MBFE - Day 12 - A Walk in the Park well between parks

Here it is, day 12 of the 2017 BYU-Idaho marine biology field experience, and our second Saturday.  The day was sunny (woot!) but windy.  

There were no scheduled class meetings or classes today so students used the morning to rest, recuperate and work on research.  In the afternoon some of us used the beautiful day to go on a 4 mile hike along the cliffs above the ocean between Sunset Bay State Park and Shore Acres State Park - former summer home of timber magnate LJ Simpson.  

It was a fantastic day!

Here are some of the vistas the day treated us to.

 

Between Sunset Bay and Shore Acres

 

Cape Arago lighthouse.

 

Between Sunset Bay and Shore Acres

 

Between Sunset Bay and Shore Acres

 

Simpson's Beach, Shore Acres State Park

(L-R) Courtney, Darby and Rob, Katie, Bri, Harrison and Ashley

At the end of our hike we went down to Simpson Beach at Shore Acre State Park.  It's a pretty little pocket beach with a nice sandy beach overlooking the a rocky shelf and the outlet to the ocean.  It was here that I realized that the trip is really working!  Rather than lounge up on the beach, the group was drawn to the rocks and tide pools where they started scouring the place to see which algae and invertebrate animals were there.  Life is good! 

We came across an impressive overlook along the trail, just before we arrived at Shore Acres State Park, where waves were crashing full-force into the rocky shore.  We were well back from the edge, but we stayed and watched for a while.  Here are a few highlights of that break.

 

If you look closely you'll see two people sitting atop some rocks to the left of this image (Darby and Courtney).  Though it looks like they are dangerously close to the waves, they are well back and there is a deep channel between them and the waves.  They are in no danger.  In fact, they didn't even get wet.

I made a short animated gif that shows this particular wave breaking.

 

The hike took about 3 hours, and we were all glad we went.  

Then to cap off the weekend most of the crew (including me) went to the theater and watched Guardians of the Galaxy 2.  Good times were had by all.

Stay tuned for more adventures and updates from the BYU-Idaho MBFE.

MBFE Days 6-7 - A day of rest and then back to work on Monday and Tuesday

This entry marks the end of our first full week of the 2017 BYU-Idaho MBFE at the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology.

For a quick recap...field work we have done so far included a zonation study in the rocky intertidal zone, a species richness study at the Charleston Harbor mudflats, tide pool species richness surveys at South Cove, Cape Arago State Park, data collection for species diversity index calculations at the rocky intertidal shore at Sunset Bay State Park, Church on Sunday at the North Bend, OR, Ward, and a day spent surveying and collecting sand samples from seven different beaches for particle size analysis.

In addition I estimate that we have already spent about 24 hours in the classroom.  That's equivalent of about 8 weeks in the classroom if we were meeting 3x/week on campus.  And on top of that students are spending time mostly during the evening identifying specimens from the field and tossing around ideas for research projects.  For some bizarre reason they (and I) are weary, but we happily press forward.  Like one class member replied when I asked if they thought I was pushing them too hard, "This is why we are here!"  Nice attitude!!

The group is gelling well and are getting along nicely.  They help each other and support one another like champs.

This is a pic from a group that went on an outing on Sunday.

(L-R) Wyatt, Darby, Janae, Darren, Emily, Harrison

And so...on Monday we spent our field time collecting sand samples from various beaches between here and Cape Arago.  Here are a few shots from that day:

Our first stop was Bastendorf Beach, about 1 mile from the lab.  It's a beautiful 1-mile long beach.  Here the group gets some instruction from Dr. Holyoak about beach morphology and sand particle size - exciting like crazy, I know!  (L-R Jay, Ashley, Dr. H, Stephen, Katie, and Bri (others in the background).  This was a fun stop where we found LOTS of mole crabs. 

Our next stop was Lighthouse Beach, at least that's what I call it.  It takes a little local knowledge and effort to reach this beach.

Here's the crew heading down a somewhat hidden beach access to Lighthouse Beach.

Here we are at Lighthouse Beach, and you can seen why.  Cape Arago Lighthouse is in the background.  

