cometadata/datacite-titles-descriptions-related-identifiers huggingface dataset:
DOI: 10.25494/p60w29
title: Final technical report - Baseline characterization of environmental conditions leading up to marine protected area establishment in the North Central Coast study region

description: California’s nearshore marine life is responsive to year-to-year and longer-term changes in ocean conditions. In particular, growth/size, production, and abundance of fish and other taxa are known to change with variation in water temperature, upwelling-favorable winds, and currents. Therefore, baseline information on variability in ocean conditions is required to understand and evaluate changes in populations in this region. This context is critical to monitoring population change and adaptive management of Marine Protected Areas (MPA) in California. Without a simultaneous assessment of the effects of ocean conditions, it will be difficult to formally attribute changes in populations to the protection afforded by MPA designations.In this report, we develop and explore comprehensive indicators of temporal variability in ocean conditions over a 21-year period preceding the establishment of MPAs along California’s north-central coast (NCC). To test the relevance of these indicators to populations, we relate them to a few key biological data sets that are representative of marine life within and outside NCC MPA.
DOI: 10.25494/p64k5k
title: Final technical report - Baseline characterization of sandy beach ecosystems in California's North-Central Coast Region

description: Sandy beaches are among the most intensely used coastal ecosystems for human recreation and are important to coastal economies, foraging shorebirds and surf zone fishes. Sandy beach habitat composes 51% of the 592 km of shoreline in the North‐Central Coast (NCC) region but little more than 10% of the available sandy beach habitat in the region was protected in three Marina Protected Areas (MPAs). The goal of this ecological characterization was to provide a quantitative, baseline description of sandy beach ecosystems in the region from which future ecological changes may be assessed, and to document any differences that may already exist between sandy beaches within and outside of MPAs. We also recommend ecological indicators for targeted, cost‐effective assessments and developed two citizen‐scientist protocols.
DOI: 10.25494/p6rc7v
title: Final technical report - North Central Coast baseline surveys of shallow rocky reef ecosystems

description: Marine protected areas (MPAs) were implemented along California’s North Central coast (NCCSR) in 2010 as a result of the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) legislation and in 2011 a collaborative comprehensive baseline monitoring program began to characterize the marine ecosystems of the region and investigate initial responses of these systems to MPA implementation should they occur. Reef Check California (RCCA), a program of the Reef Check Foundation, with the goal to improve marine management in California by providing critically needed data on California’s near-shore rocky reef ecosystems through the use of volunteer citizen scientists, became part of the NCCSR baseline monitoring team. RCCAs objectives for NCCSR baseline monitoring were to use highly trained and certified citizen scientists to conduct baseline characterization of the shallow rocky reef and kelp forest ecosystem in the region, MPAs and reference areas and to build capacity for future long-term MPA monitoring in the region by conducting community trainings, education and providing support for local citizen scientist survey teams. In 2010 and 2011 RCCA surveyed four of its five existing monitoring sites in the region each year and added two additional sites to its monitoring network in 2011. Since then RCCA has continued to monitor these seven sites in 2012 and 2013 and plans to do so in the years to come. RCCA’s involvement in the NCCSR baseline monitoring demonstrates the effectiveness of using citizen scientists for data collection even in logistically challenging environments such as the rocky reefs and kelp forest along the North Central coast.
DOI: 10.25494/p6w30p
title: Final technical report - Establishing a spatial and economic baseline of human uses in the North Central Coast region of California

description: This executive summary report provides a summary of the methods and major findings from a four-part study conducted by Ecotrust to provide baseline estimates of the quantity, spatial distribution, and economic value of human uses in the North Central Coast (NCC) study region. The NCC region stretches from Alder Creek in the north to Pigeon Point in the south. Specifically, we provide results in the following four types of human uses: commercial fishing, commercial passenger fishing vessels, coastal recreation, and the recreational abalone fishery. This study is a part of the larger marine protected areas (MPAs) monitoring effort, entitled the MPA Baseline Program, which is tasked with characterizing the ecological and socioeconomic conditions within the NCC region and across the state. Specifically, this study addresses the Baseline Program’s objective of describing human use patterns across the study region and establishing initial data points for long-term tracking of conditions and trends.Report 1: An economic and spatial baseline of coastal recreation in the North Central Coast of CaliforniaReport 2: Establishing a baseline and assessing initial spatial and economic change in the California North Central Coast commercial fisheriesReport 3: Establishing a spatial and economic baseline and assessing initial changes in the California North Central Coast CPFV fisheriesReport 4: California North Central Coast recreational red abalone fishery: establishing a spatial and economic baseline data set for long term MPA monitoring
DOI: 10.25494/p6gw2n
title: Final technical report - An analysis of citizen science data from LiMPETS in support of the North Central Coast Baseline Characterization Project

