Data Collection- James

We went to the morro tide pools to sample the turban sea snails with some twine marked in 1 meter increments.  When we first did our pilot study, we considered the use of fixed width transect sampling, however the density of the snails was so large that we decided transect sampling was a more achievable method.  We were planning to use the twine to both outline the edges of the study area, and to make a 1m2 quadrat for sampling.  This method was surprisingly successful at directing us to our randomly assigned quadrat locations.  Upon choosing the first quadrat, we quickly figured out that the area of each quadrat was too large, as there were over 100 individuals in the first sample.  We reduced the area of each sample to a quadrat with sides 0.5m, and an area of 0.25m2.  This quadrat size was much better, and the rest of the sampling went smoothly.  We went to sample at the time projected to be low tide, and we were able to sample with no difficulty from the tides until our last sample.  Another sampling day will be planned for next week to compare the population estimates.