To better understand marine biodiversity in San Diego, we deployed Autonomous Reef Monitoring Structures (ARMS) into our local bay for four months. ARMS are designed to mimic the structure of a coral reef and attract colonizing invertebrates.We focused on ARMS F and H. ARMS F was located near the bridge structure on the Liberty Station Boat Channel and ARMS H was located away from the bridge structure also in the Liberty Station Boat Channel on a muddy/sandy surface. We looked at two invasive tunicates, Ciona savigny and Corella eumyota, and compared how much of the species were on each autonomous reef monitoring structure (ARMS). Our results showed that there were more of these two species next to the ARMS closer to the reef structure. We suspected there were more invasive species next to the reef structure because of life already established on reef structure and it was a smaller distance for the larvae to travel.
Introduction
Biodiversity is the variety of life in the world or in a particular habitat or ecosystem. In the ocean biodiversity is important because with the decline of certain species all others will soon decline soon. Humans play a role in increasing the climate and polluting the oceans with things such as sewage and shipwrecks. Understanding ocean life is important because all ecosystems affect each other and without a healthy ocean ecosystem we will be affected negatively. To get a better look into biodiversity we deployed Autonomous Reef Monitoring Structures into our local bays and beaches. Autonomous Reef Monitoring Structures are designed to mimic the structure of a coral reef. Reefs are an important structure in the ocean because a large variety of the oceans species live in or around them. We predicted that more species will be found on ARMS next to reef structures.
Method:
We looked at how being next to a reef structure affects how much life is on it compared to not being next to a reef structure. We chose this independent variable to see what kind of species are using bridge structures as habitats and if these species are invasive or native.We predicted that there will be more life near the bridge structures because life is already established around and on the bridge.We looked at the variety of sessile species by determining what percentage of the plates were covered with native or non native species. We specifically looked at Ciona savigny and Corella eumyota because these two are invasive species. We examined ARMS F and ARMS ARMS H. ARMS unit F is located in the Liberty Station Boat Channel and is at a depth of 6ft on sand and is next to a bridge support. ARMS H is also located in the Liberty Station Boat Channel and is a depth of 5ft on muddy sand and it's not next to any structure. The control variable are that there at the same depth and in the same water and weather conditions. Our sample size is 2 ARMS With 9 plates each.
Results:The result we got for ARMS F (Reef), next to the reef, were Corella eumyota 8.55% and Ciona savignyi 8.29% out of 100% of species on plates F1 to F9. The results we got for ARMS H (Open), not near the reef structure, were Corella eumyota 2.04% Ciona savignyi 4.58% out of 100% of species on plates H1 to H9. These results can be seen more clearly on the figures below.
Introduction
Biodiversity is the variety of life in the world or in a particular habitat or ecosystem. In the ocean biodiversity is important because with the decline of certain species all others will soon decline soon. Humans play a role in increasing the climate and polluting the oceans with things such as sewage and shipwrecks. Understanding ocean life is important because all ecosystems affect each other and without a healthy ocean ecosystem we will be affected negatively. To get a better look into biodiversity we deployed Autonomous Reef Monitoring Structures into our local bays and beaches. Autonomous Reef Monitoring Structures are designed to mimic the structure of a coral reef. Reefs are an important structure in the ocean because a large variety of the oceans species live in or around them. We predicted that more species will be found on ARMS next to reef structures.
Method:
We looked at how being next to a reef structure affects how much life is on it compared to not being next to a reef structure. We chose this independent variable to see what kind of species are using bridge structures as habitats and if these species are invasive or native.We predicted that there will be more life near the bridge structures because life is already established around and on the bridge.We looked at the variety of sessile species by determining what percentage of the plates were covered with native or non native species. We specifically looked at Ciona savigny and Corella eumyota because these two are invasive species. We examined ARMS F and ARMS ARMS H. ARMS unit F is located in the Liberty Station Boat Channel and is at a depth of 6ft on sand and is next to a bridge support. ARMS H is also located in the Liberty Station Boat Channel and is a depth of 5ft on muddy sand and it's not next to any structure. The control variable are that there at the same depth and in the same water and weather conditions. Our sample size is 2 ARMS With 9 plates each.
Results:The result we got for ARMS F (Reef), next to the reef, were Corella eumyota 8.55% and Ciona savignyi 8.29% out of 100% of species on plates F1 to F9. The results we got for ARMS H (Open), not near the reef structure, were Corella eumyota 2.04% Ciona savignyi 4.58% out of 100% of species on plates H1 to H9. These results can be seen more clearly on the figures below.
Conclusion: Proximity to an artificial reef structure increased the number of invasive tunicates.There were 8.29% Ciona savigny on ARMS F compared to 4.58% on ARMS H away from the reef structure. There was almost two times more tunicates on the ARMS unit next to the artificial reef. This is a significant difference and not likely due to chance. There were 8.55% Corella eumyota on ARMS F compared to 2.04% on ARMS H. There were almost four times more tunicates on the ARMS unit next to the artificial reef structure. We found out that being next to a reef structure impacted the number of invasive tunicates, increasing them as seen in Figures 1 and 2. We suspected there were more invasive species next to the reef structure because of life already established on reef structure and it was a smaller distance for the larvae to travel. We recommend future studies on how the invasive species affect the local species. A good question that could be used is: how the increases in invasive tunicates affect the local species?