Speaking of class...the past two days have been real crowd pleasers. Tuesday was "Shark Day." We spent a couple of hours in the afternoon discussing sharks and their relatives. I mean what student who signs up for a field marine biology trip like this one doesn't like sharks?
Then today we returned to our overview of marine communities and we spent our time thinking about life in the deep sea open water environment. This meant that we discussed topics like marine snow, bioluminescence, and daily vertical migrations.
Yesterday morning and this morning students spent time in the lab and in the field.
A couple of groups spend a few hours doing field work back at South Cove, Cape Arago. Here are Arianne, Kelly, and Jessica making their way over the drift logs at the bottom of the trail down to the beach.
Later Devon, Joseph, and Luke (far right) arrived to do some collecting while Isaac and Shannon collected specimens and data (far left).
The crew is really getting into their research, though some of the groups are still working to get their research feet under them. All in all though, things are going great.
Student research teams were also out working this morning's nice low tide. Here are Jennifer (left) and Eileen (right) getting ready to collect data they need to investigate population genetics of shell color in a common mussel. The large rock is near the OIMB and is their research site.
In the meantime Luke, Joseph, and Devon work the low tide at South Cove as they collect data on the the population vertical distribution and size frequency distribution of little animals called chitons. They are also hoping to observe the development of these animals under different levels of water acidity.
The animals they are working on are not familiar to many people, but they are related to snails. They have 8 shell plates and are some of the nicest animals you are likely to meet (see below).
Stay tuned as the MBFE adventure continues.
No comments:
Post a Comment