TABLE 3B. Definitions of variables in Links data sets.
| Column Number | Column Name | Variable | Variable Description |
| 1 | PresentAtCSM | 0 | Link is NOT present in Carpinteria Salt Marsh system |
| 1 | PresentAtCSM | 1 | Link IS present in Carpinteria Salt Marsh system |
| 2 | PresentAtEPB | 0 | Link is NOT present in Estero Punta Banda system |
| 2 | PresentAtEPB | 1 | Link IS present in Estero Punta Banda system |
| 3 | PresentAtBSQ | 0 | Link is NOT present in Bahia San Quint�n system |
| 3 | PresentAtBSQ | 1 | Link IS present in Bahia San Quint�n system |
| 4 | PresentAtAnyEstuary | 0 | Link is NOT present in ANY of the three estuarine systems |
| 4 | PresentAtAnyEstuary | 1 | Link IS present in at least one of the three estuarine systems |
| 5 | ConsumerNodeID | nominal numeric | The unordered nominal node specific ID number of the consumer in the interaction. |
| 6 | ResourceNodeID | nominal numeric | The unordered nominal node specific ID number of the resource in the interaction. |
| 7 | ConsumerSpeciesID | nominal numeric | The unordered nominal species specific ID number of the consumer in the interaction. |
| 8 | ResourceSpeciesID | nominal numeric | The unordered nominal species specific ID number of the resource in the interaction. |
| 9 | ConsumerSpeciesID.StageID | nominal numeric | The combined Species ID number and Stage ID number of the consumer, separated by the decimal point. |
| 10 | ResourceSpeciesID.StageID | nominal numeric | The combined Species ID number and Stage ID number of the resource, separated by the decimal point. |
| 11 | LinkTypeID | 1 | Predation |
| 11 | LinkTypeID | 2 | Social Predation |
| 11 | LinkTypeID | 3 | Micropredation |
| 11 | LinkTypeID | 4 | Parasitic Castration |
| 11 | LinkTypeID | 5 | Pathogen Infection |
| 11 | LinkTypeID | 6 | Macroparasitism |
| 11 | LinkTypeID | 7 | Pollination |
| 11 | LinkTypeID | 8 | Parasitoid Infection |
| 11 | LinkTypeID | 9 | Commensalism |
| 11 | LinkTypeID | 10 | Trophically Transmitted Parasitic Castration |
| 11 | LinkTypeID | 11 | Trophically Transmitted Pathogen Infection |
| 11 | LinkTypeID | 12 | Trophically Transmitted Parasitism |
| 11 | LinkTypeID | 13 | Trophically Transmitted Commensalism |
| 11 | LinkTypeID | 14 | Concurrent Predation on Symbionts |
| 11 | LinkTypeID | 15 | Trophic Transmission |
| 11 | LinkTypeID | 16 | Predation on free-living non-feeding stages |
| 11 | LinkTypeID | 17 | Predation on commensal non-feeding stages |
| 11 | LinkTypeID | 18 | Detritivory |
| 11 | LinkTypeID | 19 | Parasite Intraguild Antagonism |
| 11 | LinkTypeID | 20 | Durable Mutualism |
| 11 | LinkTypeID | 21 | Facultative Micropredation |
| 12 | LinkType | nominal | See metadata Table 3C for the enumerated descriptive list of link-type variables. |
| 13 | LinkEvidence | Observed | The link between nodes was directly observed in the field, through gut content analysis, or through parasitological examination |
| 13 | LinkEvidence | Inferred | The link was inferred to exist because it was observed at other localities, observed under experimental conditions, or was based on expert opinion. Inferred links also apply to parasite-host links when predators that are suitable final hosts for trophically transmitted parasites prey upon appropriate intermediate hosts in the system. |
| 13 | LinkEvidence | Modeled | The link was included when similar species interactions were used as models for this particular interaction. |
| 13 | LinkEvidence | Speculated | The link is inferred by general knowledge of the taxon, but could be inaccurate. "Speculated" in these webs is only employed for 10 links concerning uncertain feeding biology of some unidentified polychaete larvae: assuming they prey on phytoplankton, versus being non-feeding. |
| 14 | LinkEvidenceNotes | nominal | A qualitative description of the link evidence source. |
| 15 | LinkFrequency | interval numeric� | For observed links, the proportion of times that the link was observed (For instance, the proportion of consumer guts within which the resource species was present).� |
| 16 | LinkN | integer | The number of consumers that were examined to detect this particular link. |
| 17 | DietFraction | interval numeric� | The fraction of the consumer's diet (For instance, in terms of biomass/year) comprised by the resource node. |
| 18 | ConsumptionRate | interval numeric� | The rate at which the interaction occurs, explicitly expressed in numbers, biomass or energy per unit time. |
| 19 | VectorFrom | nominal numeric | The Node ID of the vector necessary for a parasitic feeding link to occur. For instance, enter the Node ID for mosquito here if the link is malaria-human. If more than one vector can lead to this type of parasitism, there will be multiple rows repeated here, one for each prey type. Note, in many cases, this will lead to duplicate links, which may need to be considered in analyses. |
| 20 | PreyFrom | nominal numeric | The Node ID of prey needed to be consumed for a particular parasite-prey interaction to occur (via trophic transmission). If more than one prey can lead to parasitism, there will be multiple rows repeated here, one for each prey type. Note, in many cases, this will lead to duplicate links, which may need to be considered in analyses. |