Jessica Allen, Celine Morais, Hilary Mann, Erika McLellan, and Sydney Bliss

 Species differ in diversity and abundance between the rocky intertidal and tide pools, largely due to the physical and biological regimes of each
 Fluctuation of physical factors is smaller in tide pools that the general intertidal (allowing vertical ranges of species to extend higher)
 Conversely, biological interactions (ex. grazing and predation) are intensified in tide pools

 Communities are often patchy and somewhat unpredictable
 Some species are residents, some and transients, some are accidental visitors
 There are strong associations between a pool’s physical size and its community structure

 Main factor dictating species diversity in a tide pool
 Ex. temperature, salinity, wave and splash exposure, degree of shading, volume
 The intensity of these is largely dictated by pool shape and depth
 Fluctuate vertically, horizontally, diurnally and seasonally

 Thus, each pool has a unique physical regime that largely determines community structure
 Many studies have shown that the number of species present in a pool is associated with pool depth and volume
 Ex. deeper pools may support more plant and invertebrate species

 Our study attempted determine if the physical dimensions of a tide pool affect the diversity of organisms within it, as previous studies have
 Null hypothesis = the physical dimensions of a tide pool have no affect on species diversity within them
 Alternate hypothesis = the physical dimensions of a tide pool have an affect on species diversity within them

 Measuring abiotic factors
 Sampled and recorded species within quadrates or entire tide pool
 Species were collected for identification

Figure 1. The effect of tide pool size on diversity at a) Indian Point and b) Green’s
Point.

 Ho: Physical dimensions of the tide pools would have no effect on the species diversity found within these pools
 Metaxas and Scheibling, 1993; Mahon and
Mahon, 1994
 Area, volume, and species diversity

 Cold weather
 Season
 Sample size
 Wave action and intertidal profile
 Size of tide pools sampled
 Omitted depths of tide pools from our calculations

 Larger sample sizes
 More time needed
 Greater range of tide pools
 Sampling at more locations
 Accurate methods of measurement
 Salinity and Oxygen
 Gather information at different times of day and seasons
 Limited due to tides