Life Sciences Commons^™

Fucus Distichus: Investigating Humidity And Temperature Between Tides, Jason Thomas, Andrew Chang, Julia Blum, Chela Zabin

STAR Program Research Presentations

Environmental elements such as changing rapidly changing temperature, prolonged periods of low to no water exposure, desiccation, predation and increased wave action can influence the diversity of microhabitats that inhabit the littoral zones. When making observations of various shorelines, specifically the physical conditions of the surrounding marine vegetation (i.e. Fucus distichus), an inquiry is made as to the role of Fucus in the amelioration of stressors on the marine habitat during low tide (MLLW), however, due to time considerations, temperature and humidity are the focus of this study. Using temperature and humidity probes, monitoring data shows that Fucus provides …

Salinity And Temperature Distribution Of Jellyfish In The San Francisco Estuary, Trisha Huynh, Brooke Bemowski, Lindsay Sullivan, Wim Kimmerer

STAR Program Research Presentations

Jellyfish are generally characterized by their jelly-like bodies and internal lining (two tissue layers). They found both in the phylum Ctenophora and the phylum Cnidaria. Ctenophores differ from cnidarians primarily due to the rows of “combs”, or cilia, which are used for transportation. Additionally, ctenophores possess sticky cells while cindarians possess stinging cells. Jellyfish depend on zooplankton (small floating aquatic animals) as a food source; as a result, they are potential competitors and predators to plankton-eating fish and may negatively impact fish populations.

As recently as 1950, jellyfish have entered the San Francisco Bay from the Mediterranean Sea (probably …