In the first week of November, 2002, three first year students from Pearson College stayed at Race Rocks for their project week. Rosie, from Great Britain, Jeremias from Austria and Ahmad from Egypt were successful in producing several videos while on the island. One of the projects was to produce a video that introduced virtual guests to the island. They have produced this video in three languages :
Arabic version
German version
English version
OTHER VIDEOS DONE IN THIS PROJECT WEEK:
(Ed Note: The scientific name at the start of the video is not correct.) The sea pen, Ptilosarcus gurneyi, is a colonial cnidarian in the same class as the anemone, the anthozoa. One polyp has been modified to form the body, while the fringes of the “feather” contain numerous small feeding polyps. Typically we find it living in a mud/sand substrate. It is rare around Race Rocks. The only population we have found is this one with a few individuals occurring at 15 metres on the North-West corner of Great Race Island. Note the small burrowing tubeworms in the mud around the organism. This specimen was videoed by Wynne Lawrence and Jean-Olivier Dalphond, both students at the Lester B. Pearson College.
General Description:
The sea pen, Ptilosarcus gurneyi, is a colonial cnidaria in the same class as the anemone, the anthozoa. One polyp has been modified to form the body while the fringes of the “feather” contain numerous small feeding polyps.
Habital:
Sea pens are marine organisms: typically they are found living in a mud/sand substrate at least 3 inches (7.6 cm) deep. It is rare around Race Rocks, with a few individuals occuring on the North-West corner of Great Race Island. Note the small burrowing tubeworms in the mud around the organism.
Feeding:
The polyps feed on detritus, zooplankton (baby artemia), and possibly (according to The Reef Aquarium Vol. Two) phytoplankton.You should offer your Sea Pen Artemia nauplii, Daphnia, pulverized flake food, and detritus stirred up from the bottom of the tank.
Predator:
Predators of the sea pen are two nudibranchs, one the very large 3 inches(7cm) nudibranch, Armina californica and the other Mediaster aequalis, Rose Star Crossaster papposus and the Leather Star Dermasterras imbriacata.
Reproduction:
We don’t know the reproduction of sea pens whether by sexual or asexual means.
References:
http://www.fishroom.com/library/seapen.html
http://www.lanecc.edu/science/zonation/seapen.htm
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Cnidaria
Class: Anthozoa
Subclass: Octocorallia
Order: Pennatulacea Verrill, 1865
Suborder :Subsessiliflorae
Family :Pennatulidae Ehrenberg, 1834
Genus:Ptilosarcus
species:gurneyi
(Ptilosarcus gurneyi)
Common name: orange sea pen
Return to the Race Rocks Taxonomy and Image Gallery
Other Members of the Class Anthozoa at Race Rocks.
 Return to the Race Rocks Taxonomyand Image File |
 The Race Rocks taxonomy is a collaborative venture originally started with the Biology and Environmental Systems students of Lester Pearson College UWC. It now also has contributions added by Faculty, Staff, Volunteers and Observers on the remote control webcams.
Original: Dec 2002, Joshua Columbus ( Burma) year PC yr 29). additions by G.Fletcher 2018 |
Description:
The beach pea Lathyrus japonicus or wild pea is found along in several locations at Race Rocks.In the west bay near the docks, and in the southeast beach area. It also has a conspicuous location on the center path where it grows out of an old log planted on end. We have also spread some seeds down the sidewalk wall toward the desalinator building. The flowering size is 3/4 inch wide, The flowering color is pink to purple,The flowering time is June to August. Height is 1-2 feet.
The beach pea has tough roots, is useful a sand binder and it adds nitrogen to the soil.
A major characteristic of the beach pea that makes it an ideal palnt for coastal areas is that it can live in soils which are Nitrogen deficient. It does this as do most of the legumes by converts atmospheric nitrogen to nitrates, a process known as “Nitrogen Fixation” .It has nodules on its roots which house Rhizobium bacteria. (Link to the exercise on Nitrogen Cycle)
Tne beach pea can cause a very serious disease of the nervous system, (brain and spine). Also the beach pea can be toxic to animals. It was however used as a laxative among the Coastal First Nations people.
