PISCO: OSU: Subtidal: Community Surveys: Fish Survey

This metadata record documents the fish surveys for PISCO
subtidal community surveys.
Fish sampling consists of recording the number and size of all
non-cryptic fishes on transects (each "transect"
includes both a 2m x 2m x 30m "bottom" transect,
"mid-water" transect and "canopy" transect at
each site). Subtidal community structure surveys are conducted
annually at all sites during the summer or early fall, and
quantify substrate type and relief, benthic cover, abundance of
major groups of macroalgae and invertebrates, and abundance and
size of fishes. Spatial allocation of sampling is designed to
measure year-to-year site-wide variability in community structure
and the spatial scales at which such variation occurs. A site is
defined as a fixed stretch of coastline, occupying approximately
500m. Each site is divided into 2 halves (areas), which comprise
random factor stratified sampling over the entire site.