Essay On Tide Pools

The coastal environment I have decided to talk about today is Ningaloo Reef. The reef is on the remote western coast of Australia, it includes one of the longest nearshore reefs in the world. Temperate and tropical currents converge in the Ningaloo region resulting in highly diverse marine life including spectacular coral reefs, abundant fishes and species with special conservation significance such as turtles, whale sharks, dugongs, whales and dolphins.

The lower shore, or low tide zone, is mostly submerged underwater. The most noticeable difference of this sub-region is the large diversity of different types of seaweeds. Organisms found in this zone are generally less adapted to periods of dryness. The creatures are generally the largest and most complex organisms on the shore as there are more sources of food as marine vegetation flourishes.

The sandy shores of beaches can be considered as a very harsh environment to live in (Ted Klenk, 1999). Survival in such a habitat requires an organism to withstand strong wave and current action, tidal rise and fall, unstable substrate, heavy predation and wide variations in salinity and temperature (The Otter Island Project). Any organism found in this type of harsh environment is specialized and highly adapted (The Otter Island Project).

Kelp forests are seen as the ultimate ecological engineer in coastal areas. They exist in marine environments spanning in southern California, Aleutian Islands, and the western north Atlantic. Light, latitude, and water temperature and nutrients all play a role in facilitating the growth of kelp forests all around the world, (Bolton). Kelp specifically dominates the shallow rocky coasts of the world‘s cold water marine habitats. Although they look as a free-growing plant, they are in fact primarily of brown algae. These structures provide food and shelter to a huge mix of biota, including crabs, sea urchins, mollusks, and other marine organisms (Steneck). The fronds, or large leaves of the kelp are the distinctive feature that can represent where a specific kelp may be found. The sizes of these organisms can range from the smallest found near California and Alaska at 5m to giant kelp up to 45m in length found on the west coasts of North and South America (Hamilton).

Along the coasts of rocky beaches, an intricate ecological community inhabits the ‘rocky intertidal’ areas. The variety of rocks is home to an array of slimy, squishy, and colorful organisms. This intertidal community is comprised of nine species: three different algae, three stationary filter-feeders, and three mobile consumers. The three algae, Nori Seaweed, Black Pine, and Coral Weed, are the community’s producers and inhabit the bottom of the food chain. The next three species are stationary consumers. They are Mussel, Goose Neck Barnacle, and Acorn Barnacle. Because of their consumer status, they are more competitively dominant than algae. The last three components are the mobile consumers: Whelk, Chiton, and Starfish. They

The rocky shore is the intertidal zone, where the land meets the sea. It has a presence of large and small rocks, with the possibility of rock drop-offs or cliffs. There is a high presence of rock pools, containing an array of living and non-living organisms. The abiotic factors of the rocky shores

The variations of tidal levels have created different degrees of sun and air exposure that have resulted in three zones, generally, the supra-littoral zone, littoral zone and the sub-littoral zone (See Appendix A, Figure 3). Diverse animal and plant organisms excel at surviving and dealing with different degrees of abiotic and biotic factors and as a result the rocky shore ecosystem is comprised of a series of bands known as vertical, or in this instance, intertidal zonation (See Appendix A, Figure 1). Abiotic stresses such as light intensity and wave action typically set the upper boundaries where as biotic stresses set the lower boundaries and limit the distribution of many organisms to particular strata (See Appendix A, Figure 2). It is due to the species distribution among the different zones that the rocky shore ecosystems cannot be defined as a uniform habitat, rather a dynamic and complex one (Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre, 2013).

Estuarine environments are one of the most productive ecosystems on earth. Not only do they provide measureable environmental benefits, but social and economic benefits. Salt marshes provide habitat and serve as food resources for various wildlife such as shellfish, fish, and birds. They also act as nurseries for commercially and recreationally important shell and fin fisheries. Nearby land and waterbodies are protected from flooding, storm surges, shoreline stabilization, nutrient absorption, and water quality improvement. Wetlands and marshes not only provide the environmental aspects just mentioned, they also serve as an educational and recreational opportunity for the community. For healthy survival, salt marsh plant species require proper tidal fluctuation.

