Hazard Risk Precautions Taken
Broken glass Getting stabbed Be cautious of surroundings
Open Shoes Rocks crushing feet Wear closed-in shoes
Heat stroke/ Sunburn Fainting, Dehydration Drink a lot of water, use sunscreen
Slippery surface Falling down and harming self.
Part A – Results
Scientific Name and Common name of mangrove species identified Descriptions of features used to identify species Recording of position of species along transect (metres)
Lumnitzera racemose
Black Mangrove Simple leaf, Leave Alternate, Gland at end of leaf, 2.8m tall 0m, 1m, 5m, 5.5m
Excoecoria ovalis Simple leaf, oval shaped leafs, roots above surface, 4m tall 1m, 2m, 7m, 9.5m
Ceriops togal var. australis
Yellow Mangrove/ Spurred Mangrove Simple leaf, …show more content…
Australia’s mangroves and the zone they occupy are used by numerous plants and animals. Heterotrophs such as mudskippers, crabs, lobsters and much more are all members of the community that live in Australian mangroves. These heterotrophs work together with the mangroves to better the ecosystem they are living in, for example, Sesarmid crabs aid in the retention and recycling of nutrients within mangrove forests by taking large numbers of leaves below ground (Duke N. , 2016). Also, occasionally turtles consume the mature fruits off the leaves of an Avicennia marina that they crop from the tree at a high tide, which contributes to the strengthening of the plant and furthermore the ecosystem (Duke N. , 2016).
3. The transect method used to identify the mangroves was the line transect method. This method is to use a continuous ‘line transect’ which is where a long line is run through a plant community, and those plants that are close to the line are identified. A line transect is an easier way of covering short distances of a great deal of plant life. Unfortunately, this type transect method cannot cover large distances as it is more time consuming and many species may be overlooked for it is more difficult to spot every mangrove in each transect (Offwell Wetland Survey, …show more content…
The two main techniques used to measure the pH, temperature, Salinity and dissolved O2 were a variety of probes connected to a sparkvue system and a thermometer. On the day of recording the data, an average of 31.8°C was collected from halfway through the transect, and the class had an overall average of 30.99°C. The Bureau of Meteorology state that on the 6th of September (day of recording data) the air temperature was at a high of 33.8°C and at a low of 25.2°C. Meaning the data collected in comparison to the Bureau’s results are within boundaries and is a fairly accurate result.
2. The soil structure and soil salinity are major factors which contribute to the distribution of mangroves. And the results show that the variety in salinity and soil temperature may be the abiotic factors which differ the distribution of the mangroves in this area. The salinity can be effected by the rate of evaporation and the tide. With a higher tide, there is likely to be a higher rate of evaporation leading to the scrubbier mangroves growing in that particular area and the others moving away to opposing areas (N/A, 1998). And from the class results collected, we can see that there may be more evaporation toward the 0m area, and the rate slowly decreases as it moves down to the 40m mark. Also seen clearly in the results is that the soil temperature decreases from the 0m mark to the 40m mark. The temperature change may be a result of the soil getting enough sunlight, with