Plate from the low zone at Playa Escondida. Note the dense cover of juvenile barnacles on the white plate compared to none on the black plate (each brown spot is a barnacle).

My project is the first large-scale intertidal study to be carried out along the continental coast of Ecuador. I will establish an ongoing database of the community composition in intertidal communities at 10 sites along the North-South gradient of the Ecuadorian coast, and how these communities vary in structure between warm (El Niño) and cold (La Niña) phases.

As I measure these differences over time, I will be able to observe changes in how organisms interact, patterns of ecological dominance, and fluctuations in water temperature and nutrient availability, allowing me to make predictions on long-term trends of the local effects of climate change, and how these changes are affecting marine communities. With further financing, I will be able to continue tracking changes in the intertidal ecosystem between phases and over a period of several years, observing how cold and warm phase severities and duration change over time, and the effects of these changes on marine ecological processes.

Additionally, small fishing communities all along the Ecuadorian coast depend heavily on the collection of intertidal mollusks for personal consumption, and this provides a major source of protein in the diet of many coastal families. I will quantify the abundance of these mollusks, the direct impacts of collection on their populations, and the impacts of their removal on intertidal communities. By establishing the ecological role of these animals in the intertidal ecosystem, as well as the long-term effects of climate change on marine productivity in the area, I will be able to make suggestions for the maintenance of coastal fisheries. This information will in turn be disseminated in coastal villages through participatory workshops, pamphlets, and posters, in which I will also provide basic education on marine ecological concepts and sustainable fishing practices. My results will also be incorporated into the management plans for two coastal protected areas: the Machalilla National Park, and the Galera-San Francisco Marine Reserve.