MARINe/PISCO: Intertidal: MARINe Long-Term Monitoring Surveys: Photo Plots and Transects Summarized

Occurrence
Latest version published by United States Geological Survey on May 4, 2023 United States Geological Survey

Download the latest version of this resource data as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A) or the resource metadata as EML or RTF:

Data as a DwC-A file download 273,617 records in English (8 MB) - Update frequency: annually
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Description

Long-Term Monitoring and Biodiversity Surveys done by the Multi-Agency Rocky Intertidal Network (MARINe) occur throughout the year at sites ranging from Southeast Alaska to Mexico. Long Term Monitoring surveys assess within-site community change over time, while Biodiversity surveys were designed to capture among-site patterns of community structure (abundance and spatial distribution of species). In combination, the long-term, targeted species approach and the biodiversity surveys provide a wealth of information about the structure and dynamics of rocky intertidal communities along the Pacific Coast of North America.

This metadata record documents the Photo Plot and Transect Survey data for MARINe Long-Term Monitoring surveys. Photo Plots are used to monitor percent cover of organisms within target species assemblages. Plots are established for a given species assemblage if overall cover at a site is sufficient for monitoring. Transects are used to monitor percent cover of surfgrass, kelps, and other algae.

Please note that species of concern have been removed from all public datasets, as well as data from sites funded by the National Park Service (NPS) and the United States Navy. For a comprehensive dataset, please contact the data set owner(s). For more information about the data described in this metadata record, please visit pacificrockyintertidal.org.

The long-term 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/P6V884

The source data for this dataset can be found here: https://data.piscoweb.org/metacatui/view/doi%3A10.6085%2FAA%2Fmarine_ltm.12.9

Data Records

The data in this occurrence resource has been published as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A), which is a standardized format for sharing biodiversity data as a set of one or more data tables. The core data table contains 273,617 records.

1 extension data tables also exist. An extension record supplies extra information about a core record. The number of records in each extension data table is illustrated below.

Occurrence (core)
273617
MeasurementOrFacts 
820851

This IPT archives the data and thus serves as the data repository. The data and resource metadata are available for download in the downloads section. The versions table lists other versions of the resource that have been made publicly available and allows tracking changes made to the resource over time.

Versions

The table below shows only published versions of the resource that are publicly accessible.

How to cite

Researchers should cite this work as follows:

Multi-Agency Rocky Intertidal Network (MARINe), Partnership for Interdisciplinary Studies of Coastal Oceans (PISCO), Raimondi P, Ambrose R, Engle J, Burnaford J, Smith J, Caselle J, Waddell J, Dethier M, Fong D, Becker B, Fradkin S, Bohlmann H, Miner M, Graham S, Pandori L, Whitaker S, Roletto J, Gaddam R, LaScala-Gruenewald D (2023). MARINe/PISCO: Intertidal: MARINe Long-Term Monitoring Surveys: Photo Plots and Transects Summarized. Version 1.6. United States Geological Survey. Occurrence dataset. https://ipt-obis.gbif.us/resource?r=marine_ltm_photoplot_surveys&v=1.6

Rights

Researchers should respect the following rights statement:

The publisher and rights holder of this work is United States Geological Survey. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY 4.0) License.

GBIF Registration

This resource has been registered with GBIF, and assigned the following GBIF UUID: e24dcb47-89f9-4481-a8ac-c38ef26b2865.  United States Geological Survey publishes this resource, and is itself registered in GBIF as a data publisher endorsed by U.S. Geological Survey.