Like budding marine biologists do, they shunned the sand for a few rocky outcroppings covered with marine critters.  Don't get me wrong, the like the sand just fine, but they have a new-found appreciation for rocky areas and the animals they support. (L-R) Emily, Darren, Courtney, Bri, Caitlin, Darby, Jay, Janae, Harrison, Stephen, Ashley and Katie.  Wyatt in the meantime was scouring nearby tide pools in the hopes of finding octopus. 

We weren't done, but we were done at Lighthouse Beach, but not before the BYU-I MBFE put their particular brand of awesomeness on it!  

(L-R) Courtney, Caitlin, Emily, Bri, Wyatt, Ashley, Katie (back), Janae, Jay (front), Darby, Stephen, Darren, Harrison and Rob.

Our next stop was to collect more sand at Sunset Bay.  It is as you can see a protected beach with the usual beautiful Oregon green surroundings.

(L-R) Jay, Courtney, Stephen, Katie and Bri

After one more stop at Cape Arago where I sent volunteers to collect sand at Middle Cove and South Cove we were done for the day.

Here is the South Cove sand collection team, viewed from the overlook (is it any mystery why I sent volunteer teams? :-)  This crew was Darby, Courtney and Janae.  In the meantime a group of guys went down an unimproved trail to Middle Cove that's just as far down there.

So what do you do with all that sand?  We have a stack of sieves with progressively smaller mesh sizes.  Once the sand samples are all dried you pour your sample into the top and shake and shake and shake the sand down.  You can then weigh each fraction of the sample for each sieve grid size and figure out how big the particles are.  Particle size is a function of wave action so this is a way to quantify wave exposure on a beach.  Yep, that's pretty neat!

And that's all for this entry. Stay tuned...

MBFE Day 5 - More sun and more rocky shores - Sunset Bay

It's Day 5 of the 2017 BYU-I MBFE, aside from a little fog the morning dawned clear and bright. This was our sunrise over the Charleston Harbor boat basin about 30 mins before the breakfast bell rang.

Yeah, I know, it's not very picturesque here but we are struggling by. :-)

The low tide happens about half an hour to an hour later every day so by now the low tide, another great one of -1.6', happened late enough in the morning that we had a more leisurely breakfast before heading off to Sunset Bay and doing more field work.

The plan for today's field work is to give students a chance to learn how to collect data needed to generate a species diversity index.  The group divided into five teams.

Janae, Darby and Wyatt have identified their study site and are ready to start collecting data.

Harrison and Rob are hard at work counting lots and lots of barnacles, among other things.

Emily acts as data recorder as Jay and Courtney survey their site.

Bri, Caitlin and Ashley work their site as well.

After data collection is done the MBFE crew spread out and explored another new place, the rocky intertidal zone around the southern edge of Sunset Bay State Park.

Teams are wrapping up their work (Wyatt, Darby and Janae in the foreground, and Katie, Stephen and Darren in the background.  Dr. H's wife also came along to check out what the group had going. 

Harrison and Rob explore and discuss research possibilities. 

Here Ashley and Caitlin look over the rocky shore with the Cape Arago lighthouse in the background.

One new species the group found was the sea palm, Postelsia palmaeformis, one of the cutest seaweeds along the west coast.

Emily shows off a find - an intertidal crab.

Did you know that a length of the hollow stipe of the kelp Nereocystis can be played like a bugle?  Class members give it a try.  It's fun, though the mucus from the seaweed can dry out your lips.  Emily gives it a try.

Courtney tried but was too busy laughing most of the time to get much out of it.  "I'm a violinist," she explained.

Darby tried too, not getting more than a wheeze out of it at first, but redeeming herself later with a good blow.

Wyatt gave it a shot...

As did Janae and other class members.  

Marine biology is fun...and btw, I'll bet you didn't know that people also sometimes make pickles out of this species of kelp.

Once the morning's work was done and we returned to the lab the students were released, and are off the clock until Monday.  Everyone needs some down time!

More to come...stay tuned.

MBFE - Day 24 - By-The-Wind-Sailors continue to wash ashore in the millions

We had our last BIO 314 lecture on Tuesday 5/12 so students have shifted to full-time work on their research, writing, gathering photos for a class assignment, and getting their field/research notebooks ready for evaluation early next week.

The By-The-Wind-Sailor Velella velella appeared in one of the early MBFE 2015 updates, but students and I remain shocked at the vast number of these little animals that keep washing ashore along beaches near us.

