Pit Traps for the Mudflats

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This week was great for field experience. I spent a majority of the time working in the mudflats deploying pit traps (24 in total). Multiple field days, waking up at the early hours, and trekking through the mud has been both tiring and rewarding. I have learned about capture methods for crabs and also have been looking into new methods for panoramic/stereoscopic filming (will have more information next blog). Also it has been long awaited, but in the middle of this coming week I will have some video footage of the crabs from the experimental pit traps from last week. Found some very interesting footage of a crab which, from what we believe, is trying to crack open his shell to molt. Spending the 4th of July in Oregon was wonderful as well. The fireworks show may not have been an Indiana show, but it was definitely enjoyable.

Example of pit trap for size selection of Dungeness crabs

Endless Oppor”TUNA’ties

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Week three is officially over and I can very confidently say that this has been my favorite week of working for the Marine Reserves Program, hands down. The week consisted of three days of field work and stability and deadlines for some of the goals that I want to achieve while here in Newport.

As I talked about the previous week in my blog post, I was able to go out SMURFing on Monday morning. This turned out to be a lot of fun even though we had an early wake up. During this excursion, my job was to replace each of these larval recruitment nets (SMURFS as they call them), and bring the ones that were already deployed back in to sample. When the nets come up on the boat, they water is dumped on them and they are shaken to attempt to retrieve juvenile fish from them. From there the fish are measured and counted. It is a way of monitoring the recruitment of fish in the marine reserves and the comparison areas. There were a total of eight SMURFS to retrieve and replace, four in the comparison area (Cape Foulweather) and one in the Otter Rock Marine Reserve. We were done by ten in the morning and the process is very straight forward so it didn’t take long.

The week continued to get better and on Tuesday, Sarah (the other Marine Reserves intern , Christian (our supervisor) and I were able to go to the aquarium and snorkel in the tanks. I cannot get over how amazing this was and the fact that as a kid this was my lifelong dream whenever I went to the aquarium….besides meeting Keiko.  For the most part, our reasoning for going was to help us identify the rockfish species that live off the coast so when we score videos, we will be more confident in the fish we are identifying. I also think they just wanted us to have some fun. :)

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But wait, there’s more. Thursday we went sea star sampling at Otter Rock Marine Reserve! During this time, we looked for sea stars in the intertidal area of the reserve and categorized them as either healthy or diseased with sea star wasting disease. The amount of sea stars in the area has decreased dramatically due to this, yet during the time monitoring, we found one that could be categorized with the disease. In the long run, I realize that office work will be a big part of the job as well, but for now, I am really enjoying being able to go out in the field so much!

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One of the best things that I enjoy about this job is the fact that on Wednesdays they have soccer! For an hour during lunch for the past two weeks, I’ve gotten to play pick up outside on the lawn by the dorms. It’s been fun and definitely a good way to get out of the office for a bit, plus I LOVE playing soccer. The only downer is a lot of the World Cup woman’s soccer matches have been at four so I haven’t been able to watch them as much as I’d like. Although right now I am currently watching the final and the US is doing work. Hopefully when I write next week I will be able to say that I watched a US win!

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Prepwork

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Week two effectively started to push me outside my comfort zone. After a week of background reading to get myself acquainted with the history, organization, and workings of Sea Grant, I found it was time to jump into the task at hand. That is, I needed to start figuring out who to talk to this summer, what information I’m interested in, and how to effectively compile that data.

I say that this has pushed me outside of my comfort zone because my background and undergraduate training is in natural science from the academic perspective. The type of reading I’ve done is biological primary literature, and the type of work I’ve done is field monitoring and lab research. To plunge into the matter of collecting qualitative information through interviews and grapple with evaluating that data to produce an evaluative report is a totally new endeavor for me. I feel both excited and terrified (don’t worry, the terror is wearing off with each work day).

In my reading this week, I have found the literature on engaged scholarship and evaluation to be both interesting and helpful. Some of the conceptual flow charts and evaluation matrices I’ve come across are helping me build a framework for moving forward. Additionally, I had a long conversation with a friend of mine who has a background in anthropology, ethnography, and the collection of information through oral interviews. Her perspective, advice, and excitement was really helpful and gave me a big boost in confidence!

