Sean's+Journal

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Bio project Journals

10/11/08Free Our area is Hanama Bay in Hawaii Kai. Today I went there with Trevin and observed some of the wildlife in the area. We found that there were three general areas that we can easily access and observe. Those are the reef and water area, the beach and the mountainside. First we went to the mountainside and we saw pigeons, maina bird, cats, and mongooses. I saw one of the pigeons with a shiny large purple neck following a smaller grey pigeon around and he was extending his neck while following her. I think that that was related to sexual selection and the pigeon with the shiny neck was doing some sort of mating ritual to attract the smaller female bird. Near the mountainside, we saw that there was a line in the plant life and on one side was greener and the other was dead grass and plants, which was sort of dry looking. My hypothesis about why this is because once the sun gets to a certain spot in the sky, the mountain blocks the sunlight from getting to the plants nearer the mountain and so they are all dead and/or dry. Then we moved on to the beach. The beach area had only pigeons and maina birds, all feeding on the food that people drop or stealing food from their bags. In the water there was a lot of reef and rocks all covered in algae. We saw lots of different fish, sea cucumbers and other wildlife. The fish were all feeding on the algae. Because of all these different areas that there are to study, I think that Hanama Bay would be a great place to study for our Biology project.

10/19/08assigned Today I went with Trevin and Devin to Hanama bay so that we could get a better look at the animals that live there. Because we were limited to two hours, and we didn’t spend too much time on one animal, we couldn’t get enough information to be precise but we did get lots of observations. First we walked near the mountainside to observe. The first thing we saw was a few mongooses. The mongooses have a large niche. I’ve heard that they prey on birds, but I also saw them digging in the ground today and when I got a closer look, I found that they were digging into a nest of cockroaches so they also eat insects and have no predators in Hawaii as far as I know. We also noticed that they were all brown and camouflaged really well with the environment and we thought about why they were brown and if this was the product of natural selection, but did not see any animals that prey on mongooses. The birds also have a large niche. They eat bugs and food that was dropped by people or they just steal the food out of unattended bags. Something that I wonder is if there would be a lot less if humans weren’t here to feed them. Their predators are cats and mongooses. In the water, we saw a lot of fish that feed on algae. There are a lot of algae, enough for all the fish, so there doesn’t seem to be much competition. The fish were usually always alone except for a few of the same species that were in a group.

2nd assigned journal There are many types of symbiosis in the Hanauma Bay Beach park. One of the symbiosis I observed was the relationship between the sea urchins and the coral. This relationship is a mutualism because both of the organisms benefit. The sea urchins crawl in the coral when they are young and live most of their lives there and the coral grows around the sea urchin. From this, the coral is providing the sea urchin with shelter and the sea urchin is giving the coral some protection because if larger animals like humans step on the coral, they might step on the sea urchins and get hurt. Because of this, larger animals are less likely to step on and harm the coral. Another symbiosis I observed was between the coral and fish. This is a commensalism because they fish live in the coral, which does not harm or help the coral, but the fish get shelter so only one organism benefits and the other does not get or lose anything.

2nd Free journal entry. I went swimming in the ocean and i saw a lot of aquatic life. I saw sea cucumbers all on the ground and sea urchins inside the coral. Most of the ones i saw were the same color or the close to the same color as the sand and the coral. I went looking for some fish, but could only find a few. The fish were all found near large chunks of coral and there was barely any fish out in the open. I also noticed that the fish were usually dark or close to the same color as their surroundings with only a few small details such as a small patch of a brighter color. I also found that there were small holes and caves and such in the coral that could be used as shelter and the fish were usually all in there. If I were to get too close to a fish, it would swim away and hide in the coral to escape danger.

