| Title | Seawater temperature in the microhabitats of intertidal marine invertebrates in Sea Point, 01 February to 18 March 2022 |
|---|---|
| Project | Conservation Physiology Programme |
| Authors |
Tanya Haupt Laurenne Snyders Lutz Auerswald |
| Publisher | Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (2023) |
| Contributors |
Contact Person: Tanya Haupt |
| Abstract | To better understand the physiological effects of marine invertebrates to changing environmental conditions, long-term monitoring which captures the natural variability of environmental parameters is required. In this way, experimental findings can be related back to field conditions, and better predictions can be made as to how marine invertebrates, particularly in the harsh intertidal, will fair with rising temperature. In May 2020, Cape Sea Urchins, Parechinus angulosus, were collected from intertidal rock pools at Sea Point, which is situated along the southwest coast of South Africa. After chronic incubation in low pH conditions at the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment's (DFFE) Sea Point Research Aquarium, their response to thermal stress was investigated in recent experimental trials. To calculate the thermal window for these marine invertebrates, both habitat temperatures, as well as their threshold temperatures are required. The latter was obtained by examining the Critical Thermal Maximum temperatures (CTmax), i.e. the temperatures at which organisms respond with uncoordinated mobility, whereas habitat temperatures are available through the deployment of temperature loggers in the intertidal pools inhabited by these organisms. Three prominent rockpools were chosen Sea Point, Cape Town (>5 m apart) to install HOBO TidbiT temperature loggers. Two loggers were placed in each pool. Here we present the cleaned up version of temperature measurements from Pool 1: 33.920317 S, 18.379417 E, logger 10687237 and 20195550; Pool 2: 33.920267 S, 18.379417 E, logger 10687240 and 20195543; Pool 3: 33.920167 S, 18.379717 E, logger 20195539 and 20195574, from 01 February to 18 March 2022. |
| Methods | The details of each pool are captured in the 'README' file. The loggers were set to record temperature every 5 minutes.The current design is attaching loggers via cable ties to I-bolts drilled into the substrate. All loggers were positioned facing the sea. Data were extracted from the loggers using HOBOware Pro software and exported into Excel files. Times are GMT+2. The data available are the raw files (all temperatures even outside of the rockpools) and 'clean' files where only the temperatures recorded once loggers were placed into the rockpools are provided. Only where possible, data were downloaded and loggers deployed on a monthly basis. Nonetheless, clean data are presented on a monthly basis for each pool (x2 loggers per pool). Where required, to avoid the inclusion of any 'handling' temperatures in the clean datasets, the temperatures extracted are from ten minutes once loggers are deployed, and 10 minutes before they are removed to download data. |
| Data | |
| Temporal extent | 01 Feb 2022 – 18 Mar 2022 |
| Geographic extent |
Sea Point, Western Cape, South Africa
North: -33.920167 |
| Vertical extent |
Max: -0.068 m Min: -0.21 m |
| Keywords | Intertidal, Rockpools, SOUTH ATLANTIC OCEAN, Temperature |
| Related resources |
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