Now you See Them, Now you Don’t!

Deception Pass State Park

Rosario Beach Naturalist

Google Images By RICK COLOMBO

OBJECTIVES

• What’s a Tidepool?

• Basic Features and Definitions

• Intertidal Zone

• Rosario Beach Tidepools. – Tidepool Trivia

– Deception Pass State Park Beaches

• It’s our park! Volunteers in Action!

A transition place where the land meets the ocean. Swirling tides crash the shore, then roll back out to the sea again.

• Tide pools are created when tide goes out (ebbs)

and leaves pools of saltwater behind in

depressions on the land in intertidal zone.

What’s a Tidepool?

Rosario Bay, Deception Pass State Park

What’s a Tidepool?

• With signaling of a slack flood tide (highest) shifting to ebb, most mobile creatures move offshore as the tide goes out. Creatures unable to move offshore take refuge in tidepools. Many immobile, slow moving creatures (“CLINGERS”), and plants become stranded in these water pools.

• Deeper water species can often be observed in tidepools because saltwater is always present; creatures won’t desiccate, or dry out, during low tide.

What’s a Tidepool? Tongue Point,

Salt Creek Recreation Area, Joyce, WA

Seattle Aquarium Touch Tank

Typical PNW Tidepool Google Images

Google Images

Google Images

What’s a Tidepool? Tide’s out at Washington Park, Anacortes WA

Sunset Beach @ Park Entrance

Green Point

Boat Launch

Pictures from Ivar Dolph Collection

Sunset Beach

Basic Features and Definitions

Basic Features and Definitions

Stats for 5/19/2015 Height 7’ 5” H 4:22AM Height -1’ 11” L 11:24AM Height 8’ 0” H 7:09PM

http://www.protides.com/washington/696/1015/05/

Tide Chart Washington, Deception Pass

Slack Flood

Slack Ebb

Basic Features and Definitions

Ecosystem: A community of living organisms (plants, animals, and microbes) in conjunction with the non living components of their environment. Biotic factors: Living things that are alive or once were alive (fish, bones, dead leaves, etc). Abiotic factors: Non-living objects that affect its surroundings in some sort of way, anything that does not reproduce, grow, breath or eat (i.e. sand, air, water, rocks, sun, wind, waves, the ozone layer, maybe even if there are hills near by. Examples of impacts: hurricanes, temperature changes, pollution. Biodiversity: Bio: Biologic life forms / Diversity: diverse accumulation of varied spieces in a ecosystem. Tidepools are rich in biodiversity. Each pool has a footprint all it’s own.

Basic Features and Definitions

Bing Images

Trophic Levels:

Basic Features and Definitions

Producers: Primary producers are the phytoplankton, they take energy from the sunlight to fuel themselves. They only survive in the photic layer of the sea (the depth at which enough sunlight penetrates to keep them alive). Most are single celled and microscopic. Consumers: Primary Consumers made up of zooplankton, tiny animals that drift around at the mercy of the currents. All sorts of animals make up zooplankton, from the larvae of large fish and invertebrates, to fully grown worms. Secondary, tertiary consumers predate up food web.

Basic Features and Definitions

Decomposers: Organisms that break down the final remains of living things. Predominantly bacteria and fungi, they are important in freeing the last of the minerals and nutrients from organics and recycling them back into the food web. Scavengers: Any of the creatures that eat dead plants and animals. They include zooplankton, sea birds, crustaceans, molluscs, and many more. They are important in getting rid of plant and animals remains. What they leave behind is used by the decomposers.

Basic Features and Definitions

Symbiosis: Means “living together”, includes three types of interaction.

Mutualism: Close association for their mutual benefit (Clown fish feeds on

invertebrates on sea anenome, which eats nutrient

rich wastes from fish).

Commensalism: Invertebrates share w/o any gain for either benefactor (i.e.

burrows, shells (hermit crabs), barnacles on shellfish).

Parasitism: Predator lives off of the host for a period w/o killing it (i.e. flukes & lice in/on fish).

Intertidal Zone

Intertidal Zone Area of the beach that is covered and uncovered by tidal

action. It is made up of rocky shores, tidepools, sandy beaches, and mud flats. The intertidal region can be divided into five zones.

Oregon Coast.org

Intertidal Zone

• Distribution of plants and animals along these zones is based on physical conditions, competition, and predation.

