MBFE - Day 25 - Time is winding down!

Friday May 15, 2015

We are now three and a half weeks into the MBFE. This means that it's time to start wrapping things up...collecting those last few observations, analyzing data, and starting to write up results.

I spotted a couple of pairs of MBFE students in the lab this afternoon doing just that.

Rachel M (left) chats with Courtney (right) as Courtney collects observations in the progress of their team's project - comparing the rate of embryonic development of the sea slug Dialula sandiegensis under different culture regimes.  A photo of an adult D. sandiegensis is shown below.  

This team kept checking and hoping that their embryos would hatch before they ran out of time to collect data - good news!  They hatched!! 

Another team, Eileen (left) and Jennifer (right) already collected all of the data they need, but now they are working on doing statistics.  In their project they are studying the population genetics of shell color in the mussel Mytilus trosselus.  

This photo shows that most mussels are dark blue, but a few are reddish-brown.

I'm quite pleased with the work that the group has done on this trip.  They have worked well together to accomplish class field work as well as small group research projects.  Here is a photo of the class working on their research notebooks in our classroom/lab in the lab.  Notebooks need to be handed in for evaluation on Monday afternoon 5/18 - yep, it's time to get them squared away!  

Front row L-R: Skyler, Isaac, Shannon
Middle row L-R: Luke, Devon, Joseph, Arianne, Kelly, Jennifer
Back row L-R: Courtney, Rachel M, Danielle, Jessica

Rachel S and Eileen were working elsewhere at the time.

Stay tuned for more updates.

MBFE Day 21 - Research continues and class is winding down

Sorry about the delay in posting, but I'll do my best to catch up...

OK, so this is Day 21 - 3 full weeks into the BYU-Idaho Marine Biology Field Experience.

Students spent the morning on research and some groups have even started some of the writing tasks they need to do for their research manuscripts.  Yep, there are all kinds of things going on.  One group spends its time in the marine measuring sediment sizes, taking depth readings and trying to catch elusive little fish while another group continues to monitor development of sea slugs and another group investigates possible impacts of acidification on developing chitons.

Here are a couple of photos of hermit crabs.  Two research teams are working on questions with these fun little animals.  Believe it or not these are two different species.  Take a close look and see if you can tell the difference.  Oh, they are using the same kind of shell as home, but they are different species all right.

In other news, this was our second to last BIO 314 - Marine Biology - lecture.  It's a fun one though, tropical communities.  How can we be done so soon?  Well, if we have class for 2-3 hours per day and we have class 19 days that's the equivalent of 38+ regular lectures on campus, so yep, it's about time to wind down.  Once we're done with those, students will be able to work on their research and writing full-time.

Stay tuned for more updates!

BYU-Idaho Marine Biology Field Experience (MBFE) - 2015 - Who's up for round 2?

The BYU-Idaho Department of Biology's Marine Biology Field Experience had its inaugural offering in Spring 2013.  During that trip 12 students, led by Dr. Alan Holyoak, studied and carried out research while in residence at the University of Oregon's marine biological station, the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology (OIMB), Charleston, OR, located at the mouth of Coos Bay.  Now, two years later the program is ready to run again.

The reason it's been two years since the first offering is that BYU-Idaho and BYU-Provo alternate years taking groups to OIMB, thus we run our field course only every other year, in the Spring of odd years.

This year 15 BYU-Idaho students will participate in the Marine Biology Field Experience (MBFE).

Students will arrive at OIMB on Monday April 20, and official class activities will commence the next day.

At least we are all ready to go...the gear's in one place.

We've got scopes, books, buckets, binoculars, field equipment, etc., etc., etc., everything it takes to make it all happen.  All that's left to do now is load up and hit to road.

BTW, just in case you are wondering about what it's like on the scenic southern Oregon coast this time of year, here's our 10-day outlook:

Yep, it's a mix of sun and drizzle (hardly ever hard rain)...perfect weather for a field course!  You know, going now before the summer months is actually the best time along the coast.  If we waited even a couple more months we'd see little more than foggy days.  Spring on the Oregon coast, we can't wait!

