Investigating the resilience of NE Atlantic intertidal forests

Ruby George

Swansea University

Rocky shores are key habitats providing essential functions such as nursery areas for commercially important fish, buffering wave action and being important recreational and spiritual places. With the severity and frequency of storms increasing due to climate change, it is essential we understand the ability of rocky shore communities to withstand and recover from disturbance.

To explore the variation and drivers of resilience on rocky shores, I am leading and coordinating a large-scale disturbance-recovery experiment spanning a latitudinal gradient from Portugal to Orkney. 18 months before my fieldwork trip we simultaneously removed canopy forming algae (which is susceptible to large storms) at 3 treatment levels across multiple sites in each of the 7 regions. Since then, with the help of partner organisations at each location we have been monitoring the recovery of communities. We are also undertaking coordinated measurements of the traits of an important foundational species on rocky shore, Fucus Serratus, to further understand the drivers of resilience in these systems.

In September 2024 I was generously funded by the challenger society to travel to Orkney and undertake fieldwork for this project. Thanks to this funding from the Challenger Society, I was able to take the more sustainable option of travelling to Orkney using the Caledonian Sleeper train and Ferry. This was a long, but beautiful journey and I was able to spend a day exploring Aberdeen whilst waiting for my ferry to Kirkwall in Orkney.

Fieldwork
I arrived onto the Heriot Watt Orkney campus (ICIT) and met with our project partner Professor Joanne Porter who, alongside some incredible volunteers, assisted with the fieldwork throughout my visit. I have four fieldwork sites in Orkney, the first we visited was Ness point in Stromness with stunning views across Hoy Sound.


The first step in this fieldwork is finding our 12 experimental plots at each site using a high accuracy GPS and physical tags. We then complete quadrat surveys of plots and measure morphological traits of the canopy forming algae. These surveys are completed regularly to monitor the recovery of the disturbed plots. During this research trip I was also taking additional photosynthesis potential measurements using the Handy PEA. This will enable me to evaluate the stress response of canopy forming algae to different environmental conditions along the experimental gradient and study the growth and productivity of tagged individuals over time.

We completed this fieldwork on the four rocky shores around mainland Orkney and Burray, often whilst being watched by the local selkies. As the northernmost region in our experiment, it was so interesting to see how differently the experimental plots are recovering compared to the southern regions.


Lab work
After we finished fieldwork, I processed all my algae samples in the lab by taking morphological trait measurements such as frond thickness, surface area, and stipe thickness. These traits can indicate their resistance to disturbances such as storms and heat waves and often vary with environmental conditions such as temperature and wave exposure. I am investigating how these morphological traits of fucoid macroalgae vary across the different sites and regions in this experiment and how they link to the overall resilience of the communities.

Orkney Science Festival
I was lucky to be visiting Orkney whilst the Orkney Science Festival was underway which included talks, workshops, and a seaweed exhibition. I attended some interesting talks by visitors from Japan and Malaysia about seaweed and coral restoration projects in their regions and learnt how to make sustainable Malaysian rice parcels. I also had the opportunity while attending the science festival to discuss my research in Orkney with local Orcadians.  I hope to visit Orkney again next year and present this research project formally in the science festival!


Thank you so much to the challenger society for funding this trip to Orkney, I am so grateful for the opportunity visit such a beautiful location for fieldwork! Thank you also to all the collaborators involved in this project.

Profile
I am a 3rd year PhD student at Swansea University supervised by Dr John Griffin (Swansea University) and Prof. Pippa Moore (Newcastle University). My PhD research focuses on the ecological functioning and stability of rocky shores including the roles of heterogeneity, latitude, and urbanisation.