Data from: Predator field and and colony morphology determine the defensive benefit of colony formation in marine phytoplankton

Data includes measurements of feeding rates of different grazers on colonial phytoplankton. We measured clearance rates of the copepod Temora longicornis copepodites on the chain-forming diatoms Chaetoceros affinis, Chaetoceros sp., Thalassiosira nordenskioeldii, and Skeletonema marinoi, as well as the spherical colony-forming prymnesiophyte Phaeocystis globosa. Copepodite clearance rates were derived from direct video observations of copepods and their prey. We also measured the prey-handling time of copepodites, i.e., the time it takes to ingest differently sized prey. 

Also included is results from bottle-incubation experiments with T. longicornis nauplii and the heterotrophic dinoflagellates Gyrodinium dominans and Oxyrrhis marina feeding on chain-forming diatoms.