number of columns: 22 2. Number of rows: 1713 (not including header) 3. Column Labels: (A) Primary Ref - original reference from which a sea turtle-epibiont interaction was reported (truncated citation) (B) Secondary Ref - reference from which a sea turtle-epibiont interaction was reported, when the original reference was not located (truncated citation) (C) Turtle - species of host sea turtle (CC = Caretta caretta; CM = Chelonia mydas; DC = Dermochelys coriacea; EI = Eretmochelys imbricata; LK = Lepidochelys kempii; LO = Lepidochelys olivacea; ND = Natator depressus) (D) Epibiont - taxonomic name of epibiont reported in literature, but (when applicable) updated to reflect current taxonomy using World Registry of Marine Species (WoRMS Editorial Board 2021) (E) Rank - taxonomic rank of epibiont reported in literature (Species, Genus, Subfamily, Family, Superfamily, Infraorder, Suborder, Order, Infraclass, Subclass, Class, Subphylum, Phylum) (F) Higher Taxon Category - Phylum of the epibiont taxon including further differentiation by Subphylum, Class, or Subclass for select phyla (when applicable) [Annelida (Hirudinea, Polychaeta, Oligochaeta), Arthropoda (Arachnida, Insecta, Malacostraca, Pycnogonida, Ostracoda, Thecostraca), Bryozoa, Chordata (Tunicata, Vertebrata), Cnidaria (Anthozoa and Hydrozoa), Echinodermata (Asterozoa, Echinozoa), Mollusca (Bivalvia, Gastropoda, Polyplacophora), Platyhelminthes, Porifera, Nemertea, Sipuncula] (G) Site - Country and/or name of sampling site reported in literature (H) Region - General geographic region of study (Northwest Atlantic (including Gulf of Mexico), Caribbean, North Central Atlantic, Northeast Atlantic, Mediterranean Sea, Southwest Atlantic, South Central Atlantic, Southeast Atlantic, North Indian (including Red Sea and Persian Gulf), Southwest Indian, South Central Indian, Southeast Indian, Northwest Pacific, North Central Pacific (Hawaii), Northeast Pacific, Southwest Pacific (including Gulf of Carpentaria and Melanesia), South Central Pacific (Polynesia excluding Hawaii), Southeast Pacific, Indonesian Archipelago, Unknown) (I) Regional Management Unit (RMU) of the sampled turtle/s as defined in Wallace et al. (2010) (CC-A-NE, CC-A-NW, CC-A-SW, CC-MED, CC-I-NE, CC-I-NW, CC-I-SW, CC-I-SE, CC-P-S, CC-P-N, CM-A-E, CM-A-NW, CM-A-SC, CM-A-SW, CM-A-SCR, CM-I-NE, CM-I-NW, CM-I-SE, CM-I-SW, CM-MED, CM-P-E, CM-P-NC, CM-P-NW, CM-P-SC, CM-P-SW, CM-P-WC, CM-P-WPSEA, CM-P-W*, DC-A-NW, DC-A-SE, DC-A-SW, DC-I-NE, DC-I-SW, DC-P-E, DC-P-W, EI-A-E, EI-A-SW, EI-A-WCAR, EI-I-NE, EI-I-NW, EI-I-SE, EI-I-SW, EI-P-E, EI-P-NC, EI-P-SC, EI-P-SW, EI-P-WC, EI-P-WPSEA, LO-A-E, LO-A-W, LO-I-NE, LO-I-NE(a), LO-I-W, LO-P-E, LO-P-E(a), LO-P-W, LK-A-NW, ND-I-SE, ND-P-SW, UNK) (J) Latitude - Latitude of sampling site (either provided in the study or plotted using Google Earth). (K) Longitude - Longitude of sampling site (either provided in the study or plotted using Google Earth). (L) Stage - Life stage of turtle sampled as described in each study or based on reported body size at maturity (Juvenile and/or Adult, Unknown) (M) Habitat - Habitat type of sampling site (Nesting beach, Neritic, Oceanic, Stranding/Dead, Unknown) (N) N(T) - Number of turtles sampled (O) Freq(%) - Percent frequency of occurrence per host for the epibiont taxon (P) N(E) - Number of individuals of the epibiont taxon recorded in the study (Q) Body Part - Body part(s) from which the epibiont taxon was collected (R) Deposition - Location where epibiont specimens were curated after the study (S) Survey Type - Method of epibiont sampling: Did the study sample all possible taxa (All Taxa) or only focused on a subset of taxa (Taxon Specific). Also, were the turtles sampled exhaustively for epibionts (Exhaustive) or were only a subset of epibionts sampled (Non-Exhaustive) (T) Primary Ref Citation - original reference from which a sea turtle-epibiont interaction was