Category Archives: Education

Hydrocoral at Race Rocks and Alberto Lindner

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Alberto Lindner is studying the systematics and evolution of hydrocorals using morphological and molecular biology methods for his Ph.D. thesis. He visited Race Rocks in the summer of 2002. The occurrence of hydrocoral in the low intertidal zone is an unusual occurrence on the Pacific West Coast and Alberto is aiming to help us in the identification of the different colored clones of the animal. His supervisor and advisors are Dr. Stephen Cairns (Smithsonian) , Dr.Cliff Cunningham ( Duke University) and Dr. Dale Calder (Royal Ontario Museum) This is part of a program of training young zoologists in established and new methods of systematics Alberto comes from Brazil, having completed a Master’s degree in the University of São Paulo.

Alberto was introduced to us by Dr. Anita Brinkmann-Voss

See  Hydrocorals in The Race Rock Taxonomy

After returning to his lab and doing further analysis, Alberto reported that “It is pretty safe to say that the purple and pink color morphs of Stylaster corals (Allopora) from Race Rocks are the same species”. He has also noted the same result with deep-sea species from the Aleutians, as the orange and pink forms there do not separate the species.

Link to Alberto’s website.

Stylaster parageus columbiensis: (Hydrocoral) –The Race Rocks Taxonomy

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pinkquadac

A bed of Stylaster parageus columbiensis. in front of the docks at Race Rocks off peg #2 at 10 meters. Note the basket star, clumps of whelks and patches of red encrusting sponge.picture width : 80cm.

This colonial hydroid grows from the 0.2 tidal level to over 20 meters in depth in various places throughout the Race Rocks Ecological Reservee. At low tide, it is visible in several protected crevices and in Anita’s tidepool ( #6 on the West shore) Subtidally it is common in both purple and pink colonies . East of the Middle Islands, it has been observed by divers at 20 meters, growing in erect branching form of considerable profile ( to 20 centimeters.)

Domain Eukarya
Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Cnidaria
Class Hydrozoa
Order Anthoathecata)
Family Stylasteriidae
Genus Stylaster
Species parageus columbiensis (Lindner & Cairns)
Common Name: Hydrocoral

In July of 2002, Dr. Anita Brinckmann-Voss of Sooke had Alberto Lindner, a PhD student from Duke University visiting to exchange scientific information and to get help with identification of hydroids from collections in Alaska and the Olympic Penninsula. Alberto is studying the systematics and evolution of hydrocorals using morphological and molecular biology methods for his Ph.D. thesis. His supervisor and advisors are Dr. Stephen Cairns (Smithsonian) , Dr.Chris Cunningham (Duke University) and Dr. Dale Calder (Royal Ontario Museum) This is part of a program of training young zoologists in established and new methods of sytematics. Alberto comes from Brazil, having completed a Master’s degree in the University of Sao Paolo.

 

hydrocoralAnita made arrangements with us to get Alberto to the islands so that he could see Allopora growing in its natural habitat. Although it was not a zero tide level, we were still able to collect several small samples for him to do DNA analysis. He hoped to be able to sort out whether or not there is a distinct species difference in the color varieties we find at Race Rocks. 

rm2010hydrocoral2

The two color morphs of Stylasterias parageus columbiensis at Race Rocks . photo by Ryan Murphy

After returning to his lab and doing further analysis, Alberto reported that “It is pretty safe to say that the purple and pink color morphs of Stylaster corals (Allopora) from Race Rocks are the same species”. He has also noted the same result with deep-sea species from the Aleutians, as the orange and pink forms there do not separate the species.

See the record of his research on species identification here: Stylaster parageus columbiensis Lindner & Cairns in Cairns & Lindner, 2011

The following images were taken by the Ecoguardian Ryan Murphy in 2010. many different species including basket star in the image above have adapted to use the hydrocoral as a habitat because of it’s protective crevasses.

see this link for other hydroids:  https://www.racerocks.ca/tag/hydroid/

This file is provided as part of a collaborative effort by Lester B. Pearson College students, staff, volunteers and local scientists.

Westmont Montessori Class Visits Race Rocks as part of our Schools Project

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In June, 2002 the grade six students of Nadine Cruikshank’s class at Westmont Montessori school in Metchosin came out to Race Rocks to participate in a live webcast. Pearson College students Ben, Joe, Kiprop and former student Ryan who were staying at Race Rocks for the Johan Asuvud Race Rocks 2002 Project introduce them to the ecology and the history of Race Rocks. (17 minutes)

Tidepool # 3 at Race Rocks

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This file has been started to present some of the information we have acumulated on the pool in order to stimulate students to raise further questions and devise problems that can be investigated at the pool. It is also intended to be part of a cumulative digital legacy that those examining the pool can pass on to future students.

