| Domain | Eukarya |
| Kingdom | Animalia |
| Phylum | Arthropoda |
| Class | Malacostraca |
| Order | Decapoda |
| Family | |
| Genus | |
| Species | |
| Common Name: | Clear Shrimp |
| Unidentified |
 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. |
| Pam Birley of Leicester England was interviewed by the Province newspaper about her wildlife viewing on racerocks.com ref: Anderson, Charlie, “Live Wildlife for your Living Room “, The Province, Vancouver, B.C. ( Sunday, Nov.21, 2004 |
Race Rocks Ecological Reserve: An Unusual Model of Reserve Management….By Garry Fletcher
On October 3rd, this group of the Friends of Ecological Reserves made a trip to Race Rocks in the Pearson College Boats with Garry Fletcher and Chris Blondeau, Chris is the Pearson College Sea-front Coordinator and Operations Manager of Race Rocks. This fall has been remarkable in the consistently high population of Northern and California Sea Lions and high populations of seagulls and Cormorants on the islands, so it was a good time for the visit after the nesting season.
As a result of questions from members on the trip, I thought it might be useful to update everyone who is interested in the events on the reserve with the present state of the management and financing of Race Rocks. Lester Pearson College assumed the full management of the facilities and staff at Race Rocks in the fall of 1997. The light and foghorn had been automated, and the Canadian Coastguard was retiring the light keepers, Mike and Carol Slater. All the facilities except the light tower and foghorn were returned to BC Lands. An agreement was reached whereby the island was leased for long-term management and continued use for education and research by Lester Pearson College. In 2001, BC Parks was able to expand the Ecological reserve, which had previously omitted the large island with the facilities, to include all the remaining land area of Great Race Island in addition to the original 256 hectares of Islands and water to the 36 meter depth.
The Slaters were hired by Lester Pearson College to stay on as Ecological Reserve Guardians, providing security and keeping the diesel generator running, thus ensuring that the college could have full use of the other buildings and facilities on the island. In addition, the daily collection of air and sea temperature and salinity data was continued, maintaining a valuable long-term database. An anonymous donor from Ontario met operating costs for the first year. Each year after a special effort has been made by the college to secure the operating funds to carry through to keep the island open. By the year 2000, a proposal was made to the Millennium Partners Fund of Canada, to help fund the installation of Internet facilities and microwave to provide a link to the College for the transmission of Broadband Internet. A number of partners and sponsors who continue to assist are referenced on the website. Each year since, the college has had to seek funding from a number of sources to keep the island going, since government funding for parks is very hard to come by.
One of the higher costs incurred in the operation is the diesel fuel to run the island’s generators. Last year over $20,000 went into this, so it has been an aim for some time to incorporate alternate energy technology in the operation. It is with great relief that I can now tell you that our efforts are paying off as we now have a company, Clean Current Power Inc. securing the complete funding and installing at Race Rocks in the next year, an underwater tidal current generator which will have negligible negative environmental impacts. Although a research prototype, this should generate all the required electrical needs for the island. The diesel generators will become backup utilities.
BC Parks has made a good effort to help with some of the facility costs on the island. Keep in mind that most Ecological Reserves do not have dwellings and facilities such as docks and workshops, so they have provided the funds to mitigate the effects of human sewage from the two houses, with the installation of composting toilets in 2003. The Coast guard, although having no direct financial commitment, has provided technical assistance when necessary. In 2000 an Advisory Board was set up by DFO for the formation of an Official Marine Protected Area under the Oceans Act. The Ecological Reserve is still a Marine Protected Area Designate, since final treaty negotiations have put a hold on complete Marine Protected Area Status. This has meant that no federal funds are available for maintaining the Protected Area.
It is a difficult job securing at least $80,000 a year to keep the island operational. What is really needed is an endowment, and this we are determined to seek over the next few years. Keeping observers and cameras on the island has in the last few years served to keep the many users of the area accountable, so that the ecological integrity of the resource may be sustained. On the home page of racerocks.com is written: “we humans are never content just to know that a special area exists on this earth. We strive to be there, to touch, to feel, to consume. But therein lies the paradox. In so doing we can destroy the very thing we love.” The aim of the racerocks.com program has always been to make this special ecosystem available to all through the Internet. We have been fortunate to have this opportunity to establish a window into the daily lives of the creatures of a rugged marine island ecosystem. We just hope that we can continue to make the amazing life of these islands available to all. This spring with the further assistance of Apple Computer, we upgraded our computers and added a new 340 degree robotic camera which provides a much more thorough survey of many parts of the islands from your own computer.
