Early on the mornings of 23 and 24 June 2017, members of the Coastal Stewardship Task Force of The Sea Ranch assisted biologists from UC Santa Cruz as they surveyed intertidal life along our coast. The annual survey provides the scientists with data they can use to track changes in animal and plant populations along the Pacific Coast of North America. Recent precipitous declines in the population of several species of sea stars have led to a dramatic increase in numbers of purple sea urchins, a common prey species of sea stars. The population explosion of urchins has, in turn, scrubbed the rocky nearshore reefs and coves of nearly all plant life.
The survey will help answer the question of whether or not the star populations are recovering and if that is changing the urchin population levels.
Of course, many other species are also counted and recorded. Those data will help reveal future shifts in population ranges due to global climate change or smaller scale regional changes or disasters such as oil spills.