PISCO: Subtidal: Community Surveys: Oregon Reserves: Swath Surveys

This metadata record documents the benthic swath component of PISCO subtidal community surveys done as part of the baseline monitoring program for the Oregon pilot marine reserves at Redfish Rocks, Otter Rock and associated comparison areas in late August 2010. Monitoring was funded by a grant from the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife through Oregon State University. Benthic surveys are comprised of two components, all sampled along the same transects: (1) uniform point contact (UPC) estimates of benthic cover and substrate characteristics, (2) swath transects to estimate the density of kelps and macroinvertebrates. Swath sampling consists of recording the number of selected invertebrate and algal species on 2m x 30m transects. Swath surveys are part of subtidal community structure surveys conducted at each site, which quantified 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 normally defined as a fixed stretch of coastline, occupying approximately 500m. Each site contains 12 fish transects stratified over four depth zones or 6 benthic (algae and invertebrate) transects stratified over three depth zones.