Location: California and Ireland
Oceanic Region: Eastern Pacific & Northeastern Atlantic

Rejecting a Pet Hypothesis

Objectivity is paramount for scientific thinking, yet it is one of the most difficult things to practice due to our human nature. When a new idea occurs to us, we want it to succeed, much as parents may wish their children to be successful. Our hypotheses, in a sense, are offspring of our brains, so naturally we are reluctant to abandon them. This leads to misuses, such as the grab-bag approach to evidence, sorting evidence, and the refusal to revise our thinking. Here is one idea I found particularly difficult to let go of when my empirical evidence failed to support it.

The intertidal zone of California visually divides quite naturally into four life zones. Uppermost is Zone I---the Splash Zone, which appears rather barren except for barnacles and a few other species that can resist desiccation. Below this zone is Zone II---the Upper Intertidal, where there is an abundance of green algae, brown algae, and hermit crabs. Next is Zone III---the Lower Intertidal, which is dominated by red algae. Lowest is Zone IV---a subtidal zone near San Diego that is dominated by surf grass, the only flowering plant to thrive amid the algae.

San Diego has an irregular, semi-daily tide, which means that there are two high tides and two low tides each day. As a consequence, it follows that the uppermost intertidal is going to be covered only once each day. The next level down (between the higher low tide and the lower high tide) will be covered twice, and so on. Logically, this could suggest four zones, one that is usually covered once daily, one twice daily, one three times daily, and the lowest, which would only be uncovered by the lowest of tides, the minus tides. A nice match except for the fact that the tides are irregular, not regular. Oh well...

Then I reached the next part of the scientific method, the experimental test. On a trip to Ireland, I visited Sligo, and of course went down to a rocky beach to observe the zonation. Now the Eastern Atlantic has only one high tide and one low tide daily, so if my hypothesis was true, I should find a different intertidal life zone pattern. Alas, there were my four zones, much like I would find in San Diego, except that the species were different, of course. Back to the drawing board. I would have to find a more complex model to explain intertidal zonation. Searching for logical explanations of the world around us, I still think fondly of my "pet hypothesis" for intertidal zones, but this "brain-child" has to be banished to the realm of rejected hypotheses.

Key Principles

1. Scientific method
2. Objectivity in research
3. Empiricism

Ethical Considerations

1. The difficulties of eliminating personal bias in research
2. The emotional side to scientific investigation

Author

Bob Koningsor, Jr.
Biology Dept.
Grossmont College
El Cajon, CA 92020
mrsbob@hotmail.com