AndreaBozzo/ceres-open-data-index huggingface dataset:
Characterization of Seabirds, California North Coast MPA Baseline Study, 2014 to 2015

We completed four distinct projects to collect baseline data at varying spatial and temporal scales. First, we used data from aerial photographic surveys conducted from 1989-2014 to investigate region-wide trends in the populations of Common Murres and Brandt’s Cormorants. We used 173 observations of Common Murre colony abundance at 14 colonies and 123 observations of Brandt’s Cormorant nest abundance at 10 colonies over the 26-year study period. Additionally, aerial photographic surveys conducted in 2014 were used to document location and abundance of Common Murre, Brandt’s Cormorant, and Double-crested Cormorant across the NCSR.

Second, at a more localized scale, we monitored Common Murre reproduction, foraging effort, and diet in 2014 at Castle Rock National Wildlife Refuge using a robotic, remotely-controlled video recording system. Although this is only one of the seabird colonies in the NCSR, it the largest and served to inform our understanding of the mechanisms of population change across the region. Common Murre are very visible and thus ideal for monitoring fine scale patterns in reproduction and changing diet. We measured date of nest initiation, hatching success, fledging success, overall reproductive success, time allocation, provisioning rate, and diet composition via the video. Information gained from these surveys were combined with comparable data from 2007-2013 at Castle Rock to assess baseline condition and variability of these metrics over an 8-year period.

Third, in 2014-2015 we conducted ground-based surveys of coastally breeding seabirds inside and outside of six MPAs to establish a framework for continued MPA monitoring. For this, we conducted intensive monitoring of six species likely to benefit from MPA establishment: Pigeon Guillemot, Brandt’s Cormorant, Pelagic Cormorant, Double-crested Cormorant, Western Gull, and Black Oystercatcher. We collected data on breeding population size, breeding productivity, foraging rates and rates of human-caused disturbance inside and outside of each MPA. We monitored productivity by following individual nests visible from land and calculated annual breeding productivity as number of fledglings produced per breeding pair. We monitored foraging from land-based observation points, recording all birds foraging within a 1 km radius of an observation point. We calculated foraging rates as number of birds foraging per hour of observation. We recorded all human-caused disturbances observed during any land-based survey and calculated disturbance rates as number of disturbances per hour of observation.

Tags: 2014, 2015, baseline, biota, california, california-ocean-protection-council, ecological-data, environmental, marine-protected-area, monitoring, mpa, north-coast, oceans, seabirds
Organization: State of California
Traditional Ecological Knowledge of Keystone Marine Species and Ecosystems, California North Coast MPA Baseline Study, 2014 to 2015

This project, Informing the North Coast MPA Baseline: Traditional Ecological Knowledge of Keystone Marine Species and Ecosystems, applies Tribal/Indigenous Traditional Knowledge (T/ITK) to inform the baseline characterization for State Marine Protected Area (MPA) monitoring. This project represents the first time that T/ITK has been gathered under the State MPA Baseline Monitoring Program. It contributes a highly relevant and groundbreaking study that utilizes T/ITK to develop a baseline characterization for key nearshore marine habitats, and provides significant historical context for that baseline. The project also provides information on essential consumptive and non-consumptive uses by several North Coast Tribes, as well as areas where Tribal citizens are concerned about a particular threat to marine resources and/or habitats. This information is critically important because Tribal citizens constitute a vital “front line” user group with extensive marine knowledge and stewardship practices that span countless generations.

Tags: 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, baseline, biota, california, california-ocean-protection-council, ecological-data, environmental, marine-protected-area, monitoring, mpa, north-coast, oceans, tek, traditional-ecological-knowledge
Organization: State of California
Estuarine Ecosystems, California North Coast MPA Baseline Study, 2014 to 2016

The North Coast has 16 major estuaries that support a wide diversity of plant and animal life, including salmon and other commercially important species. The focus of this project is to describe and evaluate the ecological status of representative and under-studied estuaries in the region by surveying plants, invertebrates and fishes in tidal mudflats and eelgrass beds of four estuaries – three within MPAs (Humboldt Bay, Big River and Ten Mile River) and the Mad River Estuary. Field surveys will be conducted multiple times a year for two years to better document seasonal and interannual variability in species abundances and diversity, as well as changes in the sizes of focal species, such as bivalves, eelgrass, and black rockfish, among others. Estuarine ecosystems are largely driven by a complex set of interacting physical variables, including freshwater flows, seasonal closures of lagoon mouths and ocean water properties related to winds and upwelling. Information about these “abiotic” variables will be distilled to describe the “contextual conditions” in each estuary. During the analysis phase of their project, scientists will identify baseline and contextual metrics that might allow for future evaluation of MPA performance. This project is a collaboration among academic scientists, North Coast tribes, and ecological consultants.

