Alyssa Mak, Nils Boberg, & Dr. Geoff Dilly
In 2015, Dr. Dilly and his students established two intertidal long term monitoring sites on Santa Rosa Island. The sites are located at Skunk Point and Bechers Bay. They were chosen based on their proximity to the Island Research Station and the absence of other rocky intertidal monitoring sites on the northeastern side of the island. Vertical transects are a useful tool for evaluating changes in species diversity for entire sites. Point intercept is used to track species coverage in a small area. We have four zones at each site: low, mid, high, and splash zone, with four point intercept plots per zone. Using these monitoring tools, we analyzed the percent coverage, average distance from baseline, and count data of select species to identify community and diversity changes. While we have observed no significant change in overall diversity at either site, there have been significant changes in select species abundance. In Bechers Bay, the percent coverage of Endocladia muricata and Anthopleura sp. have increased, while Phragmatopoma californica has decreased. Skunk Point also showed increased percent coverage of Anthopleura sp., while Mussels and the rockweed Silvetia compressa remained stable at both sites. The ecological relevance and limits of these findings are discussed in this poster.