In September, our Year 13 Biologists visited St. Mary's Lighthouse in Whitley Bay to take part in a day of ecological sampling.
The girls learned about our local coastal marine ecosystem and how biotic and abiotic factors affect biodiversity in sheltered and exposed shorelines.
They followed up this learning by undertaking 2 investigations. First, they investigated how limpet distribution varied on exposed versus sheltered shorelines by carrying out ecological sampling of these areas.
Next, they investigated how seaweed distribution changes as you move through an intertidal zone towards the sea.
Differentiating different species of brown seaweed can be challenging but the girls excelled in this, identifying species such as bladder wrack, spiral wrack, channel wrack and kelp.
Thank you to our guide for the day Samantha Levy of St.
Mary's Lighthouse and Visitor's Centre, she gave valuable insight into a career of a Marine Biologist! The girls thoroughly enjoyed themselves and even managed to catch a lobster!