Crystal Beach

October 1st, 2015.

 Temperature: 85 F.
 Weather: Mostly Cloudy

The class and I met at Crystal beach last Thursday, in Palm Harbor. For this field trip we all split into groups and were assigned different sections to measure different diversities. To measure the diversity, each group had to lay out a 30 M tape measure, and every 3 M lay down a quadrat and record that diversity. My group has the most exciting area to measure, which was the area by the dock. We went into water to the height of our ribs, and dug up the soil at each 3 M mark to record our findings. During this task, Dusty, Reese, and I found species such as:

• Horse Shoe Crab
• Sea Star
• Oysters
• Worms
• Fish
• Manatee, shoal, and turtle grass
• Barnacles
• etc.
• (Although not found in our quadrat, we did spot a stingray!)

 

        After this, the entire class re-grouped with Mrs. Goergen to discuss the types of mangroves Crystal Beach contains. Crystal beach has black, white, and Red mangrove!
After this, each group got back together to calculate their species diversity index. Although our range was diverse, it wasn't the most diverse range at Crystal beach because we found so many oysters in our diversity!!