On 1st June 2004, during the Johan Ashuvud project we had Dr. Gitai Yahel and Russel Wyeth explain to the students and faculty from Journey Middle School in Sooke their research at Race Rocks . This was during a live webcast by Emmanuel (PC 30) from Ghana and Paul (PC 30) from Nigeria. Later we showed the students various living organisms in the tank room and gave the students a tour of the island. In those years, Pearson College students were part of the Schools Project whereby many schools in the Sooke School District would send their grade seven class on a field trip at the invitation of the Pearson College Diving Service.
Category Archives: Education
Horizontal Structure in Ecosystems
Introduction:In this file, we show the process and results of an investigation on some specific examples of horizontal structure of ecosystems
Objectives: After doing this lab, you will be able to:
a) Observe a species in its environment and determine its horizontal distribution.
b) Comment on the causes of horizontal distribution of vegetation at Race Rocks
c) Analyze how horizontal structure in your own ecosystem is determined by abiotic and biotic factors
d) Design your own protocol for analyzing the effects of horizontal structure on ecosystems.
e) Discuss the implications for Human built-up environments on Biodiversity of Ecosystems.
f) Quantify the amount of anthropogenic influence from human construction on the surface area of Race Rocks.
PROCEDURE: 
1. Use the remote cameras at Race Rocks and scan around for one species: mammal, bird or plant. Probably there will be more than one of these animals or plants in view. Once you decide on the species, be sure you know its correct identification. |
2. Go to this file for a dichotomous key to help in identification of birds and mammals. |
 3. Look for patterns in the distribution of that species, the sector of the island in which it is located, whether it is near vegetation or on a rock, whether it is exposed to wind or not, or how closely it is located to the shore. See if you can add any ideas about how the horizontal patterns of the species are determined. Then add your sighting record summarizing these observations on the GIS database. Next observe the island from the air in the image above. This is part of the image of the GIS projection on OceanQuest. You can see just by the color, where pockets of accumulated soil have determined the horizontal distribution of vegetation on the islands. You can also see from this bird’s-eye view, how the surge and wave action producing salt spray and erosion around the edge of the island might have has produced this zone free of vegetation. |
 4. One of the field techniques of studying the horizontal distribution of organisms is also a technique which allows the production of baseline information about organism distribution. Go to this file on Environmental gradients, (which are determined by biotic and abiotic factors). It shows how a belt transect can be used to document changes of organisms through a specified distance. Describe the procedure used and indicate how records produced in this way may be very useful in measuring the effect of humans on ecosystems through time.( hint:Oil or other chemical spills) |
 5.Organisms themselves often play the role of determining species distribution. Here in the artificial tidepool #13, limpets can be seen underwater grazing on an algal scum on the flat rock base of the tidepool. In this case, the limpet has determined the horizontal distribution of the algae, and vice versa, the remaining algal scum determines where the limpets will be distributed on the horizontal plane. Describe other examples of where organisms themselves determine distribution . Things to think of are: habitat and shelter, food sources, the presence of one species creating a “microniche” for another. |
6. Biodiversity of  Ecosystems often suffers as a result of human activities. One could say that humans are probably the most significant organism in the effect on biodiversity. Describe two ways in which humans have a negative effect on biodiversity and two ways in which humans have a positive effect on biodiversity. Go to this file for an exercise which allows you to determine the influence of human activity on the horizontal patterns of distribution of organisms on Race Rocks. In this exercise we take a critical look at the Race Rocks Ecosystem, and actually measure and calculate the Anthropogenic footprint. In it you might encounter some examples of bioremediation and restoration, some interesting history and some mysteries. Most certainly you will discover the history of how human activities can have a big impact on an island ecosystem. |
Tidepool # 12 at Race Rocks
This pool is above the highest tidal level. It only gets replenished with sea water during a storm event with a high west wind and a relatively high tide.
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- North section
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- Middle section
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- South sectio
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- Hugo and Eva measure pool depth, temperature and salinity.
Images Garry Fletcher
Some ideas to consider:
Go to the Environmental Data page and using the data from the weather pages there, predict when such events may occur.
The Johan Ashuvud 2004 project
n the first week of June 2004, four students and two researchers stayed at Race Rocks for an intensive week. Sponsorship for this week comes from the Johan Ashuvud memorial fund. Webcasts of the day’s events took place every night and on two days, school groups came out to help produce a program for live webcasting.
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- Arriving at the island in “Second Nature”
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- Paul, Emmanuel and Carmen
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- Paul, Emmanuel and Carmen Emmanuel and Paul exploring and taking videos of the intertidal zone with the tower in the background.
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- Setting up the camera in the intertidal zone. It is not an easy job getting good footage of the intertidal zone
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- Emmanuel observing organisms in the intertidal zone zone hidden among the rocks
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- A gumboot chiton in a bed of brown algae. Here we see Emmanuel trying to detach it from the rock to examine the ventral surface.
