SONGS Mitigation Monitoring: Experimental Reef Survey – Giant Kelp Size and Abundance

These data describe annual estimates of the size, fecundity, and abundance of giant kelp, Macrocystis pyrifera, at an artificial reef (Wheeler North Reef in Orange County, CA) and two natural reference reefs (San Mateo Kelp in Orange County, CA and Barn Kelp in San Diego County, CA).
Data were collected from 2000 to 2004 as part of the experimental phase of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) kelp reef mitigation program.
In the spring and fall of each year, divers collected data on the number of fronds > 1 m tall, the amount of reproductive tissue, and the size of the holdfast for each giant kelp plant encountered along permanent transects at each reef and recorded the type of substrate to which each plant was attached.