Tags: 2014, 2015, 2016, baseline, biota, california, california-ocean-protection-council, ecological-data, environmental, estuarine, estuary, marine-protected-area, monitoring, mpa, north-coast, oceans
Organization: State of California
California Collaborative Fisheries Research Program

From 2007-2016, CA Collaborative Fisheries Research Program (CCFRP) scientists and fishermen have conducted hook-and-line surveys within three Central Coast State Marine Reserves (Point Lobos, Piedras Blancas (2008 only), and Point Buchon, SMRs) and a State Marine Conservation Area (Año Nuevo, SMCA), along with nearby reference sites (Figure 1). The Año Nuevo, Point Lobos, Piedras Blancas, and Point Buchon MPAs encompass areas of 10.2 mi2, 5.4 mi2, 10.4 mi2, and 6.7 mi2 respectively. Reference sites were based on the criteria that they shared similar size, habitat, and oceanographic conditions with the nearby MPAs.
Within the boundaries of each MPA and reference site, 500 m x 500 m grid cells were created and used to randomly select sampling locations. The grid cells were positioned in nearshore rocky habitats, in water less than 40 meters deep (to limit fishing mortality from barotrauma), in areas that had been identified by fishermen as having suitable habitat for nearshore fishes. A total of 22 grid cells in Año Nuevo, 17 cells in Point Lobos, 57 cells in Piedras Blancas, and 22 cells in Point Buchon were generated (Figure 2). On a given survey day, four of these cells were selected at random and sampled.

In 2008 and 2009, surveys were also completed in (then) proposed North Central Coast SMRs (Point Reyes, and North and Southeast Farallon Islands) and near Bolinas/ Duxbury Reef. These surveys utilized the CCFRP hook-and-line survey protocols with the exception that sampling was not completed within 500m x 500m grid cells. These trips provided an opportunity to evaluate the areas in order to locate optimal fishing areas and create grid cells for future surveys. Duxbury Reef, an open area, will serve as a project reference area because this area has been surveyed since 2005.

Tags: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, baseline, biota, california, california-collaborative-fisheries-research-program, california-ocean-protection-council, ccfrp, central-coast, collborative-research, ecological-data, environmental, marine-protected-area, monitoring, mpa-monitoring-action-plan, nearshore-fishes, north-central-coast
Organization: State of California
North Coast State of the Region, Snapshots and Supplemental Reports All Habitats 2013 to 2017

Learn about the biological, ecological, oceanographic, and socioeconomic conditions around the time of marine protected area (MPA) implementation on the North Coast. The North Coast region includes more than 1,000 square miles of state water from Point Arena to the California-Oregon border, and this report establishes a benchmark of conditions against which future changes can be compared. During the baseline monitoring period from 2013-2017, 11 projects worked across the North Coast to collect data and create a comprehensive understanding of the region. More than 30 organizations, including scientists, fishermen, tribal governments, citizen groups, and others, contributed to this summary report.

Tags: baseline, biota, california, california-ocean-protection-council, citizen-science, deep-ecosystems-and-canyons, ecological-data, environmental, estuaries, fishing-pressure, human-uses, kelp-and-shallow-rock, marine-protected-area, mid-depth-rock, monitoring, mpa, mpa-report, nearshore-pelagic, network, north-coast-mpa-report, north-coast-report, oceans, rocky-intertidal, soft-bottom-intertidal-and-beaches, soft-bottom-subtidal
Organization: State of California
Characterization of Nearshore Fish Communities Associated with Rocky Reef Habitats, California North Coast MPA Baseline Study, 2014 to 2015

To characterize the fish communities associated with nearshore rocky reef habitat, we collaborated with commercial passenger fishing vessel (CPFV) captains and volunteer anglers to conduct hook-and-line surveys in four pairs of MPA and reference sites. Sampling was conducted with scientific crews of six: four anglers, a sampler who handled, measured, and tagged fish, and a data recorder. Each of the four anglers used a different combination of baited or un-baited lures that represented gear frequently used by recreational anglers to catch the target species. Sites were sampled by fishing for 45 minutes in each of four, 500 meter by 500 meter sampling cells, which were randomly selected from a set of cells that covered bottom areas containing at least 20 percent rocky reef habitat, by area. Captains were directed to drift within the cells over areas of rocky habitat for a maximum of 15 minutes per drift, so that at least three areas of habitat within each cell would be sampled. Captured fish were identified to species, measured to the nearest millimeter in fork length, tagged with an external t-bar anchor tag, and returned to the water, using a descending device if needed. Each site was sampled five times, three from June-October 2014, and twice from  May-August 2015.

