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Home | Image Galleries | Emergency Response
Mearns Rock Time Series
A photo time series of Mearns Rock, a large boulder located in the intertidal zone at Snug Harbor on Knight Island, Prince William Sound, Alaska.
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Mearns Rock 1995
What You See
In mid-1995, about half of the mussels have disappeared, leaving smaller dark regions on the right side of the boulder. Fucus is making a comeback on the left side and top surface of the boulder. You can also see a resurgence of algal growth on the beach face.
What's Happening
The disappearance of the mussels may be the result of predation (perhaps by sea otters) or natural mortality. Regardless of whatever caused the boulder's plant life to die back in 1993-94, the boulder now seems to be supporting new plant and animal life.
(07.01.95, Snug Harbor, Knight Island, Alaska)
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Related Pages on Our Site |
- Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Overview of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound, Alaska. Includes links to many related resources, including photo galleries.
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- Graphing Changes in Marine Life Abundance Try your hand at some marine biology! Follow these steps, designed for middle and high school students, to make a study of the marine life occupying a section, or quadrat, of Mearns Rock.
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- Mearns Rock Time Series How does marine life recover from a major, one-time stress, such as an oil spill? As you will learn here, the answer is not simple.
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- Northwest Bay Study Site Photos of one of our study sites, a rocky beach on an islet in Northwest Bay, shortly after high-pressure, hot-water washing in 1989, and again in 1998.
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- Response to the Exxon Valdez Spill Within hours after the tanker Exxon Valdez spilled nearly 11 million gallons of crude oil into Alaska's Prince William Sound on March 24, 1989, a team of NOAA OR&R scientists arrived on-scene.
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