Orange County Marine Protected Areas

Research & Monitoring

Vital to the success of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) is biological and ecological research, particularly research that improves our understanding of determining the success of MPA designation. Ecosystem Based Management (EBM) is particularly important as we move away from simply protecting intertidal populations and move towards understanding how these ecosystems function so that we can better understand how to efficiently conserve our coasts. Without experimental research and monitoring, the effectiveness of MPAs could not be studied.

Conducting Research in the Tidepools

Despite most of the OC shoreline being protected under MPA regulations for a number of years, collecting and other detrimental activities by visitors to our shores continues to occur. This is particularly true for the large number of educational field trips that occur throughout the year. We encourage you to continue to bring classes to the coast and conduct research within our reserves, but please adhere to the following guidelines:

If you are taking a class to and/or conducting research within Orange County MPAs, you must contact the associated state marine reserve, park or conservation area manager in a timely fashion (~30 days) prior to your visit and fill out the Researcher/Educator User Form.

Collecting of any material, live or dead, within MPAs is illegal unless you have a valid Scientific Collecting Permit (SCP) from the Department of Fish and Game and permission from the appropriate MPA manager. "Collecting" includes picking up organisms, even if they are returned to the intertidal and not removed from the site. Failure to follow these regulations may result in fines and/or revocation of collection or research privileges in that Marine Protected Area.
For educational field trips, we request that you contact MPA managers regardless of whether collecting is planned.
Please note, as in years past, you are still required to notify the local Department of Fish and Game (DFG) field office 24 hours before collecting. Los Alamitos Office - 4665 Lampson Avenue, Suite C, Los Alamitos, CA 90720 (562) 342-7100, Fax (562) 596-0342.
We ask that you and your assistants/students follow general good tidepool etiquette (link to tidepool etiquette file) by avoiding any action that may negatively affect the tidepool habitat. Please avoid trampling plants, walking in tidepools, excessively handling organisms, picking up organisms, and overturning rocks as these activities are highly detrimental and may not be allowed under the Marine Protected Areas regulations. We also request that you, as team/class leader, wear clothing that identifies you as a member of your research institution.
All collections must directly relate to your permitted research and to the geographical area of focus. Collections authorized under the authority of a SCP that are for the purpose of generalized study or classroom lab work must be obtained from outside the Marine Protected Area Network.

Science of MPAs

The Science of Marine Protected Areas

Ecological Responses

Monitoring

Several monitoring programs have been established at numerous Orange County MPAs.

1.In 1996, the Multi-Agency Rocky Intertidal Network (MARINe) established four locations (Shaw’s Cove, Treasure Island, Crystal Cove, and Dana Point) to monitor the abundances of target species. This network (http://www.marine.gov/), funded by various organizations including Minerals Management Services, US Department of Interior, spans across the California and Oregon coast encompassing 80 sites. For Orange County locations, California State University, Fullerton is currently monitoring the abundance of mussels (Mytilus), rockweeds (Silvetia), barnacles (Chthamalus and Balanus), red algal turfs (Endocladia), surf grasses (Phyllospadix), owl limpets (Lottia), seastars (Pisaster), and other important flora and fauna. Surveys of these areas are conducted every 6 months in the fall and spring seasons, starting in 1996 through the present.

2.The Orange County MPA monitoring programs was established in 2002 and continued until 2005. Surveys were conducted at three locations (Dana Point, Little Corona del Mar, and Treasure Island). Surveys were conducted to monitor the levels of human use and the abundances of various intertidal species including souvenir species likely to be most notably effected by human activities.

3.California State University, Fullerton has been surveying rocky intertidal flora and fauna at Dana Point and Little Corona Del Mar using transects from 2002 to the present. Percent cover of all species are measured along permanent transect spanning the entire intertidal habitat and are sampled approximately two times per year (summer and winter).

4.Weston Solutions, Inc recently established transect lines to monitor at Little Corona del Mar, Morning Canyon, Crystal Cove, and Heisler Park.

5.Coastal Resources Management is currently quantifying and characterizing human activities in rocky intertidal zones at Little Corona del Mar, Morning Canyon, Crystal Cove, and Heisler Park.

6.The Montage Resort is supporting a monitoring program aimed to quantify levels of human use and determine the impacts of the resort on the rocky intertidal zone at Treasure Island.

Current Research

Several research projects have been conducted or are currently being conducted at Orange County MPA locations. A following is a selected list (1999-2007) of recently published works as well as a list of ongoing research.

Published materials:

Bullard, A.M. and S.N Murray. 2003. Comparisons of macrophyte cover and community primary productivity on two southern California shores. Journal of Phycology. 39(S1): 6.

Bullard, A.M. 2005. Macrophyte community structure and productivity of two southern California rocky shores. MS Thesis, California State University.

Crummett, L.T. and D.J. Eernisse. 2007. Genetic evidence for the cryptic species pair, Lottia digitalis and Lottia austrodigitalis and microhabitat partitioning in sympatry. Marine Biology. 152:1–13.

Denis, T.G. 2002. Effects of human foot traffic on the standing stocks, size structures, and reproduction of southern California populations of the intertidal rockweed Silvetia compressa (O. Fucales). MS Thesis, California State University.

Hall, D., Hall, and S.N. Murray. 2002. Contingent valuation of Marine Protected Areas: southern California rocky intertidal ecosystems. Natural Resource Modeling. 15: 335-368.

Henkel, S.K. and S.N Murray. 2007. Reproduction and morphological variation in southern California populations of the lower intertidal kelp Egregia menziesii (Laminariales). Journal of Phycology. 43: 242-255.

