Scientific documentary of 26
minutes.
Directors: Mathilde Vaudon, Benjamin
Marie.
The
incredible adaptive strategies
of the marine organisms of the estran
Breton.
AGAINST
WINDS AND TIDES tell how several marine organisms living in the zone of the
estran of Roscoff succeeded in adapting to the hostile conditions bound to their
exhibition to air, in the sun, to winds or to rain (soft water) during the
tides. Different strategies have been finalized by the inhabitants of the tide
zone. The worm arranged in ring whose evacuations are known well to low tide
gets in life style slow motion. The mollusks as the mussel or the patella are
going to constitute a hermetic stall to keep the water of sea and to maintain
their body in viable conditions. Some algaes as the fucales dries up strongly to
low tide but arrive to keep the minimum of humidity necessary to their survival
thanks to their mucilage while of others as the Pelvetias canaliculata
die if one imposes them a prolonged
immersion.
Other
animals developed original respiratory adaptations. The inverse green crab the
sense of water circulation in his/her gills to low tide while changing the sense
of the pump and makes some bubbles to oxygenate this water that turns in
isolation. The heat and the sun are also of dangerous adversaries for these
organisms. The balanes, strange animals fixed on the rocks expose themselves to
winds and can support very important heats. The mussel can resist her to the
frost thanks to specific proteins that prevent
the formation of ice crystals in his/her/its
cells.
To the
detour of different examples, this movie illustrates the extraordinary diversity
of the creatures of the Breton beach. The honest plot also an evolutionist
dimension in addition to the elements of physiology while telling some
crustaceans how as
the woodlouse succeeded in conquering the terrestrial
environment.
