Carli Bay Trinidad and Tobago

12/13/2014

Danielle Bachew

812003983

BIOL 3469 Research & Prac in Environ Bio

Lab 3 Trip to Carli Bay

TITLE: Carli Bay Field Trip

Aim: To examine the benthic macrofauna obtained from Carli Bay to determine whether there is evidence of pollution disturbance. To use the Abundance/Biomass Comparison (ABC) method of determining levels of disturbance (pollution-induced or otherwise) on benthic macrofauna communities.

JOURNAL

Carli Bay is next to Couva and is located in Couva-Tabaquite-Talparo, Trinidad and Tobago. Carli Bay has a length of 0.62 kilometres. Carli Bay is a sandy shore beach. The light brown sand is riddled with shells. The distance of sand between the shore and a grassy area is not very large. Trees including almond trees are present in this area. In addition to sea bathing, Carli Bay is used by recreational fishermen (Tt.geoview.info 2006). There is a mangrove to the left of the bay which has mudflats. The bay is considered to be polluted as it is close to Point Lisas which is a highly industrialised area with companies such as Petrotrin. Run-off from these companies can pollute Carli Bay. The aim of this experiment is to determine of Carli bay is indeed polluted by testing characteristics of the benthic macrofauna present at the site.

Diagram Showing A Site Map of Carli Bay And its Surroundings

Google images, 2014. Carli Bay, Trinidad and Tobago.

Students of the BIOL 3469 class visited Carli Bay at approximately 2:30 pm on Tuesday 14th October, 2014. On arrival, students were greeted with extremely heavy rainfall, which eventually stopped, leaving the students in overcast weather. This humidity was incredibly uncomfortable as it was couple with immense mosquitoes. After a short briefing, we set out into the water to take our samples. Not long into our experiment, the rain began to fall again.

The experiment was to collect benthic samples using a spade, grab or corer, in order to analyse the macrobenthic fauna present to...