The Shore Thing Project

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The Shore Thing Project
www.marlin.ac.uk/shore_thing
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Shore Thing Aims
To generate records of marine wildlife by
facilitating intertidal biological surveys at
sites around the British Isles, and to make the
results available to all on the Internet. In
addition we aim to raise awareness of marine
conservation amongst the participants and the
wider community.
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• CLIMATE
• CHANGE

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Climate Change

• Causes
• CO2 Emissions from cars, aircraft, power plants
• Methane
• Nitrous Oxide from fertilizers, cars with
  catalytic converters and burning of organic
  matter
• Deforestation

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Climate Change

• Impacts
• Sea level rise
• Melting of polar ice caps
• Change in weather patterns becoming more
  unpredictable
• Ocean acidification
• Rise in sea temperatures
• Change in the distribution of species

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Sea Surface temperatures(Plymouth)
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MarClim Project(www.mba.ac.uk/marclim)
Over 4 years scientists surveyed rocky shores
around the country and compared contemporary data
with historical records.
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THE PROJECT
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Why take part in the Shore Thing?

• Scientists need information now on the
  distribution of certain marine species, from as
  many locations as possible in order to track
  patterns and changes related to climate change.

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Participation

• National project
• Began in April 2006
• Over 250 surveys completed at 128 sites around
  the UK
• 40 schools
• Over 3,000 participants

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Survey Protocol

• Designed using standard field techniques and
  MarClim methodology
• Has to be followed so data can be compared
• Surveys take place twice a year, summer and
  autumn
• In two parts
• Transect survey
• 20 minute timed species search

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Arrival at the shore

• Check tide tables time of low water
• Health Safety risks on the shore
• Seashore Code
• Find suitable site for survey or locate start
  point of previous survey from compass
  bearings/GPS reading/photographs

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Finding the middle station

• From local tide tables determine the height of
  the middle shore.
• Take largest tide of the year and divide the
  height of high water by two.
• One person stands at upper station with ranging
  pole
• Second person walks down the shore with the other
  pole
• Upper shore person looks along their pole at a
  certain height to a height on the second pole and
  then out to the horizon
• When all our level that is the middle station.

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Levelling
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Transect Survey

• Shore sampled at 3 stations upper, middle and
  lower.
• Four quadrats should be placed randomly at each
  station.
• Do not sample rockpools as they are a different
  habitat.
• Algae and animals such as barnacles should be
  recorded as percentage cover.

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Canopy

• At the middle and lower stations you will need
  to record cover of the large seaweeds.

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Undercover

• Gently move the canopy to one side to reveal the
  seaweed and animals below.
• Be careful to check for any animals within the
  weed. They need to be included in the quadrat
  record.

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Climate change and non-native species
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Timed Species Search

• Search for 20 minutes in one of three habitats
  rockpools, boulders/crevices/overhangs or open
  rock
• Each student searches for one or two species
• Use Flash cards to help with ID
• Record abundance as

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Abundance Scale

• Abundant (A) Definitely found at certain
  level on the shore.
• Frequent (F) Definitely found after a little
  searching.
• Rare (R) Intensive search for 1 or 2
  individuals
• Not found (N) Not found after searching.
• Based on SACFORN

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Photographs

• Important to relocate survey site
• Permanent record of species within quadrat
• Can verify species ID

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Data handling www.marlin.ac.uk/shore_thing
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MySQL Database
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Retrieving Data
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Google Maps
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National Biodiversity Network
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• ROCKY SHORE ECOLOGY

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Tides

• Tides are caused by the gravitational pull of the
  moon and sun
• There are generally two tidal cycles in 24 hrs
• The rise and fall of the tide varies depending on
  whether it is a neap or spring tide
• Tidal range varies around the UK coast.

