Crystal Beach Biodiversity

Clark Blackson

10/1/15

Temperature - 82 F

Humidity - 60%

Atmosphere - 70% cloud coverage

Water Salinity - 28 ppt

Wind - 5-10 mph 

This week we went to Crystal Beach in Palm Harbor to study biodiversity. Probably the first thing one may realize upon arriving at Crystal Beach is that it would be more adequately described as a 'waterfront park" or an estuary, the actual "beach" segment was actually rather disappointing both in biodiversity and aesthetically. The entire shoreline was almost entirely comprised of deceased seagrasses forming a smelly, and squishy marsh like material which you would just sink into upon walking through.

Before conducting any experiments we took a stroll down to the end of the pier to see what we could spot. We did manage to see a couple massive Rays just off the side of the pier, as well as multiple pairs of mating horseshoe crabs scurrying along.

To measure the biodiversity of the surrounding area the class was first split into groups and were assigned segments of the shore to assess, my group got the somewhat barren portion of the shoreline running perpendicular to the pier, but away from the mangroves. The tools at hand again were our handy-dandy quadrats paired with meter tape, a small shovel and hand held net. Every 3 meters we would place the quadrats down in the water and scoop a portion of the soil up and sift through it with our net and hands to determine what organisms if any we could discover. Unfortunately my group was not exactly very successful in achieving a diverse sample (.6291), our organisms collected include: 

• Gastropods
• Cyanobacteria
• Fiddler crabs
• Mollusks
• Snails

Also found (everywhere) were a mixture of salt grass, turtle grass, and shoal grass.

Upon finishing our biodiversity calculations and comparing the results with the other groups, we returned to the water to observe and discuss the differing mangrove species present on the beach. No Buttonwoods were spotted, however interestingly enough there were red, black and white mangroves all growing within about arms reach of each other, which I'm assuming was due to the lower salinity in the water being more conducive of an environment for the white and black variants to be so near to the shoreline. We were able to compare and contrast all three based on leaf shape and size, root structure and coloration which was beneficial.