PISCO Kelp Forest Community Surveys

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.