MBFE - Day 1 - BYU-Idaho's Marine Biology Field Experience 2015 is officially underway - Rocky Shore

Students arrived at the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology throughout the day on Monday April 20th. The first student arrived mid-morning and the last one arrived around 10:30 pm local time.  It was good to see the forces gathering.

We met as a group on Monday evening, went over expectations for the MBFE,started to get to know one another, and reviewed the plan for the following day.

Today, Tuesday 4/21 was the first official day of activities for the MBFE.  There was a spectacular low tide this morning, and when the tide is low - WE GO!

Everyone showed up bright and early for breakfast (7am).  Immediately afterwards we loaded our gear and ourselves into the the vehicles and we were off to South Cove, Cape Arago.

Here is this year's crew:

L-R: Skyler, Devon, Joseph, Eileen, Shannon, Luke (back), Isaac, Rachel S (kneeling), Kelly, Jessica, Arianne, Courtney, Jennifer (back), Rachel M (front), and Danielle, with the south shoreline of South Cove, Cape Arago, in the background.

Just look at those smiles - and this is AFTER they spent nearly 3 hours collecting data, specimens, and clambering over algae-covered rocks.  I overheard one of them quip, "This was the best field trip I've even been on!"

Our destination was the north shore of South Cove, Cape Arago.  That big rocky field is exposed during low tides and is completely covered with water within 4-5 hours.  We hiked down to the intertidal zone and students worked in teams to collect data to measure the biological diversity of the area.

Here are a few teams in action.

Joseph, Shannon, Devon, and Eileen collected data using a 1/4 m2 quadrat.

Skyler, Isaac, and Luke did the same at their assigned location.

We met for a couple of hours after lunch for our first lecture, and then and the crew got to work identifying algae and animals we collected this morning.

Shannon, Luke, Isaac and others worked to identify organisms we collected this morning.  The crew identified an impressive number of specimens before dinner  The group is gelling nicely and is looking strong.

Stay tuned for more adventures of BYU-Idaho's MBFE 2015.