Intertidal Zones

My group decided to study the difference in the amount of rock crabs in the upper intertidal zone, and the lower intertidal zone.

The Intertidal zone is the portion of the ocean shore under-water at high tide, and exposed at low tide.

The lower-intertidal zone is the portion exposed only at low tides.

The upper- intertidal zone is the portion immersed only at high tide.

Are there more rock crabs found in the upper-intertidal zone, or lower- intertidal zone?

We think that we will find a higher abundance of rock crabs in the lower-intertidal zone. We think that this could be because there is more water, meaning more food or because of the moisture. It is cooler than the rocks that have been sitting in the sun; it seems like the perfect habitat for rock crabs.

Results:

We found the average amount of rock crabs in the lower intertidal zone was 52/m^2, and the average amount of rock crabs in the upper intertidal zone was 39/m^2. There were more rock crabs in the lower intertidal zone.

Discussion

We found that there was a higher amount of rock crabs in the lower intertidal zone. This concludes that our hypothesis was correct.

The lower intertidal zone has more moisture, and is a more comfortable place for a rock crab to live. There also might be a higher amount of food in the area.

The results of our test might mean that crabs don’t like to be in the sun for long periods of time. They like to stay in cooler, places with water.

The amount of crabs in an area depends on temperature stress, and exposure (Stillman and Somero).

This study was important, because it is good to know about the different Intertidal zones, and the animals that live there. Some people think that they are just little crabs, but they are just as important to the ecosystem as all of the other, larger animals.

Plankton!

For my groups study, we compared the abundance of plankton in Ho’okipa and the Kihei boat ramp. There are two major types of plankton; there is phytoplankton and zooplankton. Phytoplankton is plant plankton, and zooplankton is plant plankton. We will be looking at different species of plankton and their amount.

According to a site I found, “animal life is almost entirely dependent on the phytoplankton for its existence.”- Van Nostrand’s Scientific Encyclopedia, 1989.

Question & Hypothesis-

Will there be a higher abundance of plankton in Ho'okipa, or at the Kihei
boat ramp?

We thought that we would find more plankton at Ho'okipa than the Kihei boat
ramp, because there is less pollution I the area. Therefore, the
plankton will not have to struggle to survive at Ho'okipa.

Results:
We found that the average number of copepods in Ho'okipa was 1; the
average number of polychaete was 2. At the Kihei boat ramp, we found
that there was an average of 14 copepods, and 4 poychaete. With that, we find that the average plankton at Hookipa was 3, and an average of 18 at
the Kihei Boat ramp.

We found that there was a higher abundance of plankton at the Kihei Boat
ramp, our hypothesis was incorrect.

This means that The Kihei boat ramp has less destructive factors that the plankton has to fight off. The results from our test might mean that the water in Kihei is cleaner, less polluted, and a better place for plankton to be found. This study was important, because it’s good to know how the plankton is a part in the ecosystem. Maui, being surrounded in water, is covered in plankton; we should know the plankton population where we live. Plankton rules the world!!!

We thought that there would be more plankton in Ho'okipa, because it is not in a polluted area, it is cooler than Kihei, and the boat ramp seemed like it would be more polluted because of boats going in and out. As you know, we were wrong, there was actually more plankton at the Kihei boat ramp. This could be because there are less people in the water.