Hi everybody. My name is Lauren Marino
Perez and I'm the Community Engagement Manager for the San Diego Natural
History Museum, also known as the Nat. And I'm here doing one of my favorite things
today. Treasure hunting at the tide pools. One of my favorite places Cabrillo National Monument,
with one of my favorite community partners. Sam Wynns! Hi Sam. [Sam:] Hi Lauren. [Lauren:] Hi, so good to see you even from . . . [Sam:] six feet distance. Yes exactly. To see your face,
instead of on a Zoom screen, right? Um, so Lauren and I are standing here on this sandstone ledge, at the
edge of land and sea. In one of Cabrillo's coolest locations. The Rocky Intertidal Zone. [Lauren:] There's only so many scientists
in the world, and only so many hours in the day, so you might imagine it's
hard for them to know if things are changing. So that's where we come in. People like me and you.
citizen or community scientists we can help formal scientists like Sam, collect data and help with
their research. And one type of data we can collect is what is found when and where. For example, what
are we going to find in the tide pools today. Knowing what's found where and when, helps paint
a picture of an ecosystem frozen in time. And over time when we look at all those different pictures
together, we get a pretty good understanding of how an area or an ecosystem has changed
over time and how it stayed the same. For example, if there's a new plant that we find
somewhere that we never found before. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but we wouldn't know it
was new if we didn't have those old pictures to look at and see that this is something new that
we need to keep an eye on and monitor to make sure it's not negatively impacting the environment,
or the ecosystem where we found it. [Sam:] Ecosystems like, you guessed it, the Rocky Intertidal Zone. Which is a super special ecosystem for a couple of reasons. First, it's hugely biodiverse. Which means there are
many different species, an abundant number of them, that live here and make the tide pools their home.
Second, it's one of the most extreme environments to live in, on Earth. And that's largely to do with the
tidal cycles. When you think about it, right, these are marine organisms. And multiple times a day the
tide goes out and they have to deal with factors like wind and sun, right? So here in a minute,
we're gonna go on a little treasure hunt. We're gonna go document, a lot of these really really cool, uh this cool biodiversity. And check out some of their cool adaptations, the adaptations they have to survive in this really extreme ecosystem. And this is where you come in, right? As we go we're going to teach
you how you can help us document this biodiversity too. (Soft organ music) (Male voice: Over here is a live California Sea Hare) [Lauren:] Walking through this very rocky area in my very sensible water shoes. And I really like those (pointing to Sam's shoes). [Sam:] Thank you. [Lauren:] Um, I'm struck by something. What is all this like reddish-brown, there's green stuff all over the rocks? [Sam:] It's different species of algae. [Lauren:] So it's alive. [Sam:] Yeah, all of this is alive. [Lauren:] Wow, so that is like, such a great reminder.
Just if we stop to pause and look. We're surrounded by different
species of things, different living organisms. Plants and animals are always all around us. Um, it's
really especially evident here at the, Rocky Intertidal Zone and the tide pools, because there's just
life everywhere. It's amazing. Um, and actually, this is where citizen scientists, community scientists
come in again, like you and me. We can help Sam by documenting all these different species: plants and
animals that we come across. Um, one way to do it is to use - there's an app and a website, called iNaturalist.
That's the letter i followed by naturalist. And, what you do is you download it and
you upload pictures of what you find. And those pictures, people can see them all over the world. And in return, you can see pictures of what people have found all over the world.
You can go explore the Amazon Rainforest if you want,
from the comfort of your own home. Which is really cool. [Sam:] Super cool. [Lauren:] And then scientists like Sam can pull those observations. Like, identify them,
tell you what you're seeing, which is awesome. Pull them into their work, and use them.