description: The 1999 Marine Life Protection Act directed the state of California to design a comprehensive network of marine protected areas to protect, sustain and conserve marine life populations and increase the health, productivity, and resilience of ocean ecosystems. The MLPA requires monitoring of marine protected areas (MPAs). Monitoring will facilitate adaptive management of MPAs and ensure that the MPA network meets the goals of the Act. The North Central Coast MPA Baseline Program is a collaborative effort among the State Coastal Conservancy, Ocean Protection Council (OPC), California Department of Fish and Wildlife, California Ocean Science Trust, MPA Monitoring Enterprise and California Sea Grant. “The program seeks to provide a summary description, assessment and understanding of ecological and socioeconomic conditions, inside and outside North Central Coast MPAs to be designated under the Marine Life Protection Act, at or near the time of MPA implementation” (NCC MPA Monitoring Plan, 2010). The North Central Coast MPA region consist of 25 MPAs and 6 special closure areas comprised of approximately 153 square miles (20.1%) of state waters within the region. In this project, an existing citizen-science data set, collected through LiMPETS, Long-term Monitoring Program and Experiential Training for Students, will be analyzed and integrated into the baseline data being collected by the other research teams.
DOI: 10.25494/p6mk5x
title: Final technical report - North Central Coast baseline surveys of kelp forest ecosystems

description: Kelp forests are among the most productive and diverse ecosystems on Earth, and provide habitat for a wide array of fishes and invertebrates, many of which are commercially and recreationally important. Kelp forests also support a variety of recreational and commercial activities, including fishing, SCUBA diving, boating, and wildlife viewing. In addition to the structure provided by the underlying rocky reef, canopy-forming kelps and understory algae create complex habitat structure that provides food and refuge for many other species. To characterize kelp forests inside and outside of the recently established MPAs of the north-central coast of California, we use visual SCUBA surveys to assess habitat characteristics of the rocky substrate and the major players in the kelp forest community, including fishes, mobile and sessile invertebrates, and algae. Depending on the morphology and lifestyle of each species, abundance was estimated using swath surveys that count individuals within a defined area, or uniform point contact surveys that estimate the percent cover of colonial and other species for which distinguishing individuals is challenging. The baseline characterization surveys of kelp forest ecosystems conducted in 2010-2011 included roughly 35 sites sampled each year across six MPAs: Point Arena SMR, Sea Lion Cove SMCA, Saunders Reef SMCA, Del Mar SMR, Stewarts Point SMR and Salt Point SMCA
DOI: 10.25494/p63k58
title: Final technical report - Beach Watch baseline analysis of birds, mammals, and human use in the North Central Coast baseline monitoring of marine protected areas

description: The 1999 Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) directed the state of California to design a comprehensive network of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) to protect, sustain and conserve marine life populations and increase health, productivity and resilience of ocean ecosystems. The MLPA requires monitoring of MPAs to facilitate adaptive management of these areas and ensure that the MPA network meets the goals of the Act. The North Central Coast (NCC) Marine Protected Areas Baseline Program is a collaborative effort among the State Coastal Conservancy, Ocean Protection Council (OPC), California Department of Fish and Wildlife (DFW), California Ocean Science Trust, MPA Monitoring Enterprise and California Sea Grant. “The program seeks to provide a summary description, assessment and understanding of ecological and socioeconomic conditions, inside and outside NCC MPAs to be designated under the Marine Life Protection Act, at or near the time of MPA implementation” (NCC MPA Monitoring Plan, 2010). The North Central Coast MPA region consist of 25 MPAs and 6 special closure areas comprised of approximately 153 square miles (20.1%) of state waters within the region. In this baseline assessment for the MPA, we use the Beach Watch monitoring data, collected by citizen-scientists. Created in 1993, Beach Watch is a public-private partnership of the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary (GFNMS) and the Farallones Marine Sanctuary Association (FMSA), developed to study and protect the shoreline of GFNMS and northern portion of Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary.
DOI: 10.25494/p6c301
title: Final technical report - Assessing the prevalence and virulence of sea star wasting along the California coastline

