DanielAJournal

This is Daniel A. journal for Makapu'u Tidepools

First Visit Journal Entry – 10/13/08

Makapu’u tide pools are on the Eastern side of Oahu. It is the youngest part of the island as there is a great amount of black volcanic rock on the beach. It is a rocky beach that is not covered or protected from the elements with high growing trees, making this place very sunny and warm. The plant life at Makapu’u involves algae growing on the rocks that have waves consistently breaking on them. There is also naupaka a plant growing sand 10 feet or so from the waters edge. It is grows very close the ground and has green colored leaves that are very waxy. From observing the beach we found creatures in the tide pools such as black crabs, schools of small fish called nehu or anchovies, sea cucumbers, snails, gobies, and opihi. Creatures that live in the tide pools such as gobies and small fish use the tide pools to hide from predators because they are very porous and have small caves. The sand crabs also uses the tide pools as protection from predators with their black exoskeletons to hide and camouflage with the lava rock. I can see how this creature has adapted itself to the volcanic rock tide pools through natural selection to become more successful in life through become black for protection from predators with the volcanic rock. Opihi and sea snails stick themselves to the rocks where waves constantly break to gather nutrients on the edge of tide pools closer to the ocean. The sea cucumber has also seems to fit itself to the tide pools as it does not need much energy and remains almost motionless, a perfect place as the environment of a tide pool is slow with not much nutrients reaching it consistently. The black volcanic rock is the basic structure of the tide pools as it acts as a big abiotic factor for the organisms that live in these tide pools. The volcanic rock shapes and geographic placement affects the whole environment for the creatures in these tide pools. The volcanic rock determines the size of the organism’s niche. It might prevent a constant flow of ocean water in to the niche because of the isolation of the scattered tide pools in the volcanic rock all over the beach. The geographic placement of the tide pools in volcanic rock varies the variables and success of the survival of the organisms living in the tide pools. We must also consider low tide and high tide as another abiotic factor for these tide pool creatures. High tide at Makapu’u allows water flow of nutrients and other organisms to live in the niches of the tide pools. If a tide pool is far from the waters edge the organism over day could possibly die because water might disappear from the tide pool from evaporation and no nutrients circulating through the tide pool. Some organisms living in tide pools closer to the ocean get a lot of circulation providing nutrients for the organisms and oxygen to these organisms. This is a good place to study because it holds a variety of different organisms to study and their niches. Also it is very apparent of what are the greatest affecting abiotic features of the tide pools at makapu’u are. From this first visit we gathered a lot of data, as organisms are not rare as well. We could also see a predator and prey interaction at Makapu’u tide pools as well. media type="custom" key="2128919"

Part 2

A predator prey relationship that was demonstrated at Makapu’u was a Sea bird with an unknown name (possibly Albatross) and a small minnow like fish called Nehu. The sea bird was constantly flying high above the tide pool or walking across the tide pools searching for exposed fish. The sea birds also seem to have acute vision as they fly high above the tide pools just to spot a group of small fish. This became apparent as I observed some Nehu dart through the tide pools as the sea bird approached. The Nehu darted in to the volcanic rock, as there are small caves for small fish to hide in. This is evidence of indirect, when the Sea bird searched for prey and direct when the sea bird caught the fish. Eventually when one of the Nehu was exposed the sea bird disappeared. It swooped down with its beak to capture the fish with its beak. Evidence of a predator and prey relationship also is shown through evolution of how both of these two species act to one each other and have adapted through natural selection through the variables of having to be a predator or having to be prey. The sea bird is a predator the varies its food but yet both have seemed to adapt with in this predator prey relationship from what the sea bird eats which is small fish and how the Nehu has adapted to its skills in using the tide pool to hide from predators such as the sea bird because this sea bird unlike common land birds seems to be perfectly comfortable with getting its wings wet in salt water. The sea bird is able to swoop in to water with agile speed and catch nehu that are exposed. They also have a very long and shortly wide wing span which seem to be able to let the bird cruise in a stealthy way which does not involve consistently flapping of it’s wings. The Nehu have adapted to being prey as it uses the tide pools as protection from predators. The Nehu have not necessarily adapted new traits for them as self-defense the sea bird but the way it acts in the tide pool is its method of survival and its success. With out the tide pools the nehu would be completely exposed and be very easy prey. Both creatures have adapted through natural selection as evidence to show the predator and prey relationship they both have together.