Keywords

Ocean; Intertidal Processes; Intertidal Zone; Marine Biology; Marine Invertebrates; Marine Plants; Marine Habitat; Biosphere; Aquatic Habitats; Coastal Habitat; Community Survey Data; Intertidal Data; Intertidal Community Survey Data; Intertidal Community Structure Data; PISCO intertidal; Baseline MPA monitoring; Long-term MPA monitoring; Marine Protected Area (MPA); Biological data; Central Coast; North Central Coast; North Coast; South Coast; Multi-Agency Rocky Intertidal Network (MARINe); Partnership for Interdisciplinary Studies of Coastal Oceans (PISCO); Algae; Invertebrates; Occurrence; Observation

Contacts

Multi-Agency Rocky Intertidal Network (MARINe)
Partnership for Interdisciplinary Studies of Coastal Oceans (PISCO)
Pete Raimondi
  • Originator
Univeristy of California, Santa Cruz
Richard Ambrose
  • Originator
University of California, Los Angeles
Jack Engle
  • Originator
University of California, Santa Barbara
Jennifer Burnaford
  • Originator
California State University, Fullerton
Jayson Smith
  • Originator
Cal Poly Pomona
Jenn Caselle
  • Originator
University of California, Santa Barbara, Marine Science Institute
Jenny Waddell
  • Originator
Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary
Megan Dethier
  • Originator
University of Washington
Darren Fong
  • Originator
Golden Gate National Recreation Area
Ben Becker
  • Originator
Point Reyes National Seashore
Steven Fradkin
  • Originator
Olympic National Park
Heath Bohlmann
  • Originator
Padilla Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve
Melissa Miner
  • Originator
  • Point Of Contact
Research Associate
MARINe/PISCO Research Group at UC Santa Cruz
115 McAllister Way
95060 Santa Cruz
CA
US
Suzanne Graham
  • Originator
Navy Marine Ecology Consortium
Lauren Pandori
  • Originator
Cabrillo National Monument
Stephen Whitaker
  • Originator
Channel Islands National Park
Jan Roletto
  • Originator
Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary
Rani Gaddam
  • Metadata Provider
  • Point Of Contact
Research Associate
MARINe/PISCO Research Group at UC Santa Cruz
Diana LaScala-Gruenewald
  • Metadata Provider
  • Point Of Contact
Data Scientist
CeNCOOS/MBARI
Mathew Biddle
  • Distributor
Physical Scientist
United States Marine Biodiversity Observation Network (US MBON)
1315 East-West Highway
20910 Silver Spring
MD
US
3017134928

Geographic Coverage

Long Term Monitoring surveys are done at sites ranging from southeast Alaska to southern California. For more information see http://pacificrockyintertidal.org

Bounding Coordinates South West [33.385, -135.323], North East [57.049, -118.475]

Temporal Coverage

Start Date / End Date 2002-10-18 / 2021-08-21

Project Data

MARINe is a partnership of agencies, universities, and private groups who conduct long-term monitoring of rocky intertidal ecosystems on the US West Coast

Title Multi-Agency Rocky Intertidal Network
Funding Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, National Park Service, The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, State of California Ocean Protection Council, United States Navy

The personnel involved in the project:

Rani Gaddam
  • Principal Investigator
Pete Raimondi
  • Principal Investigator
Richard Ambrose
  • Principal Investigator
Jack Engle
  • Principal Investigator
Jennifer Burnaford
  • Principal Investigator
Jayson Smith
  • Principal Investigator
Jenn Caselle
  • Principal Investigator
Jenny Waddell
  • Principal Investigator
Megan Dethier
  • Principal Investigator
Darren Fong
  • Principal Investigator
Ben Becker
  • Principal Investigator
Steven Fradkin
  • Principal Investigator
Heath Bohlmann
  • Principal Investigator
Melissa Miner
  • Principal Investigator
Suzanne Graham
  • Principal Investigator
Lauren Pandori
  • Principal Investigator
Stephen Whitaker
  • Principal Investigator
Jan Roletto
  • Principal Investigator

Sampling Methods

Photoplots are used to monitor percent cover in assemblages such as barnacles, mussels, and rockweed. Percent cover of all species occurring within these assemblages is estimated by using a point contact grid, either in the field or from photos in the lab. Line transects are used to estimate cover of surfgrass, kelps, and other algae not well-sampled by photoplots. Please note that these data do not reflect all species present in a given area. In addition, the information in this Data Set is limited by the methods described in our survey protocols. For more information, see pacificrockyintertidal.org