3rd Free journaling: Today I spent quite a while at Hanauma bay. I went on land first and saw the animals there. Today I went kind of early and I saw that there were just as many pigeons and mongooses around as last time. First I noticed all the pigeons walking around everywhere and eating bits of fallen crumbs and other foods from all the people there. From that, I infer that the pigeons mainly hang around all the people so that they could get fed, but would the pigeons survive if people weren’t here to drop food or feed them? I think that if they weren’t, then lots of the pigeons might die out and only the toughest ones would survive. I also noticed that the mongooses would usually only travel in the bushes and they would sometimes lunge out at birds. I think that they travel in the bushes to not be seen by the birds in order to sneak up on them. The mongooses are also usually brown and I think that this is because of natural selection. The brown ones camouflage better and are less likely to be seen by their prey so they get more food and reproduce more. I then went in the water to see what i could find. I swam around for about half an hour and made a bunch of observations. Today I focused mainly on how many fish were in different areas in the water. I found that there were barely any fish swimming in the areas where there was mostly sand on the seafloor. I also found that there was more fish near the areas where there was not as many people like on the far side of the beach where not many people go. The fish near all the people, however seemed to be a lot larger than the fish where there was not as many people. I think this is because once they are large, they do not feel like they have a lot of predators so they go where there are people. I also found that there was more fish near large rocks and coral. From these observations and inferences, I can come up with 3 hypotheses. Hypothesis #1: If there are more people in an area in the water, the fish in that area will be larger than the fish that are in the water where there are not many people.Hypothesis #2: If the sea floor has lots of rocks or coral, There will be more fish in the area than if the sea floor has mostly sand.Hypothesis #3:

Assigned Journal #3

There are many different types of diversity in the wildlife at hanauma bay and they all survive quite well. Each of the animals is specially designed to acquire food in their niches. This means that animals are pressured to be good at getting food. The mongooses, for example, need to be quiet, quick, and stealthy to get their food, which are the birds and bird eggs. The mongooses are all brown to camouflage with their environment and be able to hide in the shadows. They are pressured to be this way and so I think that they have adapted to be brown. Many other animals are also pressured to be a certain color in order to camouflage better in their environment so that they could be not seen as well by predators and prey. For example the sea cucumber, which is brown and slightly hard to the touch. When I came across one while swimming, I thought it was a normal rock or coral until I saw it move a little bit, which is when I knew what it really was. There are also lots of fish that are colored to better disguised. Some of the fish are black or brown to camouflage with the reef; some are blue or white to camouflage with the water or sunlight when seen above. Even a turtle is brown on the top and lighter on the bottom so that when seen from above, looks like coral or rocks and when seen from below might blend in with the sunlight.

Free Journaling #4 Today I went to Hanauma Bay again with Trevin. First I went into the water to make some observations. I decided to test my hypothesis. If the sea floor has lots of rocks or coral, There will be more fish in the area than if the sea floor has mostly sand. To do this, I swam around in an area with mostly sand and an area with mostly rocks and an area with larger coral in it for 5 minutes in each area. I timed myself with a waterproof watch to make sure I swam around for 5 minutes each. During each 5 minutes, I counted how many fish I saw in the 5 minutes. Here are my results: Large Coral Structures: 59 fish Rocky sea floor: 24 fish(and an octopus) Sandy Sea Floor: 11 fish I then took a break on the shore and decided to do the experiment again in a different part of Hanauma bay These are my second results: Large Coral Structures: 67 fish Rocky sea floor: 30 fish Sandy Sea Floor: 24 fish( there was a large school of about 15 fish) As you can see, these are very similar to my previous observations. The large coral structures had the most fish because there is a lot of shelter, the rocky sea floor had the second most amount of fish because there was algae growing on the rock, which the fish eat and the sandy sea floor had the least amount of fish because there was barely any food or shelter for the fish. From this, I can conclude that my hypothesis was correct. If there is large coral structures or rocky areas on the sea floor, there will be more fish. Assigned Journal entry #4 the carbon cycle is present everywhere on the planet, including Hanauma bay. The animal life such as fish, tourists, sea urchins, pigeons, and mongooses all inhale oxygen and exhale Co2. The plants take in Co2 and emit oxygen. Carbon is also passed in and out of the water and there is carbon underneath sand and the earth under hanauma bay.