Henkel, S.K. G.E. Hofmann, and A.C. Whitmer. 2007. Morphological and genetic variation in Egregia menziesii over a latitudinal gradient. Botanica Marina. 50: 159–170

Goodsen, J. 2004. Long-term changes in rocky intertidal populations and communities at Little Corona del Mar, California: A synthesis using traditional and non-traditional data. MS Thesis, California State University.

Kido, J.S. and S.N. Murray. 2003. Variation in owl limpet Lottia gigantea population structures, growth rates, and gonadal production on southern California rocky shores. Marine Ecology Progress Series. 257: 111-124.

Moeller, J.M. 2002. Seasonal and spatial patterns of reproduction and recruitment in a population of the intertidal rockweed Silvetia compressa (Fucales). MS Thesis, California State University.

Murray, S.N. 1998 Effectiveness of Marine Life Refuges on Southern California shores. In: Magoon, O.T., Converse, H., Baird, B. and Miller-Henson, M. (Eds.). California and the World Ocean '97. Taking a look at California's Ocean Resources: an agenda for the future. American Society of Civil Engineers, Reston, VA, pp. 1453-1465.

Murray, S.N., J. Goodson, A. Gerrard, and T. Luas. 2001. Long-term changes in rocky intertidal seaweed populations in urban southern California. Journal of Phycology 37 (s3), 37–38.

Murray, S.N., T.G. Denis, J.S. Kido, and J.R. Smith. 1999. Human visitation and the frequency and potential effects of collecting on rocky intertidal populations in southern California marine reserves. California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations Reports. 40: 100-106.

Raimondi P.T., R.F. Ambrose, J.M. Engle, S.N. Murray, and M. Wilson. 1999. Monitoring of rocky intertidal resources along the central and southern California mainland. 3-Year Report for San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Orange Counties (Fall 1995- Spring 1998). OCS Study, MMS 99-0032, U.S. Department of Interior, Minerals Management Service, Pacific OCS Region

Sanford, E. and D.S. Swezey. 2008. Response of predatory snails to a novel prey following the geographic range expansion of an intertidal barnacle. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology. 354:220-230.

Sagarin, R.D., R.F Ambrose, B.J. Becker, J.M. Engle, J. Kido, S.F. Lee, C.M. Miner, S.N. Murray, P.T. Raimondi, D. Richards, and C. Roe. 2007. Ecological impacts on the limpet Lottia gigantea populations: human pressure over a broad scale on island and mainland intertidal zones. Marine Biology. 150:399-413.

Sapper, S.A. and S.N. Murray. 2003. Variation in structure of the subcanopy assemblage associated with southern California populations of the intertidal rockweed Silvetia compressa (Fucales). Pacific Science. 57:433–462

Smith. J.R. and S.N. Murray. 2005. The effects of bait collection and trampling on a Mytilus californianus mussel bed in southern California. Marine Biology. 146: 699-706.

Smith, J.R., P. Fong, and R.F. Ambrose. Under revision. Spatial patterns in recruitment and growth rates of the mussel Mytilus californianus (Conrad) reveal a relationship with adult mussel populations in southern but not northern California, USA. Journal of Sea Research.

Smith, J.R., R.F. Ambrose, and P. Fong. 2008. Anthropogenic disturbance and the effectiveness of Marine Protected Areas for protecting mussel bed communities along the California coast. Environmental Management.

Smith, J.R., R.F. Ambrose, and P. Fong. 2006. Long-term change in mussel (Mytilus californianus Conrad) populations along the wave-exposed coast of California. Marine Biology. 149: 537-545.

Smith, J.R., P. Fong, and R.F. Ambrose. 2006. Dramatic declines in mussel community diversity on the exposed California coast: Response to climate change? Ecology. 87(5): 1153-1161.

Tyrrell, B. and H.W. Johansen. 1995. Reproductive and regenerative strategies of Lithothrix aspergillum (Corallinales, Rhodophyta) in southern California. Phycologia. 34: 39-44.

Whitman Miller, A. and R.F Ambrose. 2000. Sampling patchy distributions: comparison of sampling designs in rocky intertidal habitats. Marine Ecology Progress Series. 196:1-14.

Yee, E.H. and S.N. Murray. 2004. Effects of temperature on activity, food consumption rates, and gut passage times of seaweed-eating Tegula species (Trochidae) from California. Marine Biology. 145:895-903.

Ongoing research projects:

Spatial and temporal variation in d13C and d15N values of macro-algae in southern California waters. California State University, Fullerton: Vogt, S.C., L. Gilbane, A. Bullard, J.R. Smith, and S.N. Murray.

Distribution, habitat utilization, and reproductive patterns in Caulacanthus ustulatus (Caulacanthaceae, Gigartinales), a newly established seaweed on southern California Shores. California State University, Fullerton: Whiteside, K.E., J.R. Smith, and S.N. Murray.

Feeding rates of native consumers on introduced and native seaweeds on urban southern California shores. California State University, Fullerton: Navarro, C.N., S. Vogt, J.R. Smith, and S.N. Murray.

Experimental restoration of the rocky intertidal brown alga Silvetia compressa on urban southern California shores. California State University, Fullerton: Whitaker, S.G., J.R. Smith, and S.N. Murray.

Long-term change in rocky intertidal communities along the mainland and Channel Islands of the Southern California Bight. California State University, Fullerton: J.R. Smith, and S.N. Murray.