Marine Phyla Lab

My class has was studying 9 marine phyla. Porifera are sponges. Cnidarians are jellyfish, sea anemones, and corals. Platyhelminthes are flat worms. Nematoda are round worms. Molluska are organisms like snails, slugs, squid, and octopi. Annelids are segmented worms. Arthropoda are insects, arachnids, and crustaceans. Echinoderms are sea stars, brittle stars, and sea urchins. Chordata are fish. We counted how many of each we could find in the Waipulani tide pools in Kihei, Hawaii. We used ID books to identify the organisms.

The research question was Which marine Phyla are present at the Waipulani tide pools of South Maui, and which Phyla are most represented in diversity and quantity? In my hypothesis, I thought we would find Cnidarians, Molluska, Arthropoda, Echinoderms, and Chordata, because my class found them in the tide pools during the first visit. We did not find any Cnidarians or Echinoderms. We did find Molluska, Arthropoda, and Chordata. I also thought that the Arthropoda would be most diverse based on the different kinds of crustaceans found earlier. Molluska turned out to be the most diverse. I inferred there would be the greatest number of Molluska, because the most organisms we saw on the first trip were Pipipi or something very similar. This guess was correct.
There are many possible sources of error that could have altered our results in this data collection. Individual pieces of data could have been counted more than once. The transect line could have been laid in a biased place. The person counting could have scared some organisms away by accident. Organisms could have been hidden where the person looking could not see them. The tide could have been too high or low to show the normal amount and types of organisms. The identification of organisms could have been faulty. Some of these errors could be and were prevented, others could not
I thought this lab was pretty fun and interesting. I think I would have liked it a lot better if we found more of a variety of organisms. What I liked that most was learning about marine phylum using a hands on experience rather than just using classroom methods. This is Advanced Science Research Methods.
I learned some new techniques when sketching a map of the research area that were helpful. I have a better understanding of the 9 phyla.