Disturbance and population dynamics of kelp forest communities
Kelp forest community structure and dynamics
The primary objectives of our long-term kelp forest monitoring are to:
- determine patterns of regional variation in the structure and dynamics of kelp forest communities over short and long temporal scales and
- assess population and community level responses of kelp forest plants and animals to variation in recruitment, disturbance, and the magnitude and composition of terrestrial and oceanic inputs to coastal reefs.
To achieve these objectives, we monitor the abundance of over 150 species of reef algae, invertebrates and fish along permanent transects at nine nearshore reef sites on the mainland coast and at 2 reef sites on Santa Cruz Island.
Photographs, key identifying characteristics, and habits of the species sampled in our kelp forest monitoring program can be found in the Santa Barbara Coastal LTER field guide available as a pdf file, A Field Guide to Common Subtidal Plants and Animals .
In addition, we continue annual monitoring of 11 reefs at Santa Cruz Island initiated in 1982 by Santa Barbara Coastal LTER investigators, Sally Holbrook and Russell Schmitt to assess patterns and causes of varation in the abundances of common demersal fish and their benthic crustacean food. These data provide a rich opportunity to track long-term changes in reef communities, in the context of large scale physical and biotic processes in the Southern California Bight.