The OIMB Dining Hall staff were great. They had sack breakfasts ready for us by 7am so we could be in our way to the rocky shore at Cape Arago's South Cove and a -1.6' low tide. Man oh man it was a great morning! The rain and cold wind of the previous days set us up nicely for a morning doing field work in the rocky intertidal zone at South Cove, Cape Arago State Park.
Here's the 2017 MBFE crew at about 7:20 am getting ready to head down to the shore:
MBFE 2017 (L-R)
Dr. Holyoak, Courtney, Harrison, Bri, Wyatt, Ashley, Jay, Katie, Rob, Darby, Stephen, Janae, Darren, Emily and Caitlin
The crew divided into three teams again, and each team carried out a species richness survey of a tide pool and adjacent non-tide pool rocky area in the mid-intertidal zone and again higher in the intertidal zone. The groups all went to work with a will.
The group works its into the rocky intertidal zone at South Cove.
After some final instructions the groups are off to work their field sites.
Here are (L-R) Wyatt, Darby, Rob and Jay working one of their sites.
Here are Harrison, Emily, Janae and Darren doing their species count.
(L-R) Ashley, Katie, Caitlin, Bri and Courtney collect data.
After data collection was done, MBFE team members were encouraged to spend time exploring this rich intertidal zone, collecting specimens they did not yet know and thinking about research. Some of them surprised themselves by not only what they saw, but by what they were willing to pick up and hold - yep, this is the stuff marine biologists are made of!
Here's Dr. H in his native habitat with a lovely specimen of the brown alga Alaria marginata
MBFE team members clamber over rocks looking for new friends and undiscovered treasures.
(L-R) Rob, Caitlin, Ashley, Jay, Dr. H,, Bri and Katie
Rob and Dr. H put their faces where their feet are to get a better look at all things intertidal.
(L-R) Darby, Janae, Dr. H, and Jay show off their finds.
Here a sea slug in a tide pool.
Students found the largest species of chiton in the world (a chiton is a mollusk that is related to snails and slugs)
Here are some orange sponges living under the edge of a rock.
Courtney poses with a new friend - Cryptochiton stelleri
And Caitlin does the same, "Just to prove to everyone at home that I can do this," Anyone surprised? I guess even she was.
Students also saw sea urchin hotels where many urchins had worm away soft rocks to make homes for themselves where they'd be protected from waves and predators.
When the work was done some members of our group found a dry rock and soaked up the sun. What a great place to go to work!
Before we knew it we'd been at South Cove for about three hours. What a great day! And just when we thought it couldn't get any better, Wyatt thrilled the crowd with his find...the remains of a giant pacific octopus. It had apparently washed ashore and was then dragged above the intertidal zone by some kind of scavenging animal, maybe a dog or possibly a raccoon.
There's no scale, but the part of the octopus that was left was probably around two feet across. The arms and suckers were amazingly muscle-bound. Don't worry, Wyatt's quest for a live octopus continues.
After a busy, busy week of early mornings, long hours in the field, the classroom and the lab stretching into the night, how did the group feel when they were done?
TRIUMPHANT!
(L-R) Rob, Darby, Janae, Dr. H, Wyatt, Ashley, Emily, Bri, Jay, Katie, Darren, Caitlin, Courtney, Stephen and Harrison
AND POWERFUL!
Stay tuned for the ongoing adventures of the 2017 BYU-I MBFE.
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