After school on 2 March, we cabbed down to Labrador Park for our first visit there. Unfortunately, when we reached there, there was a heavy thunderstorm so the three of us and Mr Lim had to hide away in the pavilions for some time. ): Finally, the rain lessened enough for us to proceed, so we got out our ponchos and put it on above our heavy schoolbags while Mr Lim got out his umbrella. Then we put on our nice new bootees and got ready for our walk along the beach.
And so we walked on the wet, grainy sand on the beach. Mr Lim introduced us to the seagrasses and algae along the coast and we said our hellos to the patch of tiny Halophila ovalis, otherwise known as “spoon seagrass”. We also saw the red, brown and green algae on the rocky shores of the beach. While we trudged on, Mr Lim constantly gave us suggestions on the types of questions we could use for our project and the different factors that might affect the growth of seagrass.
As this was our first visit to LabradorPark and merely for familiarization and getting to know the area, we only had a short walk and soon after returned to the pavilion for our discussion on the areas we were covering for our research and the factors that affected the rate of seagrass growth.
What are the factors that affect the rate of seagrass growth?
- Type of substrate (rocky/ sandy, size of grain/ rocks)
- Turbidity (clarity of water)
- Other competitors (for instance, the algae that we saw)
- Extent of submersion in water (might affect vertical growth of seagrass)
We ended the discussion after concluding and coming up with a to-do list for the rest of the week. (:
*Because we only walked for a rather short distance due to the tidal conditions, we only saw one species of seagrass, the Halophila ovalis, but according to Mr Lim, there was still at least one more species of seagrass growing at Labrador Beach, namely the “tape seagrass”, Enhalus acoroides.Labels: ecology of rocky shore, research plans