Heather's+Journal

The area that my partner Kelsey Sexton and I have chosen for our semester project is a section of the tide pools in Hawaii Kai. It is an interesting and beautiful site. The lava rocks here create an environment unique from most other tide pools around the world. The water in the tide pools is between zero and two feet deep typically at high tide. Some abiotic factors in the area are: the ocean water, the lava rocks, the strong winds, the occasional rain, the sand and the sun. The ocean water is salty, clear and cold. The salt from the water collects in the rough surface of the lava rocks. At high tide, the waves are large with foam lacing the surface. As the waves beak over the lava rocks, water spills into the tide pools; Because of this, the tide pools are always receiving a fresh supply of ocean water. The lava rocks are black, brown, yellow and grey. They are rough and sharp in some places and in other places, they have been smoothed by time and the relentless beating of the ocean waves. White coral is scattered about in the tide pools. Sand, lava and coral create an artistic collage beside the sea and sky. I came to this spot at around 10 a.m. on a cloudy day. The glare on the water was stunning. Though it was raining in Manoa, here in the Hawaii Kai tide pools, it is merely windy and chilly. The air is cold and salty and the sound of the waves is deafening and peaceful. Through the sound of the ocean however, the sound of sea birds can be heard clearly every so often. The waves appear grayish and turquoise in the distance; as they splash violently at the tide pools edge, the water transforms into a pastel blue-green color. This site is an appropriate spot to research and study for the remainder of the semester because it is unchanged by humankind. Nature in this place cannot be controlled as it can in many other places. There are many other reasons why this place will be a perfect place to study. One of these reasons is, this tide pool environment is distinctive and unique to Hawaii. Another reason that this will be a good place to study is that there is a lot of life in this environment. Small guppy like fish inhabit these tide pools along with hermit crabs, sea snails, algae crabs and, growing just above the tide pools, beach naupaka. These prominent organisms living in this environment makes this place a perfect place to study.
 * Free Journal #1:**

One organism that lives in this area is the beach naupaka plant. The beach naupaka, unlike its mountain counter part thrives one beaches like this. Some of the features of its niche are the temperature, the altitude and the rest of the over all conditions in the environment. The temperature here is generally very warm when the sun is out but can also become quite cool during the evenings. The beach naupaka lives on the shorelines of beaches like this one. The beach naupaka is one of the very few plants that can survive on the beach with the harsh ocean shore conditions. The naupaka grows in very sandy soil that does not hold much water. It can be inferred that the naupaka does not require as much water as other plants like its relative that lives in the mountains. The beach naupaka needs to cope with the wind, salt and overall harsh circumstances in its niche. Another organism that lives in this environment is the small dark guppy like fish that live in the tide pools. There are different colors of this fish. There are black fish, brown fish, grey fish and speckled fish. The reason that the fish have these color variations is the niche where they live. Some of the fish camouflage with the black lava, some with the brown, some with the grey and some with the sandy areas where their speckled appearance blends perfectly with the background. The fish’s niche is comprised of the cold clear ocean water, the lava rocks in the tide pools and the other organisms the fish interacts with. The stone bottom of the tide pool is filled with small holes, crevasses and caves where the fish can hide. There were many sea snails positively thriving in the tide pools. They have shells that are either black and circular or grey, decorated with white and black patterns and are cone shaped. The sea snails niche includes the cold, sometimes still and shallowest tide pools (only a couple of inches deep), the organisms the snails interact with, the lava rock bottom of the tide pools that the snails attach themselves to. Living in the tide pools there were also hermit crabs. The hermit crabs share the same environment and similar niche as the sea snails. In fact, the hermit crabs mimic the sea snails when they notice predators around; (There was evidence of a large orange crab in the form of a shedded shell from a crab that was about 4 inches long.) The hermit crabs impersonate the sea snails mentioned above. The hermit crabs live in the abandoned shells of either round black sea snails or cone shaped sea snails. The hermit crabs live among the sea snails in the cold shallow tide pools.
 * Assigned Journal Entry#1(option #1):**

