Name : Berenice Varela

Module : 3B
Abstract Practice
Instructions: Read the article below and write an abstract.

The Structure of a Sea Anemone Assemblage in the Red Sea:

Abundance, Diversity, Habitat Use, and Competition
Undergraduate Thesis: J. Newman
University of California, Santa Cruz
Quantitative ecological observations were made on the sea anemones in the Northern Red Sea, Eilat,
Israel. Both actinian (true anemones) and corallimorph sea anemones were surveyed. Two study sites
were included, both the Interuniversity Institute and the Japanese Gardens. Scuba and skin diving was
used to sample anemones in 20 meter long and 1 meter wide band transects that went from 0 to 15 meters
depth. Initial observations led to the hypothesis that true anemones were more common in both of these
sites. True anemones are known for their symbiotic relationship with clownfish and are more conspicuous
than the often brown or gray colored corallimorph anemones. While more varieties of true anemones were
found in the two study sites the corallimorph anemones, were found to be much more common, often
carpeting large areas of the upper fringing reef. Two species of corallimorphs,

Discosoma sp. and

Paradiscosoma sp., were thought to be utilizing different areas of the reef than the true anemones.
Paradiscosoma sp. in particular, was more often found in cracks and crevices and it is believed that this
method of partitioning the reef is what leads to their success. This behavior may be due to the fact that the
hard corals and the true anemones are dominant competitors for space on the reef. The higher level of
disturbance on the shallow reef may allow the corallimorph

Discosoma sp. to expand their area there.

ABSTRACT (1 paragraph): A summary of the entire lab.
Prior knowledge on the topic (What is known, in general, about the topic)
Question and hypothesis (No if, then, because)
Procedure (The steps that were taken to do the research)
Results (What was found)
Conclusion (What it all means. Why it is interesting or important)

There are two different types of sea anemones (true anemones and corallimorph
anemones), which are both located in the Northern Red Sea in Eilat, Israel and found
in the study sites the Interuniversity Institute and the Japanese Gardens. The
hypothesis that was created was that in both of these study sites true anemones
were common to find. The procedure to prove this hypothesis was scuba and skin
diving with 20 meter long and 1 meter wide band transects to sample anemones.
According to the observations, the corallimorph anemones were found to be much
more common than true anemones and were found often in large areas of the upper
fringing reef. In conclusion, the hypothesis was incorrect but observations also
showed that the most common anemones found in the sites were the corallimorph
ones.