Shallow Rock and Kelp Forest Ecosystems, California South Coast MPA Baseline Study, 2011 to 2012

Description

We systematically surveyed 94 of the 122 nearshore rocky reefs in the California south coast study region (SCSR). This synoptic baseline survey was conducted at 75 individual sites in 2011 and 88 sites in 2012. In addition, we incorporate two similar ‘historical’ data sets from 59 sites in 2004 and 79 sites in 2008. From 2011-2012, we surveyed all accessible nearshore rocky reefs found in the SCSR MPAs and determined the appropriateness of references areas for each. This baseline provides, for the first time, a taxonomically exhaustive biogeographic assessment of the nearshore subtidal reefs in the SCSR, improving significantly on our knowledge of the region and incorporating newly established and existing MPAs. Results confirm previously described patterns for subtidal fishes, reflect the physical oceanographic complexities of the Southern California Bight and add new knowledge to biogeographic patterns of algae and invertebrates. The SCSR is characterized by strong environmental gradients, a major defining feature of the SCSR compared to the other California MLPA Study Regions that have relatively more spatially consistent physical environments. These differences are reflected biologically in a high degree of kelp forest community structure across the region. We identified 17 geographically cohesive community clusters, each with distinct fish, invertebrate, and algal assemblages (Figure ES.1). Although kelp forest communities in the SCSR are highly variable, the structure can be related to the sea surface temperature patterns caused by the confluence of the California Current, the Southern California Counter Current and localized upwelling. Benthic habitat structure also varies within the region; the geology and structure of island reefs are functionally different from mainland reefs. Mainland reefs generally are less steep, can be found significantly offshore of the coastline, and have a greater influence of sedimentation moving through the system. With few exceptions, island reefs are generally abrupt, high relief structures, tightly fit to the coastline with less influence of the nearby soft bottom habitat. Ideally, long-term monitoring of MPAs should be distributed across the distinct areas as each is likely to respond differently.

