SBC LTER Darwin Core Archive: Kelp Forest Reef Fish Abundance

These data describe the abundance of reef fish as part of the Santa
Barbara Coastal LTER program (SBC LTER) to track long-term patterns in
kelp forest reef species abundance and diversity. The study began in
2000 in the Santa Barbara Channel, California, USA, and the time
series is ongoing and updated approximately annually.
Abundances of all taxa of resident kelp forest fish encountered along
permanent transects are recorded at nine reef sites located 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. In these surveys, fish were counted in either a
40x2m benthic quadrat, or in the water parcel 0-2m off the bottom over
the same area.
This dataset is formatted as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A, occurrence
core). All taxa are counted (using an open species list), and
abundances are zero-filled for each taxon not encountered. This is a
derived data product and less-processed data may be available. See
for
more information and source data, which may include additional
measurements, and

for processing notes.