Yesterday my AP Bio class took a field trip to the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve in Half Moon Bay. We left at 7:30 in the morning and drove over to the reserve. It was sprinkling a little bit so I was afraid of the cold but it was actually a really fun field trip! I learned a lot about the biodiversity of the organisms found in the tide pools and the characteristics. One thing I learned is that many of the anemones, including the aggregating anemones, are covered in sand and shells as seen in the picture below. Why do the sticky bumps on their skin collect this “garbage”? Shells and sand not only act as a camouflage but as a protectant against the sun to prevent drying out. Pretty cool huh? Another thing I learned is about the strength of the sea plants and clams. Many people think that stepping on the plants and the clams hurts and kills them since they are living breathing beings. I used to think the same thing until I was told differently. These plants and clams are able to withstand a considerable amount of weight due to the mavericks and huge waves that come crashing down upon these organisms. The third thing I learned is that encrusting coralline algae, which is pinkish color, turns white when it dies. The white on the rocks makes it look a little bit like dried bird poop. This was interesting to me but did not surprise me since it made sense that the dead algae lost all of its color and turned a pale white color.
In class a little while ago, we learned about protists and how they were commonly caracterized as plants. Algae, as plant-like as it may seem, is a protist. There were many different types of algae in the tidal pools including Green Pin-cushion, Tar Spot, Encrusting Coralline (seen below in #1), Upright Coralline (seen below in #2), Scouring Pad, Lawn Algae, and many more.
This is a picture of Encrusting Coralline and…..https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4127/5191179813_b3bc8a2e4f_b.jpg
this is a picture of upright coralline.http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a5/Mesophyllum_sp..jpg
Something else we learned in class that related to the field trip is about the phylum mollusca. One kind of animal found in this phylum are sea snails since they are “soft-bodied”, have a head and foot region, and they have a hard shell made of chitin. There was a very common type of gastropod in the tide pools: turban snails. They look like this:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5b/Tegula_funebralis.jpg
One thing I will always remember is the group of seals laying out together on the tide pools. They were flopping around and feeding and mating, so we had to be quiet. I really enjoyed this field trip and I was impacted by the service learning aspect. It was fun to be exploring and digging around in the pools while taking stats and helping the reserve to analyze the data we collect. I definitely would have worn warmer clothes since I thought I was going to get my feet wet. I honestly would not change anything about the since it was enjoyable and entertaining, despite the fact that it was relatively short.
I encourage every to go to the reserve and to check out the tide pools since they were pretty fascinating! This trip is for all ages, no matter how much biological knowledge is present beforehand. This field trip is definitely something I recommend to continue for the future AP Bio classes 🙂