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Exercise - Cabrillo Marine Aquarium
Name _______________
Class ________________
Date ___________________
This form must be stamped by the aquarium staff at the front
desk to get credit.
You must complete the exercise, and do a writing assignment based on information in the
aquarium. The field trip is worth 15 pts and the writing assignment is worth 15pt. This is
an on-your-own field trip. Check the due date in the syllabus. Your answers on this
form must be legible to me or you get credit. (I must be able to read it.)
How to get there. Check their web site for hours of operation. Take Harbor freeway south
from campus toward San Pedro. Exit at the Gaffey Street exit going south (a left turn
from the off-ramp.) Continue south on Gaffey Street past First Street and take any likely
left turn to get to Pacific Avenue, which parallels Gaffey. Go south on Pacific Ave. for
several miles until you get to Stephen White Drive. There is a sign on the right
indicating the turn to the Aquarium. Turn left on Stephen White Drive going downhill
and continue left at the fork in the road to the kiosk entrance station. Parking is a dollar
an hour (as of spring, 2014). Both the aquarium and I request that you donate at least
from 1-5 dollars to help support the aquarium at the entrance. Be sure to get a map and
return it when you leave.
Student Learning Outcomes:
1) Identify the physical and biological factors in the ocean that affect living organisms.
2) To identify and characterize marine plants and animals.
3) Describe the intertidal and sub-tidal communities.
4) Discuss the current issues of ocean pollution and economic use.
One of our goals is to learn about classification of life. "Classification" is a method of
grouping things by their common characteristics. One of our aims is to learn species
composition of the major groups (phyla in this case), and the common characteristics of
the group.
Marine plants
Seaweeds:
Phylum Chlorophyta: (green algae such as sea lettuce)
Phylum Rhodophyta (red algae such as coralline algae)
Phylum Phaeophyta (brown algae such as giant kelp)
Flowering plants:
Phylum Angiospermae (flowering plants such as cord grasses, sea grasses)
Marine Animals
Phylum Cnidaria (Fi - lum Ni - DAR - e- a) (jellyfish, sea anemones, and corals)
Phylum Annelida (polychaete worms, fan worms).
Phylum Mollusca (clams, oysters, snails, slugs, octopuses and squids, chitins)
Phylum Arthropoda (barnacles, shrimp, lobsters, crabs).
Phylum Echinodermata (E - ki - no - der - mata) (sea urchins, sand dollars, sea
cucumbers, starfish, brittle stars)
Phylum Chordata (sea squirts, fish, birds, mammals, and reptiles)
Entry area: “Marine Life of Southern California”
The information you need to find is on the wall facing the entrance.
Two important physical factors that affect occurrence and distribution of marine species
are surface water temperature and nutrient availability.
"Complex currents make a complex habitat."
Look at the map "Geographic distribution of marine life." Notice that Los Angeles has
both cold and warm water adapted marine species. What is it about our surface currents
that makes this so?
Draw a map of the coast below showing the California Current and the Counter Current
system, and the warm and cold-water species.
"Upwelling mixing the waters."
Dissolved nutrients (such as nitrate and phosphate) in the surface water are important
fertilizers for plant growth.
What is the direction of winds on our coast produce widespread upwelling currents?
____________. What role does upwelling play in the redistribution of nutrients?
Plants can only grow where physical factors such as water, nutrients, and light are readily
available. While water is readily available, light and nutrients are not. Light is filtered
by particulates in the water, so plants grow near the surface.
When organisms die, their bodies fall to the bottom and decompose, and the nutrients in
their bodies accumulate on the bottom. A force is needed to bring these nutrients to the
surface where plants can absorb them.
"Climate Change - El Nino"
The El Nino event can dramatically change both local weather patterns, which also
affects local currents and dissolved nutrients in the water.
How does an El Nino event affect the California Current in this area?
What does this do to the nutrients in the water?
When dissolved nutrients in the water, plant growth slows down. Without their usual
nutrients, kelp forests can decline and even disappear. Microscopic phytoplankton
declines as well, which can cause a general collapse of the food chain. Top carnivores
such as sea birds and marine mammals will starve or migrate to other regions. El Ninos
are usually not good news.
