Sand beach and coastal lagoon monitoring, Santa Rosa Island : 2004 annual report
Richards DV. 2004. Sand beach and coastal lagoon monitoring, Santa Rosa Island : 2004 annual report. Technical Report. CHIS-2004-05. Channel Islands National Park. Ventura, CA
Sand beach monitoring was conducted at five beaches on Santa Rosa Island between July 28 and Aug 2, 2004. This project is part of the Ecological long-term monitoring program at Channel Islands National Park and was implemented in 1994 following the design protocol of Dugan et al. 1990. Methods included bird censuses, physical measurements of beaches and coastal lagoons, clam gun (core) transects of upper beach and washzone habitats, and point contact transects to determine macrophyte wrack cover. Five beaches were monitored (Abalone Rocks, Becher’s Pier, China Camp, Sandy Point, and Soledad West). Sand crab, Emerita analoga, mean abundances ranged from 1,837-9,152 crabs per meter (/m).of beach with the lowest abundance at Abalone Rocks and the highest at Sandy Point. Between 8 and 31% of the females were ovigerous (carrying eggs). Sandy Point also had the highest abundance of beachhopper amphipods (Megalorchestia spp.) with a mean abundance of 54,047/m, the highest we have recorded in this program. Bechers Pier had the lowest abundance of amphipods with only 338/m. Macrophyte wrack cover was lowest at Abalone Rocks (8%) and highest at Soledad West (45%). The coastal lagoons were all hypersaline and had low water levels.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Richards, Daniel
- Date of Issue
- 2004-12
- Publisher
- Channel Islands National Park
- Units
- CHIS , MEDN
- Keywords
- Beaches California Santa Rosa Island., Ecological Monitoring, Lagoon ecology California Santa Rosa Island., sand beach monitoring, Sandy Beaches and Lagoon Monitor, Santa Rosa Island