1. Choose a relatively small tide pool otherwise you'll turn this into a three day project. Observe the tide pool without disturbance for 10 minutes. Record your observations. Open a mussel and place it in your tide pool. Record your observations after 5 minutes. Hint: Describe how the tide pool sculpins attack the meat of the opened mussel.

2. Record the type, density and population of the plants and species found in the tide pool. Take some photographs or make some sketches.

3. Record the depth, diameter and shape of the pool and its position in the intertidal. Be sure to include a sketch of the pool in your final report. You should include a side view and a top view. Provide a scale and a legend.

4. Measure the temperature and the salinity of the water in the pool and at the edge of the ocean. Predict how weather changes affect the temperature and salinity of the tide pool and the ocean. Discuss the stresses involved with living in a tide pool and the adaptations that the organisms have developed to survive in this environment.

5. Who are the producers and consumers in your tide pool? Draw a food web.

6. Define the term ecosystem. Would you consider your pool an ecosystem? Support your answer.