Focus on Ecosystems at the Land-Ocean Margin

2. Santa Barbara CoastalLong Term Ecological Research Focus on Ecosystems at the Land-Ocean Margin

3. US National Science Foundation’s Long Term Ecological Research Network Established 1980 LTER Objective To attain a predictive understanding of ecological phenomena over long temporal and large spatial scales LTER Mission To provide the scientific community, policy makers, and society with the knowledge and predictive understanding necessary to conserve, protect, and manage the nation's ecosystems, their biodiversity, and the services they provide.

4. US LTER Network 26 sites representing diverse ecosystem types • terrestrial / marine • tropical / temperate / polar • pristine / urbanized / managed • habitats include: forests, deserts, grasslands, alpine, tundra, agricultural lands, dry valleys, estuaries, barrier islands, coral and rocky reefs, and the pelagic ocean

5. Palmer Station California Current Ecosystem Georgia Coastal Ecosystem Florida Coastal Everglades Virginia Coast Reserve Plum Island Ecosystem Moorea Coral Reef US LTER Coastal Marine Ecosystems Santa Barbara Coastal

6. Streams Mountains: Shrub Forest Foothills: Agriculture Suburban Land Coastal plain: Agriculture Suburban Urban Estuary Beach Nutrients, Sediments, Pollutants Coastal Marine POM, DOM Nutrients, Plankton, Larvae Open Ocean Giant kelp

7. Santa Barbara Coastal LTER Established 2000 - Focus on Ecosystems at the Land-Ocean Margin Site Characteristics • ~ 10,000 km2 • Coastal mountains • Offshore islands • Major biogeographic boundary • Mediterranean climate • Small streams and estuaries • Shallow rocky reefs / kelp forests • Strong ENSO and PDO signal

8. Distribution of Macrocystis Giant kelp Macrocystis pyrifera Giant Kelp Forests are the focal ecosystem of the Santa Barbara Coastal LTER Giant kelp forests are found worldwide on shallow reefs in temperate seas

9. 1 7 7 High topographic relief Strong gradients in temp/nutrients 6 5 * * * * 4 * * * * * * 3 * * * * 2 Santa Barbara 1 Complex circulation System of no take marine reserves Marine Attributes of SBC LTER Santa Barbara Santa Barbara Basin 609 m

10. Land Attributes of SBC LTER Diverse watersheds with steep slopes Varied land cover Episodic stream flows Periodic fires

11. Santa Barbara CoastalLong Term Ecological Research • Primary Research Areas • Land and ocean processes that determine the type and quantity of materials delivered to the coastal ocean. • The relative importance of land and ocean processes for primary production, biodiversity and food web structure of kelp forests. • Effects of disturbance & climate change on the entire coastal ecosystem

12. General Research Approaches Coordinated long-term measurements Shorter-term measurement intensive process studies Manipulative field experiments Synthesis through Modeling & Integrated Analyses

13. Terrestrial Research Topics • Hydrology and water biogeochemistry during base flow conditions and storm flow events • The effects of land cover, land use and fire on chemical and biological constituents of runoff • Nutrient and carbon processing in streams and soils. • Marine subsidies to sandy beach communities

14. Oceanographic Research Topics • Ocean circulation and mechanisms of material transport • Phytoplankton productivity, distribution, & succession • Sources and fate of dissolved & particulate organic matter • Satellite remote sensing of ocean color and kelp distribution to examine regional to basin scale processes on kelp forest ecosystems

15. Kelp Forest Research Topics • Effects of disturbance and species interactions on community structure • Patterns and controls of net primary production • Effects of climate change on foodweb diversity and complexity • Transport and processing of different sources and forms of nitrogen

16. Information Management Objective:Develop a storage system for metadata and data that facilitates synthesis and provides long-term management and accessibility http:/sbc.lternet.edu

17. SBC LTER Data Catalog sbc.lternet.edu/data

18. SBC LTER Personnel