DATA ANALYSIS OF RANDOM QUADRAT STUDIES OF SUNSET COVE HOTEL BEACH KEY LARGO, FLORIDA and THE POTENTIAL AFFECTS OF THE BP OIL SPILL

Transcription

1 Name Date/year DATA ANALYSIS OF RANDOM QUADRAT STUDIES OF SUNSET COVE HOTEL BEACH KEY LARGO, FLORIDA and THE POTENTIAL AFFECTS OF THE BP OIL SPILL Introduction Students from Arlington High School, Arlington, NY, have been collecting data on marine plant and algae species in Key Largo, FL, for the last 7 years. This long-term observational study has created a baseline of information regarding both seagrass and algae populations in this area of Key Largo and has been submitted to the Nature Conservancy for inclusion in their database. With the potential for oil from the BP spill (or future spill) in the Gulf of Mexico reaching the Florida Keys, this exercise will allow students to both analyze current data for trends and hypothesize potential oil impacts on those populations using a space across time comparison. Part I. Seagrass Study and Analysis Objectives: 1. Students will learn basic information and importance of seagrasses and marine algae. 2. Students will understand the methods and interpretations of observational study methods and the importance of long-term data collections. 3. Students will analyze previously collected data; looking for trends or patterns in the data and listing variables and uncertainties in the data. 4. Students will list and describe variables and uncertainty in the data collection and results. 5. Extension students will design, collect, and analyze data using a similar methodology. Materials: Students will use the following materials: handout computer access if constructing graphs of raw data in Excel experimental design materials - quadrat and plant guides

2 Pre and Post Assessment Question Every year for the last 7 years, students and scientists collect data about which plants, and how much of each species of plant, are growing on the ocean floor around Key Largo. This data is being collected to have a baseline of information about plant growth in the area. 1. In your opinion, this study is: 1 - Very Scientific 2 - Scientific 3 - Somewhat scientific 4 - Barely scientific 5 Not at all scientific Why? 2. In your opinion, this study is: 1 - Very Important 2 - Important 3 - Moderately Important 4 - Of Little Importance 5 - Unimportant Why? Background Information: Key Largo Plants and algae: Marine plants and algae form the base of the oceanic food chain. All plants take energy from the sunlight and nutrients from the water and carbon dioxide to make food and oxygen that is used by all other marine organisms to sustain life. In addition, the vast areas of vegetation are used as important nursery grounds for animals. Marine plants and algae also play an important role in global carbon dioxide budgets and are an enormous sink for CO 2. Despite all the many benefits of marine plants and algae, we often ignore their importance and they are frequently damaged. Studying the two types of marine producers (seagrass and algae) can give researchers an understanding of the carrying capacity of the environment. Baseline population studies give us a clear understanding of what species are present and what

3 species the habitat can support. In the event of an environmental disaster, the baseline data sets could be extrapolated and thus be helpful in determining the extent of damage and the possible impacts to the area. Data Collection in Key Largo, FL This is the protocol used by Arlington High School students each year for data collection. 1. Establish the total area of the study site. Measure the length and the width of the area. (Area can be calculated using Google Earth) Snorkel in shallow (beach to mid-dock), middle (mid-dock to end of dock) and (end of dock to no swimming buoy) and randomly place your 0.5m2 quadrats down in an area. Do this by tossing the quadrat to the next site without looking. Carefully snorkel up to the quadrat without stirring up the bottom. It is important to wear fins for this!!

4 3. Once you are over the quadrat, snorkel down several times to estimate the percent cover of each species in the quadrat. Communicate to the data recorder your location and your percent covers for each species. Be sure that your numbers add up to 100% (the data recorder can do this and use sand to make up the data to 100%. 4.Do at least 5 random quadrats in the shallow, middle and areas. This is the data sheet the Arlington students used: Species Shallow Mermaids Wineglass Red algal Species Turtle Grass Shoal/ Manatee Grass Cactus/ shag Sp. Halimeda Penicillis, Other Sand Add to 100%? Shallow Shallow Shallow Shallow

