S Fce Laserea OF CED Co 1 k 1f I NOAA Technical Memorandum ERL MESA 26 i Sr4rES O NOM llSD SEAlTLE THE INTERTIDAL D SHALLOW SUBTIDAL BENTHOS OF THE STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA SPRING 1976 WINTER 1977 Carl F Nyblade Marine Ecosystems Analysis Program Boulder Colorado March 1978 lC 307 5 U6 12 no 26 NAllONAL OCEANIC AND Environmental noaa A lMOSPHERIC ADMINISlRAliON Research Laboratories P AC Po t y 71 t l 1 1 1 HOM usn SEATTlE NOAA LISD SfAnu NOAA Technical Memorandum ERL MESA 26 THE INTERTIDAL AND SHALLOW SUBTIDAL BENTHOS OF THE STRA T OF JUAN DE FUCA SPRING 1976 WINTER 1977 Carl F Nyblade University of Washington Friday Harbor Laboratories Friday Harbor Washington Marine Ecosystems Analysis Program Boulder Colorado March 1978 Research UNITED STATES NATIONAL OCEANIC AND Envllonmental Laboratories DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION Wilmot N Hess Dllector Juanita M Kreps Secretary Richard A Frank Administrator It lI Completion Report Submitted to MESA Puget Sound Project MARINE ECOSYSTEMS ANALYSIS PROGRAM ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH LABORATORIES BY UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON FRIDAY HARBOR LABORATORIES FRIDAY HARBOR WASHINGTON 98250 This work is the result of research sponsored by the Environmental Protection Agency and administered by the Environmental Research Laboratories of the National Oceanic nd Atmospheric Administration The Environmental Research Laboratories do not approve recommend or endorse any proprietary product or proprietary material mentioned in this publication No reference shall be made to the Environmental Research Laboratories or to this publication furnished by the Environmental Research Laboratories in any advertising or sales promotion which would indicate or imply that the Environmental Research Laboratories approve recommend or endorse any proprietary product or proprietary material mentioned herein or which has as its purpose an intent to cause directly or indirectly the advertised product to be used or purchased because of this Environmental Research Laboratories publication ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF FIGURES iv LIST OF TABLES v LIST OF APPENDICES vii ABSTRACT 1 I INTRODUCTION 2 II METHODS AND MATERIALS 4 II A Study Areas 5 B II Field Sampling Procedures 17 II C Laboratory Sample Processing 23 II D Sources of Sampling Error 24 II E Data Analysis 25 III RESULTS 28 Point Tongue 30 Pillar Point 46 North Beach Cobble 61 Morse Creek 71 Beckett Point 84 Dungeness Spit 97 Twin Rivers 102 North Beach Sand 108 Kydaka Beach US Jamestown 120 IV DISCUSSION 134 IV A Study Area Comparisons 134 IV B Seasonal Changes 144 IV C Annual Changes 148 IV D Response to Perturbations 148 V ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 150 VI REFERENCES 151 APPENDIX I APPENDIX II APPENDIX III 1f Appendices I and II have been microfiched and inserted in pocket of back cover Available from Seattle NOAA MESA Puget Sound Project Office Hi LIST OF FIGURES Page Number 7 1 Map of Study Sites Area 8 2 Kydaka Beach Study 9 3 Pillar Point Study Area 10 4 Twin Rivers Study Area 11 5 Tongue Point Study Area Area 12 6 Morse Creek Study Area 13 7 Dungeness Spit Study 14 8 Jamestown Study Area 15 9 Beckett Point Study Area 16 10 North Beach Study Areas 45 11 Tongue Point Algal Zonation 60 12 Pillar Point Gastropod Grazer Zonation Zonation 96 13 Beckett Point Tube Building Polychaete 132 14 Jamestown Zonation 15 Intertidal Community Composition Comparison Matrix 138 16 Subtidal Community Composition Comparison Matrix 139 t iv 4 LIST OF TABLES Number Page 1 Study Areas intertidal habitat ty es 6 2a Tongue Point 6 31 b 3 33 c 36 d Subtidal 38 e Vertical Distribution 40 3a Pillar Point 6 47 b 3 48 c 0 51 d Subtidal 53 e Vertical Distribution 55 4a North Beach Cobble 6 62 b 3 63 c 0 65 d Vertical Distribution 68 5a Morse Creek 6 72 b 3 73 c 0 75 d Subtidal 77 e Vertical Distribution 80 6a Beckett Point 6 85 b 3 86 c 0 88 d Subtidal 90 e Vertical Distribution 93 7a Dungeness Spit 6 93 b 3 98 c 0 99 d Subtidal 100 e Vertical Distribution 101 Sa Twin Rivers 6 103 b 3 103 c 0 104 d Subtidal 105 e Vertical Distribution 107 9a North Beach Sand 6 109 b 3 109 c 0 110 d Subtidal 112 e Vertical Distribution 114 v Number Page lOa Kydaka Beach 6 116 b 3 116 c 0 117 d Subtidal 118 e Vertical Distribution 119 lla Jamestown 6 121 b 3 122 c 0 124 d Subtidal 127 e Vertical Distribution 130 12 Intertidal Summary Table 135 13 Subtidal Summary Table 136 14 Community Composition by Major Taxon Groups 141 15 San Juan Island Comparison 143 16 Seasonal Change Species Richness 145 17 Seasonal Change Density 146 18 Seasonal Change Biomass 147 e vi LIST OF APPEclDICES APPENDIX I Complete Data Sets Page 157 Table la Tongue Point 6 158 b 3 166 c 0 182 d 5m 204 e 10m 210 f Vertical Distribution 213 2a Pillar Point 6 