Paea Lagoon Aua i'a Fish Pond Monitoring, Group 1: Invertebrate Abundance, Tahiti, FP, 2022

INVERTEBRATE SURVEY METHODS
To survey invertebrates in the fish pond, we divided the area into three sections: the interior wall, interior floor, and exterior wall. We recorded every invertebrate species we observed, grouping them by families.

To measure abundance on the interior wall, 3 surveyors swam within a meter inward from the base of the wall, recording number of individuals seen on and around the wall.

To measure abundance in the interior of the pond, we laid transects every two meters starting from the southeast end, conducting swath surveys. We avoided the area a meter from the interior wall. Each of six total swaths was two meters wide and 14 meters long. Two team members held two transect tapes to mark the area of the swath while the other team member swam up and down the swath area counting each individual invertebrate.

To survey the exterior wall our team of 3 swam along the entirety of the outside of the wall and counted invertebrates on the rocks, then turned around and counted invertebrates on the sand extending two meters from the wall on the way back.

Additionally, we used a ScubaJet to count Crown of Thorns Starfish across three transects extending west about 25 meters from the outer edge of the pond, one on either corner and one in the middle.

Families we observed were snails, hermit crabs, crabs, urchins, sea cucumbers, worms, shrimp, and sea stars. We also recorded holes and mounds that indicated the presence of invertebrates.

DATA
Interior Floor:

  • 38 individuals counted
  • Average transect had 6.3 invertebrates (with a standard deviation of 1.82)

Interior Perimeter:

  • Average of all surveyor's data was 38 invertebrates (with a standard deviation of 2.42)
  • Most abundant species was worms, with an average between observers of 17 individuals

Exterior Perimeter:

  • Average of all surveyor's data was 58 invertebrates (with a standard deviation of 14.63)
  • Most abundant species was hermit crabs, with the average among observers 10. This excludes holes and mounds

Crown of Thorns:

  • Zero individuals observed
Publicado el sábado, 06 de agosto de 2022 a las 12:02 AM por langzi langzi

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