Tags: 2014, 2015, baseline, biota, california, california-ocean-protection-council, commercial-fishing-passenger-vessel, cpfv, ecological-data, environmental, fishing, hook-and-line, marine-protected-area, monitoring, mpa, north-coast, oceans, rocky-reefs
Organization: State of California
Healthcare Associated Infections - Hospital

The Healthcare-Associated Infection (HAI) measures - provider data. These measures are developed by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and collected through the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN). They provide information on infections that occur while the patient is in the hospital. These infections can be related to devices, such as central lines and urinary catheters, or spread from patient to patient after contact with an infected person or surface. Many healthcare associated infections can be prevented when the hospitals use CDC-recommended infection control steps.

Tags: cms, hai-hospital, hospital-acquired-infections, infection-control, nhs-network
Organization: U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
Use of Estuarine, Intertidal, and Subtidal Habitats by Seabirds, California South Coast MPA Baseline Study, 2011 to 2013

Seabirds are long-lived, upper trophic level predators that are integral components of marine ecosystems. During the breeding season, seabirds are central place foragers and must return to their nests to incubate eggs and provision young throughout the day.  As such, they have limited foraging ranges during that time and will benefit from protected areas within these ranges. Marine protected areas (MPAs) can provide both direct and indirect benefits to seabirds.  Direct benefits involve reducing the direct interactions seabirds have with humans like incidental take and gear entanglement as well as human- caused disturbance to breeding and roosting sites.  Indirect benefits involve reducing competition with humans for prey resources.  Many coastally breeding seabirds rely on juvenile age classes of fished species. Decreases in adult fish catch can lead to increased spawning biomass and, thus, more seabird prey. Herein, we summarize the results of baseline seabird monitoring within the South Coast Study Region (SCSR) of California’s Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative in 2012-2013.  The long-term objectives of our monitoring are to 1) document how seabirds are using coastal and nearshore habitats in relation to newly established MPAs and 2) develop seabirds as indicators to study the processes (e.g., recruitment) impacting change resulting from MPA establishment, including changes in nearshore fish and invertebrate populations and human use patterns that can impact seabirds.

Funding for baseline monitoring was provided by SeaGrant, Project Number R/MPA-28 (Grant No. MPA 10-049).

Tags: baseline, biota, california, california-ocean-protection-council, commercial, ecological-data, estuarine, evironmental, fishing, human-use, intertidal, marine-protected-area, monitoring, mpa, oceans, recreation, seabirds, south-coast, subtidal
Organization: State of California
Nearshore Substrate Mapping Change Analysis using Multispectral Imagery, California South Coast MPA Baseline Study, 2011 to 2012

Three remote sensing datasets were utilized to create the final substrate map products: 1) 4-banded imagery collected in June, October and November of 2012 by Keystone Aerial Mapping with its Microsoft UltraCam-X (used for 2012 intertidal and kelp mapping); 2) 4-banded imagery collected in December of 2011 by Ocean Imaging using its DMSC MK II sensor (used for 2011 kelp mapping); 3) Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) topographic data collected by Fugro Earth Data in March, 2010. The LiDAR dataset (providing high resolution topographical data of the intertidal zone) proved to be less useful for intertidal zone delineation than for the North Central California Coast (NCC). This was due to data format issues and some obvious errors in the SCR dataset in the lower intertidal to subtidal zones. However, the LiDAR dataset was used whenever possible. Field data and photographs collected for this project between 2013-2014 were also utilized to divide the terrestrial, intertidal and subtidal areas into subzones helping to create subzone-specific training sets used in the supervised classification procedure. Each subzone classification was then manually edited in order to ensure the highest accuracy product possible, and then mosaicked together into subregions of the overall SCR. The habitat classes this process confidently identified and mapped using the multispectral imagery for the sub/intertidal zones were:

1 - Whitewash/Undefined
2 - Water
3 - Sandy Beach
4 - Mixed Red/Brown Algae
5 - Shadow
6 - Terrestrial Vegetation
7 - Unvegetated Rock
8 - Beach Wrack
9 - Kelp/Brown Algae
10 - Blue-Green Algae
11 - Mixed Rock/Mussels/Barnacles/Anemone
12 - Cobble
13 - Man-made/Artificial
14 - Driftwood
15 - Surf Grass
17 - Eel Grass
21 - Green Algae
22 - Submerged Sandy Bottom
23 - Submerged Rock/Reef
24 - Deep Water

Tags: 2011, 2012, baseline, biota, california, california-ocean-protection-council, ecological-data, environmental, habitats, marine-protected-area, monitoring, mpa, oceans, south-coast
Organization: State of California
Citizen Scientist Monitoring of Rocky Reefs and Kelp Forests, California North Coast MPA Baseline Study, 2014 to 2016

RCCA volunteer citizen scientists conducted 18 visual scuba transects at each monitoring site to survey densities and sizes of ecologically and economically important fish, invertebrate and algal species and to characterize the physical habitats. Transects were 30-meters long and 2-meters wide swaths above the rocky reef substrate. Divers counted and sized key species of fish (35 species), counted invertebrates (33 species) and algae (9 species), and estimated the percent cover of substrate types and vertical relief of the seafloor. Over the baseline monitoring of 2014-2015, RCCA conducted 18 surveys at eight monitoring sites in the NCSR. Three of these sites have been surveyed since 2007. The data from these surveys were analyzed at multiple scales to provide baseline characterization of the kelp forest ecosystems at the time of MPA implementation. We characterized the biological community at the RCCA monitoring sites by summarizing the physical and biological characteristics of each of the sites. These summaries will serve as a reference point in the future as long-term monitoring continues.

