North Central Coast: citizen-science surveys of sand crabs in beach ecosystems

This metadata record documents the data collected for a collaborative project between the sandy beach baseline monitoring research team and the Long-term Monitoring Program and Experiential Training for Students or ‘LiMPETS’ program to compare sampling methods for estimating the abundance of sand crabs (Emerita analoga) on sandy beaches. LiMPETS is a junior citizen-scientist monitoring network that was established in 2002 by the Gulf of the Farallones (GoF) National Marine Sanctuary (NMS) as an education and outreach program for local K-12 students that includes a sand crab monitoring program. To compare the LiMPETs sand crab sampling method (designed to serve an educational mission but with long-term monitoring in mind) to the method we used in our baseline monitoring program, we collaborated in a replicated, side-by-side sampling effort at three different beaches (Salmon Creek Beach (N), Limantour Beach & Montara Beach) in April and May 2011. Undergraduate marine ecology university students from Sonoma State University and Bodega Marine Laboratory (University of California, Davis), high school students from Lake County participating in the LiMPETS program as well as staff from the LiMPETS program all helped to collect the data. The aim of this effort was twofold: first, we wanted to cross-calibrate our different methods (if possible) to make the best possible use of existing regional data collected by the LiMPETS program with school kids since 2002 and second, to recommend adjustments to the LiMPETS protocol, if needed, to improve its scientific efficacy as a long-term, citizen science monitoring program for regional sandy beaches (in addition to serving its equally valuable educational mission).This dataset was originally uploaded to Oceanspaces (http://oceanspaces.org/) in 2013 as part of the North Central Coast baseline monitoring program. In 2020 the baseline data and reports were uploaded to the California Ocean Protection Council Data Repository by Mike Esgro ([e-mail]) and Rani Gaddam ([e-mail]). Every attempt has been made to include all of the original data, metadata, and reports submitted in 2013, but please contact the Data Set Contacts with any questions. The California MPA boundary and project info tables referenced in this dataset can be found as a separate dataset here: https://opc.dataone.org/view/doi:10.25494/P64S3W