Crystal Beach
October 1st, 2015.
Dusty Swanson

Temperature: 85 degree F.
Wind: 7 mph NNW.
Clouds: around 75% coverage made up of white fluffy clouds.
Precipitation: 0%.
Humidity: 70%.

Upon arriving at Crystal Beach the first thing i noticed was the surprising amount of trash thrown about in the wrack-line. Luckily the city had placed numerous trash cans nearby where the trash was disposed of.

After everyone arrived we went out onto the dock as it gave us a great look at how life changes as you move through different substrates. Once back on shore we split into groups. Each group would use a 30 meter transect as well as a quadrat to measure the species diversity index of that area. Our group was tasked with measuring along the edge of the dock.

Our group found a ridiculous amount of species along our transect. Among the more interesting finds where quite a few starfish, red and black mangrove seed pods, a crab claw, a small filter feeder, and two types of worms.

 

after way more math than our group was ready to handle we were able to calculate the species diversity index to be .824. 

As for other cool things, we got to see a blue heron, a stingray, two horseshoe crabs mating, and an examples of all three mangrove types.