Robot+Unicorn's+Tide+Pool+Ecosystem+Report

=__** Thompson's Island **__=

__** Intro **__
=== Greetings, scientists! I am a student in sixth grade at [|Amigos School] in Cambridge Mass. My class went on several fun field trips to different ecosystems, including Black Nooks Pond, the Charles River, Thompson's Island tide pools, and the meadow in T.I. We observed, sketched, collected small samples and had LOADS of fun! I hope you like my wiki! ===

__Abiotic__
=== One of the many ecosystems we went to was the tide pool in [|Thompson’s Island]. The journey was a casual boat ride in the ‘[|Outward Bound]', accompanied by an astonishing view of [|Deer Island] and [|Castle Island] flying by. “It was //gorgeous// and we could taste the salt in the air,” one student gushed dreamily. With the wind blowing breezily in our hair and the sights flitting by like an old fashioned slideshow, many thought this would be the highlight of the trip. They were much mistaken, because, at Amigos, there is no such thing as a boring field trip. The first odd thing that met the hungry eyes of many eager students was the island itself, looking beautiful and green and thrilling from the boat, now looked much more rocky and bulky and we could even see a [|building] in the distance. As everyone gaped silently at the sudden change of terrain, we were ushered towards the waiting tide pools. This journey consisted of stumbling (and sometimes falling) over large rocks (known as [|sedimentary rocks]) and exclaiming excitedly at random intervals: “Eew,look at that dead [|cormorant]!” “Whoa, check out that [|red algae]!” and "Ow! I tripped again!" When we finally reached the tide pools, we measured all the necessities with our trusty [|World Water Monitoring Day] kit: the dissolved oxygen was 4PPM, the turbidity was 40 [|JTU], the [|PH] was 7.5, and the temperature of the water and the air was 57.5°F and 63°F. We grabbed all our tools, which included a bucket, to scoop up little organisms, a sheet to calculate about them, and our science notebooks to describe and write down all our info. See all that cool info here, in a web, or here, in a pyramid! =3 ===

__Biotic__
=** The tide pool at Thompson’s Island was fascinating. After everyone had gathered excitedly at the tide pools, we began our research of the environment and it’s habitants. Among the countless species we encountered on our expedition, these are some that proved most interesting, though all of them were very cool: **=

=== My energy pyramid works for the tide pool ecosystem because it consists of producers, like kelp and red algae, that make their own food from sunlight using photosynthesis, primary consumers, like periwinkles and slipper snails, that eat producers to get the energy from the sun they can't make themselves, secondary consumers, like barnacles and blue mussels, that eat primary consumers and producers to get //their// energy, tertiary consumers, like green crabs and rock crabs, that eat producers, primary and secondary consumers to get //their// food, and decomposers, like fungi and bacteria, that feed off //EVERYTHING// to get their nourishment. ===

=== It was amazing coming to Thompson’s Island. The sea air, the tiny crabs scuttling away from our prying eyes, all manner of tiny creatures we never knew existed. I learned so much about this ecosystem. I loved scooping up little crabs in our buckets and pouring the contents into a big tub while we gaped in fascination at the crabs and algae floating around. It was so calming on the ‘Outward Bound’, looking at the scene that was spread out before us. The thing that I enjoyed most was being with all my classmates, and working together to uncover tiny beasties squeezed under rocks, or write down all our information about the barnacles, crabs, and other things that appeared so much during our field trip. I loved everything about this field trip and I hope that Amigos will have another one like it very soon! ===

===I'll now say //arimigasu minna,// or thank you, everyone in Japanese, for reading my report on Thompson's Island Tide Pools. Thompson's Island has so much to offer, and I hope people will benefit from my essay! //Sayounara! // (goodbye) =3 ~RobotUnicorn2 ===