Intertidal Zone

Exposure to Air

Varied Temps

Salinity Changes

UV Exposure

Desiccation

Human Trampling 90-20 F

Intertidal Zone

Demand, typically at same time,

of more than one organism for the same

resources of the environment in excess of

immediate supply.

Intertidal Zone

• Predation: Most invertebrates and fish are both predator & prey; herbivores, detritivores, carnivores, and omnivores.

Sculpin

Oyster Catcher

Jellyfish

Seagulls

You, I and 10K visitors

Purple Shore Crab

Intertidal Zone

H 3:52 am 7'9"

L 9:17 am 3'9"

H 3:02 pm 7'3"

L 9:30 pm 0'0"

Sun: 6:36 am - 6:06 pm

Moon: 6:24 am - 6:01 pm

Deception Pass State Park Tides on March 8, 2016

SPLASH

UPPER INTERTIDAL

MID INTERTIDAL

LOWER INTERTIDAL

SUBTIDAL

Tides.net All rights reserved.

Intertidal Zone

• Splash Zone: The area affected by high tides; it is often only wet from surf spray or rain (shore to +9’).

• Barnacles

• Lichens

• Limpets

• Snails

• Beach hoppers “HIGH & DRY”

+9

Sea Slater

Haystack Barnacle

Finger Limpets

Periwinkle snails

Intertidal Zone

? Bing Images “Radula” Snail Teeth

Intertidal Zone

• Upper Intertidal Zone: The portion of the beach covered during the high tides (+9’to 6’).

Surf zone groups, plus:

• Green algae

• Brown algae

• Hermit crabs

• Isopods

+9 +6

Rockweed

Sea Lettuce

Hermit Crab

Rockweed Isopod

Intertidal Zone

• Mid Intertidal Zone: The region is covered and uncovered twice a day by the tides (+6‘to -1’).

Surf & Upper intertidal groups, plus:

• Mussels

• Shore crabs

• Chitons

• Sea anemones

THE LIVING TIDE!

+6

-1

Lined Chiton

Aggregate Anemone

Intertidal Zone

• Low Intertidal Zone: Uncovered only during the lowest low tides (-1’ to -3.5’).

Surf, Upper, & Middle intertidal groups, plus:

• Surf grass & eelgrass

• Red algae

• Shrimps

• Sea stars

• Sea urchins

• Bivalves

• Octopuses

• Worms

• Sea Cucumbers

-1 -3.5

14JUN14 Height 7’4” H 4:04AM Height -2’ 9” L 11:25AM Height 8’1” H 7:13PM Height 5’10” L 2:10AM

NOTE: 10’10” TIDE WATER SHIFT

Broken Back Shrimp

Red Sea Cucumber Green Sea Urchin

• Subtidal Zone: Always covered (-3.5’ to -160’).

Intertidal Zone

-3.5

-160’ Google Images

ROSARIO BEACH TIDEPOOLS

DECEPTION PASS STATE PARK

Rosario Beach Tidepools

Looking SW from Rosario Beach Entering Rosario Tidepools from bluff.

Tidepools from the signposts. Incoming tide viewed from SW bluff

Rosario Beach Tidepools

Ribbon Chert

Rosario Tidepools Trivia: • 15K yrs ago under 5K’ of glacial ice. • Tidepools are atop a basalt (lava) outcropping known as ophiolite, composed of sedimentary rock formations known as ribbon chert (gray clay colored slate & exoskeletons of a sea plankton radolarian), siltstone & greywack. • Geologic fault line runs along it’s south ridge. • Wow! Glacial erratic from Alaska rest in the center of it! • Bird roosts are accented by yellow lichen patches. • Spanish explorer Juan Pantoja y Arriago, first named

these waters, “Nuestra Senora del Rosario la Marinera”. The final mapping translations designated the area Rosario Bay and the Rosario Straits.

Rosario Beach Tidepools

Looking NE from Rosario Head Bluff

School Group doing a transect at -2.5’ low intertidal change

Glacial Erratic

Walla Walla University Marine Research Center

Current flow

Rosario Beach Tidepools

Splash Zone

Upper Intertidal zone

Lower Intertidal Zone

Middle Intertidal Zones

Subtidal Zone

8.0 7.5 -1.11

+ 9> 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 +1 0 -1 -2 -3

Rosario Tidepool’s North Face

Stats for 5/19/2015 Height 7’ 5” H 4:22AM Height -1’ 11” L 11:24AM Height 8’ 0” H 7:09PM

Rosario Beach Tidepools

Urchin Rocks

Rosario Bay

Rosario Beach

Rosario Head

Tidepool’s Roped Trail Markers

Sharpes Cove

Rosario Beach Tidepools Deception Pass State Park Beaches

SILTY Cornet Bay

SE Hoypus Point

SANDY West Beach

E. Bowman Bay

GRAVEL North Beach

Rosario

COBBLE NW Hoypus Point N. Bowman Bay

ROCKY Deception Pass

* Rosario Tidepools

One of the top ten exceptional beach areas in the PNW. Rosario Beach the Gem of Deception Pass State Park

Volunteers in Action!

