Climate Connections: connecting educators to the latest in climate change vol. 2

This installment of Climate Connections by Sara Hutto Ocean Climate Program Coordinator for NOAA’s Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary was funded by NOAA’s CA Bay Watershed Education and Training (B-WET) Program

 

Hello LiMPETS educators, and welcome to the second edition of Climate Connections, where we connect you to the latest information on our changing climate. With a new year came a new administration and a new federal (re)focus on climate change. Hurrah! Considering 2020 tied with 2016 as the hottest year ever, and the last 6 years were the hottest 6 years ever (do I sound like a broken record from last year’s report?), there’s no time like now to take some bold actions:

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Climate Connections: connecting educators to the latest in climate change vol. 1

This installment of Climate Connections by Sara Hutto Ocean Climate Program Coordinator for NOAA’s Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary was funded by NOAA’s CA Bay Watershed Education and Training (B-WET) Program

Hello LiMPETS educators, and welcome to the first edition of Climate Connections, where we connect you to the latest information on our changing climate. Not only is it a new year, but a new decade, so first let’s focus on where things stand and what this means for the special coast and ocean places we love. More

Coming Full Circle with LiMPETS

Having grown up in San Francisco, I was exposed to the endless nature that Northern California has to offer. I spent my childhood exploring the waters of Baker Beach, surfing the Northern California coastline and hiking and camping in the beautiful mountains of Desolation Wilderness. Waking up early for school every morning was made more enjoyable by the sound of the foghorn—which I have come to love—and the faint smell of the ocean. My interest in nature and the ocean was ingrained in me from a very young age, and was further developed into a passion through the exposure and experience I gained in my coursework at The Branson School. Each morning, as I crossed the Golden Gate Bridge on my way to school, I took in my surroundings—the fog hugged the tall pillars of the bridge and the rugged cliffs dropped steeply into the churning waters of the vast Pacific Ocean. I watched whales and dolphins splashing in the water from my car window. Questions started to pop up in my head. What caused the fog to concentrate in the bay and then disperse almost immediately upon entering Marin? Why were the whales more active during certain months of the year? How did this whole ecosystem work? My interest was sparked and my curiosity craved answers. 

 

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Citizen Science: Shaping the Youth and Understanding our Habitats

I first heard about the LiMPETS program when I was looking for an internship after college and stumbled onto a job posting for a Marine Science Intern. I was immediately drawn to it as I read about the citizen science program that focused on looking at changes in organisms’ population and density at sandy beaches and tidepools of the California Coast. I was ecstatic when I got the call that I got the internship and couldn’t wait to start. My weeks consisted of time out on the field and time in the office, and I’ve learned so much from both. More

Protecting the Sexy Areas of the Beach

Authors: Katy & Sarah

Students collecting data on sand crabsDo you know where sand crabs find love? Is there such a thing as a Match.com for sand crabs? It just so happens that there’s a great spot for sand crab love, and it’s along certain parts of Ocean Beach.

Ocean Beach isn’t only a great spot for sand crabs to find love, but it’s also a near many new Marine Protected Areas in California. The National Oceanic Administration Association informs us that California has established 120 new Marine Protected Areas  (MPAs) that create safe environments for marine animals. MPAs  conserve the nation’s cultural and natural resources and there are currently 437 MPAs in the United States. We wanted to study sand crabs on Ocean Beach so we could learn more about sand crabs and where they are most populated.

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Sticky Situation: How did the Cosco Busan Oil Spill Affect Sand Crabs?

Authors: April, Tess & Emily

OilSpillIn November of 2007, the container ship, Cosco Busan collided with a Bay Bridge support tower. The ship was fatally wounded, oozing 53,569 gallons of oil into the San Francisco Bay. The aftermath of this incident may have accounted for a steep drop in the sand crab population on San Francisco’s Ocean Beach in the years to follow. The oil spill may have affected the number of surviving recruits, or young sand crabs, especially since the mating season for sand crabs occurs in spring and summer, thereby affecting the number of recruits in 2008.

Our Marine Biology class participated in the LiMPETS sandy beach monitoring program on September 20th, 2014 at Ocean Beach. To survey the sand crabs living on the beach, we took 50 random samples of sand from the swash zone, or the zone of wave action. In each of these 50 samples, we observed any sand crabs that were found. We recorded their gender and assessed whether they were a recruit  (young crab) or adult.

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Students Share What They Learn Through School Blog

Author: Jeff Sandler, teacher, The Berkeley SchoolThe Berkeley School Blog Photo 2014

In May 2014, the 7th grade life science class from The Berkeley School spent an entire week out in the field focusing
on some of our local communities. In addition to participating in both LiMPETS monitoring projects (sand crabs at Muir Beach and the rocky intertidal zone at Duxbury Reef in Bolinas), students and teachers spent a night camping and learning about the redwoods at Samuel P. Taylor park.

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