RI intertidalling

This weekend was the first weekend of the semester that I wasn't in Nahant, which was a bit of a relief. I really love being in Nahant and doing research there, but constantly traveling and doing homework on the train/in the lab is a little tiring. Nevertheless, I still got to go out into the field over part of the weekend to help set up an algal transplant experiment in Little Compton, RI.

Field site in Little Compton. I love how you can see the diversity of reds, greens and browns from a distance here.

Intertidal cormorants!

 Kylla's been setting up reciprocal transplants of Fucus vesiculosus (which Wikipedia says is the 'bladder wrack' - I don't know the common names for any algae!) from the low and high limits of its intertidal range, at sites spanning ~500 m of New England coastline to figure out if low and high zone Fucus show different survival rates and nutrient uptake, and if the patterns vary geographically. This weekend we set up the transplant for one 'south of the Cape' site in RI.

This means abducting the algae and re-attaching them either to the same tide height or the other end of their range over the course of 2 days' fieldwork. We have (bright! coloured!) cable ties around the algae to act as anchors into the z-spar on the rock. There are also temperature loggers deployed at the low and high tide height to monitor temperatures experienced by the transplanted Fucus.

 

Scuba Smurf helped out too. Here he is with the numbered setup and Fucus transplanted to the high zone!

Scuba Smurf with the little PVC hut that holds the temperature logger. 

Yay for interspecific variation!!

Things that make my life easier

One of the projects I'm working on in this last month of summer is a repeat of an intertidal experiment we ran last year, with an additional control treatment. In our lab's various studies of rocky intertidal communities, a general method is to conduct regular surveys of the number and abundances of algae and invertebrates like snails.

Two of the most abundant intertidal herbivorous snails. The little snail is Littorina obtusata, the smooth periwinkle (and my favourite intertidal snail!) and the larger snail is Littorina littorea, the common periwinkle.

Survey method: 1. Place PVC quadrat on spot; 2. Record all algae and invertebrates found in quadrat

For field experiments, we set up permanent plot using bolts and washers so we can survey the same plot and track changes over time. However, the markers can be frustratingly hard to find again under all the algae, even if you know where the plot is.

One of my plot markers from last summer. When the tide comes in and out it vanishes under a canopy of algae.

So, the thing that has made my life better: pretty, eye-catching fluorescent zip-ties on the plot market bolts! They significantly reduce search time and make it possible to find and survey 40 plots in a low tide.

Bright yellow zip-tie tag on one corner of a permanent quadrat, labelled washer on the other.

They are so visible among the algae!! You can see more in the background...

5 AM field days...

...bring great intertidal sunrises :)

5:25 AM at 40 Steps Beach

Cross-system exchange?

Intertidal finches eating intertidal algae. I am intrigued.

Grazing finch.

This one has Ulva ("sea lettuce") in its beak.

On having five fingers

Today I watched a juvenile marine iguana sitting on a rock, and thought about the simple beauty of a pentadactyl limb.

First look at the Galapagos

We took an early flight from Quito to Baltra airport in the central Galapagos islands on Thursday morning. If Quito by night is amazing, Quito from the air is just spectacular.


We got into Baltra airport and crossed over the canal to Santa Cruz island in a little ferry. From there it was a long drive into the town of Puerto Ayora, plenty of time to just check out the landscape. I have been on many islands, but this was like nothing I have ever seen. Capt. George Vancouver who visited the islands in 1795 described them as the most dreary barren and desolate country he ever beheld. There really aren't many tall things away from the high areas of the island, but it has its own beauty. Here are a couple of wide angle pictures from the GoPro cameras.


Towards the town of Puerto Ayora, there is more plant growth in general. And the dock area has a great intertidal zone!

Return to Cunner Ledge!

I've been working hard on collecting and sorting algae from morning to night for the past few days, but this morning I found some free time to walk around Nahant's East Point, which is always nice. It was just after low tide, so I went out to my old field site next to Cunner Ledge. Here it is, marked with the yellow arrow in the picture and on the Google map for East Point. You can also see the Marine Science Center on the map.


I am a little less sure-footed than I was last summer (especially since I was climbing the rocks in flip-flops this morning) but I went back down and looked for my 0.5 m x 0.5 m plots. We set up 30 plots along that seaweed-covered ledge last July. My plot markers are still around :)

This was the very first field experiment that was truly my own - Matt helped me set up the plots at the start, but I collected the data and maintained the plots for the 8 weeks that it ran. It was a small-scale manipulation of the diversity of basal species, i.e. species that bring energy into the system. Seaweeds do this through photosynthesis and filter feeders like barnacles and mussels do this by consuming plankton from the ocean.

And while we're on the topic of my field site, I finally got round to digging up the screencap of Cunner Ledge in the movie Shutter Island. The movie was partly filmed in Nahant, and my field site makes a half-submerged appearance. So here we have Leonardo DiCaprio pointing a gun at a guard, which is all very interesting, but LOOK THERE IS MY SITE IN THE BACKGROUND. Which is really the best part of the entire movie.