The Virtual Field:
Ecosystem Exploration
Find Evidence
Kewalo Marine
Laboratory
High School Version
Organization of Biological Field Stations
Explore the ecosystems of the earth.
An ecosystem is a geographic area where plants, animals, and other organisms, as well as weather and landscape, work together to form a bubble of life.
Take a field trip to field stations and marine laboratories around the world. These are places where researchers study natural processes and how humans interact with the landscape. Each video is filmed by staff or researchers who take you on a guided, but unnarrated, tour of an ecosystem.
As you walk with them, search for evidence of the processes that shaped these ecosystems.
If you have difficulty with these questions, hone your skills first with the “Write Field Notes”, “Sketch What You See” and “Ask Questions” field trips at Ecosystem Exploration – The Virtual Field
High School
Kewalo Coral Reef (click for video)
An exploration of diversity and species relationships on a coral reef in Palau.
Field Station or Marine Lab | Kewalo Marine Laboratory, University of Hawaii | |
Location | Koror State, Palau (7.2333° N, 134.3000° E) | |
Climate Zone | Tropical | |
Climate | The climate is hot, oppressive, windy and overcast. The temperature does not stray far from the mean of 82.4ºF (28.0ºC) and the average precipitation is 134.8 inches (3.4 m). | |
Biome | Coral Reef | |
Vegetation Type | Coral Reef | |
Elevation | 0 ft/m down to 20 ft (6 m) below the surface | |
Date Video Recorded | July 8, 2020 | |
Blurry video?
See viewing tips posted next to each video link on the website.
High School
Mutualism: Mutualism is a type of symbiotic relationship between two species where each species benefits. Almost every species on Earth is involved directly or indirectly in mutualistic relationships. For example, humans have a mutualistic relationship with communities of microbes in our gut. We rely on the microbes to break down food and regulate our nervous and endocrine systems. The microbes need humans to keep them moist and well fed.
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To uncover examples of mutualism, researchers observe interactions among species and study how each may or may not benefit.
High School
Mutualism
At 2:43-2:46 you can observe a mutualistic relationship. Describe characteristics of each species, how they interact, and make a guess about how the relationship might be beneficial to each of them.
1a
Species #1 Description | |
Species #2 Description | |
Interaction | |
Potential benefits | |
High School
Mutualism
1b
Search the video to find another example of species interacting. Describe the interaction and why or why not you think the relationship is mutualistic.
Time Stamp | Description of Evidence |
| |
High School
Coral Diversity: Corals are living colonies of brilliantly colored tiny polyps that produce a hard outer "skeleton" made up of calcium carbonate. Gradually over time, the skeletons build up into complex three dimensional structures called reefs. Coral reefs support more species than any other marine environment, and over half a billion people depend on reefs for food, income, and protection.
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Corals can be distinguished from other animals in the sea by their hard stony skeletons. There are thousands of species of corals of different shapes and sizes. They can form compact domes, columns, tree-like branches, or lacey plates.
High School
Coral Diversity
2a
Find three types of coral. For each, describe their shape, color and approximate size. For each coral you described, can you find 2-3 timestamps where you see them in at other sites in the video?
Time Stamp | Description of Coral | Timestamps of Species |
| | |
| | |
| | |
High School
Coral Bleaching: The brilliant color of corals is due to algae that live mutualistically inside the tiny coral polyps. The algae convert sunlight into energy and provide nutrients to the coral polyps, and the polyps protect the algae inside their bodies.
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But when the polyps are stressed, such as when oceans become too warm or acidic, they expel the colorful algae from their bodies. If the polyps go for too long without the algae, the coral die, the reef erodes, and the coral reef ecosystem collapses.
The first sign of coral bleaching is "paling" that occurs when the algae are expelled. As the coral dies, it turns stark white.
High School
Coral Bleaching
3a
List a timestamp where you see evidence for coral paling. List a timestamp where you see evidence of coral death. For each, describe your observation and why you think it may be evidence of coral bleaching.
| Time Stamp | Description of Evidence |
Coral Paling | | |
Coral Death | | |
High School
Coral Bleaching
3b
Why do you think that coral polyps slowly die after expelling the algae? What possible reasons could the polyps have for expelling the algae if it eventually causes their death?
Reason for Coral Polyps Death | |
Reason for Expelling Algae | |
High School
Food Webs: A food web is the interlocking and interdependent ways that organisms eat other organisms. Species can be herbivores (feeding only on algae or plants), omnivores (feeding on both animals and plants) or carnivores (feeding only on animals). Food webs have significant effects on ecosystems, including coral reefs. Parrotfish are omnivores. They eat algae that would otherwise smother coral polyps.