Resources

Name Format Description Link
8 Data dictionary for Uniform Point Contact - Data Table 2011-2012 https://data.cnra.ca.gov/dataset/44197a18-9cd4-4226-a732-d8b14496a96a/resource/e92d975c-7f00-4c16-80ec-b5e77e4d6964/download/scmpacommunitysurveysupcsurveysmetadata.csv
8 Swath data table for community surveys 2011-2012 https://data.cnra.ca.gov/dataset/44197a18-9cd4-4226-a732-d8b14496a96a/resource/a11090f9-436d-4835-b8d9-45933c19b12a/download/scmpacommunitysurveysswathsurveys051415.csv
8 Data dictionary for Size Frequency - Data Table 2011-2012 https://data.cnra.ca.gov/dataset/44197a18-9cd4-4226-a732-d8b14496a96a/resource/ad2ff795-2393-433f-ad4b-9defd7caf68d/download/scmpacommunitysurveyssizefrequencysurveysmetadata.csv
8 Uniform Point Contact (UPC) data table for community surveys 2011-2012 https://data.cnra.ca.gov/dataset/44197a18-9cd4-4226-a732-d8b14496a96a/resource/0a5c9719-9b35-40ca-9299-96d2bf537569/download/scmpacommunitysurveysupcsurveys051415.csv
33 Metadata for fish survey sampling methods https://data.cnra.ca.gov/dataset/44197a18-9cd4-4226-a732-d8b14496a96a/resource/275d6313-1318-4b9f-93e3-91c6b20eef55/download/methodsandsamplingmetadatacommunitysurveysofkelpandshallowreefecosystems.pdf
8 Species lookup table for use with community survey datasets. https://data.cnra.ca.gov/dataset/44197a18-9cd4-4226-a732-d8b14496a96a/resource/f9d3ab60-2533-4ef6-9b35-8ab19b5587f3/download/sccommunitysurveysclassificationlookuptable.csv
8 Data dictionary for Community Survey - Species Lookup Table https://data.cnra.ca.gov/dataset/44197a18-9cd4-4226-a732-d8b14496a96a/resource/e263a9e1-60c2-4acc-9c57-4e0917b0680c/download/sccommunitysurveysclassificationlookuptablemetadata.csv
8 Lookup table for community survey site locations https://data.cnra.ca.gov/dataset/44197a18-9cd4-4226-a732-d8b14496a96a/resource/1108119a-fcd3-4012-94bd-94f7d32908a0/download/sccommunitysurveyssitelookuptable.csv
8 Data dictionary for Community Survey - Site Lookup Table https://data.cnra.ca.gov/dataset/44197a18-9cd4-4226-a732-d8b14496a96a/resource/3483f880-ba3d-4274-9aff-5ac07970e73d/download/sccommunitysurveyssitelookuptablemetadata.csv
8 Lookup table containing a list of South Coast (SC) Marine Protected Area (MPA) baseline program projects and associated information. https://data.cnra.ca.gov/dataset/44197a18-9cd4-4226-a732-d8b14496a96a/resource/10d19768-4bdc-48f1-801d-28d83b31bc86/download/scmpabaselineprograminformationlookuptableunicode.csv
8 Data dictionary for MPA Baseline Program Information - South Coast table https://data.cnra.ca.gov/dataset/44197a18-9cd4-4226-a732-d8b14496a96a/resource/93001a6c-34d3-473c-88a2-a415ec15a253/download/scmpabaselineprograminformationlookuptablemetadata.csv
8 Lookup table containing a list of South Coast (SC) Marine Protected Area (MPA) boundary coordinates. https://data.cnra.ca.gov/dataset/44197a18-9cd4-4226-a732-d8b14496a96a/resource/7e9d23f7-5c2d-421a-8e84-6f8d15c3ffde/download/scmpaboundaryinformationlookuptableunicode.csv
8 Data table for community survey fishes 2011-2012 https://data.cnra.ca.gov/dataset/44197a18-9cd4-4226-a732-d8b14496a96a/resource/71a51484-7ba2-4d46-82fe-e442731b427f/download/scmpacommunitysurveysfishsurveysdata.csv
8 Data dictionary for Fish Survey - Data Table 2011-2012 https://data.cnra.ca.gov/dataset/44197a18-9cd4-4226-a732-d8b14496a96a/resource/26330a4e-975c-482c-aa05-c336cb6f8ccd/download/scmpacommunitysurveysfishsurveysmetadata.csv
8 Size frequency data table from community survey https://data.cnra.ca.gov/dataset/44197a18-9cd4-4226-a732-d8b14496a96a/resource/2a25f7cb-d3c1-4257-b294-a442c6c7a8a8/download/scmpacommunitysurveyssizefrequencysurveys051415.csv
8 Data dictionary for Swath Survey - Data Table 2011-2012 https://data.cnra.ca.gov/dataset/44197a18-9cd4-4226-a732-d8b14496a96a/resource/c668b097-7651-413f-8c57-f140f8b5dd9f/download/scmpacommunitysurveysswathsurveysmetadata.csv
8 Data dictionary for MPA Boundary Details - South Coast table https://data.cnra.ca.gov/dataset/44197a18-9cd4-4226-a732-d8b14496a96a/resource/5c2584ac-75cb-4477-90ce-9ac4a41e72b9/download/scmpaboundaryinformationlookuptablemetadata.csv
33 South coast baseline (phase I) marine protected area (MPA) final report for Baseline Characterization of the Shallow Rocky Reef and Kelp Forest Ecosystems of the South Coast Study Region. This project and report were completed in fulfillment of CA Sea Grant R/MPA-27. https://data.cnra.ca.gov/dataset/44197a18-9cd4-4226-a732-d8b14496a96a/resource/453e7700-8a7e-4e44-b63c-996769dfee1d/download/scmpa-27-final-report.pdf
57 A Zip file of all resources for the Characterization of Shallow Rock and Kelp Forest Ecosystems, California South Coast MPA Baseline Study, 2011 to 2012 dataset. https://data.cnra.ca.gov/dataset/44197a18-9cd4-4226-a732-d8b14496a96a/resource/78b2746d-96ae-45da-8b6d-f9e47dd05691/download/kelpshallowrock.zip

Tags

  • oceans
  • biota
  • algae
  • south-coast
  • baseline
  • fishes
  • environmental
  • kelp-forests
  • monitoring
  • california
  • mpa
  • 2012
  • rocky-reef
  • ecological-data
  • invertebrates
  • marine-protected-area
  • 2011
  • habitat
  • california-ocean-protection-council

Topics

Categories