PISCO Kelp Forest Community Surveys

In 1998, the Partnership for Interdisciplinary Studies of Coastal
Oceans (PISCO) designed and initiated a large scale, long-term
monitoring study of kelp forest ecosystems along portions of the
southern, central and northern coast of California and southern
Oregon, USA. The program is administered out of the University of
California campuses in Santa Cruz and Santa Barbara and funded
primarily by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. The purpose of
the study has been to characterize the regional and temporal patterns
of kelp forest ecosystem structure and evaluate the relative
contributions of biological and environmental variables in explaining
observed spatial and temporal patterns. For this purpose, the
ecological community and physical structure of kelp forest ecosystems
have been surveyed using trained SCUBA divers. The biological
structure includes the more conspicuous fishes, invertebrates, and
macroalgae. The physical structure includes geomorphological
attributes (substratum type and vertical relief). Among other
applications, these surveys have informed the design and evaluation of
the state-wide network of marine protected areas (MPAs) established by
California’s Marine Life Protection Act. Over time, the role of the
monitoring program for evaluating the ecological responses to the
establishment of the MPAs greatly influenced both the spatial and
temporal design of the monitoring program.

1998年，沿海海洋跨学科研究伙伴关系（PISCO）设计并启动了一项大规模、长期的监测研究，针对美国加利福尼亚州南部、中部、北部海岸及俄勒冈州南部部分区域的海藻森林生态系统。该项目由加州大学圣克鲁兹分校和圣巴巴拉分校负责管理，主要资金来源于大卫和露西尔·帕卡德基金会。本研究旨在刻画海藻森林生态系统结构的区域及时间格局，并评估生物与环境变量对解释观测到的时空格局的相对贡献。为此，研究人员通过受过训练的水肺潜水员对海藻森林生态系统的生态群落及物理结构进行了调查。生物结构涵盖较显著的鱼类、无脊椎动物及大型藻类；物理结构则包括地貌特征（基质类型与垂直地形）。除其他应用外，这些调查为加州《海洋生物保护法》所建立的全州海洋保护区（MPAs）网络的设计与评估提供了依据。随着时间推移，该监测项目在评估MPAs建立后的生态响应方面的作用，极大地影响了其自身的时空设计。