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OAS accession Detail for 0278675
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| accessions_id: | 0278675 | archive |
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| Title: | Estimates of island-wide sea otter population density as surveyed with boats circumnavigating nine focal islands within the central and western Aleutian Islands (Alaska) from 1991-2015 (NCEI Accession 0278675) |
| Abstract: | This dataset contains physical data collected on R/V Point Sur during cruise PS1409 in the Bering Sea from 1991-01-01 to 2015-12-31. These data include density. The instruments used to collect these data include Binoculars Handheld. These data were collected by James A. Estes of University of California-Santa Cruz and Robert S. Steneck of University of Maine as part of the "Ocean Acidification: Century Scale Impacts to Ecosystem Structure and Function of Aleutian Kelp Forests (OA Kelp Forest Function)" project and "Science, Engineering and Education for Sustainability NSF-Wide Investment (SEES): Ocean Acidification (formerly CRI-OA) (SEES-OA)" program. The Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office (BCO-DMO) submitted these data to NCEI on 2021-02-23. The following is the text of the dataset description provided by BCO-DMO: Dataset Description: These data were published in Table S1 in Rasher et al., 2020 (see Related Publications section below). |
| Date received: | 20210223 |
| Start date: | 19910101 |
| End date: | 20151231 |
| Seanames: | Bering Sea |
| West boundary: | 172.91 |
| East boundary: | -176.174 |
| North boundary: | 52.899 |
| South boundary: | 51.518 |
| Observation types: | physical |
| Instrument types: | binoculars |
| Datatypes: | WATER DENSITY |
| Submitter: | |
| Submitting institution: | Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office |
| Collecting institutions: | University of California - Santa Cruz, University of Maine |
| Contributing projects: | |
| Platforms: | POINT SUR (32P0) |
| Number of observations: | |
| Supplementary information: | Acquisition Description: At each island, visual counts of sea otters were made from a 4 m open boat as it circumnavigated the island perimeter at a speed of 18 to 25 km per hour, just outside of any existing kelp canopy and/or close enough to shore (50-150 m) to be able to easily see an animal swimming or resting on the surface. The perimeter of the island was divided into sectors, and these designations were utilized every year a survey was conducted. Survey teams consisted of a primary observer, data recorder, and boat operator (who also acted as a secondary observer). As the boat moved parallel to shore and around any offshore islets, observers visually scanned for sea otters both inshore and offshore of the boat trajectory and, in the case of larger sea otter groups or difficult-to-access locations, the boat was paused and binoculars were used to scan the area and obtain accurate counts. Whenever sea otters were observed and counted, we noted their geo-location, group size, reproductive status (single animals or females with pups), whether the animals were less than or greater than 20 m from the nearest point of land or emergent substrate, and whether each animal was within or outside a surface canopy of kelp. Here, we report only island-wide abundance estimates for independent (non-pup) individuals, as dependent pup counts were variable due to annual differences in the timing of reproduction. Because surveys varied from year to year in terms of the percentage of the island’s perimeter surveyed (ranging from ~50% to 100%), we standardized counts to linear density (independent sea otters per km of linear coastline surveyed). NOTE: Surveys were conducted opportunistically, and thus intermittently, from 1991 to 2015 at each island. As such, some islands were surveyed more frequently than others. |
| Availability date: | |
| Metadata version: | 1 |
| Keydate: | 2023-05-24 04:33:04+00 |
| Editdate: | 2023-05-24 04:33:52+00 |