Range: Coastal Labrador New England, south to North Jersey,along the Great Lakes, Pacific Coast from Alaska to California.The beach pea cannot grow in the shade and requires moist soil.
Domain Eukarya
Kingdom Plantae
Division Anthophyta
Class Dicotyledonaceae
Family Fabaceae
Genus Lathyrus
Species japonicus
Common Name: Beach pea
| Other Members of the Angiosperm at Race Rocks |
| Return to the Race Rocks Taxonomy and Image File |
| The Race Rocks taxonomy is a collaborative venture originally started with the Biology and Environmental Systems students of Lester Pearson College UWC. It now also has contributions added by Faculty, Staff, Volunteers and Observers on the remote control webcams. Mersiha Niksic (PC)
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Originally published in the Link, the Pearson College Newsmagazine- number 33, Jan10,2003 “Big Seal is Watching You”A Project Week
A Project week at Race Rocks Ecological Reserve —-
–photos by Jeremias Prassl (yr 29)
During Project Week November 4 to 11, 2002, three students lived on the lighthouse island of Race Rocks, in the marine protected area. Their project involved making observations to contribute to a data base, and doing some filming. Rosie Townsend, Ahmad Khalil, Jeremias Prassl (all year 29)
Day 1: The weather was marvellous, and at about 13.15 we arrived at Race Rocks, where we were welcomed by Mike Slater, the MPA guardian.
Day2: We held a meeting in the living room to determine what we would do during the next week. First of all there were the daily duties which had to be done at Race Rocks during the day: weather report to the Marina at 0800, morning engine check, salinity and sea water temperature check one hour before high tide, temperature and precipitation check at 1800, evening engine check. Extra to this we decided to do some movie projects. Filled with ideas we passed the afternoon by writing scripts for our projects.:
i) “Big Seal is Watching You” (a sort of “Big Brother” diary)
ii) Tide observation
iii) “How to Run Race Rocks” (a movie Mike asked us to do so he would not have to explain the daily duties over and over again)
iv) Documentation of the expected Department of National Defence Blasts on Bentinck Island and their influence on the sea mammals.
v) An Interview with the scientist which will come to RR every week for the next year.
vi) A short video giving a general introduction to RR
Day 3: Today we began the tide project. This involved taking clips of a fixed point on West Race Rock every hour between 0700 and 1700 to demonstrate the movement of the tides. We finished the editing and stored it on our results tape, so that is the first project that we have finished. We are also discovering that cooking should really be part of our project (creative experience?). Today Jeremias cooked a dish of liver, onions, and pears. Even Ahmad had a shot at cooking some rice, and for a first time in any kitchen. “It wasn’t completely disgraceful”, as Rosie stated. “In fact, it was really good”.
Day 4: We’re really beginning to notice how many whale watchers come past this island every day. There have been tons so far, and they often scare the animals into the water. Chris was supposed to come out with fuel today, but he decided not to risk it because of the predicted storm. At the end of the day, no storm has appeared but we are still hoping. If there is a big storm we intend to sit up in the lighthouse until it is over, or we run out of hot chocolate.
I personally really appreciate having an internet connection. Race Rocks is great, but I think that the isolation would drive me barmy if I couldn’t get in contact with the outside world. Our work today included all the daily duties and shooting all the footage we would need for “How to run RR”. We finished editing that today.
At the moment Ahmad is fasting for Ramadan which means that the only meals we eat as a group are our dinners. Actually, the other two have also been missing meals, since when we have a late breakfast after the morning duties, we don’t feel like eating lunch.
Day 5: The DND blasting was very interesting, especially for the more explosively-minded members of our party. At 0800 we set up our cameras. The first few blasts were not terribly exciting, but they progressively got louder over the day. When the loudest series began the seals and sea lions all stampeded into the water, leaving the island completely deserted. After our windows being shaken nearly to the point were they were about to break, we got scared (but decided not to jump in the Pacific).
