Camilles+Journal

Visit # 1 Free Journaling Description of Area I am at Diamond Head tide pools, west of lighthouse surf break. The end of the old highway that used to go around the tip of Diamond Head I am at the end of the road the rest has eroded. An ancient lava flow runs into the ocean. The lava rock that’s on the beach is covered partially with white sand as well as chunks of washed up coral and other rocks. It runs up to the Cliffside. Between the sand and the cliff is the old highway. Embedded in the cliffs are Keawe trees. There is approximately 50 feet between the road and the shoreline at low tide. After the old highway there is about 10 feet of sandy area that runs into the lava flow, which then meets the ocean creating the tide pools. At this time of day it is still low tide turning into high tide and about 15 of the tide pools are exposed. Why This Site Is Good to Study This is a good place to study because not only is it convenient, but it is near an area teeming with diverse life. Also there is a combination of land and ocean organisms. I think the ocean is such a great thing to study it is so vast and full of so many organisms and eco-systems we don’t even know about. There’s a passage in the bible that goes; “There is the sea, vast and spacious, teeming with creatures beyond number-living things both large and small. (Psalm 104:24-25)” I think this is fascinating, it sounds like the ocean is the new frontier, an undiscovered zone like space. I want to be a marine biologist when I grow up, well I’m considering it, so to be able to study and learn about the ocean in a project is a good experience for me. Due to the tides these animals are stuck in little pools making them readily observable, like a small ocean fish tank. This site is interesting because of the mix of terrain, lava flow and coral sediment; creating a diverse surface area where I believe I will encounter a diverse population of species. Also, most people aren’t completely aware of this area and so it is fairly undisturbed and while not altogether untouched it doesn’t fair as much traffic as say the beaches in Waikiki. Assigned Journaling Describe the niches of a variety of organisms in your eco-system: Crabs: a bottom feeder, the crabs eat the debris left behind he is a scavenger. Sort of like a vacuum at the bottom the tide pool Hermit crabs: they are plentiful because of their excellent defense against predators, their shells. Hermit crabs are the only crabs without a fully developed exoskeleton and that is why they must seek shells to cover their vulnerable abdomens. Opihi/Limpets: They suction themselves to rocks and seem to survive at low tide without water until the tide rises, which could be many hours. Fish: Washed in from the ocean to live in the tide pools temporarily until the tide rises and they are pulled back out to sea. During the time they are in the tide pools they survive off of the plentiful algae clinging to the rocks. Sandpipers (Birds): Observed eating out of the tide pools, and sticking their long beaks into the sand and retrieving small white sand crabs. Sea Cucumbers: An echinoderm that gets washed into the tide pools and clings to the crevices between rocks and eats plankton. Algae: They absorb the carbon dioxide that other creatures such as fish, birds and hermit crabs give off and they photosynthesize to produce oxygen as part of the carbon cycle. As well as being a food source for many animals living in the tide pools, algae provide a protective hiding place for fish to hide from predators. Visit 2 Free Journal 2 Observation, ask question. Roles; All. Questions about Animals: What happens when the tide goes out and there are still organisms within the tide pools without water? Are there species in the tide pools that can live on land as well as in the ocean? Do the birds eat the animals in the tide pools? How many types of birds inhabit this eco system? How large can the fish be before they cannot survive in a tide pool? Are there birds in this eco system that can drink salt water? Are there birds anywhere who get their water supply from the ocean? Do the waves ever crush the organisms in the tide pools against the rocks? Questions about Plants: Why are their so many different species of algae? Can the red and brown algae photosynthesize? Is coral considered a plant or an animal? Are there some plants that are poisonous for the fish to eat? How does seaweed spread? Animals? Spores? Waves? Assigned Journal Entry #2 Describe a community interaction that you see evidence of (either direct or indirect). An example of a predator prey relationship I observed was the sand piper birds fishing in the tide pools using their long beaks to snap up small organisms including crabs, fish and algae. I also observed these birds reaching into the sand with their beaks trying to catch sand crabs. I am assuming they were searching for sand crabs because only when the birds were gone did I ever see any sand crabs tunneling up out of the sand. An example of a relationship that is mutual would be the vana hiding in pockets of coral. The vana benefits from this relationship because it has a place to hide, live and be protected within the coral and the coral benefits because the vana acts as a sort of bodyguard in keeping other organisms away from the areas in the coral that it inhabits. Since vana is sharp and poisonous most organisms are smart enough to stay away from it. An example of competition in the tide pools is for the algae. Crabs, fish and birds all eat algae. Luckily there seems to be plenty of it to go around and I wouldn’t worry about any of the fish, crabs or birds starving any time soon. Visit 3 Free Journal 3 Upon return I found that many of the same species inhabited the same areas of the tide pools that they had on my previous visit. I found tide pools with exoskeletons of crabs, and other shells causing me to wonder if the animals came to this place to molt their outer “layers” or shells or if they simply washed up here. Also, I wondered what the organisms did after they shed, did they go into hiding to