Other physical factor that is important to marine life is the type of bottom, the speed of
current and the degree of exposure to the air.
Turn left and enter the rocky intertidal habitat exhibit. Watch the wave tank at the
entrance for a few minutes and you will see the problems rocky intertidal organisms face.
As tides rise and fall twice each day, these intertidal animals and plants must endure
exposure to the air for at least short periods where they can dry out, and swift moving
water that can sweep them away. Fortunately they have a firm surface to anchor
themselves, hide in cracks and crevasses, or burrow into the rock for safety.
Most of the inhabitants in the tank protect themselves from being swept away by clinging
tightly to the rock. The beautiful green flower-like organisms are actually animals. They
are sea anemones. Their basal disc forms suction on the rock.
Competition for space is important in this community. Notice how the rocks in the tank
are crowded with life. Space for attachment is a limited resource in this community, and
each individual must compete with the neighbors for it. Anemones will engage in battle,
stinging each other, sometimes to death. Limpets, a small type of marine snail, will push
intruders out of defended territories.
Enter the rocky intertidal. Area 3 and 4 on your map shows typical inhabitants of the
rocky shore.
Mussels are members of the Phylum Mollusca. Most mollusks have a hard shell of
calcium carbonate that protects them from drying out when exposed to the air, and
provides some protection from predators. This shell is produced by a layer of skin called
the mantle. Mantle and shell are defining characteristics of this phylum, as well as a
muscular 'foot' for locomotion.
Mussels are large animals, and they can outcompete other animals for space on these
wave-swept rocks. Often they will competitively exclude other animals from large areas
of the rocky intertidal. When mussels are absent, a wider variety of species will colonize
in and establish themselves in their place. This includes species of limpets, barnacles, and
various algae.
Find the display on the mussel and how it attaches itself to rocks so it won't be swept
away? What is it? ___________________.
Look around in this exhibit and you will find examples of animals that bore into the rock,
or construct burrows to protect themselves from swift currents and exposure.
Name an example of a burrower that is a worm. : ______________. What phylum does it
represent? ____________. (See the phylum list at the beginning). This phylum
contains worms with repeating segments.
Biological factors control the distribution and abundance of species as well as
physical factors like temperature, light, nutrients, currents, type of bottom, etc.
The abundance and diversity of the plants present is very important in determining
the abundance and variety of animals present. Feeding by animals, herbivory and
carnivory, also limits where their potential food sources can live.
"Grazers and Browsers". Grazers and browsers are herbivores (they feed on plants).
This is, technically speaking, a type of predation.
Name two examples of grazers or browsers and their phylum.
_____________________ Phylum__________________
_____________________ Phylum__________________
Find the wall illustration on the left showing the food web of the rocky intertidal. Arrows
show what organisms are eaten by other organisms. This is how energy is from one
individual to another.
At the base of the food web are the plants, the autotrophs that use photosynthesis to
transform energy from the sun into chemical energy in their bodies. Some are
microscopic phytoplankton such as diatoms and dinoflagellates. Others are larger
seaweeds and sea grasses.
The next step in the food web is the grazers. List some common grazers below. These
are herbivores, the plant eaters.
The next step in the food web is the carnivores. List some common carnivores below.
Food webs in nature are not always as simple as the chart would indicate. Herbivores and
carnivores are more versatile in what they will eat to survive.
Top carnivores are animals at the very end of food chains, which are generally not preyed
on by anything else (at least as adults) unless it is humans. In marine systems, large
marine mammals, large fish, and marine birds are usually in that category.
Area 4
"What are the Seaweeds?"
Large algae called seaweeds are an important component of the rocky intertidal.
List the 3 types of seaweed found on the rocks below.
______________________
______________________
______________________
Each is partly defined by the type of pigments in the plants used to capture light. This
tends to give each a distinctive hue. They lack highly developed tissues internally.
Not all large marine plants are seaweeds. A few large marine plants are in the Phylum
Angiospermae, the so-called flowering plants. These are descended from land plants but
have adapted to living in seawater. List 2 examples below.
____________________________
____________________________
Unlike the seaweeds, these plants do have highly developed internal tissues. A unique
characteristic of the group is their method of reproduction; they have flowers.
