Surfgrass Community Structure: Length & Density

Data Use

This data is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY).

In light of the effort required to create data packages, we request that in addition to following the CC-BY license terms, that users 1) respect the data providers, and provide helpful feedback on data quality, and 2) communicate and/or collaborate with Hakai Nearshore researchers if you are considering using this dataset for manuscripts or other forms of reporting.

Reference Citation

Froese, T., Gehman, A., Hessing-Lewis, M., and Sadlier-Brown, G. (2024). 
Surfgrass Community Structure: Length & Density - BC Central Coast (V3.1.0) 
[Data set]. https://doi.org/10.21966/rf3y-8j78

Summary

This data package is a component of the Hakai Institute’s Nearshore research and monitoring program. The overarching objective of Hakai Nearshore research is to investigate the role of habitats and their associated communities, in the face of stress and disturbances from global climate change and local coastal perturbations.

The Rocky Intertidal program is a subset of Hakai Nearshore, and is designed to quantify change in rocky shore intertidal habitats and their associated communities. Please see the list of all Rocky Intertidal program data packages here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/11uqZNnwSabw0thcbntlTkZpVgVAkjPDJS17_ur6W7S8/edit

Survey Methods

This data package collects data and information relating to surveys conducted in surfgrass beds on Calvert Island BC, starting in 2017. Shoot counts, average length, and other metrics of Phyllospadix spp. were measured in quadrats along a transect at each site. For a detailed description, please see the Rocky Intertidal protocol contained in this dataset.

Resources

See the data dictionary file for a complete description of data variables, units and descriptions.

• Data
  • surfgrass_length_density-surveys.csv: Various parameters relating to the coverage, structure, and health of Phyllospadix spp. beds in the low rocky intertidal. Survey was conducted using a transect and quadrats. Transect location and length were replicated over time, quadrat placement was not.

NOTE: the column "tide_height_at_survey_time" is no longer recorded from February 2023 onwards.

• Protocols:
  • rocky_intertidal-protocol.pdf: Detailed description of field survey methods and equipment.

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Contact Tyrel Froese or Alyssa Gehman at nearshore@hakai.org if you have any questions.