It’s our park! Volunteers in Action!

Rosario Beach Natural AreaStewardship Agreement

The tidepool environment is fragile. Please observe the following rules to protect the creatures of the Rosario tidepools and to make your visit safe and enjoyable.

Rosario beach is a Natural Area.Collecting, disturbing, or destroying organisms is prohibited by law.

Do not step on the seaweeds and plants. They are slippery and critters hide underneath. Walk only on bare rocks or rocks with barnacles.

Plants and seaweeds prevent erosion, provide habitat and cover for intertidal organisms, and are food for numerous animals and insects.

Walking in the tidepools is not permitted. Since many rocks are not stable, please do not step on rocks in the tidepools.

Never turn over rocks larger than your head, and return all disturbed rocks to their original position. Many critters live and hide under rocks and are easily crushed or left exposed when rocks are disturbed.

When critters are left uncovered, their home is destroyed and their lives are in jeopardy. If you accidentally move a rock, return it to its original position. This will minimize the injury or death of any organisms living on or under the rocks.

Leave the beach as you found it; do not take anything, and do not leave anything. Please help us keep our beaches clean, and pick up litter you may encounter.

Leave only footprints. Take only memories.

Stewardship Pledge:

I pledge to be a good beach steward. I will protect myself and the environment by following the above rules. I will learn all I can about the beach, marine life, and what I can do to protect it.

Signed:______________________________

Date: _______________________________

Native Culture

Flora

Geologic features

Fauna

Night visits

Interpretation

Education

Appreciation / Understanding

Park & Local History Primary Beach Naturalist Goals

Have FUN!

Make new Friends!

Give back to community!

Have FUN!

Get out in the great outdoors!

Get some fresh air & sunshine!

Stewardship

Have FUN!

Pictures from DPSP files, Sammy Kempbell, Pattie Hutchins, & Google Images.com

It’s our park! Volunteers in Action! Q & A Interpretation &

Reference Table on midden

Point out small critters YUK! I’m not touching that!

Pizza Box Shells Did you see this porcelain crab?

Again, so why do they have this stupid yellow rope?

Cool!

Pictures from DPSP Files and Sammy Kempbell

SURPRIZES AWAIT!

• “Crawling Sun Starfish” • **This photo was chosen

for “Seattle Times Reader Photo of the Week” and will be featured in the NW Weekend section of the Seattle times, and at seattletimes.com on Thursday May 29, 2008

• “More legs then the rockettes!” -Seattle Times

• ** My photo of the “Crawling Sun Starfish” also won an honorable mention award for the Seattle Times Photos of the year for 2008!!

Google Images

SO COME ON DOWN, LET’S HAVE SOME FUN!!!

Check out our Deception Pass Foundation website https://www.deceptionpassfoundation.org/

References:

• Deception Pass Foundation @ https://www.deceptionpassfoundation.org/

• Google Images @ https://www.google.com

• Steel, Philip, 1999, A Tidepool, Crabtree Publishing, New York, NY.

• Thomas, David, 2002, Seaweeds, Natural History Museum, London, England

• Moyle, P. and Cech, Joseph, 2004, Fishes An Introduction to Ichthyology, Pearson Benjamin, Cummings San Francisco, CA

• Slotemaker Terry, 2010, The Geology of Fidalgo Island, Anacortes Museum, Anacortes WA

• Slotemaker Terry, 2005,The Exploration of Whidbey, Fidalgo & Guemes Island, Anacortes Museum, Anacortes WA

• Beaches of Washington State, student presentation, 2006

• Ocean Link, Intertidal Study, Bamfield Marine Science Centre @ http://oceanlink.info/biodiversity/intertidal/intertidal.html

• Personal & Park historical library photos used.

Now you See Them, Now you Don’t!

Deception Pass State Park

Rosario Beach Naturalist