Tags: algae, baseline, biota, california, california-ocean-protection-council, ecological-data, environmental, fishes, invertebrates, kelp-forest, marine-protected-area, monitoring, mpa, north-coast, oceans, rocky-reef
Organization: State of California
Citizen Scientist Monitoring of Rocky Reefs and Kelp Forests, California South Coast MPA Baseline Study, 2011 to 2012

Reef Check California has surveyed rocky reefs and kelp forests in southern California since 2006 and has up to nine years of data from the MLPA South Coast Study Region (SCSR). The goal of this baseline monitoring project is to quantify key attributes of species, populations, communities and habitat variables that constitute representative kelp forest ecosystems within and outside of many of the MPAs in the South Coast Study Region. The sampling design, selected response variables (i.e. key species) and analytical approaches are intended to provide scientists, managers, stakeholders and policymakers with a baseline for future assessment of the effectiveness of the SCSR MPAs. Further, the outcomes from this study will also provide recommendations for long-term monitoring metrics and cost-effective survey protocols for the SCSR. Specific objectives are:

1. Provide a quantitative baseline characterization of the rocky reef and kelp forest ecosystem feature inside and outside of MPAs in the SCSR.
2. Provide pre-MPA implementation data and historical context to ongoing data collection by analyzing RCCA’s existing dataset in the context of the new MPAs.
3. Explore the baseline characterizations for potential indicators of the state of the kelp forest ecosystem (i.e. ecosystem indicators) and make recommendations for long-term monitoring.
4. Build capacity for cost-effective, long-term MPA monitoring through the continued involvement of community members in the monitoring of MPAs.
5. Expand existing public online data dissemination and illustration tool (NED) to inform managers, stakeholders, policymakers and the public about the status of the marine environment in the SCSR.

Tags: 2011, 2012, algae, baseline, biota, california, california-ocean-protection-council, citizen-science, ecological-data, environmental, fishes, invertebrates, kelp-forest, marine-protected-area, monitoring, mpa, oceans, rocky-reef, south-coast
Organization: State of California
Healthcare Associated Infections - National

The Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAI) measures - national data. These measures are developed by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and collected through the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN). They provide information on infections that occur while the patient is in the hospital. These infections can be related to devices, such as central lines and urinary catheters, or spread from patient to patient after contact with an infected person or surface. Many healthcare associated infections can be prevented when the hospitals use CDC-recommended infection control steps.

Tags: cms, hai-infections, hospital-acquired-infections, infection-control, nhsn-data
Organization: U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
Oceanographic Context for Characterization and Future Evaluation, California North Coast MPA Baseline Study, 2014 to 2016

Marine ecosystems along the North Coast of California exist in a highly energetic and variable oceanographic environment that strongly influences the dynamics and structure of the diverse marine populations that call this region home (Barth and Checkley 2009). Understanding the effect of marine protected areas (MPAs) implemented in this region therefore requires information on how oceanographic conditions vary over space and time. Baseline observations collected before or soon after implementation of MPAs depend in part on the oceanographic history of the region, and ongoing ocean observations can inform analysis of ecological and economic responses to MPAs over time (White et al. 2010). This report synthesizes a diverse suite of observations to provide this essential oceanographic context for baseline ecosystem studies (BES) in the North Coast Study Region (NCSR) and to establish a foundation for integrative studies, ongoing monitoring, and adaptive management of marine resources in the region. The primary intent of this work is to inform analysis of data collected during the BES and to the extent possible, to inform the design of future monitoring programs. 

Our foremost purpose is to provide historical perspective on conditions occurring during the 2014‐2016 Baseline Study Period (BSP). A great deal of this effort has been directed towards developing information specific to the NCSR that captures region‐specific responses to the unprecedented, persistent 2014‐2016 North Pacific marine heatwave (NPMHW) (Di Lorenzo and Mantua 2016) and associated ecosystem responses (including an equally unprecedented, massive, and persistent harmful algal bloom during 2015) (Leising et al. 2015, McClatchie et al. 2016).

Tags: 2014, 2015, 2016, baseline, biota, california, california-ocean-protection-council, ecological-data, environmental, marine-protected-area, monitoring, mpa, north-coast, oceanography, oceans
Organization: State of California