The Santa Barbara Coastal LTER (SBC) is an interdisciplinary research and education program established in April, 2000 to investigate the role of land and ocean processes in structuring ecosystems at the land-sea margin. The main study area is the Santa Barbara Channel and the steep coastal watersheds, small estuaries and sandy beaches that drain into it. The focal ecosystem of the research is giant kelp forests, a diverse and highly productive marine ecosystem that occurs on shallow rocky reefs at the interface of the land-sea margin in the Santa Barbara Channel and other temperate regions throughout the world. The major emphasis of this project is developing a predictive understanding of the structural and functional responses of giant kelp forest ecosystems to environmental forcing from the land and the sea. The amount of nutrients and organic matter delivered to the kelp forest from land and the surrounding ocean varies in response to changes in climate, ocean conditions and land use. Variation in the supply of these commodities interacts with physical disturbance to influence the abundance and species composition of kelp forest inhabitants and the ecological services that they provide. The overarching question motivating this research is: How are the structure and function of kelp forests and their material exchange with adjacent land and ocean ecosystems altered by disturbance and climate?
To address this question LTER researchers will focus on three themes: (1) biotic and abiotic drivers of kelp forest structure and function, (2) material exchange at the land-ocean margin, and (3) movement and fluxes of inorganic and organic matter in the coastal ocean. The relevance of this research is far reaching as LTER scientists are addressing fundamental questions pertaining to biodiversity and ecosystem function, vulnerability and resilience of communities to climate change and fishing, the roles of land use and fire on landscape change and watershed hydrology, and the physics of dispersal in the little studied coastal waters of the inner continental shelf. The dynamic nature of kelp forests, including their frequent disturbance and rapid regeneration coupled with high productivity and diverse food webs make them ideal systems for investigating ecological questions that require decades to centuries to address in other ecosystems. This project will utilize a variety of approaches including: (1) coordinated long-term measurements, (2) manipulative field experiments, (3) measurement-intensive process studies, and (4) integrated synthetic analyses and modeling that allow for predictions beyond the spatial and temporal scope of our measurements, and help guide future research. SBC's information management system, which focuses on data organization, integrity, preservation and web-based public access geared for a variety of end users will facilitate these efforts.
Broader Impacts: Education and training are tightly integrated into all aspects of this research. LTER personnel have successfully developed a multifaceted, interdisciplinary approach to education and outreach that highlights research interests of SBC investigators, students, and the general public. Programs include active links with K-12 students and teachers that target historically under-represented groups from under serving, low-achieving schools. The LTER participants are also very proactive in undergraduate and graduate student training, direct public outreach, and productive interactions with the media, government agencies and local industries. The LTER will continue these outreach and education programs and maintain efforts to attract additional funding to support them. The LTER is committed to sharing research results with resource managers, decision makers, stakeholders, and the general public who are interested in applying our findings to policy issues concerning natural resources, coastal management, and land use.
