PISCO Kelp Forest Community Surveys

The kelp forest monitoring datasets provided here are collected as
part of the long-term monitoring program of the Partnership for
Interdisciplinary Studies of Coastal Oceans (PISCO). If you (the
‘Data User’) are considering use of these data, we strongly
encourage collaboration with PISCO scientists and co-authorship when
appropriate, and request that you discuss your analyses with the
dataset authors to minimize duplicative efforts. The Data User
should realize that these data are likely being actively used by
others for ongoing research and that coordination may be necessary
to prevent duplicate publication. Please use this form as an initial
method of contact:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSct8vbkyM3l36GjQ0Uq6E50oeCQWlW7682DYecXnTfxpmzlUQ/viewform
).

The Data User is urged to contact the authors of these data if any
questions about methodology or results occur. The Data User has an
ethical obligation to cite the data source appropriately in any
publication or product that results from its use, and notify the
dataset authors Please send copies of any published manuscript based
on these data to the data contact and data creator. The Data User
should be aware that data are updated periodically and it is the
responsibility of the Data User to check for new versions of the
data. Extensive efforts are made to ensure that online data are
accurate and up to date, but the authors and PISCO will not take
responsibility for any errors that may exist in data provided
online. Furthermore, the user assumes all responsibility for errors
in analysis or judgment resulting from use of the data. The data
authors and the repository where these data were obtained shall not
be liable for damages resulting from any use or misinterpretation of
the data.

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.