description: Sea stars along much of the North American Pacific coast are dying in great numbers from a mysterious wasting syndrome. As yet, the cause of the syndrome is unidentified, and it’s not clear whether it’s due to an environmental stressor, disease, or an interaction between the two. The combination of its geographic scope, lethality across many species, and unknown cause make this a particularly worrisome phenomenon and one that requires urgent attention. In fall 2013, North Central Coast MPA Baseline Program partners (i.e., California Ocean Science Trust's MPA Monitoring Enterprise, California Sea Grant, California Ocean Protection Council, and California Department of Fish and Wildlife), with funding from the Ocean Protection Council provided rapid funding to: (1) assess the extent, virulence, and timing of wasting events along the California coast, particularly in the north-­‐central region, and (2) establish a baseline where one did not exist to interpret change to communities. The activities conducted (at least in part) with the funding include: • Assessment of extent and prevalence of wasting• Continuation of long term sampling to maintain a baseline for the abundance of Pisaster ochraceus adults and recruits• Maintenance of our interactive websites with particular emphasis on Citizen Science activities• Visualization of disease progressionWe continue to assess the progression of wasting, however, we are now moving into a new phase in the assessment of sea star wasting: the ecological consequences from the loss of these species. This has two major thrusts: (1) assessing recovery of affected sea star species through recruitment of new individuals, and (2) determining the initial ecological changes to the rest of the community resulting from the loss of sea stars. These questions are incredibly important for ecological and policy considerations. The ecological importance stems from the impact of the decline of top predators on the system. The policy considerations relate to the expectation of community change that accompanies loss of sea stars and the effect of the change in the ability to assess current management actions such as the effect of MPA related protection from take. Without a data driven understanding of the community level effects of wasting, assessment of MPA protection may be, at best, unreliable, and at worst, misleading.
DOI: 10.25494/p6v30c
title: Final technical report - Baseline characterization of newly established marine protected areas within the North Central California study region - seabird colony and foraging studies

description: 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 North Central Coast Study Region (NCCSR) of California’s Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative in 2010-2012. 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 in nearshore fish and invertebrate populations and human use patterns that can impact seabirds.
DOI: 10.25494/p67c76
title: Final technical report - North Central Coast baseline surveys of rocky intertidal ecosystems

description: The objective of the rocky intertidal surveys and analyses for the North Central Coast Baseline Surveys are to (1) produce a quantitative baseline characterization of the structure of rocky intertidal ecosystems in all of the Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) that have rocky intertidal habitats established by the Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative in the North Central Coast Study Region (NCCSR), (2) provide a quantitative comparison between the rocky intertidal ecosystems in these MPAs and associated reference areas in the NCCSR, (3) analytically explore the baseline characterizations for potential indicators of the state of the rocky intertidal ecosystems using newly collected data along with our existing datasets from the region, and (4) integrate these assessments with other components of the baseline survey to inform the role and design of those programs for a future monitoring and evaluation program.The goal of this report and the associated survey data is to provide a baseline characterization summary of the Rocky Intertidal Ecosystems in the NCCSR (1 and 2 above). These data can then be used for future synthesis and integration efforts across the other projects associated with the North Central Coast Baseline Program (3 and 4 above).
DOI: 10.25494/p6pc77
title: North Central Coast: recreational abalone harvesting: survey and spatial data

