Spencer's+Journal+Page

= = =Spencer's Journal=



=**Journal Entry #1** =

//**Free-Journal portion:**// The tide pools of Black Point are fun, and a relaxing place to visit, but trust me, it’s not an easy travel to get there. Starting off, we had to hike down to the waters edge where there was much over grown Scaevoala sericea, an invasive plant that threatens many native plants to the islands. Finally in the water, we had to walk through knee-high waters with rocky bottoms until we actually reached the tide pools. The scenery was great, and everywhere you looked there was life. One of the first animal life we say was the pipipi’s, which are small-blackened snails that we saw in large groups clinging to the tops of rocks. There were also a variety of fishes that lived in the numerous tide pools. While trying to take pictures, I had slipped on the rocks. This was due to the algae that grew on the rocks tops. Some significant abiotic factors that made this place so neat were the amount of sunshine, the temperature, and the ocean.

I think the tide pools of Black Point are a great place to study for the rest of the semester project, because of many reasons. One of which is there are many living creatures and animals that we can observe and study. With these creatures, we can really understand how their lifestyles work, and what goes on in terms of relationships. The area was a breezy natural area that had a good vibe to it, and it is one of those places where you learn or see something new every time. One last thing that makes this place so good to study is the different weather that goes on. One day the tides might be high, and we will see something we wont if the tides are low. Overall, I think the tide pools is a perfect place to observe for the rest of the semester, and we will have a grand time while doing it.

//**Assigned:**// In the Black Point tide pools, there was a variety of different creatures and plant life, that each had their own little niches in which they lived in. The first to come to mind was the Pipipi.

Pipipi- Like I said before, the instant we arrived, the first living creatures that popped out at me were the little black snails, named Pipipi. These little slow moving critters were almost everywhere we looked, on the top of rocks. Pipipi has to live on a rock that is continuously splashed on by the salty ocean water to stay moist. They also must be located where the sun strikes down on them. These snails eat the algae off rocks, which is their only source of food.

Fish- In some larger tide pools, fish were playful in groups of up to 6. We saw long fish, short fish, green fish, gray fish, strip fish, and many more. The niches of the fish varied throughout, mainly due to its diet. Some fish were also very adaptive and over time, learned to camouflage in with their size, and color. The fish also lived in the deeper, closer to the ocean tide pools, rather than the ones higher up. I don’t really know what they eat, but I’m guessing it’s the algae and smaller objects floating around in their pool.

Crabs- Like most all the crabs on the island, the crabs were small, black and QUICK. I could catch glimpses of many crabs, darting into smaller crevices. These crabs lived, well I don’t know. I just see them scuttering around, possibly looking for food. Their niches involved living closer to the water, mainly for protection, and areas with small little caves and nicks. These all for protection so they could dash away and out of site from predators.

Naupaka (plant)- This is one plant that I thought I could mention with the other niches of little creatures. The naupaka swarmed the tide pools of Black point, as well as other beaches like Kailua. Naupaka lives on loose dirt, or sand, like at the tide pools. It lives in places where it can get as most sun as possible, so it can reproduce and make more. One of its traits are the white squishy berries that contributed to the foul smells. It also must live in a place where it can receive water, in this case, the mist from the ocean.

=Journal Entry #2 =

//**Free:: Focus of Animal/creature life**//

In our second visit to the Black Point tide pools, the conditions were way different than our first. The two main differences was that it was low tide, and it was pouring rain! It is because of these differences in which we got to see and learn more about our surroundings and especially the creatures that lived there. Because of the low tide, I got to check out the pipipis and new ocean snails that we didn’t get to see during high tide. These sea snails were the periwinkle snail, and the opihi. I think we got to see these snails, because unlike the pipipi, the others choose to live further into the ocean; where water is of abundance, even when there’s low tide. There were a lot of the periwinkle snails, but not so much of the opihi. Another creature that we saw more of, was the black rock crabs know as A’ama crabs. I think the reason we saw more of them, was because of the low tide. For the quick little crabs, low tide results in more areas for them to go hunt for food in. Their diet consists of algae, and they only eat in splash zones from protection against predators. These little black creatures are of my estimation, are about the average size of a mini donut hole. During this second visit, I saw something I had seen before. Doing some research, I found out that while basking in the sun, sometimes A’ama crabs boil up, and turn red. The Helmet Sea Urchin is one that is plenty full at the Black point tide pools. They are purple and hard scaly shells that protect there half-sphere bodies. They are at the very furthest point where the water just ends, and there are many of them. At black point, there is this opening where the water comes up to a rocky edge. Just below, is where the Helmet Urchins prefer to live? A last creature I will talk about is the Shearwater bird. Black point is the home to this kind shearwater bird. We had the rare privilege to see these birds, once again because of the rain. Actually, on our way back to the house, we saw numerous shearwater birds taking cover from the downpour. There were two signs that I saw that cautioned people about helping the black point birds survive. I am really glad we got to see these beautiful creatures, because I really got to see different creatures of Black Point. We also got to see some hatched and un-hatched eggs. //__

Questions:__// Where do the Shearwater birds go when the conditions are different?

Why are there less phi snails at Black Point, unlike other places on the island?

Are there even more creatures that we might see if the tide goes down even more?

Why do the Helmet sea urchins live further in the water, and down the ledges?

//**Assigned**//: A’ama crabs. They are a perfect example of a predatory pressure that has caused natural selection. The crabs aren’t the color of the rocks because of coincidence. I am guessing that predators have caused the crabs to adapt and change to camouflage with the rocks. Natural has changed them to be the color so they could avoid being seen by larger predators. Their speed, and quickness could also be a result of natural selection. Having the ability to dart into the ocean, and stay underwater for such a long time is definitely a sign that overtime, the more fit have survived, and passed down such traits as those.

