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Ropes, Guides or a Deck? Protecting the Pelican Rock Tide Pools

Grade 7 life science: use a tide pool pilot test, costs and limits to evaluate solutions that protect biodiversity and ecosystem services on a busy reef.

Grade 7ScienceInteractive · Printable

Aligned toMS-LS2-5

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What’s included

Single worksheet
Auto-graded online
1 NGSS standard
Printable answer key
10 questions
Classroom-ready

Details

Format: Interactive · Printable
Grade: Grade 7
Subject: Science
Question types: Fill in the blank, Multiple choice, Sorting, Short answer

About this worksheet

What students practice

Students compare pilot data to judge how well each solution protects tide pool biodiversity.
Students weigh solutions against limits and criteria, including the ecosystem services people get from a reef.

How to use

Before a shore trip or a unit on human impacts, read the passage aloud, then have partners study Tables 1 and 2 and Graph 1 before writing the recommendation alone.

Curriculum

NGSS standard covered

MS-LS2-5

Evaluate competing design solutions for keeping biodiversity and ecosystem services healthy.

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Ropes, Guides or a Deck? Protecting the Pelican Rock Tide Pools

Use results from a two-year pilot to judge solutions that protect a rocky reef and the services it gives.

The pilot test

Read the passage, Table 1 and Graph 1, then answer the questions.

A Busy Day at Pelican Rock

1Every spring, Mr. Ansel Whitcombe's seventh-grade marine biology class takes a field trip to Pelican Rock, a rocky shore inside a state marine reserve. At low tide, the ocean pulls back and uncovers a wide, flat reef dotted with pools. Rockweed, a brown seaweed, covers much of the rock like a wet blanket. Mussels, barnacles, snails, crabs, sea anemones and sea stars live on and under it, and young fish hide in the pools until the tide returns.

2Healthy tide pools give people more than a pretty view. Benefits like these are called ecosystem services. The rockweed shelters young fish, and many of them later grow up offshore, where people catch them. Mussels filter tiny bits of food out of seawater, which helps keep nearby water clear. The pools are also an outdoor classroom where thousands of students and families watch ocean life up close each year.

3Visitors can harm the reef without meaning to. A step on rockweed can crush and tear it, and people who turn over rocks or pull animals off them can leave those animals to dry out in the sun. Over the last ten years, the number of visitors to Pelican Rock has roughly doubled. In 2023, reserve ranger Lupe Tafoya started a two-year pilot test. She picked four reef zones of the same size. At the start, each zone had about 60% rockweed cover and 21 to 23 kinds of animals per survey. Zone A was left as it was, so people could walk anywhere. Zone B got a marked path with low ropes along both sides. Zone C was open only to guided groups of up to 20 people, each led by a trained volunteer. Zone D got a viewing deck along the edge of the reef, and walking on the reef itself was closed.

4In spring 2025, the class helped Ranger Tafoya survey the four zones (Table 1 and Graph 1) and compare what each solution would cost (Table 2). The reserve can spend at most $80,000 over five years. Because the reef is an outdoor classroom, the reserve also requires that at least half of visitors get an up-close look at tide pool animals.