Some ideas to consider:

  • This pool is very shallow and has a very low biodiversity. Diatoms, amphipods and a few barnacles live here. Since it is only a few centimeters higher up the shore than pool 4, note how elevation makes a significant impact on the abiotic factors of Temperature and salinity.

WEBCASTING CREW –AT RACE ROCKS JUNE 2-14, 2002

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MEET THE CREW:

“We had a great time webcasting live from Race Rocks on Camera 4 during the first two weeks of June for the Johan Ashuvud Race Rocks02 Project”

Current first year students from Pearson College, Joe, Ben, Kiprop and Jedrzej and Ryan Murphy, who graduated last year stayed at the Marine Science Centre. Ryan is returning to Race Rocks this month to do research for Mt.Allison Univ. on the macroalgal community, They conducted daily live and prerecorded webcasts with teacher Garry Fletcher from the intertidal and from underwater using camera 4.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For one of the webcasts we were joined by Sean LeRoy, Graduate Researcher, Georgia Basin Futures Project Sustainable Development Research Institute, University of British Columbia and Dr.James Tansey also of UBC. They came to participate in the webcast with Garry and Ryan on Marine Protected Areas in new Zealand and Canada with Tim Langlois, Leigh Marine Laboratory University of Auckland, and Anne Saloman, University of Washington, Zoology Department.

On three days we hosted small groups of students from local elementary schools who served as proxies in webcasts done for their classmates.

Support for the Race Rocks02 Project came from the Johan Ashuvud Race Rocks Memorial Fund.

Westmont School visit June 2002

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In June, 2002 the grade six students of Nadine Cruikshank’s class at West-Mont school in Metchosin came out to Race Rocks to participate in a live webcast. Pearson College students Ben,Joe, Kiprop and former student Ryan Murphy introduce them to the ecology and the history of Race Rocks. (17 minutes)

 

Webcasting Crew at Race Rocks for the Johan Ashvud RR’02 Project

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MEET THE CREW:

kiptower

Michael Kiprop Kenya (PC-2003)

joe

Joe Downham UK (PC-2003)

ben

Ben Dougall Australia (PC-2003)

ryan

Ryan Murphy Newfoundland & Labrador (PC-2001)

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“We had a great time webcasting live from Race Rocks on Camera 4 during the first two weeks of June for the Johan Ashuvud Race Rocks02 Project”
Three current first year students from Pearson College and Ryan Murphy, who graduated last year stayed at the Marine Science Centre. Ryan is returning to Race Rocks this month to do research for Mt.Allison Univ. on the macroalgal community.

See one video on Pterygophora which was one part of his project here: They conducted daily live and prerecorded webcasts with Garry Fletcher from the intertidal and from underwater using camera 4.

Garry

Garry Fletcher Biology/Diving faculty

For one of the webcasts we were joined by Sean LeRoy, Graduate Researcher, Georgia Basin Futures Project Sustainable Development Research Institute, University of British Columbia and Dr.James Tansey also of UBC. They came to participate in the webcast with Garry and Ryan on Marine Protected Areas in new Zealand and Canada with Tim Langlois, Leigh Marine Laboratory University of Auckland, and Anne Saloman, University of Washington, Zoology Department.

On three days we hosted small groups of students from local elementary schools who served as proxies in webcasts done for their classmates.

Support for the Race Rocks 02 Project came from the Johan Ashuvud Race Rocks Memorial Fund
Below are some of the Videos produced by the crew during the week.

benframes kids octopuss
Ben’s movie put together during the week. June 2002 field trip: for a live webcast with the crew, of the grade six students from West-Mont school . One morning we found the body of an octopus washed up in the intertidal zone. An impromptu dissection led to this video.

Environmental Systems First Year Exam at Race Rocks

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For the last 24 years, the first year environmental systems students have had their final term exam at Race Rocks. In May of 2002, Laura Verhegge continued the tradition with her two classes. They endured the west wind and went through the six stations of the exam. In this video the students and Laura provide the commentary about the investigations.

Return to Education video archive index

Race Rocks Update Spring 2002- Angus Matthews

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The New Landlord
Responsibility for Great Race Island has recently reverted back to the Province of British Columbia represented by BC Parks. The Coast Guard has officially turned all surplus buildings and facilities at Race Rocks over to BC Parks for use in support of education, research and the protection of the Marine Protected Area. Before transferring the assets, the Coast Guard completed extensive upgrades of the fuel systems, generators, buildings and other equipment including the large equipment hoist. The Coast Guard retains a small area of land around the historic light tower and responsibility for maintenance of the tower, operation of the light, fog signal and automated weather reporting system.

