Review by: Sue Trinidad
In this video from the San Juan Preservation Trust, we join Sierra O’Connell as she goes on a “biodiversity treasure hunt” of False Bay with Drew Harvell, PhD, Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Cornell University and a researcher at UW’s Friday Harbor Labs. False Bay is a UW-owned biological preserve on San Juan Island that sits at the confluence of the Strait of San Juan de Fuca and the Haro Strait, creating an extraordinarily rich habitat.
They visit on a very low tide, when the bay is completely empty. They visit three habitats: the mudflats, where they find sea worms, ghost shrimp, a green shore crab; the rocky intertidal zone, where the tidepool treasures include sculpin, a sea star, two kinds of nudibranchs, chitons, an urchin, hermit crabs, and snails; and eelgrass meadows, where snails and sea slugs roam. Dr. Harvell’s knowledge and enthusiasm, combined with the beauty of the critters she introduces, make this an engaging and informative half hour.
