A Comparison of Multiple Biological Metrics Between the Point Caution Research Reserve and Neighboring Public Access Sites
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A comparison of multiple biological metrics between the Point Caution research reserve and neighboring public access sites Marine Conservation Biology (Biol 533) Friday Harbor Laboratories Summer Term B 2004 Students: Sofia Copello Nichole Dean Kirsten Evans Adriana Paulina Guarderas Lisa Haderlie Jamie Northern Ray Outlaw Mariela Pajuelo Sofia Ribeiro Chelsie Papiez Heidi Weiskel Instructors: Terrie Klinger Marjorie Wonham Carrie Kappel Key Words: Point Caution, marine reserve, intertidal, larval, human use 1 Abstract We investigated differences between a marine regulatory research reserve and five public access areas on San Juan Island in Washington State, USA. In the Point Caution research reserve, human visitation is largely restricted to the scientific research community. We hypothesized that the research reserve would have a different human use profile compared to public access areas, which would be reflected in the present and historical diversity and abundance of benthic intertidal species, incidence of three non-native species, and bird use. We measured each of these variables, and additionally sampled larval settlement to determine whether there were differences in larval supply between sites. Results indicate that human abundance was significantly lower at Point Caution, and the number of boats significantly higher. Point Caution had the highest species richness of all sites, and significantly higher abundances of two non-native species. We found no significant relationship between the abundance and frequency of focal intertidal taxa and human abundance, and overall there were strong similarities among all locations in intertidal community composition. We found no significant differences in bird abundance or activity among locations. Point Caution had the highest abundance but lowest taxonomic richness of newly- settled larvae. Beyond these immediate comparisons, this study establishes a baseline for determination of trends in the natural variation in abundance and distribution of species and assemblages in the six sites studied. 2 Introduction Marine protected areas (MPAs) are a management tool commonly used with the intent of increasing the diversity and abundance of marine organisms not only within the protected area but also the surrounding region. Reserves are thought to provide corollary benefits such as enhancing resilience and stability within ecosystems. Not only is it a good management practice to monitor and evaluate the impacts of a management tool such as MPAs over time, but the results of such monitoring often are critical in generating the political will to establish additional MPAs in other places. MPAs can lead to significant increases in the abundance and size of economically desirable fish and invertebrate species within the reserve, and under appropriate conditions can yield a spillover effect for mobile juvenile and adult animals. The degree to which MPAs might replenish populations at local and regional scales through larval dispersal is currently an active area of research. The impacts of protection on intertidal communities are less well studied Our study focuses on the effects of protection at Point Caution on San Juan Island in Washington State, USA. We used an observational approach to investigate the impacts of protection by comparing various ecological parameters at Point Caution and five public access areas along the San Juan Channel. We hypothesized that the research reserve would have a different human use profile than the public access sites, and that this different would be reflected in the diversity and abundance of intertidal marine organisms and birds. We also quantified larval delivery to these areas to test for differences in the supply of larvae between sites. Materials and Methods Study locations and site selection Surveys were conducted in July and August 2004 in the San Juan Archipelago on San Juan, Lopez, and Shaw Islands. The San Juan Archipelago is located at the southern end of the Strait of Georgia, northeast of Juan de Fuca 3 Strait, and north of Puget Sound proper (Figure 1, after Thomson 1981; Klinger and Ebbesmeyer 2001). We compared features of the research reserve established by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife at Point Caution on San Juan Island with five nearby public access areas (Figure 1). The Point Caution reserve is a 484-acre terrestrial biological preserve with approximately 7.7 km of rocky shoreline habitat. The site has been owned by the University of Washington for about a century. The university’s Friday Harbor Marine Laboratories are located within the reserve. Although it is state property, access to the terrestrial portion of the