Check back from time to time for updates on the group's activities and adventures.

Day 18 - "Shark Day"

Today's topic was another crowd pleaser - "Shark Day".  It's not really the same as Shark Week, because the goal of the day was to learn something, not just sit there staring at a screen saying "Oh Wow!"  Heh heh.

Anyway, we had class sessions after breakfast and again after lunch.  We spent about 90 mins in the morning going over a variety of topics regarding shark biology, anatomy, and evolution.  Then in the afternoon we took a more detailed look at about half a dozen shark species including White Sharks, Basking Sharks, Whale Sharks, Tiger Sharks, Bull Sharks, and Salmon Sharks.

Meanwhile, outside, it rained and rained and rained.  Well, it's Oregon :-)

And when we weren't having class, each member of the group continued working on research and photos for slide shows.  Only a few people went anywhere today - Jessica and Bailey collected plankton samples, and Dallas went with Blake while Blake took some photos.  Elysa, Mackenzie, Tony, and Daniel did more background research on the embryonic development of the sea slugs they are working with, and they found that one of the species they thought hadn't been done before actually had.  But it was published in a fairly small journal, so the paper that had that information is not available on-line.  They are now waiting for a copy of the paper to arrive via email through U of O interlibrary loan.  That paper should be here tomorrow or the next day.

Everyone is working hard learning a ton, in and out of class.

Sorry, there aren't any photos to show today...too much work, too much rain, and too little time.

Things are going fantastically well.  More next time.

Stay tuned.

Day 16 - Finally, some of the "fun stuff"

You may have noticed that the posting so far have been dominated by topics like life in mud, sand particle size, and field trips to rocky shores, estuaries, etc.  Now that we have completed the planned field trips students are free to use the additional time to carry out research, travel to the field to collect data, and do science.

We will continue to have class meetings everyday, but the topics will focus on things that we cannot observe simply by taking a pre-planned outing.  Today was the first such class topic - "The Nekton".  Just FYI, nekton are animals that are big enough and strong enough swimmers to overcome tides, waves, and currents.    These are generally the kinds of animals that nature shows about the ocean are made of.

In the morning we spent about 90 mins discussing principles and adaptations for life in water for these large animals.  Then in the afternoon we spent about another 90 minutes discussing life history strategies of fishes.  Now do you wish you were here!?  :-)

After dinner we had our weekly discussion of scientific papers students have been reading, and at the risk of you nodding off to sleep, here are VERY brief summaries of what students shared:

1) Kristin - a paper about the effects of killer whales switching to preying on sea otters in the Gulf of Alaska
2) Jessica - a paper about phytoplankton in the flood plain of the Sacramento River as it makes its way toward the San Francisco Bay estuary.
3) Daniel - a paper about the embryonic development of the red sea slug Rostanga pulchra
4) Dalla - a paper describing the food web of the Ross Sea ecosystem in Antarctica and relationships between predator mouth size and preferred prey size
5) Mackenzie - a paper about the development of another sea slug, actually done by the director of OIMB
6) Elysa - a paper about a sea slug that eats algae but does not digest the chloroplasts.  Instead the sea slug keeps the chloroplasts and uses them for their own benefit.  Solar powered sea slugs?
7) Bailey - a paper on seasonal influences on phytoplankton populations
8) Tony - a paper on the dynamics of battle between different clones of the sea anemone Anthopleura elegantissima
9) Patrick - a paper on the behavior of intertidal hermit crabs
10) Lindsey - a paper on the effects of elevated water temperature on respiration in reef fishes
11) Tyson - a paper on the behavioral ecology of hermit crabs
12) Blake - a brief report on a dissertation on crab development and a student project paper about whether tide pool fish called sculpins can change their color in relation to background color

It was a good day.

There were no misadventures, and the research is moving forward.  Tony and Daniel spend the rest of the evening working on statistical analysis of their data.  Elysa and Mackenzie spent their time searching the literature to see if anyone had previously done what they are doing - embryonic development of sea slugs.

And that's a wrap.