Rosario Beach

All three teams at work All three teams at work

Rosario Beach team photo 2010 Rosario Beach team photo 2010

Team 1 Team 1

Team 2 Team 2

Team 3 Team 3

..Urticina crassicornis.. Christmas anemone Urticina crassicornis Urticina crassicornis

..Leptochiton rugatus.. Dwarf chiton Dwarf chiton Dwarf chiton

It was a bundled up crew that turned out to monitor Rosario Beach on July 12th. A cold wind stirred up whitecaps and chilled the bones so coats, hats, and even mittens were the order of the day. Those conditions made it hard to believe it was mid-July! Because this beach is bedrock, there is no profile line; instead, 17 quadrats are laid out. Seaweed and animal life within each quadrat’s area are identified and quantified. The eight monitors were divided into three teams, each of which tackled their assigned quadrats. Among the finds were 5 species of barnacles and 4 species of limpets. They counted hundreds of periwinkles and saw Onchidella borealis, a tiny pulmonate sea slug commonly called a leather limpet. In addition they identified Gould’s baby chiton (Lepidochitona sp.) and a dwarf chiton (Leptochiton rugatus). The dwarf chiton was quite an unusual find. Its common name is a good one as their maximum length is only about half an inch. This species is typically whitish in color and found in the very low intertidal zone.

..Endocladia muricata.. Sea moss Endocladia muricata Endocladia muricata

..Leathesia difformis.. Sea cauliflower Leathesia Leathesia

The team also found a diversity of seaweed including rockweed (Fucus sp.), sea moss (Endocladia muricata), and sea cauliflower (Leathesia). Sammye Kempbell is team captain at Rosario.

Rosario Beach-May 26, 2009

Team at work-Rosario

Rosario Beach team photo 2009

Quadrat work

Fucus sp.

Checkered periwinkle

Idotea wosnesenskii

It was a dauntless, nose to the grindstone group who descended on Deception Pass State Park’s Rosario Beach on May 26th. Sammye Kempbell organized the 8 monitors into two teams who set to work documenting 17 quadrats full of the rich floral and faunal species that span the length of Rosario’s rocky intertidal area. The crew worked under light rain most of the morning but as they finished up the last couple of quadrats the sky brightened and the rain ceased. Thankfully no one took a tumble on the slippery-when-wet bedrock.

Because this beach has been heavily trampled in recent years, the park implemented a restoration project last summer with trails installed for visitors. Park Interpretive Specialist Adam Lorio joined the monitoring teams hoping to learn how species density may be changing in response to the restoration project. The Beach Watcher naturalists who have helped out on this beach for several years believe the rockweed (Fucus sp.) appears to be more plentiful this year as compared to last year. The monitoring teams tallied hundreds of periwinkles (Littorina sp.), Lisa Harkins found tiny striped Haliplanella anemones tucked in a crevice, and Melody Kuschnereit made the observation that the green rockweed isopods (Idotea wosnesenskii) resembled dill pickles!

Rosario Beach

Acrorhagi

Team 2

Anthopleura elegantissima

Dodecaceria sp.

Fucus sp.

Onchidella borealis

Archidoris montereyensis

Littorina scutulata

Lottia digitalis

Rosario Beach team photo 2008

Nine dedicated Beach Watchers showed up to work on quadrats at Rosario Beach on June 6th. This beach is located in Deception Pass State Park and its substrate consists of solid bedrock. Once again, Mother Nature challenged with rain, wind, and cold but the team persevered and got the data they needed. The group split into 3 teams, with each doing a portion of twenty-one quadrats. Team 1 with Susan Nunn and Bob Gentz noted rockweed (Fucus sp.), finger limpets (Lottia digitalis), and aggregating anemones (Anthopleura elegantissima) some of which had their acrorhagi (fighting tentacles) out and apparently ready for battle. This was the first beach Bob Gentz had monitored and he was surprised by the number of periwinkles he found. Coloration of the little herbivorous snails closely matched that of the bedrock and many were tucked away in crevices or empty barnacles making them hard to see. Charlie Seablom, Lenore Minstrell, and Ranger Rick made up Team 2 and they found white and red ribbon worms ( Amphiporus sp. and Tubulanus polymorphus), and Ranger Rick pointed out a nearby gumboot chiton on the underside of a boulder that he has been keeping an eye on during the recent low tide days. Team 3's Jan Holmes, Pattie Hutchins, and Sammye Kempbell were back in the "trough area" and report that they found a leather limpet (Onchidella borealis), a sea lemon (Archidoris montereyensis) and a big purple sea star (Pisaster ochraceus).