El Capitan

photo banner of different intertidal species

El Capitan is located in the South Coast region of California. This gently sloping site consists of extremely uneven terrain, containing many deep cracks and folds.

overview of research site

El Capitan is dominated by a mixture of boulder fields and sandy beach at this site, and the area surrounding the site is comprised of a mixture of boulder fields and sandy beach at this site. The primary coastal orientation of this site is southwest.

El Capitan was established in 2015 and resampled in 2016 as part of a Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA)Biodiversity Linked Vertical Photoplot (BLVP) and motile invertebrate surveys were done as part of the NRDA.

For more information about El Capitan, please contact Pete Raimondi (raimondi@ucsc.edu).

Last modified: Jul 28, 2025