reported (full citation) (U) Secondary Ref Citation - reference from which a sea turtle-epibiont interaction was reported, when the original reference was not located (full citation) (V) Comments/Notes - Comments and notes that help contextualize some interactions/references 4. Missing data codes: [blank] 5. Specialized formats or other abbreviations used: N/A 6. Cited references: See T and U in "Global.Sea.Turtle.Epibiont.Database" for full reference list DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR: Pfaller_Robinson_2022_Global_Sea_Turtle_Epibiont_Database.csv > Loggerhead.Rarefaction 1. Number of columns: 135 (not including header) 2. Number of rows: 262 (not including header) 3. Column Labels: Each column represents a reference that reported at least one epibiont taxon from loggerhead turtles globally 4. Row labels: Each row represents an epibiont taxon found associated with at least one loggerhead turtle globally 5. Missing data codes: "0" 6. Specialized formats or other abbreviations used: "1" indicates when a study reported the epibiont taxon on at least one sampled turtle 7. Cited references: See "Global.Sea.Turtle.Epibiont.Database" for full reference list DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR: Pfaller_Robinson_2022_Global_Sea_Turtle_Epibiont_Database.csv > Hawskbill.Rarefaction 1. Number of columns: 58 (not including header) 2. Number of rows: 87 (not including header) 3. Column Labels: Each column represents a reference that reported at least one epibiont taxon from hawksbill turtles globally 4. Row labels: Each row represents an epibiont taxon found associated with at least one hawksbill turtle globally 5. Missing data codes: 0 6. Specialized formats or other abbreviations used: "1" indicates when a study reported the epibiont taxon on at least one sampled turtle 7. Cited references: See "Global.Sea.Turtle.Epibiont.Database" for full reference list DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR: Pfaller_Robinson_2022_Global_Sea_Turtle_Epibiont_Database.csv > Green.Rarefaction 1. Number of columns: 111 (not including header) 2. Number of rows: 56 (not including header) 3. Column Labels: Each column represents a reference that reported at least one epibiont taxon from green turtles globally 4. Row labels: Each row represents an epibiont taxon found associated with at least one green turtle globally 5. Missing data codes: 0 6. Specialized formats or other abbreviations used: "1" indicates when a study reported the epibiont taxon on at least one sampled turtle 7. Cited references: See "Global.Sea.Turtle.Epibiont.Database" for full reference list DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR: Pfaller_Robinson_2022_Global_Sea_Turtle_Epibiont_Database.csv > OliveRidley.Rarefaction 1. Number of columns: 32 (not including header) 2. Number of rows: 51 (not including header) 3. Column Labels: Each column represents a reference that reported at least one epibiont taxon from olive ridley turtles globally 4. Row labels: Each row represents an epibiont taxon found associated with at least one olive ridley turtle globally 5. Missing data codes: 0 6. Specialized formats or other abbreviations used: "1" indicates when a study reported the epibiont taxon on at least one sampled turtle 7. Cited references: See "Global.Sea.Turtle.Epibiont.Database" for full reference list DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR: Pfaller_Robinson_2022_Global_Sea_Turtle_Epibiont_Database.csv > Leatherback.Rarefaction 1. Number of columns: 35 (not including header) 2. Number of rows: 16 (not including header) 3. Column Labels: Each column represents a reference that reported at least one epibiont taxon from leatherback turtles globally 4. Row labels: Each row represents an epibiont taxon found associated with at least one leatherback turtle globally 5. Missing data codes: 0 6. Specialized formats or other abbreviations