EVR1001L 0001 Fall 2018 Lab 4 Invasive Species Lab Report Materials and Methods This lab was based around the invasive species Lionfish in the ocean This experiment was conducted over a period of 18 months and information was recorded 4 total times The first time was at the start of the study 0 months the second was 6 months later then 12 months later and then 18 months after the start of this study This specific experiment was based around the invasive species of Lionfish it assessed the density of them by monitoring a 25 meter by 3 meter area of coral For this experiment scuba gear was needed in order to conduct the line transact and quadrant surveys The line transact was able to measure the number of Spanish Hogfish Redband Parrotfish and Nassau Grouper that were able to live amongst the Lionfish The quadrant surveys were conducted to record the impact the Lionfish have had on the existing habitat structure like the percentage of algae in a given area To do this quadrant surveys were taken every 5 meters with 6 different quadrants each time The average coverage for each quadrant was found by taking the percent coverage of each sub quadrant and dividing it by the total number of the sub quadrants The data is able to show how successful the removal of in invasive species of Lionfish was over the 18 month study Results Tables and Graphs Transect time frame Time months Lionfish Nassau Groupe r counted Spanis h Hogfish Redband Lionfis h Nassau counted Parrotfis h counted Density m2 Groupe r Density m2 4 5 1 0 54 Spanis h Hogfish Redband Density m2 Parrotfis h Density m2 0 08 0 10 1 Start of study 0 counte d 27 2 6 months after T1 3 1 year after T1 4 18 months after 6 10 6 10 4 0 20 0 12 0 20 0 08 40 45 15 12 2 9 15 6 0 04 0 18 0 30 0 12 20 65 15 18 0 12 21 12 0 0 24 0 42 0 24 5 80 15 Graphs coral other 0 02 alga e 60 25 15 Figure 1 contains the number of months passed compared to the density of fish in the given area Density of Fish vs number of months passed 0 6 0 5 Density m2 0 4 Lionfish Grouper Hogfish Parrotfish 0 3 0 2 0 1 0 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 Number of passed months Figure 2 compares the number of months passed to the different s of algae coral and other vs number of months passed 90 80 70 diferent 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 number of months passed algae Discussion and Conclusions coral other 16 18 20 In this experiment it has been proven the amount of lionfish living in the coral reef has a direct correlation to the amount of native species using the coral reef to live When the experiment was first conducted at 0 months the number of lionfish measured 27 dominated the amount of grouper hogfish and parrotfish that lived around the coral reef After 6 months another line transact and quadrant survey was conducted and the concentration of lionfish had started to decline Overtime after the lionfish removal program was started the concentration of native species around the coral reef started to increase at a steady rate 12 months after tests are conducted again and the number of grouper hogfish and parrotfish were still rising The correlation of the decline in lionfish and the incline of native species around the coral reef is shown in figure 1 Finally 18 months after the removal process is started 0 lionfish were measured in the 25 meter by 3 meter area of control and the native species around the coral reef were flourishing The native species were not the only organisms that benefitted from the removal of the invasive species of lionfish Figure 2 shows the correlation of the decline in algae and incline of coral to the removal of lionfish in the area When the experiment was first conducted and measured at 0 algae was at 60 and coral was at 25 6 months later measurements were taken and already decreased 20 so now it was at 40 while the coral had increased 20 One year later the algae and coral levels were measured again and the algae had declined another 20 while once again the coral had increased 20 Finally 18 months after the experiment had started the lionfish had been completely removed The percentage of algae was at only 5 while the percent of coral was at 80 The lionfish removal program had been successful on the lowering of algae in the area along with the increase of the percent of coral overall in the tested environment I learned from this experiment how much of a role invasive species play in the thriving of native species When the lionfish were at their peak there were small numbers of native fish because their population could not increase with the lionfish taking everything over Then 18 months after the removal program the native fish were back to thriving in the environment Invasive species have a direct effect on native species and the ecosystem that they prosper in This lab was able to show the direct correlation of invasive species and native species and more experiments like these need to be conducted in not only the ocean but the land