Keenan Amos - Rocky shores, home for some!!

Pictured: Keenan Amos, a grade 10 at Mary Waters High School in Grahamstown, in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa at the education symposium event for 2015, hosted by SAEON Arid Lands Node in Kimberley.

His research project presentation was entitled "Rocky shores, home for some". A rocky shore is an area in the sea coast where solid rocks occur. They are particularly affected by physical factors, and experience low and high tides.

The aim of his study was to "examine the diversity and abundance of rocky shores organisms" with regards to: 1) distance from the low water mark bare rocks.

His hypothesis was that, "All the organisms will be found on the rocks in the area that is covered by water".

The findings of his study disproved his hypothesis, and revealed that: 1) not all species live in low shores, 2) further away from shoreline fewer species are found in abundance (periwinkles), 3) because of their hard skin shells they are able to withstand high temperatures, 4) these organisms such as periwinkle are able to get nutrients during high tide splash, and 5) most of the soft body organisms live on the lower shores where they are exposed to a lot of water, little amount of heat and get most of the nutrients.