Available at: https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/theses/2986
Date of Award
6-2025
Degree Name
MS in Biological Sciences
Department/Program
Biological Sciences
College
College of Science and Mathematics
Advisor
Benjamin Ruttenberg
Advisor Department
Biological Sciences
Advisor College
College of Science and Mathematics
Abstract
Habitat is an important driver in shaping the distribution of a range of species. For demersal fish species, benthic habitat characteristics can drive distribution and community structure. Understanding the relationship between habitat and species distribution in important, especially for exploited species such as rockfishes (Sebastes spp.). Increased data on the relationship between rockfish and benthic habitat characteristics could enhance marine protected areas (MPAs) and management practices which are used to protect rockfishes along the U.S. West Coast. To address this, we used hook-and-line, catch-and-release data that were collected inside two MPAs on the central coast of California, and two nearby reference sites that are open to fishing. We overlayed this catch data onto seafloor habitat data from the Seafloor Mapping Lab at California State University, Monterey Bay to create species distribution models for Vermilion (Sebastes miniatus), Copper (S. caurinus) and Olive Rockfish (S. serranoides). We found bathymetry and site to be an important predictor for Vermilion, Copper, and Olive rockfish, and substrate to be important for Copper and Olive rockfish. Bathymetry was also a spatially varying coefficient for Vermilion and Copper rockfish, while substrate was spatially varying for Olive rockfish. Understanding these habitat preferences for nearshore groundfishes could allow scientists to better predict species assemblages, understand how habitat influences species distribution and better design MPAs to manage species and conserve marine resources.