AS YOU TURN THE CORNER YOU ENTER AREAS 5-13.
Area 5-13
Look at the wall area "Carnivorous forms"
Carnivores are at the top of the food web, feeding on animal protein. But there are many
ways to be a predator in the rocky intertidal.
Phylum Cnidaria are all carnivores.
List below some common cnidarians of the rocky intertidal and how they feed.
What is the name of the type of cells on the tentacles that these hunters use in catching
their prey? _________________ These cells are a unique characteristic of this phylum
and one of their defining characteristics. They are used to spear and paralyze their prey.
"Filter feeders"
Filter feeders are animals that feed by filtering plankton from the water. This passive way
of getting food is very common in aquatic animals. The plankton they are feeding on
consists of both plants and animals, many of which are microscopic.
Many phyla (plural of phylum) contain animals that are filter feeders.
List examples of filter feeders in following phyla below using the wall display.
Phylum Porifora:
Phylum Chordata:
Phylum Mollusca:
Phylum Annelida:
Phylum Arthropoda:
"Hunters of the Rocky Shore"
Hunters must either actively pursue their prey, or wait in ambush for them. But they too
have different methods of capturing prey.
Predation is an important factor in marine communities. For example, consider the
starfish on display
Phylum Echinodermata includes predatory starfish. They are grouped together because
they have a unique system called a water vascular system that operates tube feet. The
tube feet help them grasp their prey by suctioning onto it.
List some examples below from the displays, especially the ocher star.
The local ocher star enter the rocky intertidal to feed on shellfish. Their favorite prey are
mussels and clams. They use the suction power of their tube feet to open a mussel just
enough to eat it, by everting their stomach into the shells. Mussels are large animals that
tend to outcompete smaller species for an attachment site on the rock. Starfish predation
on mussels is actually beneficial to other rocky intertidal shellfish! When mussels are
eaten, new space is created on the rocks for other smaller species to take up residence.
Some mollusks are predators too.
List some examples of predatory snails below and include how each feed.
welk example:
Murex example:
Cone snail example:
Phylum Arthropod also contains many active hunters. Arthropods have grouped
together partly based on their hard exoskeleton and their jointed legs.
List below a few common predatory arthropods of the rocky intertidal on display and, if
possible, how they catch their prey.
The exoskeleton of chitin, walking legs, and body divided into segments (or divisions)
are defining features of the arthropods. Notice that the legs may have become adapted to
special functions; some adapted to be claws, some used to transfer sperm from male to
female, as well as used for walking. We even believe that the antenna and the
mouthparts all evolved from some kind of walking leg that adapted to new functions.
The Arthropods are a highly diverse and successful group both on land and at sea. They
have keen senses and a well-developed nervous system and a brain (although it is
small.) All physiological systems, the circulatory, respiratory, excretory and so on are in
fact are well developed.
Area 17: Turn right into the next room. Find the octopus. Octopods are important
predators of the bottom. Despite the fact that they have lost their shell, they are a
mollusk. Read the description of the octopus on the wall, and look at its internal
anatomy. Mollusks also have a complex internal anatomy, and the cephalopods like the
octopus and squid, also have a well-developed nervous system. What is the function of
the mantle in this organism (since in this case it does not produce a shell)?
An octopus can squeeze through passages 1/10th their diameter, making them excellent at
hunting in cracks and crevasses, and escape artists when kept in captivity.
Area 18: Another biological factor that affects species distribution is “symbiosis”,
the intimate living together of two entirely different species. One example of this is in the
adjacent tank with the moray eel. It has a partner that lives with it in a relationship.
Describe this relationship.
This type of relationship benefits both partners, a type of symbiosis called “mutualism”.
Cleaner organisms function to remove parasites. The cleaner gains a food and the
cleaned animal is much healthier and less likely to die of its parasites.
Not all symbiosis benefits both partners. Parasitic relationships are also symbiotic but
only one partner benefits in that case.
Area 20, 21: Enter the Kelp Forest exhibit.