Study Extent Long Term Monitoring surveys are done at sites ranging from southeast Alaska to southern California. For more information see http://pacificrockyintertidal.org

Method step description:

  1. Photo plots are scored in the field by using a 50 cm X 75 cm frame with a 10 X 10 grid of evenly-spaced string lines. A species, higher taxon, or substrate located below each of the 100 intersection points is identified and recorded. Layering is not generally scored separately, so the total cover is 100 percent. However, there is an optional method for sampling photo plots that includes layering and spatial position. With this optional method, the top and bottom layers are recorded for each location on the grid. This provides extra data that can be used to gather information on species associations and small scale spatial changes over time.
  2. Photo plots are scored in the lab either from film or digital photographs. For film photographs, each slide is projected onto a white board that is marked with a grid of one hundred evenly-spaced points (10 x 10). A species, higher taxon, or substrate located below each of the 100 intersection points is identified and recorded. When scoring digital images, a grid of one hundred evenly-spaced points (10 x 10) is created on the computer monitor (using Adobe Photoshop), and placed on a separate layer. This allows the scorer to easily remove the dot to see what lies beneath. The image can then be saved with the grid layer, clearly documenting the exact points scored. With either film or digital image scoring, grid size is manipulated to provide complete coverage of the plot within the quadrapod frame. Layering is not scored separately, so the total cover is 100 percent.
  3. Transect sampling is conducted by field-scoring what occurs under 100 points spaced at 10 cm intervals along a 10 meter tape stretched across permanent markers at each site. In general, 3 replicate transects are monitored per target species. Surfgrass, algae and invertebrate species are recorded. Any site specific exceptions to the length, number of points, and number of replicates can be found on the transect info table. Please note that these data do not reflect all species present in a given area. In addition, the information in this Data Set is limited by the methods described in our survey protocols. For more information, see pacificrockyintertidal.org
  4. Each surfgrass transect is divided into ten 1 m long segments. If the entire segment is covered by surfgrass, surfgrass layer thickness is measured in the segment middle. If surfgrass covers only a portion of the segment, thickness is measured in the middle of the covered portion. To measure surfgrass thickness, the lowermost through uppermost layers are compressed together (not bunched), then measured with calipers to the nearest 0.5 millimeter.

Additional Metadata

We encourage collaborative (co-authorship) efforts with MARINe scientists, and request that you discuss your analyses with us to minimize duplicative efforts and ensure that you are aware of any data oddities that might affect your results. Please provide us with copies of any data products that result from use of these data. Please acknowledge MARINe in all publications containing these data. Because MARINe is a consortium of different groups, please also acknowledge the research groups that collected these data and the funding groups associated with these data, by using a statement similar to the following: 'This study utilized data collected by the Multi-Agency Rocky Intertidal Network (MARINe): a long-term ecological consortium funded and supported by many groups. Please visit pacificrockyintertidal.org for a complete list of the MARINe partners responsible for monitoring and funding these data. Data management has been primarily supported by BOEM (Bureau of Ocean Energy Management), NPS (National Park Service), The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, and United States Navy.' Please send copies of any published manuscript based on these data to the MARINe Program Coordinator (pacificr@ucsc.edu) and the PISCO Program Coordinator (PISCO-contact@lists.oregonstate.edu). Extensive efforts are made to ensure that online data are accurate and up to date, but the authors and MARINe will not take responsibility for any errors that may exist in data provided online. Furthermore, the user assumes all responsibility for errors in analysis or judgement resulting from use of the data.

Maintenance Description This research project is ongoing. Data will be updated by the data provider approximately annually.
Alternative Identifiers e24dcb47-89f9-4481-a8ac-c38ef26b2865
https://ipt-obis.gbif.us/resource?r=marine_ltm_photoplot_surveys