Sandy Beach Ecosystems, California South Coast MPA Baseline Study, 2011 to 2013
Sandy beaches are among the most intensely used coastal ecosystems for human recreation and are vitally important to coastal economies. Beaches support unique biodiversity and provide essential ecosystem functions and services including endemic invertebrate communities and food webs that are prey for birds and fish, buffering and absorption of wave energy by stored sand, filtration of large volumes of seawater, extensive detrital processing and nutrient recycling, and the provision of critical habitat and resources for declining and endangered wildlife, such as shorebirds and pinnipeds. Sandy beaches compose 36% of the 693 km of shoreline in the South Coast (SC) region, including the California Channel Islands. The goal of this ecological characterization study is 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 located within and outside of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). We also evaluated potential ecological indicators for monitoring and developed and tested new protocols for potential use by citizen-scientists and educators.
Data files
| Data title and description | Access data | File details | Last updated |
|---|---|---|---|
Full Data Package for Sandy Beach Ecosystems, California South Coast MPA Baseline Study Zip file of all files related to the Sandy Beach Ecosystems, California South Coast MPA Baseline Study. | Download | ZIP | 01/16/19 |
MPA Baseline Program - Lookup Table Lookup table for the MPA Baseline program. | Download | CSV | 01/16/19 |
MPA Baseline Program - Lookup Table Metadata Metadata for the MPA Baseline Program Information. | Download | CSV | 01/16/19 |
MPA Baseline Program - Beach Site Name Lookup Table Lookup table for beach site names for MPA Baseline Program. | Download | CSV | 01/16/19 |
MPA Basline Program - Beach Site Name Lookup Table Metadata Metadata for Beach Site Name Lookup Table for MPA Baseline Program. | Download | CSV | 01/16/19 |
MPA Baseline Program - Boundary Information Lookup Table Lookup table for boundary information for the MPA Baseline Program. | Download | CSV | 01/16/19 |
MPA Baseline Program - Boundary Information Lookup Table Metadata Metadata for the boundary information lookup table for the MPA Baseline Program. | Download | CSV | 01/16/19 |
Biodiversity Surveys - Methods and Sampling Metadata Metadata for methods and sampling of biodiversity surveys for Sandy Beaches. | Download | CSV | 01/16/19 |
Biodiversity Surveys - Taxonomy Lookup Table Lookup table of taxonomy for biodiversity surveys. | Download | CSV | 01/16/19 |
Biodiversity Surveys - Taxonomy Lookup Table Metadata Metadata for taxonomy lookup tables for biodiversity surveys. | Download | CSV | 01/16/19 |
Biodiversity Surveys, Intertidal - Data, 2011 Data from biodiversity surveys of Sandy Beach ecosystems on the South Coast of California. | Download | CSV | 01/16/19 |
Biodiversity Surveys, Intertidal - Metadata, 2011 Metadata for the biodiversity surveys of sandy beach ecosystems in the South Coast region of California. | Download | CSV | 01/16/19 |
Biodiversity Surveys - Physical Characteristics Data, 2011 Data for physical characteristics biodiversity surveys of sandy beach ecosystems in the South Coast region of California. | Download | CSV | 01/16/19 |
Biodiversity Surveys - Physical Characteristics Metadata, 2011 Metadata for the physical characteristics biodiversity surveys of sand beach ecosystems in the South Coast region of California. | Download | CSV | 01/16/19 |
Indicator Taxa Surveys - Emerita Data, 2012-2013 Emerita data for indicator taxa surveys in Sandy Beach ecosystems in the South Coast region of California. | Download | CSV | 01/16/19 |
Indicator Taxa Surveys - Emerita Metadata, 2012-2013 Metadata for the indicator taxa surveys emerita data for the sandy beach ecosystems in the South Coast region of California. | Download | CSV | 01/16/19 |
Indicator Taxa Surveys - Lookup Table Data Indicator taxa lookup table data. | Download | CSV | 01/16/19 |
Indicator Taxa Surveys - Sticky Trap Data, 2011-2013 Sticky trap data for indicator taxa surveys for sandy beach ecosystems in the South Coast region. | Download | CSV | 01/16/19 |