My assigned role for this project is fish life and animal life. In these tide pools, there are many different types of fish. There are striped fish, black fish and speckled. The striped fish look like baby versions of the larger adult versions that live in the reefs and open oceans. A question I would ask is: When do the adult fish lay their eggs in these tide pools? The striped fish are light grayish green with vertical black strips crossing their bodies from the top of their backs to their bellies. Their tails are forked and translucent. These fish are narrow and very quick moving just as their adult counterparts are. Their narrow physique provides them with a streamline body that is ideal for avoiding predators. A question I would ask is: in this tide pool environment, are these streamline bodies necessary to avoid predators or are they only used later in life when they are adults and living in the open ocean? As I observe these striped fish I see them darting with swift and certain movements in the tide pools. A question I might as is: Why do they dart so quickly when there are no apparent predators in this environment and they are in no immediate danger? Though I see these striped fish nibbling at the algae on the lava rocks, I also know that their adult counterpart do not feed exclusively on algae. Question I might ask are: What do baby fish of this species eat? What do adult fish of this species eat? When do their eating habits change? There are also black fish and speckled fish. These two types of fish act almost identically. A question I might ask is: Are these two types of this in the same species? Both types of fish have long snake-like bodies. Their heads look like those of a snake and their bodies taper to a translucent and very thin tails. The speckled fish are brown, black white and grey; these colors are those of the environment it lives in. The lava rocks and rocks are black brown and grey and the sand is white. Both types of fish come in a very wide range of size. Some are only about an inch long, others are around half a foot long. A question I might ask is: Are the different size fish of the same species? I believe that these fish feed on the algae that grows on the lava rocks in the tide pools. A question I might ask is: Do these fish feed exlusively on algae? In terms of animal life, crabs are the most numerous type of animal in this environment. There are black crabs, red crabs and hermit crabs. The black crabs sometimes have white claws and are sometimes speckled with white dots. A question I might ask is: Are these differently marked crabs of the same species? I am sure that at least some f these crabs feed on algae because I witnessed two eating algae of the lava rocks. A question I might ask is: Do all the crabs in this environment feed exclusively on algae, if not, what else do they eat? Hermit crabs are also common in these tide pools. I am very curious as to how many species of hermit crabs live in these tide pools. Questions I would ask are: What do the hermit crabs feed on? What kinds of shells do they inhabit? What are their major predators?
 * Free Journal #2**

In my free journal entry I wrote about the different kinds of fish in these tide pools. I wrote how there were baby striped fish in the tide pools. The baby striped fish are quick and agile but do not have the best camouflage for this environment (probably because their adult counterparts do not live in these tide pools.) I believe that these fish are so fast because only the quickest fish survive in the tide pools and in the reefs and oceans that the adults live later in life. The predators that I believe target these fish are: birds and large crabs. I have seen large flocks of birds land in the tide pools. I believe that these birds are looking for fish to eat. This leads me to believe that through the process of natural selection, only the fastest of these fish survive. Crabs are also a predator that I believe these striped fish must avoid. Some of the black, red and speckled crabs are very large and quick. Only the fastest and most aware fish will be able to evade these crabs. The same holds true for the long black and speckled fish in the tide pools. These fish are not as fast as the striped fish. However, as I wrote earlier, some of these fish are extremely large in comparison to some of the smaller fish. I believe that the large size of these fish is due to natural selection. If a fish is too large to be eaten, the fish will survive and more likely reproduce more successfully. The smaller fish are harder to find because they can hide more easily. I believe that small fish and very large fish survive more than medium fish. Algae is the most common food source for most organisms in these tide pools. Both the crabs and the fish feed on the algae for either their main food source or a minor food source. The crabs that love in these tide pools probably feed on algae and small fish. However they are probably a food source for birds. The same birds that probably feed on the small fish in these tide pools probably feed on the crabs in this environment as well. A threat that is not thought about often in this environment is the human threat for many of these organisms. Children often come to the tide pools to play. Sometimes they bring nets and buckets with them. Many kids try to catch crabs and fish. Therefore, the more camouflaged a fish is or the faster a fish is, the more likely it is too survive; This is because the slower fish or more visible fish are more easily captured than the well camouflaged and faster fish.
 * Assigned Journal #2**



