Dataset: Percent coverage along a transect or subsample of each of four substrate types recorded during emergent and rapid emergent surveys conducted in the subtidal zone of northern California, Sonoma and Mendocino counties, from 1999 to 2023

ValidatedFinal no updates expectedDOI: 10.26008/1912/bco-dmo.928527.1Version 1 (2024-08-30)Dataset Type:Other Field Results

Principal Investigator, Contact: Laura Rogers-Bennett (University of California - Davis: Bodega Marine Laboratory)

Data Manager: Robert R. Klamt (University of California - Davis: Bodega Marine Laboratory)

BCO-DMO Data Manager: Shannon Rauch (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)


Project: Collaborative Research: The effects of marine heatwaves on reproduction, larval transport and recruitment in sea urchin metapopulations (Urchin metapopulations)


Abstract

The Kelp Forest Monitoring data record span surveys across 24 years from 1999 through 2023 at 20 locations on the Sonoma-Mendocino Coast, Northern California, and span the major marine heatwave of 2014-2016. Years without data, inclusive: 2002, 2020, 2021. These surveys are ongoing and are conducted by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife dive team with participation from dive program partners at UC Davis, UC Santa Cruz, Cal Poly Humboldt, Sonoma State and other dive programs and volun...

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All surveys were done using Scuba along 30-meter x 2-meter (m) transects randomly placed in the subtidal zone in rocky habitats dominated by bull kelp, Nereocystis luetkeana, forests. These randomly placed band transect surveys were stratified by depth (A=0-15, B=16-30, C=31-45, D=46-60 ft) as we know sea urchin and abalone populations differ by depth.

Each diver (2 divers) surveyed a 1-m wide swath along each the transect, collecting the following data: the number of live, dying (in some years during the mass mortality events), and sea urchins (red-Mesocentrotus franciscanus and purple-Strongylocentrotus purpuratus), red abalone (Haliotis rufescens), pinto abalone (H. kamtschatkana), flat abalone (H. walallensis), as well as empty abalone shells (again in some years).

The data specific to this dataset are the percentages of four different substrate types: reef, boulder, cobble, and sand. Data on the substrate types differed depending on the year and the focus of the studies in response to ecosystem conditions. Note that some transects were subsampled: "L" is left side, "R" is right side, "LR" is the entire 30m x 2m transect, both sides. Not all transects were subsampled due to time constraints; not all survey transects were sampled.

In some rare cases, substrate can range from 95-105 for a subsample, and from 190-210 for both sides of the full transect, so they should be rounded off to 100 or 200%.


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Hamilton, S. L., Saccomanno, V. R., Heady, W. N., Gehman, A. L., Lonhart, S. I., Beas-Luna, R., Francis, F. T., Lee, L., Rogers-Bennett, L., Salomon, A. K., & Gravem, S. A. (2021). Disease-driven mass mortality event leads to widespread extirpation and variable recovery potential of a marine predator across the eastern Pacific. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 288(1957), 20211195. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2021.1195
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McPherson, M. L., Finger, D. J. I., Houskeeper, H. F., Bell, T. W., Carr, M. H., Rogers-Bennett, L., & Kudela, R. M. (2021). Large-scale shift in the structure of a kelp forest ecosystem co-occurs with an epizootic and marine heatwave. Communications Biology, 4(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-021-01827-6
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Rogers-Bennett, L., & Catton, C. A. (2022). Cascading impacts of a climate-driven ecosystem transition intensifies population vulnerabilities and fishery collapse. Frontiers in Climate, 4. https://doi.org/10.3389/fclim.2022.908708
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Rogers-Bennett, L., Kawana, S.K., Catton, C.A., Klamt, R., Dondanville, R., Maguire, A., and D. Okamoto. (In revision). Abalone recruitment patterns before and after sea urchin barrens formation in northern California: Incorporating climate change. New Zealand Journal Marine and Freshwater Research.
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Rogers-Bennett, L., Klamt, R., & Catton, C. A. (2021). Survivors of Climate Driven Abalone Mass Mortality Exhibit Declines in Health and Reproduction Following Kelp Forest Collapse. Frontiers in Marine Science, 8. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.725134