Velella is related to animals like sea anemones, jellyfish, and coral.  They have an upright sail that allows them to tack away from the direction of the wind and normally avoid shore.  As they drift they dangle tentacles into the water and capture small plankton that they use for food.

On Bastendorf Beach, only a mile or so south of the marine lab, you can see even more of these lovely little animals along the entire length of the beach.   

In some places they are stacked several deep on the sand.  Sadly, ones that wash ashore die.

Velella are, thankfully, not dangerous to bare feet.  It's impossible to avoid these if you want to walk the beach near the water, and they are disturbingly squishy.

The appearance of hoards of these animals appearing on west coast shorelines is not at all unusual, so there is no cause for alarm, though this is amazing.

We are on track and doing great.

Stay tuned for more updates.

MBFE - Day 23 - Seal pups!

It's springtime, and in the ocean like on land, it's time for many animals to have their babies.

We are located just up the coast from a place called Simpson Reef & Shell Island.  This place is an important location for seals, sea lions, and even elephant seals to come ashore and give birth.  The elephant seals do this in the winter months and are all gone now, but there are LOTS of harbor seals with pups down there these days.

The students were interested and excited to see the marine mammals.  After all, this isn't the sort of thing you see in eastern Idaho.

This photo, taken looking north along the coast, shows Simpson Reef with waves breaking to the far left, and Shell Island, the inverted cone shaped peak in the middle of the photo.

If you have binoculars or a spotting scope you can see the seals and sea lions on the sandy beach on the leeward side of Shell Island.  This patch of sand stays above the tide line at all times.

The darker animals that are more upright are sea lions and the lighter, browner ones are mostly harbor seals.  There are also some Stellar sea lions around...they are much bigger than the smaller California sea lions.

As you hike along the shore it is not uncommon to see harbor seal mothers with pups, some very young.

Here's a harbor seal mother and pup around the point from Sunset Beach.  This is a very young pup. It's so young that it has to hitchhike on its mother's back while they swim.  

The following photos show some mother-pup groups hauled out on the rocks between Sunset Bay and Simpson Reef.

And when the sky is clear Oregon gives up fantastic sunsets.

Stay tuned for more updates.

MBFE - Day 18 - Whales!!!

This day started out pretty like pretty much any other...breakfast at 7am, followed by student research teams going over their plans for the morning.  One team, Arianne, Kelly and Jessica, asked if I could go with them to Middle Cove, Cape Arago, so they could collect more hermit crabs for their project. No problem.

There was dense fog...so I didn't know what I'd be able to see aside from what's on the rocks...which is actually the cool stuff...so off we went.  After all, fog doesn't stop the intrepid hermit crab hunters Kelly, Jessica, and Arianne!

By the time we reached Cape Arago the fog had burned off and we had a beautiful day!

It takes some doing to get down to Middle Cove.  There is a steep unimproved trail, but down we went! (L-R: Arianne, Kelly, Jessica)

The team worked well and consistently in the field (L-R: Jesscia, stooped over, Arianne, Kelly)

While they worked I poked around this area...I'd never been down here before.  It's a pretty nice spot, mostly a boulder field with LOTS of mid to high intertidal zone species. I'd worked my way out to toward the water when I looked over to the south and thought I caught a glimpse of the vapor from whale spouts.  Sure enough!  That's when our morning adventure really began.  We worked our way around the south side of Middle Cove, negotiated several large boulders and surge channels and made our way out onto the point between Middle Cove and South Cove.  The whales were there!

We saw them spouting and pretty soon it became obvious that they were feeding.  These are gray whales and they migrate along the west coast of North America from their birthing grounds in Mexico in the south to their feeding grounds in Alaska.  We've been watching for them all trip and we finally spotted some.

As the photo below shows, there were two whales.  And as you can see in the photo below, they were quite close inshore...perhaps no more than 200 or 300 years away.

Sometimes they would extend a flipper above the water.  They were actually in pretty shallow water so it's possible that the flipped was above water when the whale rolled on its side to feed by taking a mouth full of sediment from the bottom of the seafloor.

All four of us had a chance to watch them for some time.  We texted the rest of the MBFE group and some of them came out, but sadly by the time they arrived the whales were gone. Interestingly, the fog started rolling back in when the whales disappeared. Maybe the whales will show up again on another day.  I sure hope so!  

We'll keep looking and you keep checking in.  

The MBFE adventure continues...