The first and most notable thing that we observed was rather remarkable. Minutes after we had sat down to observe, we saw a turtle swimming mere feet away from us! Then, as we scrambled to find my camera, we were astonished to see another turtle pop its head above water in a tidepool right next to the rocks we were sitting on. We started wondering why they were here and concluded that the turtles were here because it was high tide. We had never visited our eco-place at high tide before. The turtles were about a foot and a half long and they were in a tidepool that was about one foot deep. It was the tidepool that was closest to the ocean. The turtles were eating algae from the surface of the rocks. Kelsey and I were lucky to whiteness one of the turtles catch and eat a small black fish. The fish in the tidepool along with the turtle were larger than the fish in the tidepools closer into shore. Just as before, the fish in the tidepools closer into shore varied in size between half an inch and two inches long. There were the same kinds of fish: the black and long fish, the stripped black and silver fish and the speckled long fish. The fish were feeding on the algae that grows on the surface of the submerged rocks. There were also the same hermit crabs and black crabs that camouflaged so well with the black rocks that made up the tidepools. The crabs were also feeding on the algae. We also noticed a sea cucumber and a large number of black sea snails and crabs in a temporarily dry tidepool. I considered our eco-place carefully so I could think of testable hypotheses. One hypothesis is: If the tidepool is shallower, then the fish inside that tidepool will be smaller than the fish living in a deeper tidepool. I believe that this hypothesis is true because the small striped fish that I’ve seen swimming in shallower tidepools, appear to be baby versions of the same--yet larger--kind of striped fish that I’ve seen swimming in deeper tidepools. I have also noticed that the black and speckled long fish that swim in the deeper tidepools are larger than the black and speckled long fish that live in tidepools that are shallower. A second hypothesis is: If the bottom of a tidepool is made up of mostly black rocks, then the fish in that tidepool will be black. I believe this to be true because there are some tidepools that have sandy bottoms, and some tidepools that have rockier, black bottoms; if the fish match the color of the bottom of the tidepools, they are more likely to survive. I think that through natural selection, there are more black fish in tidepools that have mostly black bottoms and more sand colored fish that live in tidepools that have sandy bottoms. A third hypothesis is: If a tidepool is closer to the sand, then that tidepool will have less fish living in it than a tidepool that is closer to the ocean. I believe this to be true because the tidepools closer to the sand can only be reached (by fish from the open ocean) during high tide. The closer into shore a tidepool is, the less likely it is that fish can reach and the fewer number of fish live in that tidepool.
 * Free Journal Entry #3**


 * Assigned Journal Entry #3**

On the day that Kelsey and I visited our eco place for the third time, it was cloudy and overcast. It was quite windy and the waves were breaking large and white. The first thing that I noticed when we settled into our spot was the shell of a large reddish black crab; it was about 5 inches long. I have found shells from crabs like this on my first visit as well. I have come to recognize and know this place very well during the past visits. I always find something new to comment upon. On that particular occasion, I noticed that there were many more sea anemone than I had ever seen in a tide pool. I was also slightly surprised to see the same kind of long, snake-like black fish; I was not surprised by seeing the long black fish, but more surprised that they seemed to have be bigger than any of the other times I have seen them. I observed the same baby fish that I had seen in the past and marveled at the quickness of the baby fish. It seemed like even before my shadow crossed the tide pool, the baby fish would dart swiftly into an opening in the rock walls. During this visit, I became much more aware of the non-aquatic life that spent time in this tide pool area. There were more birds than usual flapping about around the tide pools. Most of the birds were pigeons. There were grey pigeons, brown pigeons and white pigeons. Some birds had a greenish blue ring of feathers around their necks. They hopped around the tide pools picking at the rocks with their beaks. I believe that they were searching for small fish and crabs to eat. The waves crashed dangerously close to the spot Kelsey and I had settled to write and observe in the later half of our visit. The water was rougher than I had ever seen it, although the waves and water level had been higher the time that Kelsey and I had seen the two turtles in the tide pools. //Experiment//: The hypothesis that I attempted to resolve though this experiment is: If the tide pool is shallower, then the fish inside that tide pool will be smaller than the fish living in a deeper tide pool. //Procedure//: My plan was to observe four different tide pools. The first and second tide pools were the deeper tide pools were 12 and 11 inches deep; the third and fourth tide pools were the shallower tide pools were 6 and four deep. The fish I would focus on are the young versions of the black and silver stripped fish and the black or speckled snake-like fish 1.Choose four tide pools (two deep and two shallow) 2. Measure the depth of each tide pool 3. Estimate the length of each fish 4. Record data //Chart and Graph:// Conclusion Based on the data that I collected from this experiment, I can conclude that my hypothesis was correct. If the tide pool is shallower, then the fish inside that tide pool will be smaller than the fish living in a deeper tide pool. The data that I collected supports this hypothesis. I collected data on stripped fish and snake like fish. The deeper the pool, the larger the fish.
 * Free Journal Entry #4 (Free Journal and Experiment)**


 * Assigned Journal Entry #4 (Option #1:Carbon Cycle Diagram)[[image:CarbonCyclHZe.png]]**