Citizen Scientist Monitoring of Rocky Reefs and Kelp Forests, California North Coast MPA Baseline Study, 2014 to 2016

RCCA volunteer citizen scientists conducted 18 visual scuba transects at each monitoring site to survey densities and sizes of ecologically and economically important fish, invertebrate and algal species and to characterize the physical habitats. Transects were 30-meters long and 2-meters wide swaths above the rocky reef substrate. Divers counted and sized key species of fish (35 species), counted invertebrates (33 species) and algae (9 species), and estimated the percent cover of substrate types and vertical relief of the seafloor. Over the baseline monitoring of 2014-2015, RCCA conducted 18 surveys at eight monitoring sites in the NCSR. Three of these sites have been surveyed since 2007. The data from these surveys were analyzed at multiple scales to provide baseline characterization of the kelp forest ecosystems at the time of MPA implementation. We characterized the biological community at the RCCA monitoring sites by summarizing the physical and biological characteristics of each of the sites. These summaries will serve as a reference point in the future as long-term monitoring continues.

Data and Resources

Field Value
accessLevel public
catalog_@context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
catalog_conformsTo https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
catalog_describedBy https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
identifier 3598e86b-3142-448e-92da-c2aa516caad2
issued 2018-01-30T19:30:51.476155
license http://www.opendefinition.org/licenses/cc-by
modified 2018-05-15T18:24:55.288889
publisher California Ocean Protection Council
resource-type Dataset
source_datajson_identifier true
source_hash 026fbfcfd8f308a69fb8ad649b81ab577bbb117b87b3bd19ee0a32fb7ec06dcc
source_schema_version 1.1
theme {"Natural Resources",Water}
Groups
  • AmeriGEOSS
  • National Provider
  • North America
Tags
  • AmeriGEO
  • AmeriGEOSS
  • CKAN
  • GEO
  • GEOSS
  • National
  • North America
  • United States
  • algae
  • baseline
  • biota
  • california
  • california-ocean-protection-council
  • ecological-data
  • environmental
  • fishes
  • invertebrates
  • kelp-forest
  • marine-protected-area
  • monitoring
  • mpa
  • north-coast
  • oceans
  • rocky-reef
isopen False
license_id other-license-specified
license_title other-license-specified
maintainer Jan Freiwald
maintainer_email jfreiwald@reefcheck.org
metadata_created 2025-09-24T18:51:19.434808
metadata_modified 2025-09-24T18:51:19.434818
notes RCCA volunteer citizen scientists conducted 18 visual scuba transects at each monitoring site to survey densities and sizes of ecologically and economically important fish, invertebrate and algal species and to characterize the physical habitats. Transects were 30-meters long and 2-meters wide swaths above the rocky reef substrate. Divers counted and sized key species of fish (35 species), counted invertebrates (33 species) and algae (9 species), and estimated the percent cover of substrate types and vertical relief of the seafloor. Over the baseline monitoring of 2014-2015, RCCA conducted 18 surveys at eight monitoring sites in the NCSR. Three of these sites have been surveyed since 2007. The data from these surveys were analyzed at multiple scales to provide baseline characterization of the kelp forest ecosystems at the time of MPA implementation. We characterized the biological community at the RCCA monitoring sites by summarizing the physical and biological characteristics of each of the sites. These summaries will serve as a reference point in the future as long-term monitoring continues.
num_resources 27
num_tags 24
title Citizen Scientist Monitoring of Rocky Reefs and Kelp Forests, California North Coast MPA Baseline Study, 2014 to 2016