beach profiling lab

Beach profiling is measuring the beach to figure out the current beach profile or the size and height of the beach, then we can compare future data to see how the beach has changed.  Beach profiling can be useful to investors building in near shore places because if the beach has had past profiling studies done then builders could see how the beach changes of the years.  To get an accurate profile allot of measurements need to be taken so it’s good to have multiple teams working to profile one beach simultaneously

Procedure
1 find a place to start transect line.

2 gps mark that point

3 run transect line perpendicular towards the ocean.

4 proceed to place red Fred in the shed

5 use compass to take heading of the transect line

4 if beach slopes upward from the point of measurement then the run stick is placed on that point  if the beach slopes downward the rise stick is placed on the point of measurement.

5 place appropriate tool at point start of transect line

6 if clear of obstructions place appropriate  tool 1 meter down the transect line., if there are obstructions place the tool that is not on the measuring point close the obstruction and then move the measuring point past the obstruction once  steps 7 8 have been taken,

 7ensure both tools are level

8 record the centimeter mark aligned with the top of the intersecting pole as rise and run 1 meter.  the rise will be negative if it is sloping up and positive if sloping down

Repeat step 6 7 8 until you reach past the foot of the beach, the transect line ends here.

10 wind up transect tape.

11 mark transect tape start point for future reference  

this is a picture of me marking the gps point for the start of the transect line, max is in there to just chilling out with the run measuring tool.

in this picture max is again just chilling out with the run tool after having measured the run. mira is marking it down and me and ms s are checking out the data.

Beach Profile

This graph shows the height of the sand from the foot of the beach. our y axis is in centimeters and our x axis is in centimeters.

Te yellow dots represent the rotten guavas that we scientificly refer to as current marks.  W observed the movement of the current markes and the relative beach data such as our suroundings and water conditions.

Sand Origins Lab

Introduction
Sand is composed of small bits of eroded rock or pieces of shell bone and coral.  Sand is classified into two major catagories, biogenic sand coming from living organisms and detrital sand wich originates from rock.  over time reef ecosystems die and thier remains erode into sand .  During storms or large swells large portions dead reefs or sand banks can be moved onto the beach or off swept downshore causing dramatic changes on the usable beach width.  One way to determine if sand is of biogenic or detrital origin is to use an acid viniger in this case to react with the calcium carbonate in the biogenic sand causing carbon dioxide water and calcium acitate.  'The reaction has a visble bubbling and the sound of popping can be heard.  If the sand is detrital then no reaction will happen when viniger is introduced.

Research Question
Is big beach of detrial origin, is black sand beach of detrital origin.
Hypothesis
I hypothosize that big beach  will be biogenic in orgin and black sand will be detrital in origin.
Prediction.
If big beach is biogenic then black sand will be detrital because it is the oppisite color.
Materials.
Cubs tape marker beaker pipet vineger van margraff saftey goggles data sheet glue. map of maui.
procedure
1.Drive to beach.       2. collect sand sample  3 label sand sample  4 reapet steps one through 3 at another beach.  5 test sand 6 record results. 7 glue sand sample on map.
DATA
From our testing we saw that thae sand from big beach had alot o chemical reaction when introduced to viniger.  There was bubbling and rising and an audible crackling sound emmited from the test beaker.  However the sand from black sand beach had significantly less reaction.  although the was a slight bubbling and a faint crackling sound the sand was clearly primarily composed of detrital particles.
Conclusion
I hypothosized that big beach would be biogenic and if it was that black sand would turn out to be the oppisite.  after anylizing the data i have found it consistant with my hypothesis.  The light yellowish sand from big beach was primarily biogenic, wich makes sense due to large sand deposits offshore and the constant south swell that makena is exopsed to.  The black sand beach on the other hand lies down current of prominent basalt and cinder cliffs which are probably the contributing factor to its detrial make up.  The trace amounts of biogenic sand found in blacksand beach are likley sweapt down from big beach via the strong currents running around the point twoards black sand.   some possible sources of error could be mislabling the sand samples.  subjectvly viewing the evidence and human error such as writing the wrong number or typos causing a flaw in data.

