Appendix C of the Manual for the Nearshore Assessment Tool for Alaska: Southeast
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
1 Appendix C of the Manual for the Nearshore Assessment Tool for Alaska: Southeast Technical Data Report by Paul R. Adamus, Ph.D for Southeast Alaska Land Trust Juneau, Alaska March 2016 2 Contents List of Figures ....................................................................................................................................................... 2 1.0 Introduction .................................................................................................................................................... 1 2.0 Sampling Coverage and Effort of the 2015 Nearshore Biosurveys and NATAK-SE Assessments ... 1 3.0 Biosurvey Results and Comparison with ShoreZone Biosurvey Data .................................................. 7 3.1 Taxa Richness of Macroinvertebrates and Macroalgae by Coastal Class .......................................... 7 3.2 Taxonomic Comparison ............................................................................................................................ 8 4.0 Macroinvertebrate Abundance Estimates ................................................................................................ 19 5.0 Environmental Correlations ....................................................................................................................... 21 6.0 Consideration of a Simplified Protocol for Estimating Intertidal Macroinvertebrate Richness....... 23 7.0 Analysis of Existing Spatial Data for All Shore Segments ..................................................................... 24 8.0 NATAK-SE Scores and Photos for the Assessed Shore Segments ........................................................ 27 List of Tables Table 1. Sampling attributes of the 2015 Nearshore Biosurvey Segments. .................................................................. 3 Table 2. Coastal class coverage by the 2015 Nearshore Biosurvey and the 2005-2008 ShoreZone biosurvey. ....... 4 Table 3. GIS-derived attributes of segments sampled by SEAL Trust: Subregional coverage. ................................ 5 Table 4. GIS-derived attributes of segments sampled by SEAL Trust: Wave exposure. ........................................... 5 Table 5. GIS-derived attributes of segments sampled by SEAL Trust: Watershed hydrologic type. ...................... 5 Table 6. GIS-derived attributes of segments sampled by SEAL Trust: Biobands. ...................................................... 6 Table 7. GIS-derived attributes of segments sampled by SEAL Trust: Adjoining land cover. ................................. 6 Table 8. Intertidal macroinvertebrate and macroalgal richness at site (segment) scale and transect scale, referenced to coastal class. .................................................................................................................................................. 7 Table 9. Intertidal macroinvertebrate and macroalgal richness at site (segment) scale and transect scale, referenced to some of the estuarine classes defined by Schoch et al. 2013 for Southeast Alaska. ............................ 8 Table 10. Intertidal macroinvertebrate and macroalgal richness measurements at site (segment) scale and transect scale, referenced to the subregions defined by Schoch et al. 2013 for Southeast Alaska. ........................... 8 Table 11. Frequency of occurrence of each macroinvertebrate taxon among sites surveyed by SEAL Trust and sites surveyed previously by NOAA. ............................................................................................................................... 9 Table 12. Frequency of occurrence of each macroalgal taxon among sites surveyed by SEAL Trust and sites surveyed previously by NOAA. ........................................................................................................................................ 9 Table 13. Macroinvertebrate abundance estimates from quadrats, by shore segment. ........................................... 20 Table 14. Thresholds for determining the ratings assigned to NATAK-SE normalized scores as based on natural breaks (Jenks optimization). ............................................................................................................................... 27 List of Figures Figure 1. Locations (blue triangles) of the 2015 Nearshore Biosurvey and NATAK-SE assessments. .................... 2 Figure 2. Macroinvertebrate and seaweed taxa at the transect scale correlated significantly. ............................... 22 Figure 3. Number of taxa identified by simplified vs. actual NATAK-SE biosurvey protocol. ............................. 