Rockweed Geological, Chemical, and Physical Interactions

Geological - Rockweed inhabits all intertidal zones across all shores in the North Atlantic, ranging from North America all the way around Greenland to Northwest Europe. It uses holdfasts to attach itself to rocks along the rocky shores in these areas.

Chemical - Rockweed plays a major part in maintaining the quality of the water in its environment. It does this by removing nutrients as well as metals such as zinc, arsenic, and copper. In addition to this, rockweed converts inorganic nutrients like nitrate and phosphate, and converts it to organic matter using energy from the sun. This benefits the marine life that comes to graze on the rockweed so they can get vital nutrients, as well as live in good quality water. Rockweed also has a very high tolerance to temperature as well as a low tolerance to salinity. This is a determining factor in where rockweed lives.

Physical - Along rocky shores, parts of rockweed breaks off and gets deposited by the tides along the shore where it serves as a feeding ground for some bacteria as well as zooplankton and some invertebrates. This forms the basis of the marine food chain in the rocky shore environment. Rockweed also serves to provide shelter and protection to the organisms that use it as a home against predators, waves, as well as temperature fluctuations. In addition to this, rockweed is also used by humans as a fertilizer and a food source, and is harvested for these reasons.

Sea Urchin.... Anthocidaris crassispina

Physical Effects...

When there are Massive populations of Sea Urchins found in certain areas of the ocean specifically near kelp forest they can destroy large areas of the forest. This creates large areas of barren land. Kelp is used not only for nutrition by many animals but also it is used for protection and shelter by animals from there predictors.

Chemical and Geological .

There have been studies out there which have shown how the ocean it self has effected the sea urchin. A study done on two different regions (Sargassum area and Corallina area). Showed that warmed climates allow sea urchins to populate at a much faster rate then those found in colder regions. The Warmer regions are also the regions which seem to collect sea urchins for food more than other areas.

Reference: Density, growth and reproduction of the sea urchin Anthocidaris crassispina (A. Agassiz) in two different adjacent habitats, the Sargassum area and Corallina area.

Authors:YATSUYA, K ousuke

NAKAHARA, H iroyuki

Source: Fisheries Science; Apr2004, Vol. 70 Issue 2, p233-240, 8p

Recent growth of the bird population within the rocky shore areas has had a large effect on the sea urchin population. sea urchins are one of the main food supply for birds which are found in the rocky shore areas. as everything in nature there needs to be a even balance and when there is an unbalance which is being created now a lot of tings are thrown off. So in some areas where there are too many sea urchins were see the complete destruction of kelp forest then in areas where either there is extreme gathering because of human collection or because of over populated bird population then we sea an uncontrolled kelp population which causes addition environmental issues.

REFERENCE:

Spatio-temporal variation of avian foraging in the rocky intertidal food web.

Authors:

Hori, Masakazu¹
Noda, Takashi¹

Source:

Journal of Animal Ecology; Jan2001, Vol. 70 Issue 1, p122-137, 16p

Works Cited

Hori, Masakazu, and Takashi Noda. "Spatio-temporal variation of avian foraging in the rocky intertidal food web." Journal of Animal Ecology 70.1 (2001): 122-137. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 5 May 2011.

Peterson, Roger. The Birds. New York: Time-Life Books, 1969. Print.

Pitelka, Frank. Shorebirds in Marine Environments. Lawrence: Allen Press Inc., 1979. Print.

Physical

• A major prey of marine birds are the sea-urchins that migrate from sub-tidal to intertidal habitat.
• The main factors that influence what the birds eat are:

Waves
Tides
Currents

• All of these combined determine where the bird will have to search for food, and when.
  

Chemical

• The supraorbital gland is used to deal with the salt the birds encounter from feeding on crustaceans. Like humans, these marine birds cannot have all of that extra salt in their bodies.
• This gland removes the sodium chloride from the bloodstream very efficiently. This gland is 5x more effective than the human kidney.
• The supraorbital gland is located above the birds right eye, and filters the salt out of the bird when it enters the body.
• The excess salt is secreted as a byproduct through its bill. This makes the bird appear to have a runny nose, and the bird may even sneeze to get rid of this excess salt.
  

Geology

• Marine birds can be found along the rocks of the intertidal rocky shore.
• The birds make their nests along these rocks for a few reasons. First, they provide a nice stable base and provide protection from the wind. Secondly, they help the birds to blend in with their surrounding environment, and protects them from predators.
• Building the nests along the rocks also provide an observation point for searching the water below for food.
  