In this picture 1 stands for big beach research area 1 and 2 is bblack sand research area 2.  the yellow area represents sand deposits off shore of reaserch area one. the red arrow represents the direction of current and the blue shaded area is a section of the cinder cliffs that is greatly eroded. All of the things marked on the arial map were observed during field observations of the sights. or could haved been if i was there

 These pictures represent the research areas.  The top is big beach makena area 1 and the bottom is black sand beach makena area 2.

whale observation

the purpose of our whale observation was to use the clinometers we made in class to find out how far away the whales we observed were.  the research question is Are the whales closer to shore in the start of the season or the end.  i think the whales will be closer to shore in the begining because the havent given birth yet and they will be less protective but in the end of the season when they whales have given birth they will stay farther awayfrom shore and from humans.   the observation at mcregors point went okay.  we saw some whales spouting alot and a couple of breaches.  it would have been easier if it werent so windy.  the clinometer readings might have been inacurate because of the wind

Step one  determine elavation 

 step two look through straw at whale.

step three have partner record angle of inclanatio

step four calculate angle of inclanation on computer.  sorry no picture

The graph above shows that the whales we observered from the boat were signifcantly farther from shore then the whales we observed at mcgregors point.
From our data we have figured out that the whales stay closer to shore in the begining of the season before they give birth and go far out later in the whale season.  theese findings were consistant with my hypothesis.
My personal experence for the whale watching was none becauuse i did not attend the whale watch due to scheduling issues.
heres to the internet for having whale pictures

South Maui Marine Phyla Madness!

Recently in class we have been studying the various types of phyla in the Kihei tide pools. Those
different phyla are, Annelida, Platyhelminthes, Mollusca, Porifera, Cnidaria, Nematode, Arthropoda,
Chordata and Echinodermata. All of these phyla play a role in the ecosystem and in our lab we will look
at the diversity an abundance of each.  we looked at this by going to the shore of south maui using a quadrat we counted the marine life in our research area.

Our research question was Which phyla is the most diverse and which is the most abundant  my hypothesis was that the arthrapoda phylum would be the most abundant and the nematoda would be the most diverse.  however contrary to my hypothesis we found that Mollusca was the most abundant and Arthropoda was the most diverse, boasting 4 different species of crab. some possible sources of error could be: improper data input, miscounting of species, and bias placement of the research area.

I perosonaly enjoyed this lab because it gave us the opertunity to go outside.  although it was just a short trip to a tidepool it was better then sitting on the computer researching marine life.  Hopefully next semester we can do marine research while scuba diving some reef but unfortanatly school just isnt like that.  i attaind amazing intertidal marine Id skills in this lab and a new found respect for out door science.

Geo cashing

Geocashing according to geocashing.com is a hightech treasure hunting game played throughout the world by adventure seekers equiped with gps devices. the idea is to hide containers outside and share your experiences

I learned that geocashing is dissaponting because all you do is get 1 foot from the gps waypoint and not find anything. i also learned how to find a waypoint with a gps how to enter a way point how to use a gps and more. i got nothing on my geocash hunts ever my geocashing career was a failure.

                                                      

termite observation

When we first put the termites into thier jar thier was 120 grams of silica sand and 19 mls of water.  the water was mainly pooled in the center.  We also put a block of dougles fur wood and 50-100 termites.  After the first check the water had dispersed into the silica sand and the termites had created a network of tunneles. The termites were very active and the wood showed no sighns of being eaten.  During the next check the termites had continued to work on thier tunneles and the wood had prown flakes around it.  The next check we found the termite colony had been devistated by some kid shaking the jar but the termites were able to recover and rebuild thier tunnele systyem. After sevral more shakes the termite colony was eventually killed.

Termite feeding and the protozoa

symbiosis is a close and often long term relation ship between two biologicly different spiceis that benifits bolth species.  The termites have a symbiotic relation ship with the protozoa in ther guts.. in this relation ship the termites get acitate which they use to make energy out of deal and in return the termites eat wood wich contains cellulose.  the protozoa then digest the cellulose and turn it into acitate and other waste products.  only the acitate is used by ther termite and the rest is expelled via the anus.  In our lab we tore the guts out of living termites and then examind them under a microscope to observe the protozoa.  Although im not sure what the objective was besides recongignizing the different protozoins.  Personally i found the lab a good way to reniforce what the worksheets had presented to us.  the actual ripping out of the termite guts was rather difficult due to thier minscule size.  all in all it was a enjoyable lab that was very informative

here is max ripping apart a termite.
this picture was taken by max's group
and i do not ry and claim credit

this is what the protozoa look like under the microscope.  this picture was also taken by max's group and i donot claim credit