Identification of mediolittoral and supralittoral organisms

Caring about biodiversity is the responsibility of the entire community. In order for the young people to become aware of the importance of species conservation, they should learn first about different species inhabiting the mediolittoral and supralittoral zones.
Kaštela Bay is a rather closed system, which suffered numerous cases of uncontrolled release of toxic substances into the sea by industrial facilities during the '90s. Students will acquire basic knowledge of the Bay and its characteristics in Biology, Environmetal Protection and Ecology classes. They will also be asked to research online resources, where they will investigate which organisms they can encounter once they go outside.
There is a total of 46 students from three classses. They will be divided into groups, and each group will be asked to explore the mediolittoral and supralittoral at a particular location. Selected locations will differ in certain ecological features (rocky shore type, coastal exposure to waves).
Squares (40X40cm) will be used to explore the mediolittoral and supralittoral. Students will record the location and list and photograph all species. Should there be any species that students find difficut to identify, these species will be determined later with the help of the staff of the Natural History Museum from Split and the staff of the Institute of Oceanography from Split.
Since the data will be collected from different locations, the densities of individual species will be compared. Students will also calculate similarity indices, from which it will be seen which stations are more similar to each other in terms of composition and the number of species, and which of them are less similar.
Based on their results, students will try to determine the purity of the sea.
Students will publish their work in Croatian and English on the schools's website and present it to other students.