We are grateful for any assistance in the funding of the program at Race Rocks. One can pay by cheque or credit card to The Race Rocks Operating Fund c/o Lester B. Pearson College, 650 Pearson College Drive. (250) 391-2411. A tax receipt will be provided for amounts over $25.00
This article appeared in the Winter 2004 edition of the Friends of Ecological Reserves Newsmagazine ; The LOG
Garry Fletcher (garryf(use the at sign).gmail.com) the volunteer warden for Race Rocks Ecological Reserve is the Educational Director of racerocks.com.In 2004 he retired after teaching for 36 years. The last 28 of those years have been spent in Biology, Environmental Systems and the SCUBA diving program at Lester B. Pearson College of the Pacific. Garry now continues with his work on https://www.racerocks.ca and serves as a consultant from his home in Metchosin.
Energy Diagrams
1. Introduction Ecologist Howard T. Odum of the University of Florida created a set of symbols for the visual modeling of environmental systems. He called them energy diagrams. His symbols are very suggestive of biological processes. The first stage of our modeling consists of drawing an Odum diagram of the process, or system.
2. The Basic Diagrams The six energy symbols below suffice for most systems modeling. A complete set of the Odum symbols can be found in Odum’s publication.
|
|
These diagrams allow us to do qualitative modeling. Later, they maybe able to assist you in quantitative modeling. The lines denote energy pathways.
3. External Energy Source When the circle represents a renewable source such as sunlight, tidal flow, or a stream, it appears on the left. As the this energy flows by some of it is absorbed or pumped in by the system — the rest flows on by. When the circle represents human goods or services or products, it appears on the right.
4. The Heat Sink The term “heat sink ” comes from thermodynamics. In engineering, energy loss is usually thermal in nature. However, we recognize many other kinds of losses such as disease, noise and pilfering.
The heat sink symbol – without the arrow – comes from electrical engineering and denotes a ground. Electricity can flow in and out of a ground, but energy losses do not flow in and out of a heat sink. Once degraded energy goes into the sink, it does not return. The heat generated by your body when you exercise does not flow back into your body after it has left it and water in a bathtub that has cooled does not re-heat itself. The arrow suggests a one-way trip.
All real systems leak. Therefore, every system will have a heat sink attached, as in Figure 1. The paths to the sink will carry energy from various system processes or sources, so the heat sink represents generic energy loss.
5. Tanks As for systems, so for tanks within the system — they all leak. Tanks can have many energy pathways but one outgoing path will always go to the sink. Energy flow to the sink (and through all passive outgoing paths) is proportional to the quantity of energy stored. The box displays three specific examples of stored energy and how it can be lost.
|
Notice the general use of the term energy, far beyond the force x distance definition. We go beyond physical energy and the “Goods & Services” of economics. We also include the goods and services provided by nature, the Ecosystem Services. This is a topic we can pursue in another part of the OceanQuest Project. Among such goods, or natural products are oil, water, and salt. Among the services are the cleansing of waste water, the oxygen provided by rain forests, and the “buffering” of carbon dioxide by the oceans. In addition, we include the energy “embodied” in structure and information.
It is possible in more advanced studies to show a quantitative relation among money, time and energy , This is qualitatively apparent since money readily trades for energy in its various forms such as food, gasoline, and electricity. The relation is established by the truism “Time is money”
 |
Figure 2 shows an external tank feeding into a single tank that is exporting some of its energy. The external tank might represent an water source or aquifer, the internal tank a pond, and the outflow path a stream. Note that the sink is not explicitly shown on the external energy source |
6. Primary Production Chemosynthetic bacteria, Photosynthetic cyanobacteria bacteria, green plants and algae are the primary producers. They can transform chemical molecules such as carbon, hydrogen and oxygen into glucose and other biologically useful compounds. This basic process is known as chemosynthesis in thefirst group of bacteria and photosynthesis in green plants,algae and cyanobacteria. The production diagram will also be used for larger systems such as farms or ponds powered by the two primary producers. It might occasionally be used in a metaphorical sense to represent manufacturing. Production units will always have at least one back input and at least one top input.
 |
7. Consumption Units The remaining three biological kingdoms are the consumers – animals, fungi, and protochitsta, . The consumer diagram may also be used to represent cities, factories and bureaucracies. Consumers are classified by biologists as: Primary – bees, carp, mice Secondary – hornets, bass, weasels Tertiary – spiders, alligators, eagles. Below is a diagram with examples of all three types of consumers.