Many habitats in the Chesapeake Bay watershed are degrading by time and losing their functionality. Because it sounds as “Utopia” to conserve and protect all the habitats in such a complex ecosystem, the most important habitats shall be targeted. These specific habitats are the wetlands, riparian forest and streams. Each of these habitats represents one of the essential landscape ecology principles. Wetlands act as buffer zone and provide critical habitat to some species in the Bay. It is important to sustain the Estuarine Emergent Wetlands in order to provide a place for breeding, nursery and reproduction. The riparian forest buffer represents the patch edge which normally functions as a filter that reduces the surrounding influence on the interior patch, the Bay and wetlands (Dramstad, Olson and Forman, 1996:29). The forests filter

Location of major natural system: In Florida, these are primarily located continuously along the Atlantic coast from the state line- south to Cape Florida, Miami-Dade County, and on the Gulf coast of the peninsula from Anclote Key, Pasco County, south to Cape Romano, and Collier County (Florida Natural Areas Inventory, n.d.a.). Furthermore, counties where beaches are discontinuous, we are able to see two additional sites in the Florida Keys, four sites on the islands west of Key West, a site in Cape Sable, and even a few on the larger islands of the Ten Thousand Islands (Florida Natural Areas Inventory, n.d.a.). Lastly, outside of Florida, these dunes are known to extend to the Alabama border, and even as far as around the Gulf of Mexico, Cuba, Bahamas, and along the Atlantic coast all the way to Virginia (Florida Natural Areas Inventory, n.d.a.).

at shallow sites. This community has an extremely high biological productivity it is the habitat for numerous fish, shellfish and birds. The tidal marsh is in charge of the stabilization and protection of shore and the soil formation. Unfortunately there has been a lot of human impact not only in this community but in the overall picture. In the case of the tidal marsh apparently secure from natural community in Florida and on earth may be rare in some regions, the offshore pollution, inland pollutant runoff, dredging and filling erosion of unvegetated marsh are still affecting this community.

In Order to analyse the Distribution of C.brunneas and L.scobina, Year twelve Biology classes had to go down to the “ Sirens’ Rock” on the south coast of wellington. The Habitat is mainly rock but there are rock pools from when the high tide went down the water couldn’t get out. Chamapsipho brunnea or Brown Barnacle are a type of barnacle found in the mid-high tides parts of rocky shores. Brown Barnacle are also known as filter feeders so they feed off of algae and plankton. Brown Barnacle are not found in the low tide zones for this reason their shells can close off meaning that they can survive out of water longer by keeping water locked in their shells. Lepsiella Scobina or oyster borer are a predatory sea snail species. they feed off of barnacle and other prey they are found in the mid-high tide zones of rocky shores and not low tide. Oyster borer are frequently hidding in crevices to hide from predators. Oyster borer are not found in high tide but mid-low tides as they can not close their shells off completely

The erosion of shorelines is a natural process that can have beneficial or adverse impacts on the creation and maintenance of habitats. Sands and gravels eroded from the shores of coastal bays maintain the beach as a natural barrier between the open water and coastal wetlands. Beaches move back and forth onshore, offshore and along shore with changing wave conditions. The finer-grained silts and clays derived from the erosion of shorelines are sorted and carried as far as the waters of wetlands or tidal flats, where benefits are derived from addition of the new material. However, excessively high sediment loads can smother submerged aquatic vegetation beds, cover shellfish beds and tidal flats, fill in riffle

The intertidal rocky shore of Caloundra Beach is inhabited by diverse range of biodiversity of animals and plants, many of which have developed high levels of adaptations throughout their existence. The very boundary of marine and terrestrial ecosystem, this environment is subjected to extremes of the physical environment such as temperature, desiccation, wave turbulence as well the ecological interactions that commonly occur in biotic communities (e.g. competition, predation). However Rocky intertidal shores are easily accessible by humans and provide an enjoyable opportunity for passive recreation and for science and environmental education as well.

The investigation of these tidal zones showed that most of the organisms are not evenly distributed. The tidal organisms are often hidden in cracks, shades and gullies to prevent them from being dislodged by the wave action or desiccation.