I’m feeling ready to sit down for some conversations! I’m excited about the opportunity I have to talk to a wide range of people this summer–researchers, extension agents, Sea Grant staff, OSU outreach and engagement personnel, and perhaps some community stakeholders. The experiences and perspectives people will share should be varied and fascinating. I’ve already sent out my first batch of emails and am prepared to fill up my calendar and hit the road (whether on foot across campus, or by car to the coast)! I’ve got one meeting set up so far, and lots to go.

Apologies for the lack of media this week–the inside of my office hasn’t changed much since the last post, but I’m sure I’ll have more beautiful things to share in due time. Stay tuned.

A Sea Grant Update from C-MORE

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Hello Sea Grant community! This is a blog update from the Center for Microbial Oceanographic Research and Education (C-MORE) at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, where I’ve been participating in a summer training program for the last five weeks. The course, “Microbial Oceanography: Genomes to Biomes,” is offered to graduate students and postdoctoral scholars with interests in marine microbiology and biological oceanography. As an Oregon-based zooplankton ecologist, I felt like a bit of an odd duck in a microbial oceanography training program in the oligotrophic North Pacific subtropical gyre. But, since I study predator-prey interactions, and my study organisms (appendicularians) feed on microbes, I decided I would benefit from a more comprehensive perspective of the prey. The C-MORE summer program provided the idyllic introduction to microbes, including a weeklong research cruise aboard the R/V Kilo Moana, during which we measured processes such as bacterial production using tritium-labeled leucine incorporation, primary production using 14C, cell types and abundances using flow cytometry, and particulate carbon and nitrogen flux using sediment traps.

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Preparing to deploy sediment traps aboard the R/V Kilo Moana at Station ALOHA in the Pacific Ocean north of Hawaii.

I’m excited that my work with microbes will continue in Oregon through the support of a Julie and Rocky Dixon Graduate Innovation Award, a fellowship designed to support Oregon doctoral students who are interested in pursuing innovative, “nontraditional” career development experiences. I received the fellowship to extend my collaboration with Oregon Sea Grant to develop an educational exhibit on marine microbes. Through my research, I plan to produce a collection of microscopy images of the ocean’s more abundant microbes (e.g. Synechococcus, Prochlorococcus, Pelagibacter, Ostreococcus), which can then be an educational tool, promoting public understanding of the critical role of bacteria in marine food webs.

One of the microscopes I plan to use to produce such images is an Atomic Force Microscope. I just began training on our instrument at the University of Oregon.

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The Atomic Force Microscope at the University of Oregon

The microscope is rather finicky, and I’m still working on the best technique for immobilizing cells, but if you squint hard enough at my first image, you can detect the spherical outline of a microalga cell.

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My first Atomic Force Microscopy image of microalgae cells (less squinting required in future iterations)

For the love of science…

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(marine) Science isn’t always about going out and exploring new environments, seeking out new samples and data or boldly going where no marine scientist has gone before. A large part of science is what we call “meta-analyses.” That essentially means taking data others have already collected (usually from many other studies, and conducting analyses (usually statistical) to draw new conclusions. It’s a valuable part of modern science because it cheaply and effectively synthesizes a large amount of information (sometimes hundreds of papers) on a given topic and allows other researchers to more quickly push in new directions. My research this summer, while not quite a meta-analysis, involves reading a large amount of research on what is called “Blue carbon,”  or the carbon stored by marine ecosystems (i.e. mangroves, marshes, and seagrass) and compiling data from the papers I read. My first week of mild confusion gave way to a second week with a more direct goal. We’ve finally (most likely) decided to focus my case study on seagrass blue carbon and the transferability of those particular ecosystem service estimates. Right now we are “playing” with a massive 3660 row spreadsheet and we are going to see where that takes us…more on that next week.

In other news, I visited my first West Coast capital this weekend with a few of the other scholars. Portland has a lot to offer no matter what your interests: it’s a foodie paradise (from Blue Star Donuts to the plethora of food trucks), its a hipster homeland (Toms’ store, Saturday market, Buffalo Exchange), and perfect for the all-around character (Saturday market, Powell’s books, the naked bike ride). We also were sure to visit the Tigard farmer’s market before returning to Newport.

As for the Hatfield Community–I’ve definitely settled in comfortably, besides the imminent threat of tsunami-induced annihilation. Actually, on that note, this past Friday the Hatfielders participated in a “Run for the Hills” Tsunami drill. I’m proud to say my mentor (Melissa) and I were the first ones at the top of the hill in just 10:30. That bodes well if the mega-earthquake, caused by the Cascadian Subduction Zone, were to occur…but I’m hoping it waits at least 8 more weeks. On a more positive note, each week has a lot  of engaging activities including Wednesday donuts, Thursday lectures, pick-up games of ultimate frisbee after work, not-so-infrequent trips to the crab shack down the road, and soon-to-begin workshops focusing on CVs, cover letters, etc.