 |
Figure 4 Consumer units — a food chain
8. Modeling A farm and a town interact in several ways. The farm produces food, sends it to the town and receives money in return. The town supples goods, such as chemicals or tools, and services in the form of labor and receives money in return. The first model of this situation might be fairly concrete, a pictorial one, as in Fig. 5. Notice that the energy paths are denote by solid lines, and the money paths by dashed lines.
|
Figure 5 Pictorial model of farm-town interaction
The next step is to replace the picture elements with an Odum diagram:
 |
|
Figure 6 Model of farm-town interaction
|
Now add the currency or money pathway. This path tracks the energy path but moves in a counter direction:
 |
|
Figure 7 Model of farm-town interaction
|
Energy is a part of the natural world, while currency is a part of the design world – a human construct. Currency represents energy but it is just an IOU in a standard, convenient form. Most countries have no hard cash thing to back up their paper money. The potency of paper money resides in the faith that users have in the country that issues it. Energy, on the other hand, does not depend on the opinion of the user or the vote of politicians. The dashed currency line should remind us of this precarious nature of currency, as opposed to the solid flow of energy.
9. Energy Mixer or Workgate This unit allows energies of different “qualities” to interact. The Farm-Town model provides a good example of how a work gate operates. The below diagram looks inside the production unit of the farm. Higher quality energy goes
 |
in the top of the work gate, lower quality in the back. “Higher quality” can be taken to mean more expensive, more concentrated, or less abundant. All losses should have paths leading to the system sink. Sometimes “local” sinks are drawn to avoid a spaghetti entanglement of paths. These are just visual shortcuts – the system has only one sink. Note the explicit feedback from the stored energy in buildings & roads to the work gate. This is a “reward” for the farm work that maintains these important facilities. A work gate or production unit that contributes to a storage or a consumer can expect a feedback reward.
Exercise 5.1 Use your template to re-draw the diagram in Fig. 8. Add a currency path to the system diagram. It will be an open loop, going in and out of the system.
Exercise 5.2 Draw a matching diagram for the town “half”. To keep it simple, assume that the town is mainly dependent on one industry such as a canning or food-packing plant.
10. Pre-Columbus Culture There were approximately 600 First Nations tribes in what is now Canada and the USA. The Odum diagram below models a typical First Nation people living self-sufficiently on renewable energy.
 |
|
Figure 9 North American First Nations People living self-sufficiently
|
Note that no currency paths are needed for this system. Some First Nations People did have currency or wampum, beads made from mollusk shells, and a variety of tools, clothing and decorative items used as Potlatch or trading items.
Exercise 1 Suggest some items that flow through paths 1 and 2.
Exercise 2 How would the items that flow through along paths 1 and 3 differ? Can you name three items of great food and cultural importance that flowed through path 3?
Exercise 3 Explain feedback path 5.
Exercise 4 Explain feedback paths 6 and 7.
Exercise 5 Explain feedback path 4.
This reference is based on the work of:
http://web.math.fsu.edu/%7efusaro/DL/index.html#toc5
References for further study:
Energy, Ecology, & Economics. by Howard T. Odum http://www.mnforsustain.org/energy_ecology_economics_odum_ht_1973.htm
Emergy Evaluation by Howard T. Odum
http://www.mnforsustain.org/emergy_odum_howard_t_emergy_evaluation.htm
Attribute to Eugene P.Odum
http://www.researchmagazine.uga.edu/summer2002/odum.htm
The following article is also printed complete with hyperlinks to relevant parts of the Race Rocks website at http://www.racerocks.com/racerock/news/2004/racerocksfer.htm.
On October 3 a group of 20 of the Friends of Ecological Reserves made a trip to Race Rocks in the Pearson College Boats with Garry Fletcher and Chris Blondeau, who is the Pearson College Sea-front Coordinator and Operations Manager of Race Rocks. This fall has been remarkable in the consistently high population of Northern and California Sea Lions and high populations of seagulls and Cormorants on the islands, so it was a good time for the visit after the nesting season.