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But because they also feed on coral polyps and skeletons, they can damage the reef. Reef Sharks are carnivores that eat Parrotfish and keep them from growing too abundant. Evidence of Parrotfish are high-pitched rapid clicks that happen each time they nip at the coral.
High School
Food Webs
4a
At timestamp 1:04 (and many other times in the video) you can clearly hear the clicking sound of Parrotfish feeding on coral. (If you'd like to see a Parrotfish, you see a pink and green one at 0:48-0:50.) List all the timestamps where you can hear Parrotfish feeding on coral.
Time Stamp | Time Stamp | Time Stamp |
| | |
| | |
| | |
| | |
High School
Food Webs
4b
The video starts in shallow water and moves into deeper water. At which water depths can you hear Parrotfish? At which water depths do you see Reef Sharks? (Reef sharks are at 2:47). How might changing water depth during high and low tide affect the predator prey relationship between Reef Sharks and Parrotfish?
Parrotfish | |
Reef Sharks | |
Water Depth Effects | |
High School
Seagrass Research: Seagrasses are underwater plants that evolved from land plants. Like their ancestors, seagrasses have roots that anchor them onto the bottom, leaves to absorb sunlight, and flowers and seeds to reproduce. Seagrass beds provide nursery and rearing habitat, food and shelter for a quarter of all marine life. In addition, they reduce coastal erosion during storms and store 15% of the ocean's carbon.
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Researchers are monitoring
changes in these important habitats. To measure change in the diversity and density of the seagrasses and other species, they return to the
same site each year and make
measurements along a transect (a straight line marked by a rope).
High School
Seagrass Research
5a
Time Stamp | Description of Evidence |
3:20 | |
At timestamp 3:20 you can see a student researcher placing a square "quadrat" next to a transect. Describe the quadrat in detail. What is it made of and how is it designed? If you were the diver in the photo, how could you use a quadrat to estimate the average density of seagrasses?
High School
Seagrass Research
5b
At timestamp 3:22, you can see another student researcher sampling a seagrass bed at a different location. Describe differences in the seagrass between timestamp 3:20 and 3:22. Include differences in color, length and density.
Time Stamp | Description of Evidence |
3:20 compared to 3:22 | |
High School
BONUS SPECIES INFORMATION!
Time | Species | Description |
0:44 | Pacific Double-Saddle Butterflyfish (Chaetodon ulietensis) and Parrotfish (Thalassoma purpureum) | This species of Butterflyfish feeds on plant and animal material. Parrotfish feed on hard corals and algae. Each marine organism has an important role in maintaining the balance of a coral reef ecosystem. |
0:44 | Pacific Double-Saddle Butterflyfish (Chaetodon ulietensis) | Lives in coral-rich areas of lagoon reefs and less commonly in seaward reefs. Usually solitary, in pairs, or in small groups. Feeds on plant and animal material. |
0:44 | Surge Wrasse/Parrotfish (Thalassoma purpureum) | A red striped light green fish that is found almost exclusively in the surge zone of outer reef flats, reef margins, and rocky coastlines, down to a depth of about 10 m. Feed on small invertebrates, small fishes, echinoids, ophiuroids and polychaetes. |
0:44-1:46 | Sixbar Wrasse (Thalassoma hardwicke) | A pale green with six dark bars, last two as saddles over the tail, fish that occurs in shallow lagoon and seaward reefs, slopes, and along drop-offs to moderate depths. Usually found in small loose groups. Feeds on benthic and planktonic crustaceans, small fishes, and foraminiferans. |
BONUS SPECIES INFORMATION!
Time | Species | Description |
0:50-1:48 | Blistered Saucer Leaf algae (Turbinaria turbinata) | This algae has tiny air pockets on each leaf that holds the plant erect. It grows in shallow intertidal zones to shallow lagoons and back reef areas with moderate to strong water movement. |
0:50-1:48 | Yellowstripe Goatfish (Mulloidichthys flavolineatus) | Occasionally schooling species inhabit shallow sandy areas of lagoon and seaward reefs. Large adults are often found solitary on sand slopes. Feed on crustaceans, mollusks, worms, heart urchins, and foraminiferans. |
1:21-1:46 | Checkerboard Wrasse (Halichoeres hortulans) | Juveniles are black and white but gradually change with growth to the adult pattern of one or two yellow saddles over the back and sometimes with small black spot on upper peduncle. Inhibits sand patches of lagoon and seaward reefs to at least 30 m. Feeds mainly on hard-shelled prey, including mollusks, crustaceans, and sea urchins. |
1:38-1:47 | Twotone Tang (Zebrasoma scopas) | Thrives in coral-rich areas of lagoon and seaward reefs. Feeds on filamentous algae. Adults are usually found in small groups or schools while juveniles are solitary among corals. |
BONUS SPECIES INFORMATION!
