Dataset 274
Santa Barbara Coastal LTER Reef: Kelp Forest Community Dynamics: Cover of sessile organisms, Uniform Point Contact
Realm: Marine
Climate: Temperate
Biome: Temperate shelf and seas ecoregions Central latitude: 34.305653
Central longitude: -119.874919
Duration: 15 years, from 2000 to 2014
Climate: Temperate
Biome: Temperate shelf and seas ecoregions Central latitude: 34.305653
Central longitude: -119.874919
Duration: 15 years, from 2000 to 2014
8707 records
132 distinct species
Across the time series Corallina sp1 is the most frequently occurring speciesMethods
Uniform Point Contact (UPC) sampling is done to determine the percentage cover of algae and sessile invertebrates and different types of bottom substrate. UPC data are collected at 80 points uniformly positioned within a 1 m wide area centered along each 40 m transect (Figure 1). A diver records all organisms intersecting an imaginary vertical line passing through each point and species percent cover is determined as the fraction of points a species intercepts x 100. A species is only recorded once at a given point even if it intersects the imaginary line multiple times. Using this technique the percent cover of all species combined on a transect can exceed 100%. but the percent cover of any individual species cannot. Species are recorded from top- down as they are encountered and are entered from left to right on the datasheet in such a way that primary space holders occupy the left side of the “SP_CODE†column. Species growing attached to other organisms are not counted. except those species growing on the ornate tube worm (Diopatra ornata). Additionally. the substrate type under each point is recorded and if the substrate is sand. then the depth of the sand is measured to the nearest cm. Mobile organisms occurring at a sampling point are not counted and are moved so that the species and substrate beneath them can be recorded. Only the holdfast is recorded to estimate the percent cover of the kelps Macrocystis pyrifera. Pterygophora californica. Eisenia arborea and Laminaria farlowii; the blades and stipes of these species. which extend into the water column. are ignored if they intersected a sampling point. Unlike the sampling of algal and invertebrate density done in fixed quadrats and swaths. the number of taxa sampled by UPC is not fixed; instead all sessile species encountered are recorded. Species that are difficult to identify underwater are lumped into broader taxonomic categories (e.g.. crustose coralline algae) to facilitate sampling. Unit of abundance = PercentCover, Unit of biomass = NACitation(s)
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