As a result of questions from members on the trip, I thought it may be useful to update everyone who is interested in the events on the reserve with the present state of the management and financing of Race Rocks. Lester Pearson College assumed the full management of the facilities and staff at Race Rocks in the fall of 1997 . The light and foghorn had been automated, and the Canadian CoastGuard was retiring the lightkeepers, Mike and Carol Slater. All the facilities except the light tower and foghorn were returned to BC Lands. An agreement was reached whereby the island was leased for long term management and continued use for education and research by Lester Pearson College . In 2001, BC Parks was able to expand the Ecological reserve, which had previously omitted the large island with the facilities, to include all the remaining land area of Great Race Island in addition to the original 256 hectares of Islands and water to the 36 meter depth.
The Slaters were hired by Lester Pearson College to stay on as Ecological Reserve Guardians, providing security and keeping the diesel generator running, thus ensuring that the college could have full use of the other buildings and facilities on the island. In addition, the daily collection of air and sea temperature and salinity data was continued, maintaining a valuable long term data base. Operating Costs for the first year were met by an anonymous donor from Ontario. Each year after a special effort has been made by the college to secure the operating funds to carry through to keep the island open. By the year 2000, a proposal was made to the Millennium Partners Fund of Canada, to help fund the installation of internet facilities and microwave to provide a link to the College for the transmission of Broadband internet. A number of partners and sponsors who continue to assist are referenced on the website. Each year since, the college has had to seek funding from a number of sources to keep the island going, since government funding for parks is very hard to come by.
One of the higher costs incurred in the operation is the diesel fuel to run the island’s generators. Last year over $20,000 went into this, so it has been an aim for some time to incorporate alternate energy technology in the operation. It is with great relief that I can now tell you that our efforts are paying off as we now have a company, Clean Current Power Inc. securing the complete funding and installing at Race Rocks in the next year, an underwater tidal current generator which will have negligible negative environmental impacts. Although a research prototype, this should generate all the required electrical needs for the island. The diesel generators will become backup utilities.
BC Parks has made a good effort to help with some of the facility costs on the island. Keep in mind that most Ecological Reserves do not have dwellings and facilities such as docks and workshops, so they have provided the funds to mitigate the effects of human sewage from the two houses, with the installation of Composting Toilets in 2003. The Coast guard, although having no direct financial commitment, has provided technical assistance when necessary. in 2000 an Advisory Board was set up by DFO for the formation of an Official Marine Protected Area under the Oceans Act. The Ecological Reserve is still a Marine Protected Area Designate, since final treaty negotiations have put a hold on complete Marine Protected Area Status. This has meant that no federal funds are available for maintaining the Protected Area.
It is a big job securing at least $80,000 a year to keep the island operational. What is really needed is an endowment, and this we are determined to seek over the next few years. Keeping observers and cameras on the island has in the last few years served to keep the many users of the area accountable, so that the ecological integrity of the resource may be sustained. On the home page of racerocks.com is written : “we humans are never content just to know that a special area exists on this earth. We strive to be there, to touch, to feel, to consume . But therein lies the paradox. In so doing we can destroy the very thing we love.” The aim of the racerocks.com program has always been to make this special ecosystem available to all through the internet. We have been fortunate to have this opportunity to establish a window into the daily lives of the creatures of a rugged marine island ecosystem. We just hope that we can continue to make the amazing life of these islands available to all. This spring with the further assistance of Apple Computer, we upgraded our computers and added a new 340 degree robotic camera which provides a much more thorough survey of many parts of the islands from your own computer.
We are grateful for any assistance in the funding of the program at Race Rocks. One can pay by cheque or credit card to The Race Rocks Operating Fund c/o Lester B. Pearson College, 650 Pearson College Drive. (250) 391-2411. A tax receipt will be provided for amounts over $25.00.
Garry Fletcher, the volunteer warden for Race Rocks Ecological Reserve is the Educational Director of racerocks.ca . He has recently retired after teaching for 36 years. The last 28 of those years have been spent in Biology, Environmental Systems and the SCUBA diving program at Lester B. Pearson College of the Pacific. Garry now continues with his work on https://racerocks.ca and serves as a consultant from his home in Metchosin.
Slash, the elephant seal was struck by a motor boat at Race Rocks in January of 2003. Fortunately he has recovered well in the past year and a half as can be seen here in two videos taken by Mike Slater in July and August of 2004.
There is also a second video showing Slash undergoing a moult in August of 2004.
See the footage taken of his original injuries here.
Return to the Elephant seal taxonomy file:
EXCELLENCE IN DISTANCE EDUCATION AWARDS
Garry Fletcher receives an award from Sir John Daniel * for the website “racerocks.com” on behalf of Lester B. Pearson College. A Gala Awards banquet was held to announce the 2004 recipients of the Excellence in Distance Education Awards (EDEA).
