Day+4

=__**Journal Entry #4**__ =  Today I went on my own to conduct my experiment. It was still cloudy today and the tide is medium. It was chilly out when I first got there, though it's suppose to be 80º (according to the thermometer) and there is a slight wind. I came at around 10:30 a.m. because I wanted to go out a few times in one trip and the earlier I got there, the better (plus I had just got up at around 9:15). Because of unfathomable reasons (ahem), I had left my camera at home so this part of the experiment doesn't have pictures. I'll have to take you through this step by step. For this experiment I went out three different times to take fish counts (though not necessarily all "fish") around different coral formations in the bay. I decided to go with this chosen question: //How does different/various coral formations affect the amount of fish in the surrounding area?// because it didn't require building formations or testing with "human interference". So, to start the experiment I went out and recorded different formations of coral and recorded them in ways I would remember. Some of these (as listed below) are named for their look, such as Large C-shaped coral or the "doughnut" coral which is basically coral with a deep hole in the middle. Each time I went out I would attempt to remember what species of marine life I recorded, but I stayed to the basics due to a shady memory. This basically meant I would return to record data every few minutes for at least half an hour per overall fish count (one took an hour). I basically went back and forth around twenty to thirty times per fish count and waited about an hour before testing again. For example, I first test at 11 a.m. and finished the first count at 11:45. I then waited until around 12:30 - 12:45 to take another fish count which ended at 1:20. At 2:00 I took a third test. Here's my results overall and graphs displaying the results (averages included but rounded up).
 * Observations:**

So here we have all the various places where certain marine life were seen. As shown, places with certain properties attracted certain life. For instance, I rarely spotted a parrotfish in most of my places. This is most likely because the size of a parrotfish limits it to where it can inhabit. The only places I ever found it on the first count were in the "Doughnut" coral and the "Large C" coral. This is most likely because it provides some shelter along with open space for the fish to swim around. The highest count on this chart goes to the sea urchins. In a way, I almost regret counting the sea urchins because they are so numerous in areas where there may not necessarily be other sea life. But, they stood out in areas such as "Holes in the Wall" and "Large C". I think this shows some insight to where sea urchins might reside because holes obviously give them protection while the an open C might give them space to catch prey. But sea urchins are still abundant in many different areas. This count was taken at 11:00 a.m. and the water 15 feet out was 77.5º F while the air was 82.8º F.
 * Results:**

Overall Amount of Marine Life for Fish Count 1: 115 24 in "Doughnut" 16 in "Large C" 21 in "Holes in the Wall" 18 in "Sheltered" 9 in "Shallow Ditches" 12 in "Open Terrain" 15 in "Outer Shell"

When looking into this data, I was checking to see which area (coral formation) contained more fish simply by their shape. There may have been other variables in this experiment, but I basically chose areas that were either common or contrasting. For instance, the "Doughnut" coral and "Sheltered" coral were what I assumed to be the most protective coral formations. The "Shallow Ditches" and "Open Terrain" were the least. But as this first data shows, there isn't necessarily a large gap between "Open Terrain" and "Sheltered", most likely because not too many fish could fit in the protected area of "Sheltered" coral formations. Once again, sea urchins may have also thrown off the data in this part due mainly to their abundancy, but in my opinion they still count as sea life.

So this is for my second fish count around 12:35 p.m. Water 15 feet out was 78.3º F and air temperature was 83.1º F. As before, the sea urchins dominate as the highest counted. Some things different with this chart however would be the change in the highest number (9 now instead of originally 11) and the change in where certain fish were found. Before I had mentioned that the parrotfish were only found in "Doughnut" and "Large C" formations, but now you can see they are found in "Holes in the Wall" and "Sheltered". Though only one of the species were counted in the area, the parrotfish were not limited to simply two formations this time (perhaps because they were eating in the open areas?). A lot of the "other" species were not found in this fish count (other species relate to not listed such as eels, starfish, crabs, cornet fish, and lobsters) perhaps due to when I encountered that certain area? Either way, most "other" species were found in the "Sheltered" formation this count, which leads me to believe that they prefer protection (most of my other species are small and therefore need protection).

Overall Amount of Marine Life for Fish Count 2: 97 19 in "Doughnut" 16 in "Large C" 19 in "Holes in the Wall" 17 in "Sheltered" 12 in "Shallow Ditches" 5 in "Open Terrain" 9 in "Outer Shell"

When looking at this data, I noticed that the numbers had changed. In the first fish count, there were a lot more marine life than in this count. Could what Christine had said been true? As before, I looked mainly at the "Doughnut", "Sheltered", "Shallow Ditches" and "Open Terrain" to compare and contrast. Also as before, "Doughnut" seems to have the most marine life. Surprisingly, "Open Terrain" was practically bare this time, and "Shallow Ditches" counted for more than twice "Open Terrain". I still believe that sea urchins have something to do with the advantage, but "Doughnut" formations are still winning. This could be because the formation allows sunlight in but keeps most of the creatures safe from larger prey. It's also harder for humans to enter the doughnut shape, so less human interference could help the marine life prosper. In the case of "Open Terrain" however, I believe that without shelter fish panic. So the first fish count may have simply been a fluke, for this one revealed much less fish swimming in open waters. We'll have to look at the third count and averages to find some consensus.

