Reef Survey

What is REEF?
REEF is an organization that deals with the community to help preserve the fragile ocean ecosystems that we live in. They work with community members such as, divers and other marine enthusiasts to educate and help conserve the marine environment. They also help to turn people into ocean stewards and citizen scientists.
What does REEF stand for?
REEF stands for,
The Reef Environmental Education Foundation

What did we do?
Working the the REEF foundation the Kihei Charter Science class lead by our facilitator, Mr. Marggraf; we did our own survey at Ko'ie'ie Fishpond. This is a Historical site as well as a hub for research into the marine ecosystem. Using snorkel gear and observation skills we were able to mark down and record the marine species we observed in the pond.
Using the knowledge from our classroom work dealing with fish species and the ocean ecosystem we were already prepared to get into the water and do our own surveys. The conditions at Ko'ie'ie were moderate. Due to the past rainy season runoff from the surrounding area has contaminated the pond with silt. With the build up of the silt, this made water visibility very poor. As we have learned in the past, this fishpond used to be silt free and hosted a variety of fish species.
If you would like to learn more about the REEF survey's and what you can do in your area, please visit their website at:
http://www.reef.org/

What is Ko'ie'ie Fishpond?
Well, Ko'ie'ie Loko I'a is just one part of the ancient Hawaiian fishponds for the South Maui area, where in ancient times was known as the Kamaole area. This particular fishpond is the Loko Kuapa pond. Ko'ie'ie meaning, "rapid current" is one of the last remaining ancient fishponds on Maui, and in the South Maui area. This particular pond was reserved for the Ali'i of the village or the chiefs in our terms. Plans are underway and in the works to restore this pond to it's original working fashion by volunteers and community members. It would serve as a learning center to show people what the ponds were for and how they were created. It would also show the importance in preserving this part of history of the Hawaiian Islands.
To learn more information on what part you could play in the restoration process of Ko'ie'ie please visit the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Sanctuary website. The Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Sanctuary is directly adjacent to the Ko'ie'ie Fishpond.
There Website:
http://hawaiihumpbackwhale.noaa.gov/

Waipuilani Tidepools

The next acitivity or experiment that we did was to go to Waipuilani park tidepools. While there we went into groups to form the next group experiment.



Tidepools come from seven different zones. These zones are called the intertidal zone. The definintion for intertidal zone is, the poriton of the ocean shore underwater at high tide and exposed at low tide. Tidepools are the permanent collection of water influenced by the tides.



Seven Zones of Intertidal Zone

Splash Zone
Is barren, rocky, never immersed in water, and is only exposed to ocen spray.
Upper Intertidal Zone
Is immersed in water only at high tides.
Lower Intertidal Zone
Is exposed only at extreme low tides
Subtidal Zone
Is always submerged in water, it also includes many tidepools.
Tidepools
Are permanent collections of water influenced by the tides.

Process

The process that we used to get the data for the experiment was to first, figure out where each zone is ending and being seperated. After visualizing this we then moved to where the lower intertidal zone is. There we randomly placed the first quadrant down. We then began to count the number of Pipipi that we saw. Most of the time we had to turn the rocks over to find them. After we were done with the first quadrant we used the transect and measured twenty feet into the sub tidal zone. Once again we randomly placed the second quadrant. Again we counted the number of Pipipi in each square in the quadrant. In order to get a good result we continued the experiment a second time in the same spot. We were able to get two data results for the experiment.
With the data in hand we were able to analyze it and come to a conclusion. Our conclusion was that, most of the Pipipi liked to stay in the lower intertidal zone as opposed to the sub tidal zone. Our hypothesis was proven true with this experiment.

This is me usi

ng one of the quadrants to count the number of Pipipi that we found in each

square of each quadrant.

This is an example of the Pipipi that we were looking for.

Plankton Diversity Project

INTRODUCTION

Plankton is, basically the foundation for life. They are the beginning of the food chain for ocean organisms. The word plankton comes from the Greek word "planktos" meaning drifter. Plankton drifts around the ocean or travels using the worlds ocean currents. Plankton is important because without them the food chain would disappear. We did our experiment to look into the diversity in plankton around Maui. We wanted to see how many different kinds and colors of plankton there are here in the islands.

WHAT WE DID

My group started at Kihei Boat Ramp to collect our first samples. When we arrived at the boat ramp we made our ways to the ramp. Along the side on the concrete areas we began to drag the nets back and forth to the end of the ramp to the beginning. We did this at least three times and emptied the contents into our plastic bottle. There were some troubles with opening the cap on the net to empty the contents into the bottle. After we got the sample we began to take the other measurements from the salinity of the water to the temperature, time, and our names. We were able to use the other tools to be able to take the measurements. We had to hurry with the samples because boats were beginning to come in and we had to make way for them. When we got back to the school we were able to use the microscopes and the computers to be able to more easily view and take pictures of the copepods and plankton that we would find. We used a electric microscope hooked up to the computer to be able to view the plankton.

RESULTS

The results that we found were, the most dominant color that we observed was clear. From both the boat ramp and Ho'okipa beach park, the most observed color was clear. The boat ramp had three green, nine black, thirty-five clear, four red, and no brown. At Ho'okipa beach park we found three green, sixteen black, eight clear, one red, and two brown. We also observed that the most dominant color at Ho'okipa was black. This could probably be due to the salinity in the water, temperature, or other organisms and plankton in the waters over there. In total though the most dominant color was clear. Our hypothesis was proven true. That is the data retrieved and what it means to our experiment.