The summer is shifting into gear and I’m looking forward to Fourth of July weekend in Newport…although a Rodeo in the valley could also be a possibility…

Week 2: Dungeness Crab in the Lab

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Week 2 has ended and I have to say that Oregon is becoming more and more homely. Friends are being made and new experiences are occurring. Early in the week, core samples were taken in order to capture mud shrimp. A core sample, to those of you unaware of what that is, is where you take a large metal tube and press it completely into the ground and then proceed to dig all of the sediment out and sift through it while for mud shrimp. To get the core into the ground you must stand on top of it and do the “shrimp dance” which consists of wobbling motions. Once the mud shrimp were captured we measured the carapace length, sexed them, and checked for the infestation of parasites. The parasites are definitely not the most appealing creatures to look at, but they are still very interesting.

The mudflats show no mercy to those who science.

Mid-week many bucket lids were purchased (24 total). The reasoning for this is that we began to build experimental pit traps that would be size selective for the capture of small Dungeness crabs. We made two different designs, one with a larger whole and steeper funnel, and the other with a smaller hole and more gradual funneling. To set these traps, you basically just dig a hole in the ground and place the bucket in and wait for the crabs to fall in. Some people around here call them the “Dodos of the sea”. This is not due to having a resemblance with birds, but because of their ease of capture. After setting the traps we decided to place GoPro cameras onto two of the traps to capture some footage and observe the crab’s interactions with the traps. I’ve taken a brief look at the footage and there is some interesting behavior to note. I will definitely be including some of the video in my next blog entry. Several crabs were captured overnight, as well as a few Staghorn Sculpins, and a lone jellyfish. The next step will be to build 24 traps in total, and set them out in various locations. I’m really looking forward to see how things will play out with the implementation of our traps.

Young Dungeness crab captured in the pit traps

It’s been only two weeks and I already feel like I’ve learned quite a lot. Being from a freshwater background, marine and estuarine has offered a new perspective. 8 more weeks to go!

Week Two: Adieu

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My second week as an Oregon Sea Grant Scholar is coming to an end. This week has been incredibly exciting and justifiably greater than the last. I finalized values for expected sea-level rise by ecoregion and defended my numbers and sources in our weekly team meetings. I also moved on to researching more about ocean acidification. We are researching how climate change is impacting marine organisms, so we are using aragonite saturation as a measure of ocean acidification rather than pH. As the acidity in the ocean increases, carbonate decreases and so does aragonite saturation. Thus, the lower the aragonite saturation state, the more difficult it is for calcifying organisms to survive. My mentor, Henry Lee, has numbers for expected aragonite saturation by 2100 for each ecoregion provided by the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature), but these values were calculated for the middle of the ocean rather than off the coast—where the calcifying organisms are located. My task is to find expected aragonite saturation values to see if the IUCN numbers are valid.

Next week the EPA Pacific Coastal Ecological Branch is expecting EPA administrators from Washington to visit and another intern will be working in my office, so I am excited to go to work! Also, this past week I got an official EPA sign for my office door!

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As far as social life is concerned, the summer interns are still having a blast. Several of the Sea Grant scholars and an REU intern went to Portland for the weekend and explored the city! We went to the Saturday Market, walked around Pioneer’s Place, went to Powell’s bookstore, shopped at Buffalo Exchange, and went to the Tigard farmer’s market!

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Overall, I really feel like I’m growing as a person throughout this experience. My previous summers were lazy and very relaxed; but as I have a 9-5 workday during the week, I am making more of an effort to ensure that my weekend is full of fun in order to counteract the seriousness my work week. It has been tiring between working eight hours a day and finding time to socialize and have fun, but I think it has helped me appreciate time more. I’m excited to work next week, and I am excited to celebrate the 4th of July at Newport!

Another “FIN”tastic Week

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It’s already the end of week two and I can’t believe that next weekend is the fourth of July. I also can’t believe how tiring it is having a real job. I don’t think I have slept so soundly in my life. Even on the days where I’m not that mobile, I come home drained and starving for dinner. My coffee intake has increased even more than normal (which I did not think was possible), But all around I am really enjoying my work!

