Uniform point contact (UPC) transect data from Isla Natividad from 2006 to 2021 (NCEI Accession 0291500)

This dataset contains physical data collected from 2006-08-17 to 2021-09-24. These data include depth and water temperature. These data were collected by Arturo Hernández-Velasco and Jorge Torre of Comunidad y Biodiversidad, A.C., Carolina Olguín Jacobson and Fiorenza Micheli of Stanford University, and Clifton Brock Woodson of University of Georgia as part of the "Collaborative Research: Evaluating how abalone populations in the California Current are structured by the interplay of large-scale oceanographic forcing and nearshore variability (Abalone Safe Places)" project. The Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office (BCO-DMO) submitted these data to NCEI on 2023-11-16.

The following is the text of the dataset description provided by BCO-DMO:

Methods and Sampling: Ecological monitoring was conducted once a year from 2006-2021 at six different sites in Isla Natividad, Baja California Sur, Mexico. Using SCUBA, trained divers laid 30 x 2 meters belt transects to collect in situ algae, marine invertebrates, fish and uniform point contact (UPC) found along the transect. For algae, divers counted each algae and counted the number of stipes in the organism.

For data access and methodology details for marine invertebrates, fish, and uniform point contact (UPC) data, see the "Related Datasets" section. These four datasets related to each other in the way that the information from algae, invertebrates, fish and UPC was taken from the same site, on the same date, done by the same person.

These four related datasets were collected following the same methodology. Each year from 2006 to 2021, certified divers will lay several 30m transects along kelp forest in different sites in Isla Natividad, Baja California Sur, Mexico. Along the transects, the divers will collect information of algae, invertebrates, fish and UPC (Uniform Point Contact). Each transect was done in one single dive, collecting all the information already mentioned. At the end of the collecting season, the data was checked and transferred to the main dataset.

Instruments: SCUBA equipment 30m transects Diving slates