Dec.+8

Free Journal Entry:
On our fourth visit we decided to go at a time that was between the time we went during our second and third visit. It was partly cloudy with strong winds out by the tide pools. My assigned role is still to watch the water and the current. Today, at the time we were there, the water was quite rough. It constantly crashed over the outer rocks of the tide pools. The tide pools that had openings to the ocean had strong currents coming in from the waves. All the wave action is very similar to the wave action during our third visit. We did our third visit at 4:30 instead of 2:30 (our fourth visit). The wind right now isn’t as strong as it was during our third visit. The strength of the wind affects the current because the stronger it is the more it pushes the tops of the waves causing them to break sooner and faster. The waves must be bringing in a lot of fish and other sea life because there are several “serious” fishers out here. There are also some snorklers, not the tourist kind, that are preparing to dive down to the reef sections that are under water. The rocks that are the farthest point out of the tide pools, the ones closest to the ocean, were more submerged during our last visit. The water and waves are just clear blue. There is a lot of white water. The white water is mostly when the waves are breaking farther out or on the first rocks of the tide pools. The water and waves are never still for more than a second. There is also a substantially current or set coming in. Compared to our last visit, the waves are much calmer and safer looking. Experiment: My hypothesis is: if the tide pool is shallower then there will be less organisms living in it.

Tide Pool # Depth of Tide Pool # of Organisms 1 12 15 2 8 10 3 7.5 3 4 3 2

My conclusion is that my hypothesis is correct. When the tide pool is deeper there are going to be more organisms living in it. I think this is because with more space there is obviously more space to live in. This also means that there is more space for food resources. With more food resources there is less competition, which makes life easier for the sea life.