Long-term monitoring of macroalgal biodiversity in Stanley Park, Vancouver, British Columbia

The sampling was started by Varoon P. Supratya and Siobhan Schenk, PhD candidates in the labs of Patrick T. Martone and Laura Wegener Parfrey, respectively, both at the University of British Columbia. Both Varoon and Siobhan study macroalgae for their degrees. Macroalgae are marine foundation species in intertidal ecosystems, but data regarding their historical abundance, diversity, and phenology remains lacking in many regions, including British Columbia. This absence of historical baselines may hinder assessments of how macroalgae are affected by anthropogenic stressors, such as extreme weather events (e.g., 2021 heat dome) or invasive species. Obtaining baseline data may be especially important for urban intertidal zones, where the impact of increasing anthropogenic stressors is underappreciated. To fill this data gap, they started a collaborative long-term survey in 2021 to document year-round macroalgal biodiversity in a highly biodiverse urban intertidal zone around the Girl in a Wetsuit Statue in Stanley Park, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada (49.30275394688415, -123.12643462372476). For easy data visualization, the Shiny app linked here may be useful, but we strongly reccomend doing your own data analysis. Please cite this Borealis page if you use these data, not the Shiny app.

本次采样工作由分别隶属于不列颠哥伦比亚大学（University of British Columbia）Patrick T. Martone与Laura Wegener Parfrey实验室的博士生Varoon P. Supratya与Siobhan Schenk共同发起。二人的学位研究方向均为大型藻类（macroalgae）。大型藻类是潮间带生态系统的海洋奠基物种，但包括不列颠哥伦比亚省在内的诸多区域，仍缺乏其历史丰度、多样性与物候相关的研究数据。此类历史基线数据的缺失，可能会阻碍学界评估大型藻类如何受到极端天气事件（如2021年热穹顶事件）或外来入侵物种等人为胁迫因素的影响。对于城市潮间带而言，获取基线数据尤为关键——该类区域中人为胁迫因素加剧所带来的生态影响尚未得到充分认知。为填补这一数据空白，二人于2021年启动了一项协作性长期监测调查，旨在对加拿大不列颠哥伦比亚省温哥华市斯坦利公园（Stanley Park）内“身着潜水服的女孩”雕像（Girl in a Wetsuit Statue）周边生物多样性极高的城市潮间带区域（坐标：49.30275394688415, -123.12643462372476）的大型藻类生物多样性进行全年记录。若需便捷的数据可视化支持，可使用此处关联的Shiny应用（Shiny app），但我们强烈建议使用者自行开展数据分析。若使用本数据集，请引用该Borealis页面，而非该Shiny应用。