Post 3: Ongoing Field Observations: Courtenay Estuary/ K’Omosks Estuary

Posted on April 22, 2019, by caudia

Cathy Audia

April 16, 2019

Upon my first visit to the Courtenay Estuary I noticed the reed type plants in the tidal flats appeared to be dead.  Moving upwards toward the shoreline the percentage of the healthy reeds increased in number. As my first visit was early spring, I began to wonder if the reeds die off and grow back seasonally, or if there was another factor.  Perhaps too much moisture had caused the reeds to parish.   For this natural experiment the biological attribute I will study are the reed type plants. I went back to the estuary one week later and found no change to report.  The weather was overcast, the temperature was 12 degrees Celsius and the time was 14:20.

I divided the estuary into 3 zones.

Zone 1: Tidal flats consisting mostly of muddy sand, seagrass, seaweed, and reeds, would be completely covered in water with each high-tide.

Zone 2:  Marshy area between the tidal flats and the bank, this area consists of more of the same vegetation as the tidal flats as well as some other types of plants, rocks, and logs. This area would be covered by the water during some high-tides.

Zone 3: The sloped sandy bank consists of some the same types of plants found in zone 2 but the plants appear much healthier. This area would rarely be covered in water.

Hypothesis: The reeds will grow back as spring progresses with the greatest abundance of healthy reeds located in zone 2.

Prediction: The reeds will not thrive in zone 1 due to too much moisture, conversely, they will not thrive in zone 3 due to too little moisture. The slope of the gradient is the factor that reduces each zone’s contact with water.

The reed-like plants are the response variable and the amount of moisture in the sand is the predictor variable.  The response variable will be measured with a continuous scale as the sliding scale will allow me to be more specific conveying the health of the plants.