Indicator Taxa Surveys - Sticky Trap Metadata, 2011-2013 Metadata for sticky trap indicator taxa surveys for sandy beach ecosystems in the South Coast region of California. | Download | CSV | 01/16/19 |
Indicator Taxa Surveys - Talitrid Cores Data, 2012 Talitrid cores data for the indicator taxa surveys for the sandy beach ecosystems in the South Coast region of California. | Download | CSV | 01/16/19 |
Indicator Taxa Surveys - Talitrid Cores Metadata, 2012 Metadata for the talitrid cores indicator taxa surveys for the sandy beach ecosystems in the South Coast region of California. | Download | CSV | 01/16/19 |
Macrophyte Wrack - Species Lookup Table Lookup table for the macrophyte wrack cover and composition of sandy beach ecosystems in the South Coast region of California. | Download | CSV | 01/16/19 |
Macrophyte Wrack - Species Lookup Table Metadata Metadata for lookup table for the macrophyte wrack cover and composition of sandy beach ecosystems in the South Coast region of California. | Download | CSV | 01/16/19 |
Macrophyte Wrack, Surveys - Data, 2011-2013 Data for the macrophyte wrack cover and composition of sandy beach ecosystems in the South Coast region of California. | Download | CSV | 01/16/19 |
Macrophyte Wrack, Surveys - Metadata, 2011-2013 Metadata for the macrophyte wrack cover and composition of sandy beach ecosystems in the South Coast region of California. | Download | CSV | 01/16/19 |
Macrophyte Wrack, Monthly Surveys - Data, 2011-2013 Monthly survey data for the macrophyte wrack cover and composition of sandy beach ecosystems in the South Coast region of California. | Download | CSV | 01/16/19 |
Macrophyte Wrack, Surveys - Metadata, 2011-2013 Metadata for the monthly survey data for the macrophyte wrack cover and composition of sandy beach ecosystems in the South Coast region of California. | Download | CSV | 01/16/19 |
Physical Characteristics, Monthly Surveys - Data, 2011-2013 Monthly survey data for the physical characteristics of sandy beach ecosystems in the South Coast region of California. | Download | CSV | 01/16/19 |
Physical Characteristics, Monthly Surveys - Metadata, 2011-2013 Metadata for monthly survey data for the physical characteristics of sandy beach ecosystems in the South Coast region of California. | Download | CSV | 01/16/19 |
Physical Characteristics, Beach Sediment - Data, 2011-2013 Data for the beach sediment of sandy beach ecosystems in the South Coast region of California. | Download | CSV | 01/16/19 |
Physical Characteristics, Beach Sediment - Metadata, 2011-2013 Metadata for the beach sediment of sandy beach ecosystems in the South Coast region of California. | Download | CSV | 01/16/19 |
Rapid Surveys, Birds, Kelp, People, Dog, Kelp - Data 2011-2013 Survey data for rapid surveys of sandy beach ecosystems in the South Coast region of California. | Download | CSV | 01/16/19 |
Rapid Surveys, Birds, Kelp, People, Dog, Kelp - Metadata 2011-2013 Metadata for survey data for rapid surveys of sandy beach ecosystems in the South Coast region of California. | Download | CSV | 01/16/19 |
Rapid Surveys, Weather - Data, 2011-2013 Survey data for weather rapid surveys of sandy beach ecosystems in the South Coast region of California. | Download | CSV | 01/16/19 |
Rapid Surveys, Weather - Metadata, 2011-2013 Metadata for survey data for weather rapid surveys of sandy beach ecosystems in the South Coast region of California. | Download | CSV | 01/16/19 |
Supporting files
| Data title and description | Access data | File details | Last updated |
|---|---|---|---|
Final Report: Baseline Characterization of the Sandy Beach Ecosystems Along the South Coast of California, 2011-2013 Final report on the Baseline Characterization of the Sandy Beach Ecosystems Along the South Coast of California. | Download | PDF | 01/16/19 |
Macrophyte Wrack, Surveys - Methods and Sampling Metadata Methods and Sampling Metadata for the macrophyte wrack cover and composition of sandy beach ecosystems in the South Coast region of California. | Download | PDF | 01/16/19 |
Macrophyte Wrack, Monthly Surveys - Methods and Sampling Metadata Methods and Sampling metadata for the macrophyte wrack cover and composition of sandy beach ecosystems in the South Coast region of California. | Download | PDF | 01/16/19 |