Between the Tides

Of all the vast ocean, the intertidal zone is the only part of the marine world that can be experienced firsthand without leaving our own natural element. The intertidal zone is the shoreline between the high and low tide marks. Intertidal communities are among the most studied and best understood of all marine communities. Although the intertidal is made up of only a tiny portion of the marine environment, lessons learned in the intertidal have added to our understanding of marine ecology and ecology in general.