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Bio20 - 11 - Intertidal Communities - Color

Bio20 - 11 - Intertidal Communities - color

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20 views

Bio20 - 11 - Intertidal Communities - Color

Bio20 - 11 - Intertidal Communities - color

Uploaded by

bzzmh29
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Lecture 11: Intertidal Communities

Objectives:
1. State where the intertidal zone is found in the
ocean.
2. State the challenges intertidal organisms face
and some adaptations to solve these problems
3. Describe zonation in the intertidal and what
typically controls upper and lower limits
4. Describe rocky & soft bottomed intertidal
habitats
5. Name the common organisms found in each of
these habitats
Intertidal Zone
• The intertidal
(littoral) zone is
the area between
the mean low tide
and mean high
tide
• The intertidal zone
will be exposed
during low tide, at
least once a day.
Intertidal Zone
Tides
Rocky vs. Soft-Bottomed

Rocky Intertidal Soft-Bottomed Intertidal


Challenges Associated with the Intertidal
• Desiccation (water loss)
• Temperature changes (can be extreme)
• Salinity changes (can be extreme)
• Interrupted feeding
• Wave action and tides
• Oxygen availability and build-up of CO2 at low tide
• Limited space
Desiccation
• When exposed, organisms must deal with potential
water loss.
• Water loss is more pronounced on hot, dry, or
windy days.
Desiccation
• Solutions include:
• Hide in a shady area
• Stay submerged in a tide
pool or crevice
• “Clam up”—seal up a hard
outer covering with water
inside
Temperature
• Wide range of
temperatures in this
zone
• Solutions:
• Stay in the water of the
tide pools
• Move into the subtidal
zone at low tide
• Deal with it
(evolutionary
adaptations)
Annual temperature variation in a
tide pool in Pacific Grove, CA
Salinity
• Salinity can change dramatically due to
temperatures (evaporation in tide pools) or
weather (rain).
• Solution:
• organisms in the intertidal are normally
euryhaline (can tolerate a wide variety of
salinities);
• Subtidal organisms are normally stenohaline
(tolerate very low variations in salinities).
Interrupted Feeding
• Filter feeders rely on water to feed. This can’t
happen during low tide.
• More of a problem in the rocky intertidal (less in
soft-bottom areas)
• Solutions:
• Live lower in the intertidal
• Stay in tide pools
• Deal with it (slow growth)
Wave Action
• Wave exposure can be a problem
for intertidal organisms.
• Rocky shores are often exposed
to significant wave action.
Limited Space
• In some intertidal
communities, space may be
limited.
• This is particularly true in
the rocky intertidal, where
surface area is limited.
• Many organisms have spores
or larvae that are carried by
waves and currents to
disperse to new locations—
why is this important?
Intertidal Substrates
• Intertidal zone substrate can be rocky or soft
bottom.
• Soft bottoms can vary from sand to silt or a mixture
(mud).
• Rocky substrate can vary as to the type of rock and the
slope angle.
Zonation in the Rocky Intertidal
Zonation due to
varying degrees of
exposure: upper
intertidal (most
exposed) to middle
and lower intertidal
(least exposed)
Zonation in the Rocky Intertidal
• Upper zones are typically controlled by abiotic factors—
desiccation, temperature, etc.
• Lower zones are controlled by biotic factors—
competition and predation
Predation in the Rocky Intertidal
Predation by keystone predators such as sea
stars strongly affect occurrence and density of
animals in the middle intertidal.
(Some) Common Organisms
in the CA rocky intertidal

Codium Sour-brush CA Mussel

Ochre Sea Star Limpet Sea Anemone


Soft Bottom Intertidal Communities
• Soft à organisms can burrow
• Sandy beaches, mud flats
Problems of living in sediment
• Desiccation is NOT as much of a problem à just
burrow down!
Problems of living in sediment
• Unstable sediments move due to currents, waves and
tides
• Can’t hold on
• Not many seaweeds, sea grasses are more common primary
producers
• But nutrients may also wash in from land or sea
• Animals must burrow = infauna

https://youtu.be/jpexS4-9IF0
Problems of living in sediment
• Oxygen availability
• Used up by animals and bacteria &
replenished by water flowing though
sediment
• Problem in muddy bottoms à
become anoxic
• Animals may pump water from the
sediment surface or adapt to low
oxygen

Black layer shows where the


oxygen has been completely
depleted and hydrogen
sulphide is produced
Problems of living in sediment
• Getting around
• Larger animals must burrow
https://www.shapeoflife.org/
video/annelids-abarenicola-
burrowing-worm

• Tiny animals (meiofauna) live between the grains of


sediment
Problems of living in sediment
• Feeding
• Most infauna are deposit feeders or suspension feeders
• Diatoms, detritus, and phytoplankton
Beach Grooming
Do you want to
hang out on a
beach that looks
like this???

Human’s solution:
beach grooming
Sea Turtle Nest
(raking)

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/are-we-grooming-beaches-to-death-180969802/
(Some) Common Organisms
in the CA sandy beaches

Mole Crabs Clams

Beach Hopper Blood Worms


Pacific Mole Crabs

https://youtu.be/tfoYD8pAsMw

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