Sea Shore Antics

[Kate]

It is indeed a remarkably hostile place to survive. I wondered what the range of conditions was:

It has been

mentioned about the Temperature differences between summer and winter.

There is also temp differences between high tide

(stable sea temp range) and low tide (wide air temp range)

In seawater and then possibly exposed to fresh water at low tide in heavy rain is another change I

can think of. There is the effect of osmosis to consider with this one.

just a few for now
Kate

[Karen]

Another I can think of Kate, is:

Rock pools becoming more saline on a hot day due to evaporation only taking

fresh water out and leaving the salt behind in less volume of water.

Also the opposite effect, dilution, in that heavy rain caught in

or run off into a rock pool will cause it to become less saline.

both variations are something the inhabitants will have to be able to buffer.

Karen

[David]

Wave energy dumping itself on the shore, is something I can think of.

At high tide any waves will effect

only as a surge as they roll over the substrate, but if it is low tide the waves are rolling up the substrate itself.

Very hostile place really (even if it is visited on a

calm sunny day in summer) it needs to be remembered that anything on the shore still had to survive those rough times in order just to be there.

David

[Annabelle]

Litter! plastic bags and other bio or non-biodegradable rubbish

[administration]

Inconsiderate human interaction.

From exploring (mostly eager tourists) under rocks they are sometimes

left inverted (the rocks not the tourists) to the sun and so exposing the previously sheltered inhabitants to the heat.

Also when rocks are placed back right way

up, there is often something that gets crushed as it is lowered down.

Not sure this interaction is hugely devestating, but it is an element that effects to some

extent.

Stephen

[Susie]

Still inconsiderate human intervention:

REMOVING SEAWEED in summer to

make beaches pretty for tourists. This must affect the natural life cycles somehow on the strandline etc.

Susi

[shelley]

Light variations....
it was mentioned in 'where they live, boffin' that red light in the littoral zone varies from full

intensity (when the tide is fallen) and zero when the tide has risen around 5 meters (based on 70% loss/meter).

5m is not deep for total dissapearence so must

be a factor effecting the seashore.

Shelley

[Dave]

Hard and Soft Engineering:

man made sea walls and sea defence schemes effect the coast just along from

where it was protected! Erosion and longshore drift that would have otherwise ruined settlements can be halted by these schemes so at

first seem good. But when you look down the coast, the eroded substrate that would have been deposited is no longer available and so the shores down current are

adversly affected (wildlife wise).
Dave

[administration]

Pressure variations in water column

All know that the tide rises and falls but with this comes the physics of

pressure variations that anything living their must be able to adapt or bear this range.

P=pressure in Bars (our atmosphere in air is

average of 1)
d=depth of water in meters

P=(d/10)+1

so at low tide (exposed to air): d=0
P=(0/10)+1
P=1

& at high tide (take a 5

meter Neap Tide): d=5
P=(5/10)+1
P=1.5

A 50% increase then 50% decrease is a signicant

amount of pressure variation to deal with twice a day.

[administration]

Geology of the insitu rock make up.

Limpets are grasers, and I know in agriculture that soil make up

(geology of local rocks) affects the soil, which influences what can be grown and wether it is more acid or alkaline. So algae on rocks

must grow with different 'flavours' and so the grasers will carry a variety of influences through the food chain.

Always here of rocky shores, but seldom (if at all

really) hear of differences between alkaline based substrate rocky shores and acidic ones.

A bit specific on a subtle difference I know, but thinking in 'usual

manner'!

Stephen

[Abigail]

Yes, grazers will be influenced in flavour of body makeup from what they are digesting. So would taste different depending on the algae.
I dont

know if the algae has different flavours depending on geology because they absorb from seawater rather than have routes. But the

chemistry must be effected by the rock minerals so it may well be a factor. Intesting thinking.
Abi

[administration]

Ocean Circulation effect seashores when passing by as a boundary current. The main UK one being the

GulfStream. Without this, things would be a lot different.... a lot colder sea temps on our western shores.

[bethany]

Long time-scale sea level changes (not tides).... more to do with:

*sealevel

rises due to sea level rises from the effects of our supposed global warming phenomemnon
*sealevel rises due to landmass sinking from the effects of isostacy....

south west uk is sinking due to scandinavian glacier reduction

the creatures would notice, I'm sure.... especially the ones on the edge of the zonation margins



Bethany

[Kate]