2nd Visit Journal Entry - 11/1/08

Free Write Journal

When I visited the tide poles a 2nd time I noticed that certain sandy colored gobies/fish inhabit shallow tide pools that get a minimum of free flowing water compared to the rest of the tide pools only at a very high tide. The tide pools have a great population of smaller fish like gobies and nehu.

How do the fish in tide pools conserve energy if there are not much food resources in the tide pool with any open water flow at all times? I believe from my observations that the fish in the tide pools do not move around as much as other fish that live in open water because there is not much to go unless escaping predators. So since they don’t move around much their body does not take in much energy. That is why the do need a constant supply of resources to fuel themselves.

How do the oxygen levels in the water affect the survival of the fish in tide pools? How do the fish in the tide pool react the salinity of the tide pool when water movement is at a minimum? How do the oxygen levels in the water affect the survival of the fish in tide pools? From my observations I noticed that some black goby fish in the tide pools have adapted a weird feather like gill systems. I will guess that these gills help them survive in water that is high in salinity or has little oxygen in it.

How do the fish in tide pools use the rocky environment of the tide pool to their advantage? Why do you think that small fish like gobies in tide pools have developed a camouflage as protection with the surrounding of the tide pool? If, so how has natural selection selected these camouflage characteristics out? The fish observed protect themselves in the tide pools by using small save like holes in the black lava rock that holds the tide pool. Some fish like gobies seem to have evolved to camouflage with color of the black lava rock and the sandy color of the sand that is in the tide pools. It may be possible that when the gobies first inhabited the tide pools they where vulnerable to predators. So gobies with that certain color skin characteristic of the tide pool camouflage survived, they reproduced and adapted those characteristics constantly over each generation.

Unanswered through observations How do fish in a tide pool interact with other organisms for such a narrow niche? Is their competition between different species of fish in the tide pools for a resource? If so, what resources? Is disease easily spread in such a small community or environment between fish in the tide pools?

Part 2 Assigned writing

Part 2 journal

At Makapu’u tide pools the communities of different tide pools all have environmental pressures that are possible to push natural selection with organisms living in these tide pools. Abiotic factors constantly affect the survival of organisms in tide pools with predation to pushing natural selection as well. Here are three organisms that are an example of natural selection through the process of surviving in these tide pools with survival of the fittest.

The plant life at the tide pools consist of algae a thick abundant limu plant with the color of green brown color. It grows on the ledge of tide pools where the water is constantly moving. This plant has adapted in the way that it sets at the very spot where tides move in and out so it constantly gets its nutrition through water flow but is never completely under water. It grows on the rocks bare to the exposure of sun but never is never dry either. Unlike most organisms at the tide pools it does grow where there is no water flow. Also this plant seems to have thick green brown leaves or strands. From my observations if you squeeze the leaves water comes out of them. As you can this plant has adapted to its survival from being completely out of water when the tides cannot always reach it. So it makes thick leaves to store water and energy in it.

Gobies that live in the tide pool have been pushed through natural selection more clearly than the algae above. They have a range in sizes but more apparent is the color of them. It seems that these organisms have developed a camouflage from possibly predation for their survival. Though I did not witness predation to these small fish these fish are very hard to track. Left vulnerable in shallow sandy tide pool a goby is the color of the sand it self in the tide pool. Its skin is pigmented with a brown, yellow, white rocky color. Also there is a large sized goby inside the tide pools that are black. The tide pools are makapu’u are formed in black lava rock. So this black goby is easily camouflaged with the black midnight color of the back lava rock. These fish do not always get as much nutrition and water flow in the tide pools they live in. So these fish have adapted to the tide pools by not moving as much compared to other reef fish to conserve energy. These fish are still very fast swimmers but only seem to swim to hide in the approaching of a predator.

The black crabs at these tide pools have also learned to adapt to the abiotic factors of the tide pools at makapu’u. They are the color of black, which blends in greatly with the black lava rock which makes these tide pools, protecting them from any predator seeking to eat them. Like the algae these black crabs live neither in water completely nor live outside on dry land. Live between tide pools and the tides of open water. They have adapted in the way the feed on dead organisms or vulnerable fish left in dried out tide pools. This is their survival in the way the act. Also the hermit crab has adapted to these tide pools. Using the shells of fallen mollusk these smaller hermit crabs in the tide pools of makapu’u use the tide pools for their protection and the black shells of mollusks for disguise and protection.

