SBC LTER: Reef: Kelp Forest Community Dynamics: Cover of sessile organisms, Uniform Point Contact

These data describe the cover of sessile invertebrates, understory macroalgae, and bottom substrate types as determined by a uniform point contact method. The presence of over 150 taxa of sessile invertebrates and macroalgae are recorded at 80 uniformly spaced points along permanent 40m x 2m transects. Multiple species can be recorded at any given point. Percent cover of a given species on a transect can be estimated from UPC observations as the fraction of total points at which that species was present x 100. The total percent cover of all species combined using this method can exceed 100%; however, the percent cover of any single species cannot exceed 100%. These data are part of SBC LTERs kelp forest monitoring program, which began in 2000 and was designed to track long-term patterns in species abundance and diversity of reef-associated organisms in the Santa Barbara Channel, California, USA. The sampling locations in this dataset include nine reef sites along the mainland coast of the Santa Barbara Channel and at two sites on the north side of Santa Cruz Island. These sites reflect several oceanographic regimes in the channel and vary in distance from sources of terrestrial runoff. Data collection began in 2000 and this dataset is updated annually. The time period of data collection varied among the 11 kelp forest sites. Sampling at BULL, CARP, and NAPL began in 2000, sampling at the other 6 mainland sites (AHND, AQUE, IVEE, GOLB, ABUR, MOHK) began in 2001 (transects 3, 5, 6, 7, 8 at IVEE were added in 2011). Data collection at the two Santa Cruz Island sites (SCTW and SCDI) began in 2004. See Methods for more information. The two tables in this data package include: 1) The percent cover of sessile invertebrate and understory macroalage; and 2) the percent cover of bottom substrate.本数据集记录了采用统一点位接触法（uniform point contact, UPC）测定的固着无脊椎动物、底层大型藻类盖度以及底质类型。本数据集在永久40m×2m样带上的80个均匀分布点位处，记录了超过150个固着无脊椎动物与大型藻类分类单元的存在情况，任意给定点位均可记录多个物种。单个样带上某一物种的盖度可通过UPC观测结果估算，计算公式为该物种出现的点位占总点位的比例乘以100。采用该方法计算的所有物种总盖度可超过100%，但单一物种的盖度不会超过100%。 本数据集属于SBC LTER海带林监测项目的一部分，该项目始于2000年，旨在追踪美国加利福尼亚州圣巴巴拉海峡内礁栖生物的物种丰度与多样性长期变化格局。 本数据集的采样点位包括圣巴巴拉海峡大陆沿岸的9个礁体站点，以及圣克鲁斯岛北侧的2个站点。这些站点涵盖了海峡内的多种海洋学区域，且与陆地径流源的距离各不相同。数据采集工作始于2000年，本数据集每年更新一次。 11个海带林站点的数据采集起始时间各不相同：BULL、CARP与NAPL站点的采样始于2000年；其余6个大陆沿岸站点（AHND、AQUE、IVEE、GOLB、ABUR、MOHK）的采样始于2001年（IVEE站点的3、5、6、7、8号样带于2011年新增）；圣克鲁斯岛的2个站点（SCTW与SCDI）的数据采集始于2004年。更多细节请参阅方法部分。 本数据包包含两张表格：1）固着无脊椎动物与底层大型藻类的盖度；2）底质类型的盖度。