What You See
You can see that a second crop of Fucus seaweed, which began to grow in about 1995-96, has matured and now nearly covers the boulder. The larger seaweed that was prominent in 1998 has disappeared.
1999 Enlarged Quadrat
Like all scientists, our biologists sometimes experience problems in the field. When this photo was taken in 1999, low tide occurred at sunrise, which didn't provide enough light for conventional photography. Our biologist was able to provide a photograph taken from a videotape; however, this quadrat photo is very unclear. This is our interpretation of the photo: Mature Fucus and possibly mussels are the only marine life forms visible in the quadrat.
What's Happening
The mature Fucus plants visible in this photo may be starting to die back. Our observations over the years suggest to us that individual Fucus plants survive for about 4 to 5 years.