Offshore of the rocky intertidal is a sub-tidal habitat called the kelp forest. The forest is
dominated by a single species of giant seaweed. Here in southern California, the giant
kelp Macrocystus is that plant. Kelp forest exists on the western coast of North
American up to Alaska.
Kelp forests grow along rocky coastlines in depths of about 6 to 90+ ft.. Kelp favors
nutrient-rich, cool waters that range in temperature from 42o to 72o F. These brown algae
communities live in clear water conditions through which light penetrates easily. Kelp
reproduces most successfully in regions of upwelling (regions where the ocean layers
overturn, bringing cool, nutrient-rich bottom waters to the surface) and regions with
continuously cold, high-nutrient waters.
The root-like structure at the bottom holds onto rocky surfaces and keeps the plant from
drifting away in the currents. What is this structure called? ___________. Notice that it
is not called a root because it does not that the kind of internal tissues that we see in the
flowering plants.
A diagram illustrates the life cycle of this plant. Like most of the algae, the giant kelp has
a complicated life cycle. Notice that it does not have flowers.
This giant seaweed supports and protects many marine species, especially fish. List
below some of the fish that are found here.
These fish are all members of the Phylum Chordata, animals with a small cartilaginous
rod called a notochord. In most chordates the notochord is replace by the backbone or
vertebrae in the adult animal, as it is in these fish. We call them Vertebrates.
Look at the pie chart. This illustrates the many animals that live directly on the plant. List
a few below.
Area 22: Sandy subtidal habitat.
Go through the doorway on the left. Find the wave tank illustrating the sandy shoreline.
Beaches are another type of intertidal habitat. Watch the wave tank for a few minutes
and you will see some of the problems facing plant and animal life here. The sand is an
unstable substrate, always shifting with the waves. There is nothing stable to attach to so
waves don’t sweep an organism away. Consequently there are few large plants or animals
that live here. The most abundant life is microscopic, living between the sand grains.
But there is some life that tolerates these conditions. One type is visible in the tank, a
type of bony fish we call the flat fish. They have special adaptations to life in this
habitat. One is a flat rounded body. The other has to do with their eyes. Describe it
below.
Name some typical flatfish found here below and their phylum. They are all in class
Osteichthyes.
____________________________ Phylum___________________
____________________________Phylum ___________________
Other animals commonly found here are burrowing crabs and clams.
Turn around. Find the display on sand dollars. The species on display is a bit unusual
for a sand dollar because it stands on edge. By standing together on end, they help each
other to stabilize the shifting sand. These animals are also echinoderms, like starfish, and
have the same water vascular system operating tube feet, but unlike them they filter
plankton from the water rather then hunt and scavenge.
Enter Area 25. Salt marshes.
In areas were salt water and freshwater meet on the coasts, we find another kind of
intertidal and subtidal community. The salt marsh intertidal community is often found in
quiet bays where there is no wave action, slow currents, and tides rise and fall each day.
The substrate is a fine-grained sediment of mud. Watch the tank before you for a few
minutes. Notice the lack of any wave action. The fine sediments tend to block out
oxygen, making the mud an anaerobic environment for roots and burrowing life. Both
plants and animals must have adaptations to deal with this.
Salt marshes serve as the transition from the ocean to the land, where fresh and salt water
mix, and that is another major problem for the species living here. Salt marsh species
must be salt tolerant and adapted to water levels that fluctuate with the tide, and may also
have to tolerate changes in salinity from rivers.
On the other hand, there are abundant light, nutrients, and water. Both the tides and
river flow carry in nutrients that stimulate plant growth in this shallow, relatively warm
habitat (at least compared with the ocean.) Life is relatively abundant here.
Look at the wall display above the tank. List some important commercial fish that use
this habitat as a nursery.
____________________________
The wall chart to the right paints a picture of the typical species found in our mudflats.
List the phylum next to the name.
Eelgrass. Phylum ______________________
Sea hare. Phylum _______________________
Moon snail. Phylum ____________________________
Blue mud shrimp Phylum _________________
Gaper clam Phylum _______________________
Ghost shrimp. Phylum ______________________
Horn snail Phylum ________________________
White sand clam Phylum ____________________
Striped shore crab phylum ____________________
Symbiosis is very common in marine communities.