avoid predators in their vulnerable state, or did they have some other form of protection which allowed them to walk or swim freely through the tide pools? Birds combed the beach in groups, probably searching for sand crabs. Instead of combing the sand with their beaks like I had seen the sand piper do at a previous visit, these birds seemed to crouch near the sand and scan it with their eyes in search of their prey, as if they were meaning to trap ad surprise it rather than aimlessly peck through the sand in hopes of snatching something up. I discovered an awesome looking algae today, it looked like small yellow bluebells attached to the rocks. There were not many of this species but you would find it here and there closest to the ocean in patches usually surrounded by some type of brown algae. What I thought was some strange pink algae, I now see is coral, there is not much of it but it looks like something out of a Dr. Seuss book, it is tall with a martini glass looking top. On a previous visit I found a group of green bulbs attached together by a stem, I thought these were fish eggs at first and then concluded they were most likely some type of seaweed since they were on a stem and attached to the rock. Today I popped one and water squirted out, I think this is the plants way of retaining water when it is low tide and the seaweed is not submerged in water. I hypothesize that if I popped all or most of the bulbs of a seaweed plant at low tide it would then die because it would have no way of retaining water and would not be able to survive exposed in the sun. I hypothesize that if I observe areas of the tide pools closer to the ocean I will find a more diverse population of species because the more submerged some organisms are in water, the more they are able to thrive and grow because they are less susceptible to drying o Assigned journal Entry #3 I observed some species of fish and crab that had evolved to camouflage themselves into their surroundings making them less susceptible to prey. The organisms that I observed seem more likely to be able to survive then organisms without this camouflage. Organisms that are more likely to survive in the tide pools are those that can handle surviving outside of water at low tide or are able to retain water at low tide. To be able to survive in the area of the tide pools closer to the ocean organisms should be able to withstand the pressure and disturbance of the crashing waves. Like Darwin observed the shaped beaks of the finches in the Galapagos Islands while developing his theory of natural selection, I also observed the birds in this ecosystem had beaks specifically shaped for their prey in this area. (Yes I just compared myself to Darwin). The sandpiper for example had a beak that was long enough for them to reach into the sand and capture their retreating victims.

Visit 4 Free Journal 4 I observed five sea cucumbers ranging from five to seven inches long and all about two inches wide. One sea cucumber seemed to be dead and rotting with what seemed to be green algae growing or accumulating on part of it. It was not clinging to any rocks and it looked paler then the others. The other sea cucumbers were a rich green color often with a layer of sand covering their bodies. In a tide pool approximately six feet wide with a direct flow of water to the ocean I observed a group or school of whitish yellow eel like fish. Their body’s seemed to move in an eel like way, each fish contorting their bodies into s forms. The fish were about 8-10 inches in length and 1 inch at the widest middle part of the body, which tapered off evenly on either ends of the fish. They moved fast and in unison. I observed non-swimming polyps of the phylum cnidarians (sea anenomies). I found highly populated areas of them hiding in coral caverns. The experiment I conducted entailed making observations of three one square meter areas in three different zones of the tide pool eco-system. The purpose: In what zone of the tide pool area is life most abundant and diverse? The first area was the farthest from the ocean at approximately 30 feet from where the tide pools came into the ocean. Dry rock with a little sand covered most of the surface area in this zone. Water was trapped in small crevices and was only 2 inches at there deepest. I observed 15 clam shaped mollusks located in a waterless crevices. They seemed alive and were around 2cm in length. Two other clusters were found in this section each having approximately 20 creatures per cluster. They were blackish grey in color. They were smooth and hard. The clam shaped shell seemed to be well sealed. Found in water pockets were opihi/limpits from ½ cm to penny sized. In the meter squared area approximately 75 living opihi were counted. They were camouflaged mostly black like the lava rock and had some white and grey. They were not easily displaced. The second area was 15 feet from the drop off. The surface was mainly lava with some sitty to sandy surface area. Mostly brown algae and barnacles were observed. Pink coral growth was found on some of the rock submerged under water. Tide pools covered large areas of this zone. In the meter squared area I observed pockets of water ranging from six inches to a foot deep. Two sandpipers seemed to be looking for prey in this zone. Green and brown algae were found. Three different kinds of crabs were counted. A flat gray crab about two inches wide looked like a rock, evidence of a red crab inhabiting the area that had shed its exoskeleton. Hermit crabs came in as many different shells as they could find. Approximately 15 crabs were found in this area. The third area included the zone that had waves first breaking onto the ledge then the waves poured across this surface area. Many different shades of algae were found here. A larger amount of the observed fish was found in this area. Vana were found in crevices not as many mollusks were found here. It could have to do with the waves crashing down on this area from time to time or competition from the algae to cover the surface area. Assigned Journal Entry 4