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    • This is a Non-Federal dataset covered by different Terms of Use than Data.gov.

    Citizen Scientist Monitoring of Rocky Reefs and Kelp Forests, California South Coast MPA Baseline Study, 2011 to 2012

    Metadata Updated: July 24, 2025

    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.

    Access & Use Information

    Public: This dataset is intended for public access and use. Non-Federal: This dataset is covered by different Terms of Use than Data.gov. License: See this page for license information.

    Downloads & Resources

    Dates

    Metadata Created Date September 8, 2021
    Metadata Updated Date July 24, 2025

    Metadata Source

    Harvested from State of California

    Other Data Resources

    Additional Metadata

    Resource Type Dataset
    Metadata Created Date September 8, 2021
    Metadata Updated Date July 24, 2025
    Publisher California Ocean Protection Council
    Maintainer
    Identifier c263d3ad-6574-4c9c-87ec-7e497ae8473a
    Data First Published 2017-12-22T19:57:48.333830
    Data Last Modified 2018-05-15T18:26:53.103179
    Category Natural Resources, Water
    Public Access Level public
    Metadata Context https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.jsonld
    Schema Version https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema
    Catalog Describedby https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
    Harvest Object Id 7c97b0e6-c046-4b06-82ba-cf46e8cb0a22
    Harvest Source Id 3ba8a0c1-5dc2-4897-940f-81922d3cf8bc
    Harvest Source Title State of California
    License http://www.opendefinition.org/licenses/cc-by
    Source Datajson Identifier True
    Source Hash e1b4bafd95fbd394f3c82502a6af0ec82659f64b24a0d023a4158cd92b46b942
    Source Schema Version 1.1

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