Rockweed

I'm researching rockweed for this project. Rockweed is a type of large brown algae that lives on rocky shores by attaching itself to the rocks. It does not have real roots, stem, or leaves, but it absorbs nutrients from the water and from the sun through its leaf-like blades. Unlike some algae rockweed has a high tolerance to temperature, but also a great need for sun light. Rockweed is important to its ecosystem because it maintains the quality of the water where it is located. It removes metals and some nutrients to help maintain the water quality, as well as converting inorganic matter into organic which benefits animal life in the area. http://www.rockweedcoalition.org/downloads/Functions_and_Values_of_Rockweeds_ME_DEP.pdf

Rocky Shore Info

http://www.ypte.org.uk/environmental/seashore-a-rocky-seashore-ecosystem/98

Seashore life occurs in zones on the shore, according to how tolerant different species are of exposure to air and sunlight. Above the level of the highest tides is the splash zone, strongly affected by salt spray. The upper shore is not covered by every high tide, usually only those of spring tides. Very few species can tolerate the relatively dry conditions of the upper shore. Most seashore animals and plants live in the middle shore, the main area of the shore which is covered and uncovered by every tide. The lower shore is only exposed during the low tides of spring tides, and this is where many delicate species may be found – those that cannot withstand much exposure.
The seaweeds of a rocky shore grow in different areas – zones – depending on their ability out of the water. The animals show a similar zonation, but because they can move around it is not so obvious. Like the plants, the animals are greatly influenced by the tide. Some species live almost as land animals around the high water-mark of spring tides, and others are only briefly exposed to the open air at the low water-mark of spring tides.

Marine Birds

I chose to do marine birds as my organisms because they can be found feeding off of other organisms that inhabit rocky shores. Marine birds don't get wet when they enter the water. They have a preening gland which secretes waxes and fats over the feathers to "waterproof" the bird. They also have salt glands in their body. This allows them to drink salt water, and sneeze the salt of out the water so it doesn't go into their body.

http://marinediscovery.arizona.edu/lessonsF00/gobies/2.html

Here are some videos which are pretty cool to watch....

http://www.arkive.org/edible-sea-urchin/echinus-esculentus/video-00.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3W4OCnHyCs

Sea urchin

The animal which I will be covering is the sea urchin. Here is some information which will allow you to better understand the sea urchin.

Diet	seaweed, algae and bits of plants and animals
Size	up to 4 inches ( 10 cm)
Color	purple and light pink
Life Cycle
Predators	Who wants to eat a pincushion?
Neat Facts	They have five teeth.
Types	Caribbean sea urchin, pencil urchin, Slate pencil urchin, purple sea urchin and sea potato
Relatives	star fish and sea cucumber

I want to begin by apologizing by taking so long to get this post up. I have been dealing with a lot of things throughout my life. But I have it all under control now and am good to go.

I am in the Rocky Shore Group and will be focusing on the Non-Vertebrates. I am very excited for this topic and will be posting some interesting information about this topic. Stay tuned for more.

Dogwhelk

Dogwhelk larvae is a temporary zooplankton that lives on rocky shores. An adult dogwhelk, Nucella lapillus, also called the Atlantic dogwinkle, is an intertidal snail with a solid, conical shaped shell. They generally have about six swollen whorls. The shell is usually about 3cm high and 2cm wide, but may grow up to 6 cm in height. They are usually white, but might also be yellow, brown, or grey, and they sometimes have bands of alternating colors. They lay eggs in which embryos develop outside the mother's body.

Geological Interaction: They are common on the rocky coasts of the North Atlantic, from Long Island north to Greenland in the west, and from southern Portugal north to Iceland, Greenland, Scandinavia, and the Siberian arctic on the eastern side. Does not migrate.

Physical Interaction: Feeds on barnacles and mussels. Dogwhelks on sheltered shores have thicker shells for protection against predators such as crabs. Has a wide aperture to make room for a large foot needed for attachment to rocks in rough tide conditions. Dog whelks on exposed shores have thinner shells. Can survive under all types of tidal strength and wave exposure.

Chemical Interaction: Some have various chromosome numbers, especially dogwhelks that live on different shores.
http://marinebio.org/species.asp?id=536

Norwich GL111 Term Project Introductions

As part of our Introduction to Oceanography class this Spring 2011 semester at Norwich University, our group will be researching and presenting on plants and animals that live in an ecosystem called 'The Rocky Shore'.

We have four group members:
patrick mcmahon, chris hein, _name_, and Daniel Taylor

Each member of our group will be reporting on a different marine organism that lives in the rocky shore ecosystem. One will be a zooplankton, one a phytoplankton, one a marine invertebrate, and one a marine vertebrate.

As part of an integrated approach, we will be researching how our organisms interact with the other aspects of the ocean system (geological, physical, and chemical).

***Note to groups:

Once you have accepted the invitation to join this blog, I will check back and grant you admin permissions, you will then be able to edit this post to include your name in one of the placeholders above. (You will also all be able to edit the same post - to add your individual information -- for future assignments).

Your next task is to comment on this post (after you click 'publish post', then click 'view post' and a comment box will be available). Your comment should introduce yourself in more detail, say what you would like, but be sure to at least include your year and major. Also say which marine organism you will be investigating.

Finally, the last person to add should delete these instructions.