Estuarine Ecosystems, California North Coast MPA Baseline Study, 2014 to 2016

The North Coast has 16 major estuaries that support a wide diversity of plant and animal life, including salmon and other commercially important species. The focus of this project is to describe and evaluate the ecological status of representative and under-studied estuaries in the region by surveying plants, invertebrates and fishes in tidal mudflats and eelgrass beds of four estuaries – three within MPAs (Humboldt Bay, Big River and Ten Mile River) and the Mad River Estuary. Field surveys will be conducted multiple times a year for two years to better document seasonal and interannual variability in species abundances and diversity, as well as changes in the sizes of focal species, such as bivalves, eelgrass, and black rockfish, among others. Estuarine ecosystems are largely driven by a complex set of interacting physical variables, including freshwater flows, seasonal closures of lagoon mouths and ocean water properties related to winds and upwelling. Information about these “abiotic” variables will be distilled to describe the “contextual conditions” in each estuary. During the analysis phase of their project, scientists will identify baseline and contextual metrics that might allow for future evaluation of MPA performance. This project is a collaboration among academic scientists, North Coast tribes, and ecological consultants.

Data e Risorse

Campo Valore
accessLevel public
catalog_@context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
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catalog_describedBy https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
identifier f7263d5c-c85b-4f14-9273-15d59a9f8c4e
issued 2018-01-25T17:07:09.526318
modified 2018-02-14T20:13:54.354680
publisher California Ocean Protection Council
resource-type Dataset
source_datajson_identifier true
source_hash 54e30ec70a01c82c62819a9d64de35ff84d44e18
source_schema_version 1.1
theme {"Natural Resources",Water}
Gruppi
  • AmeriGEOSS
  • National Provider
  • North America
Tag
  • 2014
  • 2015
  • 2016
  • amerigeo
  • amerigeoss
  • baseline
  • biota
  • california
  • california-ocean-protection-council
  • ckan
  • ecological-data
  • environmental
  • estuarine
  • estuary
  • geo
  • geoss
  • marine-protected-area
  • monitoring
  • mpa
  • national
  • north-america
  • north-coast
  • oceans
  • united-states
isopen False
license_id notspecified
license_title License not specified
maintainer Frank Shaughnessy
maintainer_email fjs3@humboldt.edu
metadata_created 2025-11-22T20:19:29.736246
metadata_modified 2025-11-22T20:19:29.736250
notes The North Coast has 16 major estuaries that support a wide diversity of plant and animal life, including salmon and other commercially important species. The focus of this project is to describe and evaluate the ecological status of representative and under-studied estuaries in the region by surveying plants, invertebrates and fishes in tidal mudflats and eelgrass beds of four estuaries – three within MPAs (Humboldt Bay, Big River and Ten Mile River) and the Mad River Estuary. Field surveys will be conducted multiple times a year for two years to better document seasonal and interannual variability in species abundances and diversity, as well as changes in the sizes of focal species, such as bivalves, eelgrass, and black rockfish, among others. Estuarine ecosystems are largely driven by a complex set of interacting physical variables, including freshwater flows, seasonal closures of lagoon mouths and ocean water properties related to winds and upwelling. Information about these “abiotic” variables will be distilled to describe the “contextual conditions” in each estuary. During the analysis phase of their project, scientists will identify baseline and contextual metrics that might allow for future evaluation of MPA performance. This project is a collaboration among academic scientists, North Coast tribes, and ecological consultants.
num_resources 14
num_tags 24
title Estuarine Ecosystems, California North Coast MPA Baseline Study, 2014 to 2016