Intertidal

V.2 Team Teaching of Marine Biology (Biologi Laut)

Ocean Zonation
 GENERAL CHARACTER OF TIDES

§ Diurnal or semi-diurnal
§ Small change (Pensacola, FL, USA about 1 foot) or large (Bay of
Fundy, NB, Canada about 50 feet, and a ‘tidal bore’)
§ Tidal currents vary accordingly:
1. Forecasted tide influenced by wind conditions and rainfall
2. Upper intertidal zone, lower intertidal zone, mid-tide line
TIDES

pinterest.com
TIDES

oceanservice.noaa.gov
ENVIRONMENTAL VARIATIONS

• Moisture, desiccation stress

at low tide
• Salinity change (basin effect
vs rainfall)
• Temperature change (more
than 5°C)
• Oxygen change
(concentration and access)
• Physical forces (crashing
waves) greentumble.com
 EFFECTS ON INTERTIDAL SPECIES

• No species can handle

whole range
• Intertidal zonation (esp.
Sessile species)
• Tidal phase
specialization – tidal
versus circadian rhythms
(diurnal, nocturnal)
 LOW E VS HIGH E

ACTIVE MARGIN PASSIVE MARGIN

• with uplift leads to rocky coasts • sediment buildup
• waves hit more directly (high E) from land
• waves slowed
• organisms adapted to waves and
no sediment • infauna
• epifauna
 ADAPTATION OF INTERTIDAL ORGANISMS

• Desiccation
• Heat
• Wave energy
• Wave refraction
Mussels
• Wave action (Mytilus
californianus)

tropical
snail (Nerita
plicata)

chitons (Sypharochiton seaweeds

pelliserpentis) and snails
(Diloma atrovirens)
 ADAPTATION OF INTERTIDAL ORGANISMS

• Desiccation
• Heat
sea anemone
• Wave energy (Anthopleura
xanthogrammica)
• Wave
refraction
• Wave action

kelp
(Eisenia
arborea)

Mussels (Mytilus)
 ADAPTATIONS OF INTERTIDAL ANIMALS

1. Dorsoventral flattening
2. Physiological tolerances
(chitons can lose 75% of body
water)
3. Tide pool refugia
4. Area versus Volume issues: --
long planktonic larval stage
- settle out low, move up as grow
larger
- brooding
5. Temporary exploiters (migrate
in and out of intertidal zone).
- Exp. various fish, crustaceans,
- Crown conch (Melongena)

Byssal ; sucker
 ADAPTATIONS OF INTERTIDAL PLANTS

• Distributed high or
low
• Must be salt tolerant.
Some excrete excess
salt as crystals
• Algae require strong
holdfasts and must
live low down aphotomarine.com
 COM P E TITION F OR S PACE :
DOMINANT BIOLOGICAL FACTOR
ZONATION
PREDATORS LIMIT
BEST COMPETITORS
SUCCESSION
 1. ROCKY SHORES
• Harsh environment: loss of water at low tide; physical forces of
waves; variation in temperature; UV radiation; ice formation;
variation in salinity (rain exposure)
• Adaptation to life between water and air:
• High temperature and water-loss tolerance (60-90% of water
in some algae)
• Hard shells and solid attachement against wave action
• Retreat into shells and housings at low tide to minimize
water loss and exposure to grazers
• Synchronized spawning
• Cluster formation
• Kelp forests: large brown algae, outside the 20°C isotherms,
sublittoral down to 20-40 m depending on water clarity;
Growth rates up to 50 cm per day; high primary production
and habitat for numerous microalgae and animals
 ROCKY INTERTIDAL ZONES

• Anchoring points
especially
important with
high wave action
• Area of hard
substrate can be
limiting
FOOD WEB ON ROCKY SHORE
SPECIES DENSITY FACTOR
 2. SAND/SOFT
BOTTOM BEACHES
• Wave action makes the beach best for infauna
• Typically shallow slope: sand drains and dries slowly
• Remember vertical oxygen gradient in sands and muds with
hydrogen sulfide (H2S) at deeper layers! Slow draining of sand
causes little water and oxygen exchange at depth
• Primary production: microalgae (diatoms), few macroalgae
• Low diversity in macrofauna, but meiofauna (a diverse assemblage
of minute invertebrates generally associated with the benthos, or
bottom, of many streams and rivers. Meiofauna can be considered
intermediaries between microbes and macroscopic organisms in
stream food webs) most diverse, including the unique interstitial
fauna
• Vertebrate animals include flat fish, and birds are
important grazers
• Most infauna is mobile
• Most infauna (98%) do not produce planktonic
larvae
• Often, only one to few eggs are produced, and
often parents bread and take care of their
offspring
SEDIMENT SIZE
SEDIMENT HOLDS WATER

• Sediment can become anoxic; anaerobic resp by

bacteria
• Getting around ; feeding
FOOD WEB ON SANDY BEACHES
ZONATION ON SANDY
BEACHES
HIGH WAVE ENERGY INTERTIDAL ZONES

• Like sandy beach on Gulf of Mexico side of Florida

barrier islands (e.g., Destin,Pensacola Beach)
• Whitish sand reflects low organics, low species diversity
and abundance
• No living plants, too much wave action and unstable
sediment
• Polychaetes in sediment
• Long-billed shorebirds
• Low intertidal filter feeders (Donax (coquina clam),
Emerita (mole crab)
• Upper intertidal scavengers : Amphipods (beach fleas)
• WORM ROCK BEACHES: A
SPECIAL CASE

- TUBE-BUILDING POLYCHAETES,
GLUE TOGETHER SAND GRAINS
- COLONIES OF WORMS C AN
BUILD HUGE BOULDERS, WHICH
PROTECT UPPER BEACH FROM
WAVE ENERGY

SANDY BEACHES AS
SPAWNING SITES
- Sea turtles, horseshoe crabs
- Grunion, capelin (clupeid fishes)
 SANDY/PEBBLE BEACHES
AS MAMMAL ROOKERIES

- Order Pinnipedia - seals, sea lions, walruses

- Limbs modified as flippers, carnivores,good diving
ability, bull males and harem
- Use beaches to warm up, avoid marine predators, mate,
birth, and nurse young
- Northern species use pebble beaches
- Warmer sandy beaches: Monk Seals
- Ice as a beach substitute: Harp Seals