DIVERSITY ANALYSIS OF INTERTIDAL SPECIES IN DIFFERENT TIDE POOL ELEVATIONS

1. DIVERSITY ANALYSIS OF INTERTIDAL SPECIES IN DIFFERENT TIDE POOL ELEVATIONS Femi Adegbidi, Brittany Cain , Ally Pennell, Melanie Hogan, Louise-Marie Roux

2. The Rocky Intertidal • Unique environment with fluctuating physical factors • Physical transition zone • Diverse zones with various species • Fluctuating habitats

3. Tide Pools • Fluctuating environments • Tides • Physical factors • Temperature • Salinity • Oxygen concentration

4. Tide Pool Composition • High Elevations • High salinity • Temperature changes • Low Elevations • More water • Oxygen • Poor at dealing with fluctuations

5. Objective • Effect of elevation on species diversity and organismal composition in tide pools • Hypotheses • Medium-Low height tide pools  greater diversity and richness • Organisms found will be similar to those defined in the intertidal zonation theory • Tide pools at similar elevations will be more similar to each other

6. Bay of Fundy • St. Andrew’s, NB • World’s highest tides • Ideal site for intertidal research

7. Sampling Sites • 2 sites • Indian Point- uniform, sandy substrate, • Green’s Point- steep, rocky • 4 tide pools per site

8. Sampling Methods • 30 cm2 quadrat • Surveyor’s transit • Organisms collected and identified

9. Data Analysis • Dichotomous key for species identification • Diversity indexes • Sorensen’ssimilarity index • Simpson’s diversity index

10. Common Species: Greens Point Highest Tide Pool Lowest Tide Pool

11. Common Species: Indians Point

12. Species Richness

13. Species Diversity

14. Tide Pool Elevation Similarity

15. Conclusions Organisms that can cope with frequent disturbance are found in tide pools at higher elevations Organisms that require more water and oxygen in tide pools at lower elevations Sampling methods may have missed microscopic organisms  Changing diversity

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