Invertebrate diversity in southern California

This shapefile displays mean invertebrate diversity within 5 minute grid cells. The Shannon Index of diversity was calculated from Southern California Coastal Water Research Project (SCCWRP) invertebrate trawl data. Data from 426 fisheries independent trawls ranging from 2-215 meters depth were collected during the months of June-August. The data set contained information for 288 invertebrate species in 426 trawls. Using ArcGIS, 5 x 5 minute grids were created and mean diversity was calculated for each grid cell containing data. Gear included a 7.6-m head-rope semi balloon otter trawl with 1.25 cm codend mesh trawled for 5-10 minutes at each station. For more information on trawl methods, see Allen et al. (1997), and Allen et al. (2003).