Today for dinner we had fajitas that Rosie “cooked” (= take the fajitas and the seasoning out of the package, but them in the microwave, serve them with the enclosed salsa) which were good, even if she does say so herself.
Day 6: The blasting continued today, but still no storm. The effect on the animals was even more dramatic this morning. The first blast went off at around nine-thirty and the effect on the animals was instantaneous. They gradually crawled back while the DND people were on their lunch break, but they rushed straight back off again when they restarted.
Today there are some scientists on the island to study the impact of these tests. We did an interview with them for movie projects. Garry wanted us to ask some impertinent questions – I trust that we have done that to the best of our considerable ability.We think that we saw some whales from a distance, or maybe porpoises. We all hurried down to the docks with our cameras, and hopefully our photos will show more than a couple of fins. We trooped back again upon realising that our ecstasies were the subject of amused observation by the scientists in the lighthouse.
Right now we are listening to army communications on our VHF radio. As the storm is brewing around us and the darkness descends the feeling of a bad war movie is inescapable. If this diary seems to be largely concerned with food, we apologise, but we would like to have this project week officially recognised as a creative experience through cooking.
And so, good’bye for this week to readers of The Link. I hope that 2003 has started for you in health and happiness.
Eileen Dombrowski, Editor
Our last evening on the island has arrived, we’ll spend it editing
the rest of our projects.
posted by Race Rocks Relief at 7:47 AM
‘This morning after the students returned to Pearson College, Garry and Mark took out fourteen international visitors from a conference on Sea Ducks in Victoria. They were particularly impressed by the assortment of bird life on the way out, Belted Kingfishers, Great Blue Herons, Double- Crested Cormorants, and Bonaparte”s Gulls were common, Rhinocerous Auklets and a flock of , 6 Ancient Murrelets as well as several flocks of Marbled Murrelets -20+) were an added bonus. A few Western Grebes were also in the Pedder Bay region. Double Crested Cormorants, Western and Thayer”s gulls were the most common around Race Rocks, with a few juvenile Glaucous winged gulls mixed in. ‘, ‘Garry Fletcher’, ’22:05:42 ,
Good morning
WEATHER: Sky Overcast »» Vis. 5 Miles »» Wind North-East 7 Knots »» Sea Choppy/Rough
Good Evening
TEMPERATURE: Max. 9.1 ºC »» Min. 7.1 ºC »» Reset 8.0 ºC »» Rain 9.0 mm Today the blasting is over. We will finish editing the footage and it will appear on the website shortly. We have had some impresseive looking waves crashing on the rocks today, and they have been scaring the birds from their resting places.
posted by Race Rocks Relief at 1:16 PM
A Video made by the students this week:
http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/archives/viddailyduties.htm
This clip was produced on 8.11.2002. As Race Rocks Marine Protected Area is a place where large (3 meter) tidal range occurs, it is a good location to observe the raising and lowering of the water . A rock in Race Passage near the West shore of Great Race Rock was chosen and a camera was installed in front of the window of the research room in the Marine Science Centre. Video clips were taken for 15 seconds every hour of daylight, high tide occurred during noontime. The second part of the clip shows the tide going in fast motion, a day at the rock passes in 25 seconds.” Jeremias Prassti, ( PC yr 28)
From Victoria Tide tables for this date.. 8.11.2002. :
time… tidal height (ft)………….(meters)
0910 …………………..8.9……………..2.7
1100………………….. 8.5……………..2.6
1445………………….. 9.2……………..2.8
2345………………….. 1.0………………0.3
PROJECT IDEA:
1. On graph paper, using the data above, plot the tidal variation for the day. Then pause the video on each of the levels, measure the height of an exposed piece of the rock and then plot it on the graph. In this way you should be able to determine the elevation of the top of the rock.
2. Link to the physical factor page for Race Rocks – Go to the Tidal calculator links available and compare the shape of the graph for November 8, 2002 with the graph you have made here