Time | Species | Description |
1:38-1:47 | Lemon Damsel (Pomacentrus moluccensis) | Adults inhabit clear lagoon and seaward reefs among branching corals. They occur in small aggregations and feed mainly on algae and planktonic crustaceans. |
1:38-1:47 | Blue Sapphire Damselfish (Pomacentrus pavo) | Adults found in sandy areas of lagoon reefs typically around isolated patch reefs, coral heads, or rubble. This species feeds on zooplankton and filamentous algae. |
1:53-2:00 | Acropora (Acropora vaughani | Colonies are usually open branches, becoming bushy on upper reef sloped and in shallow lagoons. Radial corallites are widely spaced and vary in length. Color is uniform blue (which may appear photograph pink), cream, or pale brown. |
1:53-2:00 | Whitetail Dascyllus (Dascyllus aruanus) | Territorial, inhibit shallow lagoon and subtidal reef flats. They form large aggregations above staghorn Acropora thickets or in smaller groups above isolated coral heads. Feed on zooplankton, benthic invertebrates, and algae. |
BONUS SPECIES INFORMATION!
Time | Species | Description |
1:55-2:00 | Blue Green Damselfish (Chromis viridis) | Adults are found in large aggregations above thickets of branching Acropora corals in sheltered areas such as subtidal reef flats and lagoons. Feed on phytoplankton. |
2:29-2:45 | Yellow Clownfish (Amphiprion sandaracinos) | Adults occur in lagoon and outer reefs in pairs and small groups. |
2:38-2:41 | Oval Butterflyfish (Chaetodon lunulatus) | Occur in monogamous pairs in coastal coral-rich areas. Juveniles hide among branches of small corals, often in lagoons. Feed solely on live corals. |
1:38-2:45 | Threespot Dascyllus (Dascyllus trimaculatus) | Adults inhabit coral and rocky reefs, juveniles often commensal with large sea anemones, sea urchins, or small coral heads. They occur in small to large aggregations. Stomach contents include algae, copepods, and other planktonic crustaceans. |
BONUS SPECIES INFORMATION!
Time | Species | Description |
2:47-3:00 | Bicolor Chromis (Chromis margaritifer) | Adults are usually seen singly or in small groups on coastal reefs, amongst mixed algae-coral reef or rocky reefs. They are found on exposed seaward reefs; less abundant in lagoons and channels. Feed on zooplankton. |
2:47-2:57 | Humpback Red Snapper (Dascyllus trimaculatus) | Adults mainly inhabit coral reefs, sometimes forming large aggregations, which are mostly stationary during the day. Juveniles occur in seagrass beds, also in mixed sand and coral habitats of shallow sheltered reefs. Feed on fishes, and a variety of invertebrates including shrimps, crabs, lobsters, stomatopods, cephalopods, echinoderms and ophiuroids. |
2:49 | Chinese Trumpetfish (Aulostomus chinensis) | Found in clear, shallow water, in rocky and coral areas of protected and seaward reefs.Feeds on small fishes and shrimps. |
2:51 | Black Tail Reef Shark (Carcharhinus amblyrhynchos) | Tends to be aggressive under baited conditions and readily enters into a frenzy feeding pattern, at which time it may become quite dangerous. |
BONUS SPECIES INFORMATION!
Time | Species | Description |
3:25 | Seagrass (Enhalus acoroides) | Produces potent antifeedant, antibacterial, and anti larval secondary metabolites; flavonoids, as one of the characteristic chemical constituents of this species, may play an important chemical defensive role against predators, competitors, and potential pathogens |
3:25 | Seagrass (Halodule uninervis) | Found intertidally towards low tide on clean sand beaches. Extends down to 10 m subtidally and dominates seagrass beds. Supports shrimp and fish both as nursery ground and source of primary production. Grazed by fish, dugongs and turtles. |
3:25 | Sponge(Stylotella aurantium) | Multilobed, erect club-shaped sponge, often narrow around the base. Surface is fleshy with low,sharp, soft conules. Color is golden orange. |
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This document designed and produced by the Center for Environmental Inquiry, cei.sonoma.edu