description: This data package includes: 1) Survey data - collected through recreational abalone harvester interviews for the 2010 harvesting season and 2) Harvest maps - spatial harvesting data for the 2010 fishing season at the region level. Included here is a PDF of the spatial data collected aggregated to the region level. We also have data which is aggregated to the abalone punch card site level. If you would like to access punch card site level data or GIS files of spatial harvesting data please contact us.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 (Michael.Esgro@resources.ca.gov) and Rani Gaddam (gaddam@ucsc.edu). 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 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/P64S3W
DOI: 10.25494/p6zw20
title: Final technical report - North Central California Coast Marine Protected Areas baseline characterization and monitoring of mid-depth rock and soft-bottom ecosystems (20-116 m)

description: This report summarizes the results of a multi-year study (April 2010 - April 2013) to characterize deep benthic rock and soft-bottom communities (20-116 m) in the California Marine Life Protection Act's North Central Coast (NCC) Study Region. Our specific objective was to characterize the seafloor habitats and associated biological communities within and adjacent to the State Marine Reserves (SMRs) and Conservation Areas (SMCAs) at the time of implementation.
DOI: 10.25494/p6jp4z
title: North Central Coast: rapid surveys of sandy beach ecosystems

description: This metadata record documents rapid surveys of sandy beaches for the California North Central Coast MPA baseline characterization of sandy beaches conducted between May 2010 and July 2011. The rapid surveys document seasonal variation of a subset of important and quick-to-measure ecosystem characteristics of sandy beaches including: bird assemblages, wrack deposition, physical characteristics and usage by people on sandy beaches. During rapid surveys we quantified: 1) wrack cover by type and physical characteristics of the beach and surf zone on cross-shore transects; and 2) the abundance of shorebirds, seabirds, people, carrion and freshly deposited kelp on along-shore transects. We also documented the weather and the activities of the birds and people observed.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 (Michael.Esgro@resources.ca.gov) and Rani Gaddam (gaddam@ucsc.edu). 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 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/P64S3W
DOI: 10.1285/i22402772a8p561
title: Simposio in occasione dell'LXXXV compleanno del Prof. Gunter Wesener
DOI: 10.25494/p6959h
title: North Central Coast: citizen-science surveys of surfzone fishes

description: This metadata record documents data on surfzone fishes for the North Central Coast MPA baseline surveys of sandy beaches. A citizen science sampling protocol was developed in consultation with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and anglers recruited from local fishing clubs. Data were collected at beaches in collaboration with citizen scientists at 2 pairs of MPAs and neighboring reference sites from late summer through fall in 2011 and 2012: Bodega Head Marine Reserve and Drakes Bay Marine Reserve. During each trip, we sampled for four consecutive hours centered around daytime low slack tides when tidal height was less than 0.3 m. Sampling teams consisted of 5 to 14 anglers and one or two scientists, depending on the number of anglers. Baited hook-and-line and flyfishing was used to sample the rough surfzone of the region and increase participation by the angler community. Biological data recorded included tackle used to catch the fish, time the fish was caught, species, sex, fork length and weight. Physical data recorded included air and water temperature, average and maximum wind speed, wind chill, wind direction, beach slope, estimated maximum wave height and weather conditions. Six species of surfperches were caught and released without a single mortality.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 (Michael.Esgro@resources.ca.gov) and Rani Gaddam (gaddam@ucsc.edu). 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 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/P64S3W
DOI: 10.25494/p6dw21
title: North Central Coast: target species surveys in beach ecosystems

description: This metadata record documents target species surveys of sand crabs, Emerita analoga, and wrack-associated amphipods (Talitridae) for the California North Central Coast MPA baseline characterization of sandy beaches conducted between June and August 2010. Sand crabs are widespread, typically dominate the total biomass of invertebrate macrofauna on sandy beaches, feed on phytoplankton and are prey for surfzone fishes, shorebirds and some seabirds. Talitrid amphipods (Megalorchestia spp. in California) are also widespread, reflect the total abundance of wrack-associated macrofauna, directly feed on macrophyte wrack and are also prey for shorebirds and fishes. These organisms are also relatively easy to sample, identify and enumerate and thus are excellent target species for long-term monitoring. From the target species surveys we quantified: 1) the abundance of sand crabs and talitrid amphipods; 2) wrack cover by type; and 3) physical characteristics of the beach and surf zone on cross-shore transects.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 (Michael.Esgro@resources.ca.gov) and Rani Gaddam (gaddam@ucsc.edu). 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 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/P64S3W