Realm: Marine
Climate: Temperate
Biome: Temperate Shelf and seas ecoregions
Central latitude: 34.305800
Central longitude: -119.875400
Duration: 24 years, from 2000 to 2023

29123 records

135 distinct species

Across the time series Embiotocidae is the most frequently occurring species

Methods

These data are part of a larger collection of ongoing data sets that describe the temporal and spatial dynamics of kelp forest communities at 11 sites within the Santa Barbara Channel. Nine of the 11 study sites occur along the mainland coast of the Channel (Arroyo Burro 34 24.007' N 1190 44.663' W; Arroyo Hondo 34 28.312' N, 120 08.663' W; Arroyo Quemado 34 28.127' N, 120 07.285' W; Bulito 34 27.533' N, 120 20.006' W; Carpinteria 34 23.545' N, 119 32.628' W; Goleta Bay 34 24.827' N, 119 49.344' W; Isla Vista 34 24.170' N 119 51.472' W; Naples 34 25.340' N 119 57.176' W; Mohawk 34 23.660' N, 119 43.800' W) and two occur on the northern coast of Santa Cruz Island (Diablo 34 03.518' N, 119 45.458' W; Twin Harbors West 34 02.664' N, 119 42.908' W). The time period of data collection varied among the 11 kelp forest sites. Sampling at Bulito, Carpinteria, and Naples began in summer 2000, sampling at the other six mainland sites (Arroyo Burro, Arroyo Hondo, Arroyo Quemado, Goleta Bay, Isla Vista, Mohawk) began in summer 2001 (transects 3, 5, 6, 7, 8 at Isla Vista were added in fall 2011). Data collection at the two Santa Cruz Island sites began in summer 2004. Annual measurements of the abundance of all understory macroalgae including small M. pyrifera (< 1 m in height) were converted to de-calcified dry mass using taxon-specific relationships with percent cover or size-specific density developed for 23 taxa that accounted for more than 95% of the standing biomass of understory macroalgae averaged across locations sampled seasonally from 2008 to 2018 (algae biomass relationship data table in https://portal.edirepository.org/nis/mapbrowse?scope=knb-lter-sbc&identifier=127. The conversion of abundance to de-calcified dry mass for less common taxa was done by proxy using the relationship generated for a morphologically similar species. Biomass was converted from de-calcified dry mass to units of wet mass and ash free dry mass using ratios developed from tissue samples collected for common taxa. Wet mass and ash free dry mass of less common taxa were calculated using conversions for proxy taxa, when necessary. Decalcified dry to wet mass, decalcified dry to ash free dry mass, decalcified dry to carbon mass, and decalcified dry to nitrogen mass conversions are provided in data package https://portal.edirepository.org/nis/mapbrowse?scope=knb-lter-sbc&identifier=127. Proxy species for these measures are presented in. Biomass for the seagrass, Zostera marina, was converted from de-calcified dry mass to wet mass using the relationship of Wickham et al. 2018 and was converted from de-calcified dry mass to carbon, nitrogen, and ash-free dry mass using the relationship of Van Lent et al. 1991. Size data for understory species whose abundance is measured as density (i.e., the kelps Pterygophora californica and Laminaria farlowii, and the fucoid, Stephanocystis osmundaceae) were not collected prior to 2008. To estimate the biomass of these species prior to 2008 we derived relationships between decalcified dry mass and density for adult and juveniles of each species using data from all sites and transects from 2008-2018. We applied the slope of these relationships to measured adult and juvenile densities to estimate the dry mass of these species from 2000-2007. Divers also counted the density of M. pyrifera fronds > 1 m in height in the 40 m x 2 m transects. The density of M. pyrifera fronds > 1 m in height was converted to the biomass of giant kelp by applying the relationship between frond density (no. m-2) in August and dry mass density (dry kg m-2) developed by Rassweiler et al. (2018). Annual measurements of the abundance of macroinvertebrate species were converted to shell free (i.e., decalcified) dry mass using taxon-specific relationships with size-specific density or percent cover developed for the 78 most common taxon (invertebrate biomass relationship data table in https://portal.edirepository.org/nis/mapbrowse?scope=knb-lter-sbc&identifier=127. Size data for invertebrates were not collected prior to 2008. Thus for 2000 to 2007 we estimated species-specific biomass of invertebrates for each transect using the long-term (2008 to present) mean size of juveniles and adults for that transect multiplied by their measured density. The conversion of abundance to mass for less common invertebrate taxa was done by proxy using the relationship generated for a morphologically similar species. Annual measurements of the abundance and size of reef fish (i.e., those observed within 2m of the benthos) was converted to wet mass (g) using species-specific relationships obtained from the literature (fish biomass relationship data table in https://portal.edirepository.org/nis/mapbrowse?scope=knb-lter-sbc&identifier=127. For somespecies, relationships were derived for standard length to mass. In these cases, we used information provided from the author to convert measurements of total length to standard length prior to estimating wet mass. The wet mass of bony fishes was converted to de-boned dry mass (g) and ash free dry mass (g) using the average of conversion ratios for all reef fish provided in Taylor (1997). Wet mass of cartilaginous fishes was converted to dry biomass (g) using the conversion factor of Thorson 1976. No information was found to convert wet mass to ash free dry mass for cartilaginous fishes. Published relationships were not available for every fish species encountered on SBC LTER reefs. Therefore, we estimated the biomass of these species by proxy using the relationship published for a morphologically similar species (Table 3). Note, the accuracy of sampling fish may vary with water clarity and data collected during sampling events when horizontal visibility was < 2 m should be used with caution. SUMMARY: These data are part of a collection of ongoing data sets that describe the temporal and spatial dynamics of kelp forest communities in the Santa Barbara Channel. Data on the abundance (density or percent cover) and size of ~250 species of reef associated macroalgae, invertebrates and fishes, substrate type and bottom topography are collected annually by divers in the summer within fixed plots (i.e. 40 m x 2 m transects) at 11 sites (n = 2 to 8 transects per site) that have historically supported giant kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera). Species-specific relationships between size (or percent cover) and mass developed for the region are used to covert abundance data to common metrics of mass (e.g., wet, dry, de-calcified dry) to facilitate analyses of community dynamics involving all species. Data collection began in 2000 and is ongoing.

Citation(s)

@Dataset{BioTIME_cit353, Study_id = {589}, Citation_id = {353}, Author = {{Santa Barbara Coastal LTER} and Reed, Daniel and Miller, Robert}, Publisher = {Environmental Data Initiative}, Title = {SBC LTER: Reef: Annual time series of biomass for kelp forest species, ongoing since 2000}, Year = {2023}, Doi = {10.6073/pasta/f2d0beb83ce7ed6949364ac28df790ea}, Url = {doi.org/10.6073/pasta/f2d0beb83ce7ed6949364ac28df790ea}, Language = {English} }