3rd visit Journal Entry-11/21/08

Free Journal entry #3-

On out third visit to Makapuu tide pools I observed fish moving back and forth through different tide pools because it was at high tide. If it was low tide would the fish be hiding be hiding in the tide pools instead of out in the open. This made me curious because I did see predators such as sea bird scouting for fish among the tide pools. When it was high tide the tide pools were not exposed to the open air and the ocean water covered the most of the rock formation that would be above water if it were low tide. Like in my observations previous to this it allowed fish to move around because there was now more space and more flowing water to different tide pools that were unreachable to fish when it was low tide. If different organisms in the tide pools transitioned to other tide pools the biotic factors in the tide pools would change as well as balance in each tide pool with the number of organisms in that same niche. I also observed black crabs hide them selves in the black rock surrounding them instead of roaming around like they usually do. It seemed that during high tide these black crabs had less of a niche to roam around on because most of the rock was covered by water. If there were not a low tide would these black crabs be roaming around because they could hunt for organisms left bare on the rocks due to the low tide? Since I had most of my observations where the tide pools were experiencing low tide I could now see the difference of how organisms in these tide pools act when it is high tide. From my observations I hypothesized if I visually counted the organisms from the aquatic parts of the Makapuu tide pools during low tide it would be a greater count unlike at high tide would be a lesser count of organisms I visually see. This is because though I see more organisms at high tide roaming around it does not mean I see a number of them. In a smaller niche the organisms will be hiding at low tide all together in one tide pool which will be a greater count then having the tide pool’s organisms roaming around. Another hypothesis is that if I counted the land creatures at the tide pools at low tide it would be greater amount then if I counted the organisms visually at high tide. This seems to be because at low tide land predators from black crabs to sea birds have a bigger niche and also have organisms that they eat exposed and hiding in tide pools. There may also be food or nutrition left on the rocks at low tide for the land semi predators to eat. If a greater number of organisms from fish, snails, and crabs are in a tide pool the pH of the water will be lower (acidic) at low tide and higher pH levels at high tide.

Assigned Journal entry#3-

4th visit details-12/7/08
 * Free journal entry-**

Today I visited makapuu at 10:00 a.m. at high tide and 2:00 p.m. at low tide. The conditions were good to conduct my experiment at makapuu tide pools. The winds blew lightly off shore, no overcast and it was a warm 85 degrees out side. My experiment involved counting the number of organisms at low and high tide to compare the results of organisms recorded at those two times. My hypothesis for the experiment was that if I recorded/counted organisms in a tide pool during a 15 min. period at low tide it is greater and at high tide there would be less organisms in the same tide pool. I believe there would be fewer organisms in a tide pool at high tide because the organisms would have a wider niche. At high tide the ocean water raises to touch and connect the tide pools to each other, allowing a number of mobile organisms to transition to different tide pools instead of staying one tide pool. So as more organisms transfer there would be fewer organisms in a tide pool at low tide because organisms would be moving instead as well as be protected by the ocean water from land predators in a wider niche. Then at low tide many organisms remain in one tide pool because it protects them and the ocean water retreats giving the organisms a smaller niche. Even though it would be a smaller niche at low tide organisms would not be able to transition to other tide pools so a great number of them will remain in one tide pool. The materials I used for my experiment are a long tape ruler, a laptop (note book) to record data of organism and a camera to take photos of the organisms. At the beginning of the procedure of my experiment I measured the depth of the tide pool for both high and low tide. At high tide the depth was 11 inches and low tide was 7 inches. The tide pool was also 11x6 inches across. Then I observed and counted the number of organisms at low and high tide which range from fish, crabs, sea cucumbers, opihi, brittle stars, hermit crabs and sea snails. I visited two different times for high and low tide, then put the data count of organisms in my computer. The compared the data to each other. My conclusion is that the count of organisms in a tide pool at high tide were less as recorded in my data because like I said above more organisms would be moving and transition from one tide pool to the next. I counted the organisms that were stationary in the tide pool at high tide, which consisted of sea cucumbers, opihi, sea snails, and brittle stars. Then at low tide there were more organisms in the same tide pool I was observing as recorded in my data. The organism that were both a great count of immobile and stationary organisms remained in the same tide pool at low tide.


 * 4th Free journal entry-**


 * Makapuu tide pools Carbon Cycle eco-system:**