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- Low tide exposure on the West shore. Michelle takes the opportunity of the low tide to work on her research project on goose neck barnacles
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- This sea star, the purple or ochre star is common in other areas along the coastline, but this is the only specimen we have found here
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- Garry in the mussel bed
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- Tealia anemone exposed at the extreme low tide
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- Tealia anemone exposed at the extreme low tide. Pink hydrocorals are exposed at low tide on the West shore
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- exposed at low tide on the West shore. Hydroids exposed at an extreme low tide on the West shore.
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- Gitai Yahel and Russel Wyeth stayed with the students for the week, sampling for his research on suspension feeders.
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- Ride back to the college after completing the Johan Ashuvud project.
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- Return to Pearson College at the end of the week.
(https://www.racerocks.ca/johan-ashuvud-project-at-race-rocks-2004/)
During the Johan Ashuvud project 2004, students explored the intertidal with Garry Fletcher. They examined various organisms as well as the artificial tidepool. In this video, we also get a chance to meet all the students taking part in the project.
Variables Affecting Tidepools at Race Rocks
n the high intertidal areas of Race Rocks, there are tidepools with wide fluctuations of abiotic factors. The organisms inhabiting these pools are well adapted to these extremes. Garry talks to a biology class about some of the variables influencing these high tide pools, and the flagellated green algae living within them.
Tidepool # 7 at Race Rocks
In May 2004, the biology class measures the abiotic factors in Pool 7.
Jen with the salinity probe.
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- meter stick on pool 7
The most striking feature about this tidepool is that since it is at such a high level on the intertidal, in the heat of summer, there is evaporation which concentrates the salinity into a saturated solution even beyond the range of measurement on the salinometer. Even in that high concentration as can be seen in the following picture, a green algae lives among the salt crystals
Salt Crystals with algal growth form in Pool7 in the summer
Some ideas to consider:
Tidepools 7and 8 are situated very close together, differing only in a few centimeters in elevation. The salinity and temperatures of the pools may vary however. It might be worthwhile to document these variations and propose some explanations for the variation.
The Tidal Cycle at Race Rocks and the Abiotic Effects of Tides
At Race Rocks we have a tidal range of about 3 metres.
For tidal Level predictions , from the closest station at Pedder Bay see this link
https://tides.gc.ca/en/stations/07080/predictions
The link below is for the Race Passage Current tables. .. See this file for the result of original work done by Pearson College Divers assisting the Institute of Ocean Sciences in the deployment of the current meter to gather a year’s worth of data from which these tables are constructed.
Marine Science teacher at Pearson College Laura Verhegge was interviewed on CBC radio about what was a “Negative tide”. Listen below.
The role of the moon is a major factor in determining the rise and fall of the tides.The view of it from Race Rocks in a full sky is often stunning.
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- photo of camera 5 and the moonrise -G.Fletcher photo
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- Pam Boirley took these shots from her home in England using camera 5
And of course the other component causing tides is the sun. See this file for Solar energy records for Race Rocks .
See this file for the Abiotic Effect of Solar energy on Organisms at Race Rocks
THE ABIOTIC EFFECTS OF TIDAL LEVEL CHANGES:
The rich variety of life in the intertidal zones of Race Rocks provide habitat for many animals which have adapted to living part of their life exposed . “ANITA’S ISLAND” on the West side of Great Race Rocks provides an excellent example, in the month of June when the tidal level often drops below zero datum so one can really appreciate the effects of the daily changing tidal levels on intertidal life. This island is actually a peninsula which you can walk out onto when the tides drop to -0.0m, but is totally submerged at high tide, (around 2.6 meters). You can often see the top of it from remote camera1 ( It looks black because it is covered with mussels.)
For several years in the 1990s we did research with Dr. Anita Brinckmann-Voss on these low tides in June. We only had a half hour or so until the isthmus joining the island to Great Race Island was flooded however. Each year that we went out, Anita found a great many of the hydroid samples from which she identified for the Ecological Reserve.
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- The intertidal zone on the West side of Great Race Rocks as viewed and photographed on June 12, 1999 at a minus 0.1 tide. The predominant macroalgae is Hedophylum sp. although immature bull kelp (Nereocystis luetkeana) is also anchored in this zone close to the shore
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- Small pink dots of a Melobesia mediocris, a calcareous pink encrusting algae which grows as an epiphyte on the leaves of surf grass
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- Just below the green fringe of surf grass, Phyllospadix scouleri, pink hydrocorals and other hydroids such as this Abietinaria amphora survive the current and wave swept zone.
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- The hydroid Aglaophemia latirostris with an Intertidal Anemone
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- Other Cnidarians such as the green anemone, Anthopleura xanthogrammica, are found in the low intertidal area. These large anemone with symbiotic algae are also found in the surge channel on the south-west corner. The knife placed in the picture for scale measures 10cm in length.
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- Giant red urchins Strongylocentrotus franciscanis live here at the upper limits of their range and the purple urchin, Strongylocentrotus purpuratus also inhabits a narrow band in this area.
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- A giant barnacle, Balanus nubilus plays host to a colony of Symplectoscyphus turgidus ( formerly Sertularella turgida) . Hydrocoral, (Allopora sp. ) encrusts much of the substrate
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- Two of the small caves at this level yield a variety of invertebrates. The ceilings of these caves usually support a variety of hydroids
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- The floor of this cave on the south-west corner is covered with the red encrusting sponge, Ophlitaspongia
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- Here on the small island, the purple urchins reside in a crevasse next to the mussle Mytilus californianus.
