Readme.txt file for data packages associated with paper on “Responses of bottlenose dolphins and harbor porpoises to impact and vibration piling noise during harbor construction” Data were collected by the University of Aberdeen and collaborators on a project funded through the UK Department of Energy & Climate Change Offshore Energy Strategic Environmental Assessment Programme using equipment previously purchased by DECC, Scottish Government, Oil and Gas UK, COWRIE and Moray Offshore Renewables Ltd.. Scottish Natural Heritage, Beatrice Offshore Windfarm Ltd., Moray Offshore Renewables Ltd., Marine Scotland, The Crown Estate and Highlands and Islands Enterprise all provided funding for photo-identification surveys. Contact for queries is Isla Graham, i.graham@abdn.ac.uk Predicted received sound exposure levels (SEL; dB re 1 µPa^2 s), single pulse for an impact strike and one-second for vibration piling, depth averaged for each of the CPOD sample sites within line of sight of the piling location are contained in Appendix S6 (see Fig. 2). Data package consists of the following eight text files. 1. Data on dolphin occurrence (from CPODs) for analyses of responses of dolphins to piling activity (see Fig. 1, Fig. 4a & Fig. 7a,b,d,e). Filename = “dolphin presence & DPH12 CPOD data 2013-2014.txt” Fourteen columns = Location, Date, Julday, Presence, DPH12, Latitude, Longitude, Line_sight, Dist_impact, Year, Block, Impact, Vibration, Area. Julday is Julian day. Presence is the presence or absence (coded 1 or 0) of dolphins on each day of sampling (from 06:00 to 18:00). DPH12 is the number of hours within the 12-hour period (from 06:00 to 18:00) in which dolphins were detected. Line_sight indicates whether or not a location is within line of sight of the piling location (coded 1 or 0). Dist_impact is the minimum at-sea distance between each location and the piling location in meters. Block is the year concatenated with Julian day, used as the grouping factor for the GEEs (at the larger temporal scale). Impact is coded as two levels: 1 (impact piling), 0 (no impact piling). Vibration is coded as two levels: 1 (vibration piling), 0 (no vibration piling). Area is coded as two levels: 1 (within the Cromarty Firth), 0 (outside the Cromarty Firth). 2. Data on porpoise occurrence (from CPODs) for analyses of responses of porpoises to piling activity (see Fig. 1, Fig. 4b & Fig. 7g,h,j,k). Filename = “porpoise presence & DPH12 CPOD data 2013-2014.txt” Fourteen columns = Location, Date, Julday, Presence, DPH12, Latitude, Longitude, Line_sight, Dist_impact, Year, Block, Impact, Vibration, Area. Julday is Julian day. Presence is the presence or absence (coded 1 or 0) of porpoises on each day of sampling (from 06:00 to 18:00). DPH12 is the number of hours within the 12-hour period (from 06:00 to 18:00) in which porpoises were detected. Line_sight indicates whether or not a location is within line of sight of the piling location (coded 1 or 0). Dist_impact is the minimum at-sea distance between each location and the piling location in meters. Block is the year concatenated with Julian day, used as the grouping factor for the GEEs (at the larger temporal scale). Impact is coded as two levels: 1 (impact piling), 0 (no impact piling). Vibration is coded as two levels: 1 (vibration piling), 0 (no vibration piling). Area is coded as two levels: 1 (within the Cromarty Firth), 0 (outside the Cromarty Firth). 3. Data on dolphin encounter durations (from CPODs) for analyses of responses of dolphins to piling activity (see Fig. 7c,f). Filename = “dolphin encounter durations CPOD data 2013-2014.txt” Fourteen columns = Location, Year, Durations, Date & Time, Hour, Latitude, Longitude, Line_sight, Dist_impact, Julday, Block, Impact, Vibration, Area. Durations is the duration (s) of each dolphin encounter that started between 06:00 to 18:00. Date & Time is the start time of each encounter. Hour is the hour in which each encounter started. Line_sight indicates whether or not a location is within line of sight of the piling location (coded 1 or 0). Dist_impact is the minimum at-sea distance between each location and the piling location in meters. Julday is Julian day. Block is the year concatenated with Julian day, used as the grouping factor for the GEEs (at the larger temporal scale). Impact is coded as two levels: 1 (impact piling), 0 (no impact piling). Vibration is coded as two levels: 1 (vibration piling), 0 (no vibration piling). Area is coded as two levels: 1 (within the Cromarty Firth), 0 (outside the Cromarty Firth). 4. Data on porpoise encounter durations (from CPODs) for analyses of responses of porpoises to piling activity (see Fig. 7i,l). Filename = “porpoise encounter durations CPOD data 2013-2014.txt” Fourteen columns = Location, Year, Durations, Date & Time, Hour, Latitude, Longitude, Line_sight, Dist_impact, Julday, Block, Impact, Vibration, Area. Durations is the duration (s) of each porpoise encounter that started between 06:00 to 18:00. Date & Time is the start time of each encounter. Hour is the hour in which each encounter started. Line_sight indicates whether or not a location is within line of sight of the piling location (coded 1 or 0). Dist_impact is the minimum at-sea distance between each location and the piling location in meters. Julday is Julian day. Block is the year concatenated with Julian day, used as the grouping factor for the GEEs (at the larger temporal scale). Impact is coded as two levels: 1 (impact piling), 0 (no impact piling). Vibration is coded as two levels: 1 (vibration piling), 0 (no vibration piling). Area is coded as two levels: 1 (within the Cromarty Firth), 0 (outside the Cromarty Firth). 5. Data for analysis of daily broadband ambient noise levels at site 1 on days in which piling (impact, vibration, or both piling types) did or did not occur. Filename = “daily broadband noise levels.txt” Three columns = Date, Broadband, Piling Broadband is the averaged broadband (0.1-10 kHz) RMS ambient noise levels (dB re 1 µPa) Piling is coded as four levels: No, Impact, Vibration, Both 6. Hourly broadband noise levels at site 1 during 10-min samples (see Fig. 3). Filename = “hourly broadband noise levels.txt” Three columns = Date & Time, Broadband, Piling Broadband is the averaged broadband (0.1-10 kHz) RMS ambient noise levels (dB re 1 µPa) Piling is coded as three levels: No, Impact, Vibration 7. Data on cetacean occurrence (from CPODs) for long-term monitoring site at the entrance to the Cromarty Firth during baseline period (2009-2013) and 2014 (see Fig. 5). Filename = “Sutors CPOD data 2009-2014.txt” Three columns = Date, Porpoise_DPH, Dolphin_DPH Porpoise_DPH is the number of hours in each day that porpoises were detected. Dolphin_DPH is the number of hours in each day that dolphins were detected. 8. Data on bottlenose dolphin abundance estimates in the Special Area of Conservation and the Cromarty Firth (see Fig. 6). Filename = “BND Abundance Estimates.txt” Five columns = Year, Area, Abundance_Estimate, Lower_95%CI, Upper_95%CI Area is coded as two levels: SAC, Cromarty Firth.