Reef Check kelp forest long-term MPA monitoring: invertebrate data

Reef Check California (RCCA) invertebrate surveys consist of visual surveys performed by scuba divers. At each site, buddy teams of divers conduct eighteen 30 m x 2 m benthic transects, to monitor key species of invertebrates. Each site is divided into two "zones" by depth (shallow 5-12 meters and deep 12-18 meters - or from offshore to inshore at sites with little depth variation) to assure that samples are distributed across the face of a reef from inshore to offshore. Invertebrates are counted on 6 transects per site (3 transects in each zone). To be counted invertebrates have to be larger than 2.5 centimeters. Gorgonians and ‘large anemones‘ have to be larger than 10 centimeters to be counted. Each transect is a 2m wide x 30m long swath along the seafloor. The long-term California MPA boundary and project info tables referenced in this dataset can be found as a separate dataset here: https://opc.dataone.org/view/doi:10.25494/P6V884