*(Sir John Daniel – President of the Commonwealth of Learning) Further information: http://www.col.org/edea
The third EDEA were conferred at the third Pan-Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning in Dunedin New Zealand, 6 JULY 2004: The photo shows- left to right: Garry Fletcher, for Category B. Dr. Thomas Webster (U. of Papua New Guinea) and Chris Baker (the Open University, Gt Britain) for category A, and Prof Mohan Menon ( Chair of Selection Committee)
 |
 |
 |
| The Diploma for the Excellence in Distance Education Award | Coverage of COL Award in Goldstream Gazette | Race Rocks as an example of Distance Education and Environmental Stewardship |
FROM THE “2004 CITATIONS”
COL award for excellence in distance education materials under category B: multimedia materials supporting non-formal education is awarded to Lester B. Pearson College, Victoria, Canada for its on-line materials “Racerocks.com”. We recommend this multi-media material for the award because:
it is fitting for a variety of clientele needs in non-formal education in the very important area of the environment
it has adopted a sound learning and instructional design, and
it uses a variety of media which can be integrated in a flexible manner according to individual learning needs and interests
An attractive, well-laid out site with a plethora of resources including quality content and activities providing a virtual tour of the ecosystem without actually being there. The website provides a variety of activities and resources for students and teachers at different levels, especially those in middle and high schools. The site has been designed to provide images to those who have slow computer and/or network connections thereby increasing the accessibility to the site. It enables learners to interact with a sensitive environmental area without affecting it. The nature of materials and their presentation is such that learners may either be guided to work through the site in a systematic or structured manner or they can proceed randomly, yet still learn something. It includes both current and archived material. Students are able to leave behind information for others to use and can take ownership of their learning. The topic covered by the site is and will continue to be of interest to a wide variety of people who want to learn about aquatic life and the environment.
Mr. President I ask you to confer the excellence in distance education materials award on the Lester B. Pearson College of the Pacific, British Columbia, Canada. Mr. Garry Fletcher will accept the award on behalf of the College.
Speaker: Dr. Mohan Menon
> Commonwealth of Learning (COL)
> Suite 600 – 1285 West Broadway, Vancouver, BC V6H 3X8 CANADA
> COL is an intergovernmental organisation created by Commonwealth Heads of Government to encourage the development and sharing of open learning and distance education knowledge, resources and technologies.
Domain Eukarya
Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Chordata
Sub-Phylum Vertebrata
Class Aves
Order Passerifomes
Family Passeridae
Genus Passer
Species domesticus
Common Name: House Sparrow, Passer domesticus
One of the worst introduced European species in North America because of their habit of preying on other nests in the area they are frequenting ,
Given that house sparrows are so common everywhere else, it is surprizing that they are rarely seen on Race Rocks.
Normally this species can be quite damaging to other nesting birds but there are few other small birds that nest here other than the occasional barn swallow.
This bird was the subject of the Classic Paper by Bumpus on Limiting Factors
| 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. Somealea Phoung PC year 34 |
First Nations Burial Cairns at Race Rocks.
Concrete Cylinders, probably used for allignment in the 1860 construction of the lighthouse
A reference in this article helps explain the occurrence of three similar markers at Race Rocks. This was in reference to Discovery Island, but the same type of markers occur at Race Rocks.
” Three cast concrete cylinders referenced the original lighthouse. These were positioned in a straight line with distances measured between each and the lighthouse.”
Resurvey of the Boundary Between the United States and Canada from Point Roberts on the 49th Parallel to the Pacific Ocean. By David Steele, PLS, Survey Manager for the Washington State Dept.of National Resources.ESS Article , Spring 2002 (pdf file)Our thanks to David Steele for permission to use his article. The acronym in the file name “ESS” means Evergreen State Surveyor, which is the Land Surveyors Association of Washington quarterly journal.
Modern Survey markers at Race Rocks.
Commemorative brass plate from the Royal Canadian Navy on the tower marking the 100th year anniversary of the tower.
Materials for this file have been assembled over several years by Garry Fletcher Educational Director, racerocks.com, former faculty member at Lester B. Pearson College. If anyone has any insight into these or other markers or artifacts on the island, we would appreciate hearing from you
Parastichopus californicus escapes predation by the sunflower seastar Pycnopodia helianthoides. By releasing itself on the approach of the seastar the Parastichopus can be carried away by the current. Also shown are the escape responses of sea urchins and topshells.
