This is a statewide and regional analysis, with summary statistics and mapping being conducted statewide, and also on a regional level. For the regional analysis, we utilized the 5 distinct regions defined by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Marine Life Protection Act. They are definited as such:
SCSR = South Coast Study Region
NCCSR = North Central Coast Study Region
CCSR = Central Coast Study Region
NCSR = North Coast Study Region
SFBSR = San Francisco Bay Study Region
The Pacific Marine and Estuarine Partnership (PMEP) utilized the Coastal & Marine Ecological Classification Standard (CMECS) to define major biotic categories:
-
Aquatic Vegetation Bed: This class includes subtidal or intertidal bottoms and any other areas characterized by a dominant cover of rooted vascular plants.
-
Benthic/Attached Biota: This biotic setting describes areas where biota lives on, in, or in close association with the seafloor or other substrates (e.g., pilings, buoys), extending down to include the layers of sediment that contain multi-cellular life.
-
Benthic Macroalgae: Aquatic beds dominated by other macroalgae attached to the substrate, excluding kelp.
-
Canopy-Forming Algal Bed (Kelp): Areas dominated by canopy-forming algae that have complex growth forms with holdfasts and well- defined stipes and blades.
-
Emergent Wetland: Areas in this class are characterized by erect, rooted, herbaceous hydrophytes—excluding emergent mosses and lichens.
-
Faunal Bed: Seabeds dominated or characterized by a cover of animals that are closely associated with the bottom, including attached, clinging, sessile, infaunal, burrowing, laying, interstitial, and slow moving animals, but not animals that have created substrate (Reef Biota).
-
Floating/Suspended Plants and Macroalgae: This class includes areas dominated by vascular plants, detached plant parts, or macroalgae that are floating on the surface or are suspended in the water column—that is, plants and macroalgae that are not rooted or attached to the bottom.
-
Forested Wetland: Areas in this class are characterized by woody vegetation that is generally 6 meters or taller.
-
Scrub-Shrub Wetland: Emergent wetland areas dominated by woody vegetation that is generally less than 6 meters tall.
-
Seagrass Bed: Tidal aquatic vegetation beds dominated by any number of seagrass or eelgrass species, including Cymocedea sp., Halodule sp., Thalassia sp., Halophilla sp., Vallisnera sp., Ruppia sp., Phyllospadix sp., and Zostera sp..
.rds files created in the rds_creation repository from this MarineBioMaps Github Organization were used to load in the PMEP data filtered to California. See those repositories to access these .rds files.
Shapefiles for CA MPA Boundaries were downloaded from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
The Quarto Markdown files in this repository house the various analysis run to answer questions about MPA habitat components on a statewide, regional, or MPA specific level. The .qmd files are named for the respective areas being analyzed.
biota
│ └──README.md
| └──bioregion_analysis
| └──bioregion_central_biota_analysis.qmd
| └──bioregion_norcal_biota_analysis.qmd
| └──bioregion_socal_biota_analysis.qmd
│ └──point_lobos_biota.qmd
| └──write_to_rds.qmd