A Day in Halfmoon Bay

Halfmoon Bay is a town in Northern California where people go to the breezy beach, collect shells, and check out cute little cafes. What a lot of people don’t do is go to Fitzgerald Marine Reserve to participate in citizen science. An article about citizen science and it’s benefits can be found here.

At Fitzgerald Marine Reserve we learned about the different species living at the beach and how the cope with the passing tide.

Fortunately, my AP Biology class was able to partake in this experience on April 22, 2014. My class collected data on different species of animals as well as how the tide affects the different zones.

After going to Fitzgerald Marine Reserve for the day, I came home with so much new information. Fitzgerald Marine Reserve taught me about the different zones of habitation, which each contain different animals due to their different adaptations to the environment. I also learned how different animals cope better and survive better with the passing tide while others are completely destroyed by the tide. These differences contribute to the different animals in the zones. Furthermore, I learned how turban snails looks similar to hermit crabs. This may have to do with the advantages of having similar colored shells for blending in and camouflaging.

Tying back to the field trip, in Biology we are learning how different body systems depend on each other. The field trip taught the class something similar but in a different application. The different species’ well being and survival relies heavily on the tide and the environment in which they are living in. They are dependent on each other just like how body systems are interdependent. We also talked about how different animals living in the same place can have relatively different environments. This was learned when looking at the different zones of the beach and how the species that lived away from where the high tide reached were different from the animals that lived where the tide came.

However, the field trip was not all about data collecting. During the trip I made quite a few memories that continue to make me smile. I will never forget laughing about how close we were to the waters edge and how the tide could move closer and potentially wash us away at any given point. I also will not forget the amount of times my classmates and I could’ve slipped on the slippery rocks. Each time this occurred we let out a sigh of relief at having caught our balance. I would not change a thing about this field trip and I would highly recommend others to go on a trip separately to Fitzgerald Marine Reserve or take a trip with the school; either way it is a remarkable experience.