Other Organisms that may be an example of environmental pressure are the fish. The tide pools at Black Point, as well as all other places, vary in size, depth, and areas to take refuge in. This means that there is, of coarse, a limited amount of space that helps chose how many fish can live in it at one time. The fish that we noticed to be living in the pools were small, long, speedy, and somewhat camouflaged. Natural selection would cause this, because only the fittest, and strongest fish would be able to out-compete and live in the tide pool. It is because of the limited space in which competition, and natural selection has happened. The color of the fish is a big factor in how it has adapted to the environmental pressure. Some were a deep blue/grey color, as some were a light green with black stripes, and even some (if you looked REALLY close) were the color of sand, or spotty brown. These fish are probably the fittest of them all, because they are fast, hard to see, and don’t take up too much space.

A third example of environmental pressure is the snails of Black point. There are three that, as of now, we know of. The pipipi, periwinkle, and opihi snails. I have noticed that of all three, the pipipi snails are most abundant, and are most found at the splash zone. My thoughts on it is, at one time, they had to compete for the rocks, and space. They all have the same diet;algae. The pipipi are probably the fastest, strongest, and had more of them, and over time, took over the algae-abundant rocks, and forced the other two kinds of snails further into the ocean.

=Journal Entry #3 =

//**Free Journal:**// During the third visit to Black Point, we luckily had different weather than last time. Instead of pouring rain, and super low tide, we were blessed with sunshine and medium tide. It’s because of these changes in weather that we are able to see new creatures, and other old ones. Some new creatures we had the opportunity to see included some different kinds of Sea Cucumbers, and different types of crabs, and even some fish! There were two sea cucumbers we got to touch and see were black ones and one brown. I don’t exactly know what they are called, but I’m guessing they are the Actinopyga mauritiana (brown) and Holothuria atra (black).

The reason I think we may have been able to witness these friendly creatures is because it was a good middle tide, and it there was very clear water. It was amazing how many sea cucumbers were out during this visit. We also were many smaller creatures, like hermit crabs, a’ama crabs, and sea urchins. One of the things I can compare to the other times we were out there was the amount of creatures in which we saw. As I’ve said before, I think it’s because of circumstances and weather, that has affected our ability to visually see, and how the creatures reacted to it. This applies to all the creatures there, like the crabs, snails, fish, and birds.

There was one think that stumped me while on this visit. I already had prior knowledge about how some a'ama crabs come to turning red from boiling in the sun. This visit, i found numerous red dried out crabs, one of which was still in the process. Let me tell you, it was huge! I was really confused about this, because i didn't know what would cause the crabs to do something like that. I don't know why or if they just climb up there and boil until they die; thats just suicide. There were other things that made me think during our visit to these tide pools. I was thinking back on our other visits, and I've came to think of two hypotheses that i can possibly test. The first is; **//If the tide pool is bigger in size and depth then there will be more living organisms in it.//** I came to thinking of this by observing the sizes of the pool and the number of countable creatures in them. It was very interesting watching them, and seeing the differences between them. A second hypothesis that came to be is; **//If a rock has more algae on it, the more snails will be on it.//** This hypothesis came to me while i was looking back at pictures of them. It interested me to see some in various areas, then some alone in other areas. //**Assigned:**// This is my food web! =Journal Entry #4 =

//**Free Journal**//

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Our fourth trip to the Black Point tide pools, we were expecting very low tide. This was definitely an advantage, because we observed new interesting organisms, as well as old ones too. This visit, we hardly saw any a’ama crabs, or a lot of fish. Instead, we observed a lot of sea cucumbers, urchins, and hermit crabs. This was probably the result of the different tide change(•comparison•). It was because of the different tide in which we saw new things, and saw less of others.=====

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During this visit, we were ecstatic to have an encounter with a new type of creature; a brittle star!!! In fact, while we were scrambling to count them, we came up with a final count of 23! These little creatures were hidden under a large rock, and Courtney just happened to see one. I then lifted up the boulder to have a pleasant surprise of a whole classroom filled of brittle stars. They really interested me, seeing how they moved so quickly and fit into very small places. =====

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An old creature we got to see was the sea cucumbers. There were so much, we had to be extra careful of where we stepped. I was actually fortunate enough to watch one use its feelers and move throughout, using it’s senses. Another creature was the sea urchins. Unlike the helmet urchins (without spines), these were pink, green and pokey. In this picture, you can see how this urchin was eaten by a near by predator. In the car ride to the Black Point tide pools, i was debating what to do for my experiment.=====

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After seeing the tide and pools, i came to the decision to actually combine two hypotheses together. The new hypothesis that i tested was; //if the tide pool is larger in depth, the the amount and size of the creatures will be greater//. I tested this by finding pools about the same size, but way different depths. Then, i counted the number of organisms in each (to the best of my ability). These were the results:=====

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From these observations and data, I have concluded that my hypothesis was, in fact, correct. The tide pools containing a greater number of organisms were much deeper and were actually closer the the waters break. There were overall larger creatures in the larger pools too. From this, i can make an inference; the creatures in the deeper pools can defend themselves in one way or another. The larger creatures have defense against predators: they can move swiftly, poke, pinch, and blend in when needed. The smaller organisms however have learned, and adapted, resulting in a movement into safer (more shallow) territory. An official conclusion can be; Tide pools that are deeper,will have a greater number of organisms, and they will be of larger size as well.=====