Precisely because itвЂ™s so plentiful, it provides a valuable habitat for the invertebrates that Arnold recorded. вЂњThey are conspicuous in their profusionвЂ¦.yet both are likely to be passed by with indifference because of their plentifulness,вЂќ she says. More than 15 million pounds were harvested, nearly triple the amount culled in 2001.ДЄrnold wrote in Sea-Beach that barnacles and rockweeds were the first things one would notice along MaineвЂ™s rocky coast. MaineвЂ™s $20-million seaweed industry-with rockweed making up most of the harvest-reached a record high this year. This research is especially important as seaweed harvesting increases. Scientists want to know how much carbon is typically stored in rockweed and how harvested rockweed compares to its non-harvested counterpart. Its regrowth is bushier than the unharvested rockweed. She explains that when rockweed-an alga, not a plant-is harvested from the water, sixteen inches are left behind, and it can regrow within two to five years.

( Can CaliforniaвЂ™s critical kelp forests be saved from a warming world?) вЂњWe need to know how much is there to know how much could be sustainably harvested.вЂќ Although the harvesting of rockweed is not allowed within Acadia National Park, WebberвЂ™s efforts to map the species extend to other regions in Maine. вЂњRockweed is incredibly abundant along the whole intertidal, but in the state of Maine, we have absolutely no idea how much we have,вЂќ says Webber. Rockweed, also known as Ascophyllum nodosum, is one of the foundational species of MaineвЂ™s intertidal areas and is harvested commercially for fertilizer, soil conditioners, animal feed, and other products. Due to climate change and potential overharvesting, Hannah Webber, marine ecology director at the Schoodic Institute, is studying the current state of rockweed along the Maine coast. Organisms in this ecosystem are dependent on rockweed, which provides a habitat for invertebrates that live under its protective blanket at low tide. More than a century after ArnoldвЂ™s pioneering research, AcadiaвЂ™s intertidal zone may be in danger. By collecting vital data, volunteers help scientists learn about the current state of the intertidal zone and how they can preserve it for future generations.

Visitors who want to follow in ArnoldвЂ™s footsteps can wade the tide pools and participate in various volunteer scientist programs, contributing to SchoodicвЂ™s research on the regionвЂ™s flora and fauna. Scientists use the study to follow how the shore has changed and how it responds over time as the waters warm. Last summer, 85 of ArnoldвЂ™s observations of Acadia were included in SchoodicвЂ™s Intertidal Synthesis Project, a data collection of every documented observation of AcadiaвЂ™s intertidal zone from ArnoldвЂ™s book in 1901 to more recent findings in 2018.

( Meet the forgotten fossil hunter who transformed BritainвЂ™s Jurassic Coast.) Schmitt says that ArnoldвЂ™s 600-page book was a comprehensive, scientifically accurate field guide to marine life that later inspired dozens of contemporary scientists-many of them women-studying the intertidal zone around Acadia. вЂњUnlike previous publications, which appeared as articles in scientific journals and technical reports, Sea-Beach was richly illustrated and written for a wide audience,вЂќ writes Catherine Schmitt, a science communication specialist at the Schoodic Institute, a research partner of Acadia National Park. In 1901, three years before she died, Arnold published The Sea-Beach at Ebb-Tide: A Guide to the Study of the Seaweeds and the Lower Animal Life Found Between the Tide Marks, the first guide to focus on the North American intertidal zone. While she wasnвЂ™t formally trained, she was a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, along with her mother, Eunice Newton Foote, whose experiments foreshadowed the discovery of EarthвЂ™s greenhouse effect. YouвЂ™ve probably never heard of Arnold, but the 19th-century scientist changed the way we see the seashore.

Acadia national park tidal pools