Field Inquiry
In the field and on the beach , LEAVE IT CLEANER THAN YOU FIND IT!
• Pack out what you take in – NO LITTER LEFT ON THE
BEACH
• Do not take any living things
• Leave nesting birds and marine mammals alone to
rest
• If you turn over a rock, PUT IT BACK AS IT WAS
• RESPECT other people visiting the beach
What Should You Bring and Wear?
• Dress for the Weather - LAYERS
• Rubber Boots or 2 pairs of shoes
• Play clothes – ok to get DIRTY
• Workbook
• Pencil
• Clipboard
• Sack Lunch
• Water
•
Sun screen
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Field Inquiry
Low Tide Food Web Hunt
Search along the intertidal zone to find the animals and plants below; once you have found one, draw a
solid line to connect them to what they eat or what eats them to create a food web of the near shore
ecosystem. If you didn’t find a plant or animal on this work sheet draw a dotted line to connect them
into the food web. Find something not on the food web already? Draw it in and connect it to other plants
and animals with a solid line.
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Field Inquiry
Who Lives in the Square?
Look down on the ground and imagine a square the size of your notebook. Below sketch a map that
shows the substrate (or the type of ground, rock, gravel, sand or mud) and the location of organisms that
you find in your plot (animals, plants and algae). List them below your map.
1_________________________________________
4_________________________________________
2_________________________________________
5_________________________________________
3_________________________________________
6______________________________________
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Field Inquiry
Field Notes
Choose an organism that you found and observe it up close, draw and label it too!
Researcher:___________________________
Time: ________________________
Date: ___________________________
Location (be specific): ___________________________________________________________________________________________
Common Name: ______________________________ Scientific Name:_____________________________________________________
Observations: (size in cm, color, other unique features):
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Field Sketch
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Field Inquiry
Field Notes
Choose an organism that you found and observe it up close, draw and label it too!
Researcher:___________________________
Time: ________________________
Date: ___________________________
Location (be specific): ___________________________________________________________________________________________
Common Name: ______________________________ Scientific Name:_____________________________________________________
Observations: (size in cm, color, other unique features):
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Field Sketch
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Field Inquiry
Field Notes
Choose an organism that you found and observe it up close, draw and label it too!
Researcher:___________________________
Time: ________________________
Date: ___________________________
Location (be specific): ___________________________________________________________________________________________
Common Name: ______________________________ Scientific Name:_____________________________________________________
Observations: (size in cm, color, other unique features):
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Field Sketch
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Field Inquiry
Beachfront Scavenger
Hunt!
Try to find five these different kinds
of clam shells:
1. Native Little Neck Clam
2. Manilla Clam
3. Varnish Clam
4. Butter Clam
5. Cockle Clam
Did you find any other animals? If
so, what were they?
Do you think its important to
preserve these creatures? Why or
why not?
.
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Field Inquiry
Water Quality
Watershed name:__________________________
Watershed Observations: What can you see, hear, or smell?
Shade
Cars
Dogs
Trees
Parking Lots
Garbage
Grass
Buildings
Chickens
Cars
Trains
Storm Drains
Animals
Boats
Other____________
The water in the creek is (circle)
Fresh
Estuarine
(Circle)
Marine
Does it look like a healthy watershed?
Poor
Fair
Excellent
Dissolved Oxygen
Dissolved oxygen is __________ mg/L
<3 mg/L
3-6 mg/L
>6 mg/L
Poor
Fair
Excellent
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Field Inquiry
Temperature
As temperature increases, dissolved oxygen____________
What is the temperature?____________°C
Poor
Fair
Excellent
>25
10-25
<10
Poor
Fair
Excellent
Turbidity (cloudiness)
Turbidity is__________ntu.
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Field Inquiry
Macro-invertebrates
Macro-invertebrate - an organism that lacks a spine and is large enough to be seen with the naked eye
Draw a picture of your macro-invertebrate
Use the dichotomous key provided to identify your macro-invertebrate.
Tolerance Index____________
As a group, determine if the macro-invertebrates come from a stream that is
Poor
Fair
Excellent
SUMMARY (Water Quality and Macro-invertebrates)
Based on all the data your group collected, is the stream (circle)
Poor
Fair
Excellent
As a group, discuss why
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Field Inquiry
Field Investigation Reflection Questions
Why is having all of the microscopic phytoplankton and zooplankton in the water important?
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
What would happen to the food web if there were too many river otters and gulls, but not enough
shellfish?
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Name 3 plants or animals that rely on the intertidal zone to live. (Did you know salmon also live in the
intertidal zone for part of their life cycle?)
1.______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
2.______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
3._____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
What are three things you learned while on this field trip:
1.______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
2.______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
3._____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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