243 b 3 248 c 0 266 d 5m 286 e 10m 291 f Vertical Distribution 296 3a North Beach Cobble 6 325 b 3 329 c 0 337 d Vertical Distribution 351 4a Morse Creek 6 369 b 3 372 c 0 381 d 5m 397 e 10m 401 f Vertical Distribution 408 5a Beckett Point 6 430 b 3 434 c 0 441 d 5m 453 e 10m 458 f Vertical Distribution 464 6a Dungeness Spit 6 479 b 3 480 c 0 481 d 5m 482 e 10m 484 f Vertical Distribution 489 7a Twin Rivers 6 490 b 3 491 c 0 493 d 5m 495 e 10m 501 f Vertical Distribution 505 vii Number Page Table Sa North Beach Sand 6 507 b 2 510 513 c 0 516 d 5m e lam 523 f Vertical Distribution 529 534 9a Kydaka Beach 6 536 b 3 538 c 0 d 5m 540 543 e 10m f Vertical Distribution 547 lOa Jamestown 6 550 b 1 4 553 559 c 0 d 5m 570 577 e 10m f Vertical Distribution 584 595 11 Intertidal Matrix 12 Subtidal Matrix 602 605 II Physical Factor Data APPIENDIXTable 1 Salinity water temperature air tenperature weather date 606 607 Sediment Analysis Terminology Tjble 2 North Beach Cobble 608 608 3 Tongue Point 4 Pillar Point 609 610 5 Horse Creek 611 6 Beckett POlnt 612 7 Dungeness Spit 8 Twin Rivers 613 9 J orth Beach Sand 614 viii Page 615 Table 10 Kydaka Point 11 Jamestown 616 APPENDIX III Methodology Field Notes Directions to Study Sites Detailed Field and Laboratory Methodology Taxonomic Keys and Notes and in of Appendices I and II have been microfiched inserted pocket back cover Available from NOAA MESA Puget Sound Project Office ix THE INTERTIDAL AND SHALLOW SUBTIDAL BENTHOS OF THE STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA Carl F Nyblade ABSTP CT With the potential existing for large scale oil shipment through the Strait of Juan de Fuca a baseline study was initiated to document the distribution abundance and seasonal variation of the intertidal and shallow subtidal benthos along the Washington coast of the Strait of Juan de Fuca Ten study sites representative of the range of habitats present low intertidal were selected and sampled quar erly at high mid and intertidal strata Once a year sampling was conducted at intermediate tidal heights and at Sm and 10m relative to LH Over 900 different plants and animal species were collected during the study year Dominant groups were algae molluscs poly chaete annelids and crustaceans In the intertidal rock habitats were the richest in terms of number of species density and biomass followed by cobble fine sediment sand and gravel habitats Strong vertical zonation was found at all but the most exposed gravel and sand sites Subtidal study sites were consistently rich Community comparisons of the areas and levels sampled during this study validated the type habitat approach and the selection of strata to be sampled Patchiness of organisms in the communities sampled generally obscured seasonaY patterns in populations of component species How ever summed over all levels and areas summer is most often the peak for species richness abundance and biomass and winter most often the low I INTRODUCTION The Puget Sound region has been subjected to the transportation of crude oil and its refined products for many years with only a few large oil spills e g the Guemes Island spill see Woodin et al 1972 and with chronic contamination from smaller spills associated with oil loading activities see Oil on Puget Sound 1972 largely confined to refinery sites The fact that virtually all crude oil used by the region s refineries moved by overland pipeline from Alberta kept oil transport on greater Puget Sound to a minimum Now however the Canadian crude oil supply has been terminated and with this termination has come an increase in marine oil tanker traffic to replace the lost overland supply It is also possible that the greater Puget Sound region could become a petroleum transshipment point for Alaskan crude oil to supply inland United States refineries This would greatly increase tanker traffic and the risk of acute and chronic oil pollution of the marine environment in this region In order to respond to this threat a more detailed knowledge of the marine environment of greater Puget Sound was required In 1974 the Washington State Department of Ecology began their series of Oil Bas line Studies This work was largely confined to the San Juan Archipelago and the Rosario Strait mainland areas By late 1975 it became clear that with the possibility of an oil port at or west of Port Angeles the Strait of Juan de Fuca should be added as another threatened area In early 1976 the present study a component of the Puget Sound Energy Related Research Project was initiated to characterize the infaunal and epifaunal communities which inhabit the variety of intertidal and shallow subtidal habitat types found along the Washington coastline of the Strait of Juan de Fuca The Puget Sound Energy Related Research Project is a multi year study funded by the United States Environmental Protection Agency and administered