Find the innkeeper worm on
the chart. It builds U-shaped burrows in the muddy sand of low-zone mudflats.
They are called this because they provide food, shelter and running water to many
guests, including the arrow goby, pea crabs and scale worms. The innkeeper isn't
bothered by these guests, but doesn't benefit, either. This is a type of symbiosis
called commensalism; one partner benefits and the other is not harmed.
“The Feasting Flocks”
Because of the rich abundance and diversity of potential food in the mud, there is
abundant birdlife present here.
Sea birds belong to what phylum? ________________________. What class?
____________ (See first page)
Birds are warm-blooded animals (endotherms) with feathers and wings. They reproduce
by laying hard-shelled eggs. Marine birds next on land usually on cliffs or islands that
are protected from predators.
Competition for food can be strong. Species can avoid direct competition by specializing
on their diet. Over generations of time, each species may evolve to avoid direct
competition by adapting its own set of tools and behavior patterns to obtain their food.
This is called “resource partitioning”, and it is a way of both increasing efficiency at
getting food and avoiding competition with other species for food. This increases the
diversity of species of birds that can be present in this habitat.
Each species on display has its own tool kit and type of behavior for capturing food.
Broad webbed feet support their weight in mud, or help them paddle through the water.
Long legs keep the body dry while feeding. The shape and length of the bill is adapted to
different ways of capturing food. Long thin bills, for example, let a bird probe in the mud
to the length of the bill to capture food.
We can categorize marine birds not just by their species and their body structure, but also
by their behavior; how they capture food. Fill in the categories below with the type of
birds that use each method. Draw the shape of the bird’s bill that uses each behavior.
Divers
Pickers
Dabblers
Probers
Spear fishers
“Surviving in the salty mud”
Why is the saltmarsh a stressful environment to the plants that live here?
Areas 31-35. Walk through the open ocean and deep sea habitats. There is a lot of
information here about bony fish and sharks that you may have time to investigate at your
leisure. Go around the corner to the sea bird and pinneped display.
Seabirds use the cliffs above the rocky intertidal area for nesting sites. These sites are
more protected from nest predators. From these sites, the parents venture out to go
fishing for their young. Nests are often packed close together, making a kind of bird
city.
Turn around to the pinneped display. This group includes the seals and sea lions, marine
mammals that often use the rocky or sandy intertidal as a place to haul out for rest or to
breed.
Pinnipeds are members of the Class Mammalia because they have hair for insulation,
use mammary glands to nurture their young, and are endotherms or warm-blooded.
All mammals have well-developed nervous and sensory systems with large brains which
are important for these highly social animals. All physiological systems are well
developed. These are air-breathers with lungs, but with some interesting adaptations for
deep diving that you are free to investigate.
The pinnepeds, and the whales and dolphins on display here and around the corner are
descendants of mammals that started adapting to the sea millions of years ago.
Although they still have some hair, thick layers of blubber now serve the function to keep
them warm. Only the sea otter of the marine mammals still relies on its coat of hair for
warmth.
Exit the whale exhibit and look in the lobby area for a current events display labeled “The
Sea Times”. This is where current news about the local marine habitat is posted.
Locate a good size article on the display wall that covers one of the following topics. Do
not choose a small one of the little ones.
1. 1)
Ocean pollution. Chemical pollutant, solid wastes, etc.
2. 2)
Economic use of the ocean. This is a very broad area that includes, both
commercial and recreational fishing, recreation in the ocean, mining, tourism
(people do come here just to see living things such as whale watching, bird
watching, diving), building on the shore, and so on. Almost anything has an
economic impact on us.
Take notes on four major points of the article, the title, publication source and author.
Your will need this information for the writing assignment.
Writing Assignment: (15 pts) Using the article you found, your job is to write a short
paper (1 to 1 ½ pages typed, double-spaced, 12 pt. type) about it, which must include
the following.
Title, author (name or email is often provided, publication source, date.)
A summary of the major subject points of the article.
Your conclusions about the article, justifying why you have those conclusions. (This is
important, so don’t leave it out). Check the syllabus for the due date of this assignment.
Be sure to have this form stamped before you leave.
It must be stamped for credit.