Abundance of Rocky Reef Fishes, Invertebrates and Algae, Reef Check California (RCCA), 2006 - 2017

Data in this collection include the abundance of organisms observed during Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus (SCUBA) diver surveys conducted by Reef Check California (RCCA) volunteers in nearshore, rocky reef environments along the coast of California between 2006 and 2019. After completing training through RCCA, volunteer teams of divers select survey sites and perform surveys according to RCCA standard protocol. Since its inception in 2006, RCCA trained divers have conducted thousands of these surveys at hundreds of sites, including sites within more than 50 State Marine Reserves and State Marine Conservation Areas.

At each site, buddy teams of divers conduct 18, 30 m x 2 m benthic transects to monitor key species of invertebrates, algae and fish. For fish and algae, size measurements are also collected. Finally, the substrate type, biological cover and relief of the reef are characterized, using a Uniform Point Contact (UPC) sampling strategy. Each site is divided into two "zones" by depth: shallow (5-12 m) and deep (12-18 m). These zones are distributed from offshore to inshore at sites with little depth variation. Half of the transects are conducted in each zone. RCCA’s survey methods are based on visual census survey methods developed by the Partnership of Interdisciplinary Studies of Coastal Oceans (PISCO) and have been modified so that they can be taught in a reasonable amount of time to volunteer SCUBA divers. Species are selected because of their ecological or economic importance or because they are of specific management interest.

Data are presented as three comma-separated values (.csv) files: RCCA_occurrence.csv, RCCA_event.csv and RCCA_MoF.csv. The occurrence file contains the presence/absence and density for 33 invertebrate taxa, 9 algal taxa and 37 fish taxa, identified to the Genus or Species level. The event file contains the location of each site, the depth of each transect, and the date each transect was conducted. The Measurement or Fact (MoF) file contains temperature and visibility measurements taken at the beginning of each transect, the UPC data from each transect, the number of stipes for each giant kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera) observed, the length for each individual fish observed, and the minimum and maximum size for each group of fish observed. This data set was transformed from its native format into a table structure using Darwin Core term names as column names.

Original data, additional size data, and full description of methods can be found at these links:
https://opc.dataone.org/view/doi%3A10.25494%2FP6JS3M, https://opc.dataone.org/view/doi%3A10.25494%2FP69885, https://opc.dataone.org/view/doi%3A10.25494%2FP65K5W, https://opc.dataone.org/view/doi%3A10.25494%2FP6F30N

The data has these identifiers: doi:10.25494/P6JS3M, doi:10.25494/P69885, doi:10.25494/P65K5W, doi:10.25494/P6F30N

本数据集收录了加州近岸岩石礁环境中，由加州珊瑚礁检查组织（Reef Check California，RCCA）志愿者在2006年至2019年间，使用自给式水下呼吸器（Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus，SCUBA）进行的生物多样性调查所获得的数据。经过RCCA的培训后，志愿者潜水小组选择调查地点，并按照RCCA的标准协议进行实地调查。自2006年成立以来，RCCA培训的潜水员已在超过500个地点进行了数千次此类调查，其中包括50多个州立海洋保护区和州立海洋保护区内的地点。在每个调查点，潜水搭档小组进行18个30米×2米的底栖样带调查，以监测无脊椎动物、藻类和鱼类的主要物种。对于鱼类和藻类，还收集了尺寸测量数据。最后，采用统一点接触（Uniform Point Contact，UPC）采样策略，对珊瑚礁的底质类型、生物覆盖和地形进行描述。每个地点根据深度分为两个区域：浅水区（5-12米）和深水区（12-18米）。这些区域从近岸到远岸分布，在深度变化较小的地点。每个区域进行一半的样带调查。RCCA的调查方法基于由跨学科海岸海洋研究伙伴关系（Partnership of Interdisciplinary Studies of Coastal Oceans，PISCO）开发的视觉普查调查方法，并经过修改，以便在合理的时间内教授给志愿者潜水员。物种的选择基于其生态或经济重要性，或因其具有特定的管理意义。数据以三个逗号分隔值（Comma-Separated Values，.csv）文件的形式呈现：RCCA_occurrence.csv、RCCA_event.csv和RCCA_MoF.csv。出现文件包含33个无脊椎动物类群、9个藻类类群和37个鱼类类群的种类存在/不存在和密度信息，这些种类被鉴定到属或种水平。事件文件包含每个地点的位置、每个样带的深度以及每个样带进行的日期。测量或事实（Measurement or Fact，MoF）文件包含在每个样带开始时进行的温度和能见度测量、每个样带的UPC数据、每个巨型巨藻（Macrocystis pyrifera）的茎数量、每个观察到的个体的长度以及每个观察到的鱼类群体的最小和最大尺寸。此数据集已从其原生格式转换为表格结构，使用达尔文核心术语名称作为列名。原始数据、附加尺寸数据和方法的全描述可在以下链接找到：https://opc.dataone.org/view/doi%3A10.25494%2FP6JS3M，https://opc.dataone.org/view/doi%3A10.25494%2FP69885，https://opc.dataone.org/view/doi%3A10.25494%2FP65K5W，https://opc.dataone.org/view/doi%3A10.25494%2FP6F30N。该数据集具有以下标识符：doi:10.25494/P6JS3M，doi:10.25494/P69885，doi:10.25494/P65K5W，doi:10.25494/P6F30N。