SBC LTER: Nutrient concentrations and algae cover in the Ventura River catchment, California, 2008

Macroalgal cover and stream nutrients are reported during spring and summer 2008 at 15
stream and estuarine sites in the Ventura River catchment in southern California, USA. Data were
collected within a mosaic of undeveloped, agricultural, and urban areas to examine relationships
among land use, nutrients, algae, and dissolved oxygen (see paper, linked below). This dataset
reports major dissolved nutrients (phosphate, nitrate, ammonium) and total dissolved nitrogen
and phosphorus, from May to September 2008, and percent cover of macroalgae (benthic and
floating) at the same sites at the beginning and end of this period. Results from these data were reported in: Klose, K., Cooper, S. D., Leydecker, A. D. and
Kreitler, J. 2012. Relationships among catchment land use and concentrations of nutrients,
algae, and dissolved oxygen in a southern California river. Freshwater Science, 2012,
31(3):908-927 doi: 10.1899/11-155.1 Data not reported here: Chlorophyll-a, physicochemical and land use parameters (e.g., land-use type, water depth,
substratum size, % open canopy, and water velocity) were used in the paper's analysis and so
were also collected, but are not reported here. Nutrient diffusing substrata (NDS) were
deployed at 12 sites to assess the nutrient(s) limiting algal growth; these data are also not
reported here.