SBC LTER: Reef: Long-term experiment: Kelp removal: Detritus biomass

These data describe the abundance of macroalgal detritus (grams wet mass m-2) within permanent plots of a long-term experiment designed to examine trajectories of change in the structure and productivity of kelp forest communities in response to changes in the frequency and severity of disturbance to giant kelp. Detritus is collected in six permanent 1 m2 quadrats positioned uniformly along 40 m transects in each sampling plot. Sample collections are brought back to the laboratory, identified to species and weighed wet. The kelp disturbance experiment was initiated in 2008 at five reef sites along the mainland coast of the Santa Barbara Channel and included an annual kelp removal treatment designed to simulate increases in the frequency and severity of winter wave disturbance and a continual kelp removal treatment that allowed the effects of giant kelp on the community to be evaluated. Macroalgal detritus is not collected in plots of the continual kelp removal treatment.