5 Shallow Shallow Middle Middle Middle Middle Middle Middle Middle Deep Deep Deep Deep Deep Deep Deep

6 Percent Coverage Cover is the percentage of a quadrat area occupied by a given species. If the species are trees, then we calculate the area beneath the canopy of the tree In the quadrat to the left, each small square represents 5% of the total quadrat. So, species A fills approximately 5% (all together they would fit in one small square). Species B fills 15% (2 full square on the bottom and 2 half squares on the top). Notice that we don t count the percentage of plant B outside of the quadrat. Species C occupies about 20%. Calculate your own percent coverage of random plots in your schoolyard or backyard. 1. Using rope, string, PVC pipes, hula hoops or some other materials, randomly place several quadrats in any type of habitat you select, or compare the vegetation in more than one habitat (just as the students Key Largo did). Your nearby habitats could be a lawn, forest, field, or a pond. It doesn t really matter, as long as there are plants growing! 2. Create a data sheet below that is similar to the Key Largo data sheet. If you don t know the names of the plants, simply give them a name that you ll remember. 3. Make a prediction of how similar or different the vegetation in the different quadrats will be.

7 DATA ANALYSIS: This is the data analysis sheet used by the Arlington High School students. 1. Gather all of the data together and add up all the shallow, middle and quadrats for each species and divide by the total number of quadrats that we sampled in order to obtain the mean percent cover. Species Total Shallow/ total #of quadrats Mermaids Wineglass Red algal Speci es Turtl e Grass Shoal/ Manate e Grass Cactus/ shag Sp. Halimeda Penicillis, Other Sand Add to 100%? Total Middle/ total #of quadrats Total Deep/ total #of quadrats 2. What is the total area of the study site: (lxw in meters) = 690m2 Questions on Data Collected: Students will either construct graphs from raw data or use the handout with graphs already constructed. Using the 2010 raw data or graph: 1. What are the different plant and algae species that live in the beach area? 2. Which species is dominant? Co-dominant? 3. What is the percent cover of each species (shallow, mid, )? 4. What are some possible reasons to keep track of vegetation changes over time? What is the value of baseline data?

8 Critical Thinking: 1. Looking at the data from previous years, do you see a pattern or trend in the data? Try to explain the trends that you see. What environmental conditions and phenomena could influence these species. Come up with at least 5 trends or patterns. Trend a: Trend b: Trend c: Trend d: Trend e: 2. Pick one species of seagrass or algae and describe an overall trend that you see over time. A trend, by definition, is something that is usually true, but not always. Thinking about that trend, what variables exist that keep it a trend and not a constant, that would always be true. There are variables controlled by the investigator (same people, same time, etc), and then there are the variables that are uncontrolled (weather, disturbances, etc). Also include ideas for how you could reduce the variability in methods and data collection. Extension experimental design Have students design and conduct a field study, using a similar protocol as listed above. Data and analysis sheets can be adapted from the above study to guide students. Students should write a lab report including an abstract, materials and methods, data, results, and conclusion.

9 Part II. BP Oil Spill and Relation to Seagrass Study Background BP Oil Spill The Deepwater Horizon was an oil rig drilling one mile below the surface of the water in the Gulf of Mexcio. On April 20, 2010, an explosion caused it to sink, and subsequently break the pipe one mile below, beginning the largest oil spill in the history of the United States. While there are no true measures of how much oil is being released into the Gulf, estimates range from 60,000 barrels a day (each barrel holds 42 gallons). This oil, once in the water column, is moved by ocean and wind currents over a large area of the Gulf of Mexico. Click on the link ( to see real-time data of the oil spill. Click on the Google Earth link to see the interactive map and information regarding the spill: Excerpt from LA Times reading ( James Fourqurean, a sea grass ecologist with Florida International University said that about 7,000 square miles of sea grass, flowering plants that live under the ocean, are located along the Florida Shelf, the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, Florida Bay and Biscayne Bay. If a surface slick runs along the southern tip of the Florida peninsula, it could be pulled into the Florida Bay and could remain resident there for years. And Florida Bay is part of Everglades National Park. However, Forqurean added that one of the good news pieces is that sea grasses are relatively resistant to oil spills. The only time that sea grasses are drastically harmed is when oil ponds up at low tide and inches across the bed. The bad news is that all the animals that shelter in sea grass beds are very susceptible to oil. Especially larval forms. Oil is very, very toxic to animals... Animals that live completely submerged are poisoned by slightly soluble components of the oil. Oil has elements that are toxic to anything with gills...turtles and manatees have to breathe air so they come up to the surface. And oil on the surface is sludgier, so that is a physical problem as well as directly toxic. Excerpt from primary journal article (Thomas Dean and Stephen Jewett, Habitat-Specific Recovery of Shallow Subtidal Communities Following the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill, Ecological Applications, Vol. 11, No. 5 (Oct. 2001), pp ) (from Introduction) The Exxon Valdez oil spill occurred in March 1989, spilling nearly 41 x 106L of crude oil into Prince William Sound in Alaska Abstract. We contrasted impacts of the Exxon Valdez oil spill within kelp and eelgrass communities and examined recovery of these communities over a period of up to 10 yr after the spill. Impacts were greatest in the sheltered bays that were subject to heavy oiling. The effects of oiling and associated cleanup activities on nearshore subtidal communities within these bays were more evident in eelgrass than in kelp habitats. In 1990, a year after the spill, concentrations of total polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (TPHAHs) were higher, more groups of organisms were impacted, and more groups showed a negative response to oil (i.e., lower densities at oiled vs.

