MINT – the MMS Intertidal Team

MMS biologists on the MINT team continue to support the study of rocky intertidal communities along the coast of California.

Clockwise from the top left: MINT team biologists Maurice Hill, Dr. Mark Pierson, Dr. Ann Bull, Dr. Fred Piltz, Mary Elaine Dunaway, and Dave Panzer.

The MMS Intertidal Team, or MINT, is one of nine monitoring teams that collect data for MARINe , the Multi-Agency Rocky Intertidal Network MARINe.gov. MINT biologists team up with biologists from five university campuses (UC Santa Cruz, UC Santa Barbara, UCLA, UC Davis, and California State University Fullerton) to monitor mussels, sea stars, algae, and other intertidal plants and animals along the coast.

MINT has been active since 1991, when MMS, the County of Santa Barbara and scientists at UC Santa Barbara set up shoreline inventory sites at nine locations from Vandenberg AFB to Carpinteria. MMS now funds 24 sites along the mainland, as a part of MARINe’s efforts, from San Luis Obispo County to Orange County. MMS sponsors university biologists to conduct the monitoring and coordinate MARINe projects and, as part of these efforts, MINT biologists monitor turf algae, rockweed, acorn and goose barnacles, mussels, surf grass, sea stars, black abalone, limpets, and motile invertebrates (crabs and snails) along the mainland at MMS-funded sites. The National Park Service and many other organizations monitor MARINe sites on the islands and other sections of the mainland (see MARINe.gov for information on the other 22 MARINe partners).

In addition to providing field support twice a year at MMS-funded sites, the MINT team leads special projects for MARINe, including reviews of protocols, development of new techniques, equipment development; and sponsoring an annual Taxonomic Workshop for MARINe field teams.

Current MINT projects:

Recently, MINT team biologist Maurice Hill (top left pictured with Matt McNutt), has been working with Steve Lee at UCLA (top middle photo) to test aerial photography methods for use in sampling rocky intertidal communities. So far, they have tested an unmanned18 foot blimp and a remote-controlled mini-helicopter (below). Both are remotely-controlled by a joystick from the ground. MINT/MARINe is developing a method to take photos of the site at various heights in order to map our sites, plots, and transect locations. Eventually we hope to be able to photographically sample communities from the air.

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In a separate survey, Ken Wilson with the State of California, Office of Spill Prevention and Response flew 4 MMS sites with their winged aircraft while shots at several hundreds of feet above the site put the MMS sites in perspective with other rocky formations along the coast (see below).

University Scientists working with MINT:

Four key scientists have been instrumental in shaping the work being done in rocky intertidal habitats along our coast. Dr. Pete Raimondi (University of California, Santa Cruz); Dr. Rich Ambrose (UCLA), Dr. Jack Engle (UC Santa Barbara) and Dr. Steve Murray (California State University at Fullerton) (left to right below) have worked with MMS and other biologists to develop the sampling approaches and monitoring strategies that have become the basis of MARINe. Countless hours of effort have been put in by these scientists studying, analyzing, and working to understand the dynamics of the rocky intertidal habitats off our coast.

These scientists, their technicians, and students pictured below have monitored MMS-funded sites in the field with MINT biologists since 1991. The success of a long term monitoring program such as this is due in large part to the consistency of effort provided by technicians dedicated to accurate, systematic collection of data.

Upper row from left, Steve Lee (UCLA) takes notes in mussel plots at an LA site; Tish Conway-Cranos (UC Santa Cruz) and Rafe Sagrin (UCLA) measure barnacle “recruits,” i.e., baby barnacles, with a scope; Melissa Wilson (UCSC) samples a turf algae plot. Lower row from left: Susan Frisch and Erin Cox (California State University Fullerton) revisit sites surveyed by Dr. Mark Littler and Dr. Steve Murray in the late 1970’s; Melissa Wilson (UCSC) and Mark Pierson need to use their acrobatic skills to count sea stars in the cracks in central California. Stevie Lynn Adams (UCLA) and Christy Roe (UC Santa Cruz) sample motile invertebrate plots with MMS biologists.

Other MINT Projects:

The MMS Intertidal Team (MINT) has studied rocky intertidal communities since 1991. MINT continued the MMS-funded long term study of four rocky intertidal communities in northern and central California from 1985-1998 to determine the recovery time needed for mussel beds following a major disturbance.

Top row, MINT team members Maurice Hill, Mary Elaine Dunaway, and Dr. Mark Pierson are pictured collecting data at a central California site in 1998. Second row left, John Tarpley (California Office of Spill Prevention and Response) and Herb Leedy (MINT) use a point intercept sampling method to determine dynamics of disturbed mussel beds. Second row, middle, Erig Nigg, formerly of Kinnetics Laboratories, joins MINT biologists at a northern California study site. Second row right, MINT members Lynnette Vesco, Mike McCrary, Maurice Hill, Herb Leedy, Mary Elaine Dunaway and Mark Pierson are pictured with the beloved government van.

From 1991 to 2000, MINT members, with the help of then UCSB scientists Rich Ambrose, Pete Raimondi, Jack Engle and their technicians Jessie Altstatt and Melissa Wilson, collected data at the Santa Barbara County mainland sites as part of the MMS/County of Santa Barbara Shoreline Inventory Study. These data have been placed into the MARINe database.

Above from left MINT members and Pete Raimondi (UCSC) are pictured sampling a site near Point Conception in the early 1990’s; MINT team members are pictured with Melissa Wilson (UCSC) and Dick Wilhelmsen (former MMS manager) after a day of work. On far right, Jessie Altstatt is pictured sampling a turf algae photoplot.

This year, in addition to participation in MARINe field data collection at MMS-funded rocky intertidal sites, MINT is actively developing new MARINe photography protocols and oil spill response protocols for rocky intertidal habitats. MINT will also sponsor an annual taxonomic workshop for MARINe biologists.

MINT is funded directly by MMS as an in-house study.