Honors Marine Biology
Module 9
Intertidal Zone - Part 2
January 24, 2013
Class Challenge
Recycle Art
Quiz # 17 January 20, 2015
Quiz : Question 1
What is the dominate species of the middle intertidal zone?
Question 2
• What is the limiting resources of the
A. Upper:
B. Middle:
C. Lower:
Question 3.
• Name the 3 Abiotic for the intertidal zone.
Question 4
• Name 6 different species living in the Intertidal Zone.
• Identify what zone you would find them in.
1. Mussels2. Upper: Water Middle: Space Lower: space and light3. Air, Temperature, and Salinity4. Sea Squirt: Upper and lower zone Algae: Upper, middle and lower Shrimp: middle and lower Blue Crab: middle and lower Juvenile lobster: lower Mud crab: middle and lower Spider crab (male): middle and lower Minnows: lower Sand flea: amphipod upper – attached to sea grass Pike fish: lower Lightening Welk: lower Ascidian: upper attached to wall or rocks Stone crab: middle and lower Pistol Shrimp middle and lower Arrow Shrimp middle and lower Hermit crab middle and lower Mussels middle and lower
• Learn Biology: Biomes and Communities Definition
http://youtu.be/qtZcN4bzsrA
Sandy and Muddy Intertidal Zones
• Last week we looked at rocky intertidal zones. This week we will examine the sandy and Muddy intertidal zones.
• They have no Rocks! These soft-bottom areas are in protected stretches of coastline or in areas where loose sediments have accumulated over time.
Indian River Mud FlatFt. Pierce, Florida (East Coast)
Soft Bottom Ecosystem
• Is identified when the sediments are so loose that organisms can burrow into them.
• When the excess sediments accumulate, the wave action is usually not too severe; therefore different organisms inhabit these communities as compared to the organisms of the rocky intertidal.
Soft Bottom Ecosystem
A community such as this is influenced by two major parameters:
1. Water movement
2. Sediment size and type
The substrate of a soft-bottom ecosystem is often unstable and is deposited based upon the amount of waves and currents that push it around.
Grains of quartz, volcanic sand and tiny bits of animal skeletons can all make up a soft-bottom community.
Sediments come in many different sizes; the larger types being moved around less than the smaller types.
These factors determine how much of any given sediment type is deposited in an area.
This can greatly affect the organisms living there. Shifting sand would not allow large plants to survive in the constant shifting or soft sediments.
Tidal Mud Flats
• Tidal flats are intertidal, non-vegetated, soft sediment habitats, found between mean high-water and mean low-water spring tide datums (Dyer et al. 2000) and are generally located in estuaries and other low energy marine environments.
• Tidal flats are highly productive areas and although biological diversity may be relatively low, tidal flats support a high biomass of micro- and infaunal organisms, support large fin and shellfish stocks and play an important role in intertidal nutrient chemistry.
Tidal flats provide enormous water carrying capacity, protecting areas from storm surge as well as storm water runoff.
Tidal flats along with intertidal salt marshes and mangrove forests constitute the wetlands and are a vital part of the lagoon ecosystem.
Tidal flats will often form the buffer zone between deeper reaches of the lagoon thereby protecting intertidal habitats by dissipating wave energy, thus reducing erosion of mangroves and salt marshes.
Collectively these intertidal habitats are of great importance to large numbers of invertebrates and fish, supporting complex estuarine food webs and provide resting and feeding areas to large numbers indigenous and migratory birds.
Indian River Lagoon mudflat, Ft. Pierce, FL.
Infauna
• Organisms that live under the sediment of an ecosystem.
• These animals have to dig down into the soft bottom to make their homes.
Sediments are very different
• They are grouped into 3 general classes:
1. Clay: Smallest particle of sediment; smooth
2. Silt: Gritty; Both clay and silt are about the same size as and slightly larger that the bits of airborne dust floating in the air.
3. Sand: Gritty; The largest marine sediment
Note: The combination of clay and silt makes mud.
The Physical Science Experiment
• If you mixed together sand, clay, gravel and other materials in a jar filled with water the heavier particles settled out first on the bottom, followed by the next heaviest and then the lightest.
• The lighter particles remain suspended in the water longer.
Survival in the Mud
• If there are few plants and algae that can grow in soft-bottom ecosystems, what do the animals that live there eat?
• Most survive by feeding on detritus.
• That is made up of dead organic matter and the tiny organisms that live within it.
• This material is extremely small, so there is much more detritus in areas with finer sediments where the currents are not as strong.
• The finer-bottom areas have more decomposing material, appear darker, and often have an odor.
• Sandy sediments have much less, if any detritus and appear “cleaner.”
Wave Action Affects:
1. The amount of detritus present2. The amount of Oxygen in the sediment
Animals living down in the substrate of the intertidal are not exposed to light, so no photosynthesis can occur there.
They have to rely on the constant replenishing of oxygen by the movement of water in and out of the area.
So….Muddy bottoms have more detritus and less oxygen.
Only the upper areas of these fine sediments have any oxygen at all. Only a few types of bacteria can survive deep in the substrate.
You may remember that some bacteria can undergo anaerobic respiration, (a type of cell metabolism that does not require oxygen). Those are the kind of bacteria that you find deep in the muddy substrates. The deep areas of the muddy intertidal have black layers of material that come from the decomposition of organic material produced under anaerobic conditions.
• Exploring the Intertidal, Part 1: Sandy Beach
• http://youtu.be/QHEWmMOhzt0
Beach Renourishment
You decide the importance. Consider the following:
1. Beach Ecology (organism)
2. Pollution
3. Housing
4. Commercial Enterprise
British Marshland
• Conserving our fragile coast (UCL)
• http://youtu.be/shWT4eXZQfI
Ecological Engineering
Communities want to preserve their beautiful natural resources. It does not matter where you live. Millions of tax dollars are spent doing this.
What we have just seen are two very different cases for preserving the land through various manmade approaches.
With this in mind, you are going to design a coastal erosion engineering plan for Lido Beach in Sarasota County.
Environmental Management
Coastal Erosion Engineering PresentationA. ID the area that you are specifically managing.Designs from three groups will be presented for beach
renourishment:1. 2.3.
Reestablishing Lido Beach by bringing in sand from another area and then how will your design retain the sand. Also consider the species that live in the environment along the beach front.
Continued….
Design Types
• Natural (Beach Grass, Trees)
• Artificial Reefs
• Sea walls
• Jetties
• Rocky Groins
• Sand Tubes
• Plastic Mats
Homework
• Finish Reading Module 9• Finish Module 9 OYO’s and Study Guide • Take Module 9 Test• Read Module 10 to page 247• OYO questions 10.1 to 10.4• Study Guide a-d and 2 – 15• Quiz on Sandy Bottom Intertidal Zone• Class Challenge: Best Cookies• Finish Lab 9.B Environmental Management• Notebook Check Through Module 9