BC Parks has in turn entered into a 30 year agreement with Pearson College to designate responsibility to the College for the operation of the facilities, delivering education programs, supporting research and providing supervision for the Ecological Reserve and Marine Protected Area. We look forward to working closely with BC Parks to serve as custodians of this precious ecosystem on behalf of the people of British Columbia and Canada.

Community Support
We are fortunate to have strong support and co-operation from the many visitors to the MPA. We continue to work with the eco-tourism and scuba diving operators to ensure their operating guidelines are carefully followed while their many appreciative visitors have the opportunity to experience the remarkable diversity of Race Rocks. This kind of public education is an essential element of promoting public awareness of the value of the MPA initiative. We hope to work with the eco-tourism operators this year to encourage their customers to voluntarily contribute financial support for Race Rocks. We continue to have an excellent working relationship with the operators.

Sports fishers continue to honour their commitment to avoid fishing within the MPA boundary and we have had great cooperation from Sean and the staff at Pedder Bay Marina. DFO staff members have recently strengthened relationships with the local kayaking community as well.

We are also engaged in an effort with the Department of National Defence and DFO in an attempt to mitigate the impacts on the MPA as a consequence of DND activities at the nearby Rocky Point Base.

The Financial Picture
We continue to rely on our many supporters to sustain the operation of Race Rocks MPA and the racerocks.com website. We greatly appreciate the support of many of you who have made donations both large and small. Every donation helps and through the web we have made new donor friends all over the world. We particularly welcome as new supporters, the Ivey Foundation, World Wildlife Fund, Georgia Strait Alliance and a new technology sponsor, Channel Storm from Israel. Apple Canada, Apple Learning Interchange and Akamai continue to be generous and helpful supporters and advisors

Regrettably we are likely to end our fiscal year on June 30, 2002 with an operating shortfall of $27,000 on our budget. Pearson College has undertaken this debt on an interim basis. We are working closely with government agencies to stabilise the financial plan for long term sustainability of the MPA.

racerocks.com
Garry and our students continue to develop extraordinary features for the MPA’s award winning website. The use of the site by students, teachers, science centres and cyber visitors from around the world has expanded considerably. Technology has proven to be an effective way to widely share Race Rocks and Canada’s Marine Protected Area strategy without negative impacts. Three of the most popular new resources on the website are the Archives, Daily Log and Race Rocks Taxonomy file features.

Video Archives
A great supplement to our live cameras (because you can be sure to find what you are looking for) is an extensive menu of special topic video clips that are being developed for the site. These are great classroom resources for teachers and on-line learning. Check them out at https://www.racerocks.ca/archived-video/

Daily Log
Our resident eco-guardians, Mike and Carol Slater have done a great job of telling the Race Rocks story on the web in the Ecoguardians log. Everything from an elephant seal invasion, to the surprise hatching of our first Canada Geese chicks a few weeks ago have been faithfully recorded. Information in the Log is also backed up by a data base that will allow us to recover data on various marine mammal and bird sightings as well as visitor and vessel traffic. Over the years this data is bound to be useful to researchers and resource managers.

Race Rocks Taxonomy File
This will be a long term project. Garry is determined that we create a truly innovative and accessable taxonomy file featuring all the species at Race Rocks and utilising the very best of what the web has to offer; video clips, photos, text and Internet links. With the guidance of Garry and our other Biology/Environmental Systems faculty members Catrin Brown and Laura Verhegge, the project is launched with 70 species files established this year. This work in progress is available on the web at
https://www.racerocks.ca/race-rocks-animals-plants/taxonomy-image-gallery/

and Next………
We look forward to an interesting summer season. Throughout June we will have a team of students as guests at Race Rocks providing regular webcasts. Check the calendar for the schedule. We hope to raise the funds required to deal with our debt and a few important upgrades on the project. we urgently need to upgrade the sewage facilities on the island by installing composting toilets to eliminate discharge into the MPA there is a remarkable enhanced remote control camera with 360 degree rotation and a much more powerful zoom capability which we hope to acquire we hope to get data from the underwater sensors (which have run well for over a year) available to you on the website

Most of all, we look forward to your continued involvement and support for Race Rocks Marine Protected Area. Thank you for your support.

Angus Matthews
Director of Administration and Special Projects
Pearson College/Race Rocks

Tidepool Lab on a Windy Day at Race Rocks

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In April of each year we begin to get tides that are low enough for intertidal research. This video starts with students measuring temperature and salinity in tidepool #4 , then collecting “harpacticoids ” in tidepool #10, then doing further measurements in the new artificial pool #13. The wind was blowing at West 25 kn., but it didn’t deter our class!