24 1 1.0 Introduction This report describes preliminary statistical analyses of three data sets from Southeast Alaska: 1. Biosurvey data (macroinvertebrate and macroalgal species) collected in summer 2015 by from a statistical sample (n=48) of shore segments as delimited by ShoreZone; 2. From the same shore segments, scores from a new rapid protocol (NATAK-SE) that was used to assess seven functions and resources of those segments; 3. Existing spatial data compiled for 88,677 shore segments that comprise the entire shoreline of Southeast Alaska. In addition, the biosurvey data from this 2015 study are compared, as a whole, with similar data collected by the NOAA ShoreZone Program during 2005-2008, which used somewhat different survey methods and came from different locations in the same region. It is hoped that this study's well-documented survey data on seaweeds and intertidal macroinvertebrates will complement the data collected a decade ago by ShoreZone, together providing a baseline for future use in assessing major trends in these resources. These analyses also are intended to provide preliminary insight into possible ecological and geomorphic relationships within intertidal areas and their upland buffers in Southeast Alaska. Such analyses are important for helping inform the refinement of marine resource logic models used by NATAK-SE and other rapid methods. The results can be used for generating and prioritizing research hypotheses that should undergo further testing. Time and funding limited the intensity of both the field sampling and the sophistication of the statistical analyses used to analyze the data collected by this study. Because of this, the results of the data analyses are mainly descriptive; only limited interpretation has been attempted. However, other researchers who may wish to analyze these data are welcome to do so in collaboration with the author ([email protected]). 2.0 Sampling Coverage and Effort of the 2015 Nearshore Biosurveys and NATAK-SE Assessments The sample units were distinct shore segments as delimited by the ShoreZone Program based mainly on differences in sediment type, shore slope, and exposure. The application of a statistical procedure to select this study's 47 shore segments from the population of 88,677 segments that comprise the Southeast Alaska shoreline is described in section 1.2 of the manual that accompanies this appendix. Also, the manual in its section 2.0 describes in detail the biosurvey protocol used in all selected segments. 2 This study's protocol was not optimal for characterizing salt marsh macroinvertebrates and macroalgae. Therefore, one segment that was entirely salt marsh (a portion of the Mendenhall Wetlands in Juneau) was excluded from most of the data analyses, and in segments that had small inclusions of salt marsh, the biosurvey focused on the non-marsh portions. Locations of the biosurvey sites are shown generally in Figure 1. Their approximate coordinates, ShoreZone identifiers (PHYS_IDENT), statistical cluster membership, coastal class, and other attributes related to sampling are shown in Table 1. Figure 1. Locations (blue triangles) of the 2015 Nearshore Biosurvey and NATAK-SE assessments. For a closer view, go online to http://seakgis.alaska.edu/flex/wetlands/ and in the menus click on Wetland/Nearshore Survey Sites > Nearshore (NATAK-SE) Survey Sites. Approximate locations of the ShoreZone Intertidal Survey Stations can also be viewed at that web site. 3 Table 1. Sampling attributes of the 2015 Nearshore Biosurvey Segments. Data on other attributes (e.g., segment length, number of transects per visited segment, transect spacing, width of surveyed zones on each transect, sample date) can be found in a spreadsheet available upon request. Cluster Low Tide Salinity Location ShoreZone ID ID Latitude Longitude Coastal (BC) Class Elevation (ppt) Chichagof 10/02/4771/0 1 57.93028 -134.92262 Ramp with gravel/sand beach, wide -1.10 24 Mitkof 11/02/0520/0 2 56.50882 -132.86958 Gravel beach, narrow -1.00 22 Chichagof 10/02/4764/0 3 57.92020 -134.93101 Rock ramp, narrow 1.08 24 Mitkof 11/02/0360/0 4 56.79501 -132.83229 Ramp w. Gravel beach, narrow -2.30 24 Mitkof 11/02/0376/0 5 56.80145 -132.89693 Rock ramp, wide -0.30 22 Chichagof 10/02/4770/0 6 57.92924 -134.92269 Rock ramp, narrow -2.20 26 Haines 10/04/2713/0 7 59.17835 -135.39405 Sand/gravel flat or fan, wide -1.07 4 Juneau 10/04/0272/0 8 58.63047 -134.94360 Sand/gravel flat or fan, wide -1.85 13 Sitka 10/01/1751/0 9 57.02484 -135.63504 Sand beach, wide -0.30 9 POW 12/08/6123/0 10 55.77407 -132.48176 Platform with gravel/sand beach, wide -1.10 26 Haines 10/02/2709/0 12 59.18970 -135.41101 Gravel beach, narrow -3.00 26 Juneau 10/05/0365/0 13 58.27568 -134.35874 Ramp with gravel/sand beach -1.40 2 POW 11/04/6175/0 14 55.85251 -132.55025 Estuary (Marsh) -2.30 Juneau 10/05/0371/0 15 58.26716 -134.34125 Rock cliff -0.20 25 Haines 10/04/2789/0 16 59.14377