reserve is restricted to laboratory personnel and authorized visitors. This policy and the heavily forested, rocky and often precipitous shoreline effectively restrict human access to much of the shoreline portion of the reserve. These protections were strengthened in 1990 by the designation the intertidal and nearshore waters as a marine research reserve, jointly managed by the University of Washington and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. Biological resources within the research reserve are protected under WDFW’s regulatory authority. Although regulatory protections are rarely enforced, compliance with the regulatory protections appears to be fairly high. Prohibited activities include removal of non- commercial species, including bottomfish and shellfish. The reserve is inaccessible to the general public by land, but is used regularly by researchers and students. The public access areas all are accessible by car and foot. They receive variable amounts of visitation by residents, tourists, school groups, and researchers, and have few, if any, prohibited activities comparable to those of the research reserve. Three of the areas we studied are on San Juan Island: Reuben Tarte, the northernmost site, is a county park; Cattle Point, the southernmost site, is an interpretive area within a National Historical Park; and Third Lagoon, near Cattle Point, is a state recreation area (Table 1, Figures 1-2). We also sampled at Shaw Island County Park on the southern shore of Shaw Island, and at Shark Reef Recreation Area on the western shore of Lopez Island (Figures 1-2). For 4 consistency and comparability, all locations were located within San Juan Channel and all contained rocky intertidal reefs, but sites differed in shoreline length and proximity to harbors and marinas. We sampled diversity and abundance of benthic intertidal species, abundance of three non-native species, abundance and diversity of settled larvae, and abundance and activities of birds and humans at each location. Additionally, we made comparisons with historical intertidal data. In all cases, we refer to the research reserve and each public access area as a location, and to sampling areas within locations as sites. Three of the six locations (Pt. Caution, Reuben Tarte, and Cattle Point) contained areas of both high and low nearshore current flow (subjectively determined by observation of maximum tidal flow), so site selection in these locations was stratified by flow. In all cases, sites were randomly located within location and flow areas (Figures 1-2). Human Use We estimated human use at each location on Saturday, August 14, 2004 (Figure 2). At 15-minute intervals from 11 am to 2 pm during an incoming tide (low of -0.3 m at 10:40 am), we noted the number of people and dogs and their apparent activities on the intertidal bedrock and adjacent beach. We also counted the number of motorized (including sailboats under power) and non-motorized vessels within 100 m of the shore. We did not include ourselves in our counts. We counted all individuals (other than ourselves) within the sampling area at each sampling interval, whether present in the previous count or not. The sampling design is shown in Figure 3. Each observer marked the area observed on a magnified aerial photo (Washington State Department of Ecology <http://apps.ecy.wa.gov/shorephotos>). We transferred these marks to GIS shoreline and DOQ (digital orthophoto quadrangles, or computer-generated images of aerial photos courtesy of USGS and available at <http://terraserver.homeadvisor.msn.com>) and estimated the total linear 5 shoreline distance surveyed using the ‘measure’ function in ArcGIS MapView v8.3 (ESRI, 2004 ArcGIS 9.0) at 1:2000 resolution (Table 2). Intertidal diversity and abundance At each site, we positioned five transects perpendicular to shore at randomly determined positions along a 6-m long tape positioned parallel to shore at the top of the barnacle zone. Our transects extended to the bottom of the Fucus gardneri zone, ending where Ulva spp. and other mid- to lower-tidal algae began to dominate. Along each transect, we sampled five 25 x 25 cm square quadrats at randomly determined positions. At each site we sampled five quadrats along each of five transects for a total of 25 quadrats. The sampling design is shown in Figure 4. Within each quadrat, we estimated percent cover of Fucus and three common species of barnacle, Balanus glandula, Chthamalus dalli, and Semibalanus cariosus. Additionally, we counted five limpet species, Lottia digitalis, L. pelta, L. paradigitalis (= L. strigatella), Tectura scutum, and Onchidella borealis. We recorded the presence of all other observed macroscopic algae and invertebrates to the lowest taxonomic level possible in each quadrat. All sampling was performed in a single tide series, July 29-August 3, 2004 (Table 3).