This was my final fish count around 2:00. The temperature of the water 15 feet out was 79.2º F by now and the air temperature was 84º F. This is most likely due to the afternoon rays. The numbers in this chart haven't really lowered and most of the factors remained the same. First off, sea urchins have shown to reign supreme in these trials, most likely due to their need of shelter. Again they stand out most in "Holes in the Wall" and "Large C". Parrotfish also stand out in "Doughnut" and "Large C", but that isn't uncommon among other species. The most found for "Doughnut" formations in this count were pufferfish, most likely due to their small size (only get larger in desperate measures). Overall, the chart seems smaller, but there isn't much difference from the last fish count. It is a possibility that the fish don't really come out more in the morning, though the data shows a small decrease. Personally, with all the variables (chances of counting fish twice) I think that this was merely coincidence and doesn't affect any of Christine's data.

Overall Amount of Marine Life in Fish Count 3: 95 18 in "Doughnut" 12 in "Large C" 19 in "Holes in the Wall" 17 in "Sheltered" 11 in "Shallow Ditches" 8 in "Open Terrain" 10 in "Outer Shell"

As before, the formations looked upon are crucial. First off, "Doughnut" formation is highest of "Sheltered", "Open Terrain", and "Shallow Ditches" although "Holes in the Wall" won overall (I believe this is because of the sea urchins). "Sheltered" actually does account for more life than in "Shallow Ditches" and "Open Terrain", most likely because of the protection. "Shallow Ditches" tallies more fish than "Open Terrain", most likely because it has some small rocks for shelter versus open terrain is composed of simply sand and small coral. Overall this fish count resulted fairly similarly to fish count 2 and this shows more insight into what exactly resides where.

Since the chart for this data displays the decimals of these numbers, I thought it too confusing to display. For one, this seems more accurate versus 0.66 of a fish. Secondly, this display seems easier to understand. This time I'll give the overall numbers and then explain it in a final wrap up.

Overall Amount of Marine Life in Averages: 105 21 in "Doughnut" 16 in "Large C" 20 in "Holes in the Wall" 18 in "Sheltered" 11 in "Shallow Ditches" 9 in "Open Terrain" 10 in "Outer Shell"

So overall I can conclude that there are, in fact, more marine life found in protective areas. "Doughnut", "Large C", "Holes in the Wall", and "Sheltered are all formations with some kind of protection for those that inhabit that area. "Shallow Ditches", "Open Terrain", and "Outer Shell" are lacking in protection and therefore I assumed they would have the least marine life. According to the data above, the "Doughnut" formation was the most effective in attracting marine life while the top four were in fact my marked protective areas. Although I had originally predicted "Sheltered" to be the most effective, I now can inference that "Doughnut" is most effective due to the fact it allows sunlight in and provides more room for fish. The bottom three were what I had marked areas with low protection. In fact, I was correct in assume "Open Terrain" would have the lowest marine life due solely to the fact that fish need protection and "Open Terrain" doesn't provide enough. The conclusion? Fish need protection and will certainly live in areas with the most benefits. Judging by this data, fish prefer areas with lots of food and space as well as protection. A fish's life depends on its survival, so the "Doughnut" formation seems the most favored place. Obviously in the experiment there are variables such as temperature, distance from shore, time, day and much more, but seeing as all these experiments were conducted the same way, it would only seem reasonable that they were treated equally. This data can also be used to look into which fish was most likely to live in a certain area. The fish I focused on above was the parrotfish. This is because the parrotfish aren't really seen too much. Because of their size, I thought for sure that they wouldn't worry about living in the open waters. Surprisingly, they actually live closer to safer zones, most likely because there is more food in that area than, say, "Open Terrain". Sea urchins were also of interest due to their large number. It would seem reasonable for them to live in safe areas due mainly to the protection they need for their lower side. Still, I did find some "traveling" sea urchins in open terrain that may have been moving to a safer area or simply fell from their original spot. Not all this data can be used efficiently because I went out in a single day in a matter of three to four hours. If you wanted to document how a certain species lived and where, you'd have to conduct a whole different experiment. It might be interesting finding out some of those facts though.
 * Conclusion:**

In Hanauma Bay there is your typical/basic carbon cycle. First off, most animals living/visiting the bay give off carbon dioxide through cellular respiration (humans, fish, birds, plants). The animals found in the water take in oxygen through the water and give off carbon dioxide into the water. Plants always respire at a constant rate, but undergo photosynthesis when it's sunny. This takes in carbon dioxide therefore a small cycle is formed. When the plants or animals die, their bodies are decomposed and the decomposers give off carbon dioxide. The waste product is also a form of carbon. All the trash produced by humans at the bay eventually becomes carbon dioxide if the trash is burned for electricity.
 * Carbon Cycle:**

Missed the original Journal? Go here:          Day 1 <span style="color: rgb(32, 151, 48);">  <span style="color: rgb(224, 0, 0);">Missed Journal 2? Go here: Day 2 <span style="color: rgb(20, 45, 223);">Missed Journal 3? Go here: Day 3