 Other tidal heights from along the coast of Vancouver Island and British Columbia An interesting exercise is to compare the tidal heights at several locations around Vancouver Island. There is a significant difference, with times as well as tidal ranges varying depending where the station is located. There are many factors which determine tide levels, the most obvious being the stages of the moon and the position of the sun, but here you can see that geography has a major role to play as well. |
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APPLE : Partnership with racerocks.com
ARCHIVE: It is important to recognize that the early innovations in internet technology at Race Rocks were made possible by the cooperation of a number of partners and sponsors . Apple was one of the important partners in collaboration for this educational application of the internet for the conservation of a sensitive ecosystem by promoting the availability of its unique ecological features to the world.
In June 2000, Apple first became a sponsor when APPLE CANADA recognized the significance of our project and loaned us a new Powerbook G3 500 for the two weeks of mobile webcasts in June 2000.
As a result of that initial support, Apple Canada sent us the same computer for our project in July 2000. At the New York MacWorld Conference in July, our presentation of a live underwater webcast from Race Rocks prompted an offer from The APPLE LEARNING INTERCHANGE for a partnership. The result was that the QuickTime live video streams were hosted by the Apple Learning Interchange over the Akamai Internet distribution network. We are extremely grateful to APPLE for this generous support. Live video streams have now been operating since the summer of 2000 thanks to tis initial support.
In March of 2001, APPLE Canada came to our assistance again with the generous
donation of a G4 Titanium PowerBook. We used this for our mobile webcasts and
for the creation of new archived video clips using the iMovie software.
We must also acknowledge the commitment of the Apple representative Keith Mitchell who worked out of the offices in Texas and was also able to visit us to see the operation of our system at Race Rocks.
In June of 2002, The APPLE LEARNING INTERCHANGE opened its new gallery of featured exhibits and racerocks.com was included on the ALI website as one of their exhibits.
In January of 2004, The Apple Learning Interchange upgraded the three computers and the Wireless Airports and they also assisted us with the purchase of a new Remote Control camera. We now have the equipment installed and providing improved Live Streaming Images as of the spring of 2004.
In 2004, three APPLE eMacs were supplied to webcast from cameras 1, 2 and 5. Webcasting from these cameras used QuickTime Broadcaster.
Distance Education Feedback
From a teacher in the United States:
Garry! Well, you made history today. Our school had never had a live webcast. You were the first! We got online at about 10:40 and stayed on through the end.
The students were mesmerized. The evidence that it made a huge impression was seen back in class when I asked them to write about what they learned. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such long essays and such focused work!
Thanks so much for taking the time to do this for us.
Here are some quotes from their essays. I will send their
questions tomorrow.
“I wish I could be like Pablo, your student.”
“I learned that some species of plants grow together.”
“I liked it when you showed the tissue of the plant where the water goes.”
“They were doing what we are doing.”
“I learned that we could use green seaweed in a salad.”
“It helped me understand how scientists work.
“I liked that they talked very nicely and clear.”
“We are thinking we could be like you, Mr. Fletcher.”
“They know all about species of plants.”
“”I think Mr. Fletcher, Pablo, and Carolina work so hard.”
“I learned that some plants don’t need water.”
“We learned that weeds stick together. Oscar wanted to know why.”
“I learned that a plant inside the leaf is like a tissue all wet.”
I think I’ll have to get a brochure from Pearson College so I can send them to you in the future.
Thanks again, Maria
From a teacher in Toronto, Canada:
“Thank you for adding me to your notification list as the location and subject
matter of your website are as interesting to me as the technology. I was very excited the first time I saw an elephant seal through the Racerock ‘eyes’ and it’s quite a treat to see the baby seagulls that are the focus now.
Regards from Toronto!”
Carolyn
From a parent Victoria, Canada:
“Thank you for providing such an interesting and amazing site!! My son
and I spent more than an hour viewing the information provided, and he ran off to do more research after! Race Rocks may only be a short distance from where we live, but we had never had the opportunity to see below the surface and learn so much about the creatures that live there.”
Thanks again,
Jackson
From an instructional designer in Chignecto, Canada:
“I am a teacher and an instructional designer with the Chignecto Central Regional School Board located in Nova Scotia, Canada. I am currently designing courses for an online school for high school students in our Board (and perhaps beyond). I would like permission to link to your site:
http://www.racerocks.com
so that our students can explore biodiversity and the classification of living things through the video and information found on your website. I was very excited about the possibilities for students to explore “real life biology” after viewing your site!
Earl Claxton: First Nations Use of Marine Resources: Intertidal Invertebrates.
On May 2, 2000, First Nations Elder Earl Claxton recounts the ways his people interacted with the resources of the intertidal ecosystems.
The Coast Salish people have always relied on the rich supply of invertebrate life in the intertidal zone of rocky coastal areas in British Columbia.
Archived Videos : First Nations and Race Rocks
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