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The Rocky Shore Environment

• All species specially adapted
• Marine and terrestrial
• Exposure high
• Changing conditions
• Different zones on the shore
• Location important for identification

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Environmental Variations
Upper shore
Lower shore
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Splash Zone

• Extremely exposed
• Salt spray
• Conditions extremely variable
• Dominated by lichens
• Rarely submerged

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Upper shore

• Very exposed
• Conditions very variable
• Diversity low dominated by channelled wrack and
  small periwinkles
• Submerged for short periods
• Exposed for long periods

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Middle shore

• Moderately exposed
• Conditions moderately variable
• Dominated by fucoids, barnacles, molluscs and
  gastropods
• Species depends on exposure
• Submerged and exposed every tide

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Lower Shore

• Less exposed
• Conditions relatively stable
• High diversity of specially adapted marine
  species
• Dominated by kelps, red algae, sea squirts and
  sponges
• Submerged most of the time, only exposed on low
  spring tides

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Rocky Shore Identification

• Major groups/phylum of species are
• Algae (seaweeds)
• Lichens
• Marine Invertebrates (animals without backbones)
• Porifera (sponges)
• Cnidaria (anemones/jellyfish/hydroids)
• Crustacea (crabs/barnacles)
• Mollusca (top shells/limpets)
• Echinoderms (sea urchins/starfish)
• Marine Chordates (animals with backbones)
• Tunicates (sea squirts)
• Fish

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Marine Algae

• Brown Wracks and Kelps
• Green
• Red includes encrusting algae
• Flowering plants such as seagrass

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Lichens

• Fungus and algae living together in symbiosis
• Often an encrusting layer on rocks
• Found in the splash zone

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Marine Invertebrates (animals without backbones)

• Porifera - Sponges
• Attached to surfaces
• Very simple animals, covered with pores
• Rounded or branched forms
• Often need microscope to identify them

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• Cnidaria - Anemones, corals, hydroids and
  jellyfish
• Mouth surrounded by tentacles
• Attached and free swimming forms
• Sometimes forming large colonies

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• Crustacea - Crabs, lobsters, shrimps etc.
• Segmented body covered in hard plates
• Divided into three segments
• Jointed limbs
• Adapted to live in every marine environment

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• Mollusca - Snails, bivalves, chitons, limpets,
  sea slugs etc.
• Largest most diverse group
• Gastropods have large muscular foot
• Bivalves body surrounded by two shells held
  together with a hinge

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• Echinoderms - Starfish, sea urchins, sea
  cucumbers and brittlestars
• Tube-feet, internal skeleton of bony plates
• Often external skeletons

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Marine Chordates (animals with backbones)

• Tunicates Star of ascidian and sea squirts
• Larval stage has a backbone
• Two openings body covered in tunic of jelly
• Colonies sometimes confused with sponges

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• Fish Shanny, blenny, rockling, clingfish etc.
• Divided into two main groups, elasmobranchs
  (sharks, rays etc) and teleosts (bony fish)
• Elasmobranchs have a skeleton of cartilage
• Teleosts skeleton is bony

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Key Features
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2
Cone shaped shell, up to 2.5 cm high
Tooth on inside of mouth opening
Shell grey-green
Shiny mother of pearl inside shell opening
Bushy brown seaweed
Covered in what looks like small leaves and tiny round floats
Very dense, feels coarse and wiry
May form long lengths (like a washing line)
Prominent midrib
Pairs of almost spherical gas bladders
Dark olive brown
Up to 1 m long
Large round hole on underside of the shell
Dull greenish in colour with reddish-purple broad diagonal stripes
Small top shell 1.6 am high. 2.2 cm across
3
4
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Species No. 1

• Cone shaped shell, up to 2.5 cm high
• Tooth on inside of mouth opening
• Shell grey-green
• Shiny mother of pearl inside shell opening

H
Osilinus lineatus
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Species No. 2

• Bushy brown seaweed
• Covered in what looks like small leaves and tiny
  round floats
• Very dense, feels coarse and wiry
• May form long lengths (like a washing line)

D
Sargassum muticum
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Species No. 3

• Prominent midrib
• Pairs of almost spherical gas bladders
• Dark olive brown
• Up to 1 m long

F
Fucus Vesiculosus
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Species No. 4

• Small round hole on underside of the shell
• Dull greenish in colour with reddish-purple broad
  diagonal stripes
• Small top shell 1.6 cm high. 2.2 cm across

C
Gibbula umbilicalis