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// Brief intro of the study //

On a monthly basis, we record the abundance of all visible macroalgae species in quadrats (1 m by 1 m squares) that we place at the same intervals along fixed transects in a rocky intertidal zone in Stanley Park (Vancouver British Columbia).
This study was prompted by the lack of baseline data that is publicly available regarding the ecology of seaweeds in the region. These data are free to use with attribution. Please cite the Borealis dataset https://doi.org/10.5683/SP3/IKGB6E.
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----- INDIVIDUAL FILE INFORMATION ----
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// Poster -//
Our posters about the transect work, which we presented at the Phycological Society of America meeting in 2023 and 2024.
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// Protocol //
This pdf document explains our sampling procedure and indicates the location of the transects near the Girl in a Wetsuit Statue (S.S. Empress of Japan Figurehead Replica) Stanley Park, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada (49°18'09.9"N 123°07'34.9"W)
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// study_explanation //
This document outlines our current engagement with the Indigenous peoples whose land this research is being conducted on and provides more background regarding why the study is being conducted. 
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// clean_reproductive_data //
year: sampling year
month: sampling month
day: sampling day

The remaining columns indicate the genus.species of the seaweed (all kelps, Laminariales).
A "y" indicates that reproductive individuals were observed on that sampling occasion. 
Please note that an absence of "y" does not indicate no reproductive individuals and that species not listed here do not mean the species was never reproductive. 
These are opportunistic observations and kelp (Laminariales) reproductive tissue is easy to spot compared to other seaweeds. 
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// GW_seaweed_transect_data_cleaned //
year: sampling year
month: sampling month
day: sampling day
low_tide_time_PDT: the time of lowest tide of the day in Pacific Daylight Time (PDT) as reported by the government of Canada tide tables. Sampling started approximately two hours prior to the time listed in this column
low_tide_height_m: the height of the lowest tide in metres (m) as reported by the government of Canada tide tables.
transect_id: the numerical identification of the transect. We started with 5 transects total by cut it down to 3 for all sampling events after 2022-04-20. 
distance_along_transect_m: the distance away from the seawall in m. Quadrat 1 is from 0 to 1 m, quadrat 2 is from 5 to 6 m and so on (see protocol.pdf). Please note that this is not the same as tide height. At this time, we have not yet calculated which quadrats are exposed to air at which tide height.

The remaining columns list the seaweed genus_species__phylum (brown=Phaeophyceae; green=Chlorophyta; red= Rhodophyta). 
For some genera, we have not resolved to the species level, since molecular work is necessary to do so and there are almost certainly multiple cryptic species (see mastocarpus_sp). 
We also note that our Ulva_species identifications are best guesses based on morphology. We reccomend grouping the Ulvas listed into Ulva_sp for analysis. 
The numbers in the seaweed genus_species columns is the estimated percent cover of that seaweed. Since seaweed overlap, there can be over 100% total cover per quadrat. 
Estimated percent cover at or below 1% was rounded to 1%. For percent cover greater than 1 and below 5%, we reccoded to the nearest percent. Above 5%, we recorded the percent cover to the nearest interval of 5 (e.g 3% was recorded as 3%, 7% was recorded as 5%, and 9% was recorded as 10%).  
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// GW_substrate_invert_data.csv //
Columns indicate the invertebrate count or percent cover per quadrat (indicated in column name) and the substratum make up of the quadrat.
Boulders are too large to be picked up.
Cobble is any other rock
Sand is very small grains
Boulder + Cobble + Sand = 100% of the substratum
Water floats on top of all the other substratum and is useful to assess desiccation of the quadrat at the time of sampling. 
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// tideheights_with_quadrat_height/
Indicates the height of each quadrat as determined by the stadiapoles.
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//herbaria_species_list //
File with the UBC Beaty Biodiversity Museum Accession information for macroalgal vouchers.
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