This week turned out to be more challenging and required a few more trips to the local coffee shop than normal. We started the week the same way we ended the last by scoring more videos and identifying fish species from the lander videos. It was oddly calming doing this Monday. I sat in the “video” cave to score while listening to classical music with Steve the video guy. I actually thoroughly enjoy scoring videos and wish I could do it a little more often than I have gotten to. It’s helped me to learn to identify many of the Oregon fish species, and now I know what to look for when trying to pick them out. It’s a fun process and can be nice in the mornings when you are still tired and need to just sit and relax for a bit. The rest of the week I worked with a lot of GIS. I have VERY little experience with it so I was a little intimidated when they first said they wanted me to use it. Much of the week was working with GIS and they are hoping that in the next couple weeks, I will be able to use it with the hook and line surveys that are used to monitor the marine reserves. It should be fun and I am looking forward to gaining a useful skill.

Another survey used is SMURFing (not the little blue men). This is an acronym for this method  and unfortunately the full name is escaping my mind as I write this post… These are plastic nets that are used to collect fish larvae and measure recruitment in certain areas. They are collected every two weeks from locations within marine reserves and control areas off the Oregon Coast.  I am very excited because I am able to participate in setting SMURFS and collecting ones that have been set out already. This means I will be able to dress down in full wetsuit and jump in the ocean to retrieve them.  I am stoked to finally be doing field work. It is something to look forward to and I’m pumped to being using my snorkel gear this summer after all!

As for the weekend, the OSG scholars are taking Portland! So far we are planning to go to the Saturday market and hit up some of the food carts and then hiking on Sunday. It will be an action packed weekend that will consist of a lot of food, beer, the outdoors and fun! Hopefully I will snap some good pictures to post for next week. As for now, the bed is calling my name and I am going to answer. I hope to have some good stories for the following week. Until next time!

Cheese and Charlie

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I am composing this while macking (hahahah) on some crab cake-mac n’ cheese I made with local Tillamook sharp cheddar cheese. Oregon is obviously treating me well!

Speaking of Tillamook…

For our second field cruise to Netarts, we had to catch the low/dropping tide, so we left Newport at 6:45 am, and finished sampling really early. My field buddies include a research tech and a post-masters student. Our research tech Chris always has a bar of chocolate dedicated to the moment after field work when you have everything loaded and you finally sit down to get on your way out. (Side note: can we just appreciate the fact costal oregonians are able to keep chocolate in the car without fear of it melting??) This week, Chris had actually forgotten his chocolate (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) nooooooooooooooo!

Luckily, the post-master student Caitlin, had an idea to go to Tillamook cheese factory to get us some fresh ice cream. Best idea ever. I had some Oregon Blueberry ice cream in a waffle cone and proceeded to try the best sharp white cheddar, aged 4 years. It’s super fancy, packaged in a black label.

After splurging on purchasing some black label cheddar, I learned that Tillamook is a cooperatively owned company (yay!) and sources their milk locally from a bunch of small dairy farmers.
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en route to Tillamook

 

 

At the EPA, I’ve started to process our chlorophyll samples from Alsea and Netarts. I’m working in the fume hood most days now, and I friggin love it. This is my first job where I consistently do an equal amount of lab work, field work, and office/computer work, which has allowed me to properly compare which I enjoy doing most.

Lab work comes in at a whopping first place, with field work not too far behind. I love being outside in the field, but before 7:00am call times are not my friend.

This past weekend, the #OSGscholars took to Portland! We stayed with Abby’s family in a nearby town, and we got to meet her family and her 100 pound, 10 year old fluff dog, Charlie. I’m obsessed with Charlie.

Here is Charlie’s favorite party trick (filmed by Abby):

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I’m excited for the upcoming week, as we go out to the field again, this time to Siuslaw. We’re postponing our field cruise to Nestucca because some important EPA head people are coming through to the Newport office tomorrow to check things out. We’re preparing demos of what we do for them: using liquid nitrogen to extract sediment cores, showing them how our YSI sondes work (with adding varying levels of acidity, pH, PCO2, etc of the bucket of water to show how our readings differ with conditions), and a tour of the chlorophyll extraction to show the visitors.

Also it should be noted there are about 5 crows roosting on the gazebo roof, ground and trees in front of my dorm right now. With the coastal shubbery background, I feel like I’m in a scene of The Birds.

If you don’t see a blog post from me next week, you’ll know what happened…. #Hitchcock