Week Twelve

Jackalof Bay field trip! This week, we went on our first of two intertidal surveys for research we are conducting as a group. My group includes the lovely Prairie Sievers, hardworking Nyla Klein, clever Madelyn Eisenbeiz, and driven Siobhan Duffy. All of these women make a fantastic team, and between the five of us, I'm confident our prior research and understanding of intertidal communities and biota will help us be successful in the field. 

For these intertidal studies, we begin during the lowest water level moment of the low tide. Setting down a one meter by one meter PVC pipe square at the water line, we will assess the diversity of biota and record anything that lives, breathes, crawls, swims, or sticks to the rocks. Then, we will move up a transect line towards a point of high ground, continuing these surveys on alternating sides of the transect line. This allows us to evaluate the average life between the intertidal stages (such as low-tidal zone sea anemone abundance and high-tidal zone mussel varieties), which will help us answer our leading hypothesis and research question: do organisms with adaptations to desiccation (preventing dry bodily conditions), predation (being eaten by other organisms), and temperature fluccuations (such as increasing water temperatures or cold seasonal air) increase in abundance from low to high tidal zones? 

By evaluating Jackalof Bay and Peterson Bay intertidal zones with the same methods, we can compare the data from two different ecosystems to see if there is consistency between the organisms who live in these different intertidal regions. 

Below are some of the photos documenting the process of intertidal surveys, as seen through my camera. I was in charge of documenting all the biota, and photographing anything of particular interest, and for the first sixteen plots we were literally racing the tide. I was wearing gear appropriate for the fieldwork (including rain pants over my tall Xtratuffs), but even then the tide was rising up past my knees during some of the plots, so turning over rocks and identifying all the organisms was extremely difficult. It was one of the most fun things in the world, but I didn't get to slow down and enjoy the process until about plot 18, when we were no longer in the tidewaters and could identify and count all the limpets, mussels, etc. and have discussions regarding the frequency at which we spotted which species while not worrying about a literal swamped plot. 

Above: Studying one of the many plots, just out of the tide's reach. From left to right: myself, Siobhan, Nyla, and Madelyn (photo by Prairie Sievers). Of course, with work views like this, it's an uphill battle to push myself into a desk job. 

While here, I was also able to capture more footage for our internship's video on Kachemak Bay. We saw some bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus), kittiwakes (Rissa tridactyla), harbor porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) and river otters (Lontra canadensis), along with the most frequent Kachemak Bay local: Enhydra lutris. Points to you if you recognize that scientific name without googling it! 

Additionally, we recorded some of the following species: 

• Christmas anemones (Urticina crassicornis) 

• aggregating anemones (Anthopleura elegantissima) 

• burrowing anemones (Anthopleura artemisia) 

• plumose anemones (Metridium farcimen) 

• moon snail (Neverita lewisii) 

• lined chiton (Tonicella lineata)

• black katy chiton (Katharina tunicata)

• acorn barnacles (Semibalanus balanoides)

• thatched barnacles (Semibalanus cariosus)

• ochre stars (Pisaster ochraceus)

• true sea stars (Evasterias troschelii)

• perwinkle snails (Littorina littorea)