Using existing habitat datasets and natural-history traits, we created a Habitat Suitability Index (HSI) model in ArcGIS to determine the distribution of suitable habitat for harvested clams in Tillamook Bay. Existing habitat datasets were used to interpolate value estimates throughout the bay for the four input habitat variables used in the model (sediment % fines, bathymetry, salinity, and burrowing shrimp presence). Natural history traits (derived from literature) were then used to assign binary suitability values to each habitat variable for each species. The suitability sum of these variable layers then produced an overall HSI value of 0-4 (low-high). To validate this model, we used existing bivalve (presence/absence) data to calculate presence probabilities. Included in this dataset are these bivalve data, along with the habitat estimates and suitability values produced by our model.

This dataset is associated with the following publication: Lewis, N., E. Fox, and T. DeWitt. Estimating the distribution of harvested estuarine bivalves with natural-history-based habitat suitability models... ESTUARINE, COASTAL AND SHELF SCIENCE. Elsevier Science Ltd, New York, NY, USA, 219: 453-472, (2019).