THE TALE OF TWO TIDEPOOLS: EXAMINING CARBONATE CHEMISTRY IN THE INTERTIDAL

Abstract

Tidepools are a prominent feature of the intertidal zone, housing a great diversity of both macroalgae and mobile animal components. Tidepool organisms are exposed to wide variations in temperature, salinity, and pH over the course of the low tide. As of yet, very few studies have quantified the changes in carbonate chemistry in tidepools. The objective of this study was to quantify the changes in carbonate chemistry in tidepools over the course of three consecutive low tides and to determine if biological additions would alter the degree of change in carbonate parameters occurring over the course of the low tide. The carbonate chemistry in the tidepools we surveyed underwent drastic changes over the course of the low tide. With increasing isolation time, the total alkalinity and dissolved inorganic carbon decreased, and the pH increased. However, no signal from the addition of Ulva sp. or Mytilus trossulus was detected in this study.