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Mearns Rock Field Guide
This field guide will help you recognize the species in your quad, and estimate their percent cover.
Recognizing Marine Life
This example photo shows you some representative patches of Fucus, barnacles, and mussels.
To read a brief description of these marine life forms, click a link below:
The photos in this photo set were taken at different times of day and under different weather and light conditions. As a result, they vary in their color and clarity; however, if you watch for four color ranges, it will be easier to identify the marine life:
- Gray areas tend to be bare rock.
- Black areas are often mussels.
- Areas that range from green to gold to brown are often Fucus gardneri (rockweed or popweed). Young Fucus plants are more green in color, mature plants are more brown.
- White or light gray regions tend to be barnacles.
Percent Cover Chart
The chart above is an aid for estimating the percent cover of a particular form of marine life in the quadrat you are observing. The black areas represent the marine life form.
(After Terry and Chilingar, 1955)
Observation Criteria
As you look through the photos, you will note that algae or seaweed sometimes cover much of the rock, possibly hiding barnacles and mussels from our view. In making your estimates, it's important to establish a criteria that you will follow. It is probably best to base your observations on "what's visible," rather than your interpretation of what might be living underneath something else.
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