Santa Barbara Channel Marine BON: Nearshore kelp forest integrated fish, 1981-ongoing

The Santa Barbara Channel Marine Biodiversity Observation Network (SBCMBON) tracks long-term patterns in species abundance and diversity. This dataset contains counts of fish (including cryptic fish, which are deliberately sought out) produced by integrating data from four contributing projects working in the kelp forests of the Santa Barbara Channel, USA. The four contributing projects are two research projects, the Santa Barbara Coastal LTER (SBC LTER) and the Partnership for Interdisciplinary Studies of Coastal Oceans (PISCO), and the kelp forest monitoring program of the Santa Barbara Channel National Park, and the San Nicolas Island monitoring program supported by USGS. Together, these projects have recorded data for more than 200 species at approximately 100 sites on both the mainland coast and on the Santa Barbara Channel Islands. Sampling began in 1980 and is ongoing. Data were collected by human observation (divers using SCUBA) during regular surveys. This dataset includes five entities, three data tables and two R scripts. The main data table contains counts of organisms, the bottom-area and height of the water column over which the fish were surveyed. The column labeled “count” records the number of organisms found in each plot/transect at a given timestamp. A second data table contains place names and geolocation for sampling sites. Information is sufficient for the calculation of fish density, which is left to the user. The third data table contains the depths of each transect the for the fish survey. Sample R script is included to illustrate generation of a basic table of areal density by taxa and sampling site. A second R script is included to convert these data from their primary MBON structure to a Darwin Core Archive (and available through multiple sources). MBON is funded by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM), and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). For users who are i