We managed to survey two different seashore sites out on Isle Martin today!!
The two sites (one in front of the houses and one on the back beach) have very different levels of exposure, meaning we can compare the data from them and learn about how this impacts on shore life. We also learnt more about identifying the boundaries between the different zones on the shore and how the gradient of the beach affects that.
Again, we used NatureScot's Community-led Marine Biodiversity Monitoring Handbook as our structure for the surveys and this time we had Poppy on photos, Arwen on gps and Hamish and Josh on quadrats and labelling...what a team!
We also completed a Big Seaweed Search (Marine Conservation Society Natural History Museum, London) - (http://bigseaweedsearch.org/) We really recommend those for anyone interested in getting into seashore surveying themselves! Citizen science is such good fun and a really valuable thing to do.
With everyone's confidence really building around species identification and how to use the quadrat square subsections to estimate percentages, we're thinking we might invest some of the kind donations we have recently had in getting a couple more quadrat squares, and a few more copies of the book (The Essential Guide to Rockpooling by Julie Hatcher, Steve Trewhella which we love more every time we use it!) Then, next time, we can break up into smaller groups and get even more data logged with each seashore visit.
Massive thanks, as ever, to Coigach & Assynt Living Landscape for the funding that makes it possible for USS to conduct these surveys and to @Ailsamaclellan for sharing such a vast and varied wealth of knowledge on all things marine science! And thanks to Isle Martin Trust for ferrying uss there and back! ?
The two sites (one in front of the houses and one on the back beach) have very different levels of exposure, meaning we can compare the data from them and learn about how this impacts on shore life. We also learnt more about identifying the boundaries between the different zones on the shore and how the gradient of the beach affects that.
Again, we used NatureScot's Community-led Marine Biodiversity Monitoring Handbook as our structure for the surveys and this time we had Poppy on photos, Arwen on gps and Hamish and Josh on quadrats and labelling...what a team!
We also completed a Big Seaweed Search (Marine Conservation Society Natural History Museum, London) - (http://bigseaweedsearch.org/) We really recommend those for anyone interested in getting into seashore surveying themselves! Citizen science is such good fun and a really valuable thing to do.
With everyone's confidence really building around species identification and how to use the quadrat square subsections to estimate percentages, we're thinking we might invest some of the kind donations we have recently had in getting a couple more quadrat squares, and a few more copies of the book (The Essential Guide to Rockpooling by Julie Hatcher, Steve Trewhella which we love more every time we use it!) Then, next time, we can break up into smaller groups and get even more data logged with each seashore visit.
Massive thanks, as ever, to Coigach & Assynt Living Landscape for the funding that makes it possible for USS to conduct these surveys and to @Ailsamaclellan for sharing such a vast and varied wealth of knowledge on all things marine science! And thanks to Isle Martin Trust for ferrying uss there and back! ?