So you don't, never even have to meet. From anywhere in the world. And, I love to use it when
I'm taking walks in my neighborhood. I don't have to be at the tidepools necessarily to find
life, like, just stopping and looking at one bush. I find a ton of different insects on it. Um, and I love
looking at them and using iNaturalist to identify them. 'Cause, in the beginning I didn't know any
of the insects, and now, I'm slowly learning all my weird insects in my neighborhood. Which I love. [Sam:] Yeah, it's absolutely a great tool to both learn about your environment, and to help scientists with their research, right? Um, so let's try it out! Shall we? I've got my handy dandy smartphone somewhere —
right here. Figure out which pocket it was in. And um, you can also use a digital camera. That works
as well. So let me just open it up here. Give me one second. And you look in your apps and you look for the app
that is the um, white background with a green bird on it. That's iNaturalist. You click on that. And then
a screen will come up, uh, that will have either a green plus sign, or a little um camera at the
bottom of your screen. And so you click on that. And this is how you're gonna take your
observation. So I'm gonna click on take a photo. And my camera pops up. So let's
see, I am gonna take a photo of ooh . . . let's take a picture of this circular tentacled
creature that's attached to the rock down here. Great. Got it. Then you can
click the uh, blue check mark. Excellent. And then a bunch of different
fields will come up. And what we want is the field that's directly underneath your
photograph, that says what did you see. There is a dotted box, or dashed box with a question
mark in it. So we're going to click on that. Now, if you're in a place where you have
internet connection, where you have wi-fi. iNaturalist will actually help you identify it. It'll
make suggestions. Um or, if you happen to know what the species is you can actually just go ahead and type
the species in there. So I know, I happen to know . . . that this, is a Sunburst Sea Anemone. And again, if you're
offline it's totally okay, it'll upload it later, once you get back into a place where you can (upload). So
you're gonna click on that. Sunburst Sea Anemone. Perfect! And then you click the green check mark, and
voila, you have your first entry into the iNaturalist database. And this is where other observers, like scientists or community
scientists like you, can go in and take a look at your entry. They can actually verify um, what you observed. And they can even leave notes and comments
on it. It's pretty cool stuff. So Lauren, I dare you, to touch that Sunburst Sea Anemone. [Lauren:] Uhhhhh, I was worried you were going to say that. (Laughfter) Ok. [Sam:] Have you ever touched one of these before? [Lauren:] Uh, you know it's been a long time. [Sam:] Ok, so it's going to be an experience for you.
[Lauren:] Ok [Sam:] So go ahead and try to touch it, on it's, kind of
the stringy blue-green tentacles, there at the edge. [Lauren:] Oooooh, it's closing up on me. Oh Wow! [Sam:] So Lauren, what did that feel like to you?
[Lauren:] It felt kind of um, like sticky. Like it was holding on, to me. [Sam:] Yeah. Yeah. So actually that stickiness
that you're feeling, kind of like tape. Is actually that sea anemone stinging you.
[Lauren:] Ahh. [Sam] But don't worry. [Lauren:] Okay [Sam] It can't hurt us, right. [Sam:] So sea anemones have . . . I wouldn't have told you to
touch it, right? If it could hurt you. [Lauren:] I would say that's a mean practical joke.
[Sam:] Ya, I would not do that to you Lauren. Um, so sea anemones actually have these little
special capsules, called nematocysts. And in each nematocyst is a little barb that contains
poison in it. And if you were some of the sea anemone's prey, like a little fish. That barb would come out and it would
paralyze you. It it would incapacitate its prey. Right. But, we're too big, so it just feels like stickiness
to us. And you also made an observation there. What was the other thing you observed when
you touched it? [Lauren:] Um, it felt like, it was closing up. [Sam:] Yeah, absolutely. [Lauren] Ya, it looks like it's closing. [Sam:] You're right it does close up like that.
Because, if you look closely at the sea anemone, it looks like there's a little disc, in the center. That's its
mouth. Its mouth is actually in the center of its body. So its, it stays out here nice and open.
A little fish comes along. It touches its tentacle and it goes whoop! Stings it, incapacitates it,
and then brings it into its mouth so it can be devoured. [Lauren:] Nice. [Sam] Really cool. So that sea anemone didn't know what you were, right? Something touched it. It closed its automatically. (Boy's voice: Unintelligible yelling) [Sam:] Cool stuff. [Lauren] It reminds me of some of my relatives. [Sam:] (laughing) Just bringing you in whether you want it or not. [Lauren:] Yes. [Sam:] I hope their mouth isn't in the center of their body, though.
