SBC LTER: Reef: Benthic community structure along a gradient of historic kelp variability

These data are estimates of biomass of approximately 225 taxa of reef algae, invertebrates, and fish in transects at 11 non-core sites in the Santa Barbara Channel in summer 2018 (3 transects per site). Sites were selected along a gradient of historic kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera) variability, from sites with highly persistent kelp to sites exhibiting extensive variation in kelp biomass since 2008. See the site characteristics data table for site locations and depths. The purpose of the sampling was to explore to what extent the findings from the long-term experiment (e.g. Castorani et al. 2018) apply to natural gradients in kelp persistence. Surveys were conducted following the same methodology used in the annual surveys of kelp forest community structure, such that data from the non-core sites may be paired with annual survey data collected in summer 2018.