Rocky Intertidal and Subtidal Systems Cover Introduction Sanctuary Program Accomplishments Beach Systems Rocky Intertidal and Subtidal Systems Open Ocean & Deep Water Systems The Physica Environment Wetlands and Watersheds Endangered and Threatened Species Marine Mammals Bird Populations Harvested Species Exotic Species Site Profile: Ano Nuevo Island Human Interactions Credits The PISCO Project Nearshore marine ecosystems are an important regional resource. They support societal and economic activities ranging from fisheries and kelp harvesting to tourism and recreational activities. These ecosystems are subject to many human pressures that can impact their natural state. However, marine ecosystems are ecologically complex and the ecological processes that influence them range from large-scale oceanographic and climatic events (El Niño and La Niña events, for example) to small-scale processes such as competition and predation. The differences in scale at which these processes operate have a profound importance in our understanding of how these ecosystems work. This complexity has been a major stumbling block in developing the scientific basis for management and conservation of coastal marine resources. In January 1999 the David and Lucile Packard Foundation awarded a grant to support the activities of a consortium of scientists at four universities: Oregon State University, the Universities of California at Santa Cruz and Santa Barbara, and Stanford University's Hopkins Marine Station. The general goals of the consortium are to overcome two major impediments to conserving marine ecosystems: (1) a lack of understanding of the ecological processes that influence coastal ecosystems and (2) the slow transfer of new scientific knowledge to the public and policy makers. The consortium, Partnership for Interdisciplinary Studies of Coastal Oceans (PISCO), offers a new model for addressing these issues. Our emphasis is on regional-scale, multidisciplinary research on the ecology of biological communities that inhabit coastal rocky reefs and developing policy links needed to foster new programs in marine conservation. We at UCSC are responsible for the PISCO research program being carried out within the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. Figure 1: Current profilers (left) measure direction of water flow, while settlement collectors (right) measure larval delivery to the reef. © Arnold Ammann Our research program has four main elements. First, we use a variety of oceanographic instruments to measure coastal currents and biological productivity. These instruments measure how oceanographic features such as upwelling result in different patterns of water flow and productivity. Second, we measure the delivery of larvae to adult populations that inhabit both intertidal and subtidal rocky reefs. We do this with larval collectors on moorings (Figure 1) and at intertidal sites. Together, this information gives unique insight into the coupling of large-scale and small-scale oceanographic events and the resultant delivery of larvae that replenish populations on reefs ("larval recruitment"). Third, we ascertain the consequences of this larval recruitment by monitoring changes in both intertidal and subtidal communities. These monitoring surveys include a wide range of intertidal and subtidal sites ranging from north of Monterey Bay to the southern end of the Big Sur coast. Finally, the community patterns gleaned from these surveys direct experiments we conduct to identify the importance of particular ecological processes -- competition and predation, for example -- that are responsible for modifying or maintaining the patterns generated by larval recruitment. The cross-disciplinary emphasis of PISCO provides some unique opportunities to address questions central to coastal marine ecology and to incorporate this information into conservation applications. For example, we are exploring the interconnectedness of populations of organisms at different sites using the genetic and natural chemical markers of individual organisms. These markers include chemical elements that are incorporated into the ear bones (otoliths) of young fishes, which can then be analyzed to identify the sites of origin and movement patterns of these larvae. This information is supplemented with genetic ingerprinting to provide another means of inferring movement patterns. Understanding the movement and interconnectedness of populations has important consequences for management and conservation. In particular, the effects of marine reserves are dependent on the degree and distance to which populations within reserves contribute to the replenishment of fished populations outside reserves. This is one reason why PISCO-UCSC is including three marine reserves (Hopkins, Point Lobos, and Big Creek) in our subtidal and intertidal sampling programs. In the short period since PISCO's inception, we have been involved in a wide range of activities. Our first year was spent developing both monitoring and experimental protocols, and results from 2000 have already provided us with our first insights into the temporal variability of intertidal and subtidal community patterns and processes. In addition, we have supported many graduate students and undergraduate interns to help develop sampling procedures that will be used throughout the consortium-wide study. By the end of 2001, we expect to begin synthesizing these regional scale studies and communicating results to the public and policy makers. For more information on PISCO, visit our Web site: www.piscoweb.org. Craig Syms Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California Santa Cruz Home | Introduction | Visitors | Education | Research | Protection | Calendar Foundation | Search Credits For comments or question please refer to the Webmaster Last modified on: Jan 15, 2000