[Lauren:] I don't think so. [Sam:] They should go get checked out by a doctor if that's the case. (Laughter) [Sam:] Um, all right. You ready to explore some more, Lauren?
[Lauren:] I would love to. [Sam:] Excellent. [Lauren:] That's so fun. [Sam:] We found something really cool. Lauren, check this out. [Lauren:] What? What is that? It looks like uh, gosh, bright pink bubblegum or something. [Sam:] It does look like pink bubblegum doesn't it.
That's actually a little tiny sea slug. That is a Rosy nudibranch (Hopkins' Rose nudibranch).
[Lauren:] Oh my god it's so cute. [Sam:] Isn't it cute. And that's . . . they don't get much bigger than that. [Lauren:] Wow. [Sam:] Um, and they are most nudibranchs are a bright color to warn off predators. Why do you think they might want to warn off uh, predators? [Lauren:] Oh, are they like my little friend over there the anemone. Do they sting? (laughing) [Sam:] They're warning off predators because they are
toxic. So to eat, most nudibranchs anyways, not all species, but most are. So uh, they're
saying HEY, it's that flash coloration, right? They're saying like, HEY back off! You don't want
to eat me. Just like monarch butterflies right. They're like bright orange. Saying, "Don't eat me. I'm poisonous."
Same thing with our little nudibranch friends down here. [Lauren:] Well I want to take a picture of him.
I'm going to put it on iNaturalist. [Sam:] Perfect. [Lauren:] Open my camera and get in there and get some shots. Um, and I don't want to touch him, but I do want to just put, like my finger kinda there, for a little bit of scale. So the person that's looking at this on the other side of the computer can see just how big it is. One more angle. Oh my god. It's so cool. I've never seen one before. [Sam:] Aren't they great. So they, you often find them in sea grass.
That long stringy green stuff that you can see around here, or in algae. [Sam:] You can probably tell, that this time of year is the perfect time to go tidepooling. And look at this amazing negative low tide here. That is late fall, winter, and spring. Uh, if you come at another time
of year, our low tides happen in the middle of the night. So I definitely recommend that you check a local tide chart, if you're heading down to Cabrillo's tidepools, or anywhere you might be tidepooling.
And do remember to wear appropriate water shoes. Appropriate clothing. Sunscreen. And bring anything else that might make your time more enjoyable. However, it's important to note that this is a National Park. So there is no swimming, collecting, or taking of any kind, right? We want to leave everything here just as you found it, for all of these other species to enjoy, and for people to enjoy as well, okay. If you want to learn more about Cabrillo's tidepools you can check out our website at nps.gov/cabrillo. That's nps, as in National Park Service. Dot gov, as in government. Backslash c-a-b-r-i-l-l-o. [Lauren:] Thank you so much for having me here today Sam. It has been wonderful. The tidepools are really an extraordinary place and we're so lucky to have them. And we're really lucky to have people like Sam. That work hard to keep them safe and healthy for all of us to enjoy. I'd also like to thank our camera man Andrew. He's been behind the camera. He also works for the National Perk Service. And the National Park Service in general. It's just an uh, amazing system and we are so lucky to have it. And I just wanted to let you guys know. That even if you can't get to the tidepools, that's not a problem. Because you can still participate in community science. Go on our website to check out projects. We have
projects on our website at s-d-n-h-m. That's for San Diego Natural History Museum, dot o-r-g, and then backslash community science. There you can see all sorts of cool projects you can get involved
with run by our researchers at the museum. But also, researchers and other places as well. And there's
a really cool project, um but even if you can't get to the tidepools, even if you can't leave your house, that you can participate in that's called . . . Never Home Alone. And that one isn't run by the museum,
but it's still really fun and you should get involved with it. I like to upload spiders, and all sorts of weird things I find in my house. So thanks so much for joining us
and for being here today with us. [Sam and Lauren:] Bye! [Sam] Thank you! (Soft organ music)