10 reference sites) in eelgrass than in kelp beds. Recovery was slower in eelgrass than in kelp habitats. About 80% of the groups impacted in eelgrass beds failed to show clear signs of recovery by 1995, six years after the spill. In contrast, most impacted groups in kelp beds recovered within two years. The stronger, more persistent impacts in eelgrass beds were probably related to the occurrence of more sensitive species (especially crustaceans), the higher concentration of TPAHs, and the more persistent nature of oil within sheltered eelgrass beds than in kelp beds. These data corroborate earlier findings that suggest that impacts from large oil spills are persistent, especially in soft-sediment environments. Vocab a) eelgrass collective term for all species of seagrasses b) (T)PAHs - a group of chemicals that occur naturally in coal, crude oil and gasoline. Critical Thinking Questions: 1. Do the results differ between the Times and journal article? If so, how? 2. Based on the readings, do you think the BP oil disaster will affect the plant and algae species in the Key largo area if the oil moves into there? If so, which plants and why? 3. Do you think all species will respond in the same way? 4. What factors of the oil will cause it to have a more devastating effect on the plants and algae in this region? 5. Why should we care about the plants and algae? Extension ARCGIS activity (work in progress): Procedure: 1. Open ARCGIS 2. Open shapefiles: countries, FL data, AL data, MS data, TX data, oil spill data (will be provided in folders preloaded on laptop lab) 3. Add data that will show wetland and seagrass areas, important data related to oil spill. Take a screen shot of map and save. 4. Research models of ocean currents and predicted weather and write a statement about the flow of oil in the Gulf of Mexico and it's potential threat to the FL seagrass areas. Support your answers with specific examples and explanations. 5. (website didn't cooperate but source of shapefiles: ) Data came from: Follow the links on this page to access, view, and download ESI data for the coastlines of US. These maps work well with all types of coastal research questions.

11 Downloading ESI Maps and GPS Data A second NOAA link with all kinds of analysis data of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: Joint Analysis Group: NOAA Links Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: Seafood Surveillance Data Northern Gulf of Mexico Ecoregional Plan 6. How does this exercise support your answers in the previous section?

12 Percent cover of Merm aids w ineglass off Sunset Co Percent cover of Red Algal Species off Sunset Cove, K Percent Co s h a llo Percent Cover per.5m s h a llo Yea D epth Zo s h a llo w Yea Dept s h a llo w Percent cover of Turtle Grass off Sunset Cove, Key La Percent cover of Shoal Grass off Sunset Cove, Key La Percent Co s h a llo Percent co s h a llo Yea Dept s h a llo w Yea Dept s h a llo w P e rce n t co v e r o f H a lim e d a, P e n n icillis, e tc. o ff S u n se t P ercen t cover of D asycladu s sp. o ff Su n set C ove, K e Percent co s h a llo Percent co s h a llo Yea Dept s h a llo w Yea Dept s h a llo w Percent cover of Sand off Sunset Cove, Key Larg Percent co s h a llo Yea Dept s h a llo w

13 Inshore Red Algal species common to Florida Bay

14 Turtle Grass Manatee Grass Shoal Grass Manatees are herbivores!!