used: "1" indicates when a study reported the epibiont taxon on at least one sampled turtle 7. Cited references: See "Global.Sea.Turtle.Epibiont.Database" for full reference list DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR: Pfaller_Robinson_2022_Global_Sea_Turtle_Epibiont_Database.csv > KempsRidley.Rarefaction 1. Number of columns: 7 (not including header) 2. Number of rows: 7 (not including header) 3. Column Labels: Each column represents a reference that reported at least one epibiont taxon from Kemp's Ridley turtles globally 4. Row labels: Each row represents an epibiont taxon found associated with at least one Kemp's Ridley turtle globally 5. Missing data codes: 0 6. Specialized formats or other abbreviations used: "1" indicates when a study reported the epibiont taxon on at least one sampled turtle 7. Cited references: See "Global.Sea.Turtle.Epibiont.Database" for full reference list DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR: Pfaller_Robinson_2022_Global_Sea_Turtle_Epibiont_Database.csv > Flatback.Rarefaction 1. Number of columns: 4 (not including header) 2. Number of rows: 7 (not including header) 3. Column Labels: Each column represents a reference that reported at least one epibiont taxon from flatback turtles globally 4. Row labels: Each row represents an epibiont taxon found associated with at least one flatback turtle globally 5. Missing data codes: 0 6. Specialized formats or other abbreviations used: "1" indicates when a study reported the epibiont taxon on at least one sampled turtle 7. Cited references: See "Global.Sea.Turtle.Epibiont.Database" for full reference list DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR: Pfaller_Robinson_2022_Global_Sea_Turtle_Epibiont_Database.csv > Loggerhead.NWA.Rarefaction 1. Number of columns: 53 (not including header) 2. Number of rows: 162 (not including header) 3. Column Labels: Each column represents a reference that reported at least one epibiont taxon from loggerhead turtles in the Northwest Atlantic RMU 4. Row labels: Each row represents an epibiont taxon found associated with at least one loggerhead turtle in the Northwest Atlantic RMU 5. Missing data codes: 0 6. Specialized formats or other abbreviations used: "1" indicates when a study reported the epibiont taxon on at least one sampled turtle 7. Cited references: See "Global.Sea.Turtle.Epibiont.Database" for full reference list DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR: Pfaller_Robinson_2022_Global_Sea_Turtle_Epibiont_Database.csv > Loggerhead.MED.Rarefaction 1. Number of columns: 32 (not including header) 2. Number of rows: 85 (not including header) 3. Column Labels: Each column represents a reference that reported at least one epibiont taxon from loggerhead turtles in the Mediterranean RMU 4. Row labels: Each row represents an epibiont taxon found associated with at least one loggerhead turtle in the Mediterranean RMU 5. Missing data codes: 0 6. Specialized formats or other abbreviations used: "1" indicates when a study reported the epibiont taxon on at least one sampled turtle 7. Cited references: See "Global.Sea.Turtle.Epibiont.Database" for full reference list DATA-SPECIFIC INFORMATION FOR: Pfaller_Robinson_2022_Global_Sea_Turtle_Epibiont_Database.csv > Loggerhead.NP.Rarefaction 1. Number of columns: 23 (not including header) 2. Number of rows: 27 (not including header) 3. Column Labels: Each column represents a reference that reported at least one epibiont taxon from loggerhead turtles in the North Pacific RMU 4. Row labels: Each row represents an epibiont taxon found associated with at least one loggerhead turtle in the North Pacific RMU 5. Missing data codes: 0 6. Specialized formats or other abbreviations used: "1" indicates when a study reported the epibiont taxon on at least one sampled turtle 7. Cited references: See "Global.Sea.Turtle.Epibiont.Database" for full reference list