Sunday, June 5, 2011

Hello, Goodbye!

















Well after a whirlwind of introductions to new topics, new places, and new people, our time at Hatfield has come to a close and it is time to say goodbye. The sense of impending goodbyes would be ignored for most of the week though, because it was results week! And it was time to wow past and present marine biology instructors with our super awesome research projects!

After spending Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday frantically finishing our papers or doing that one last statistical analysis, or putting in that extra slide, Friday came and it was time to present our groundbreaking scientific research to the world!

Sally started the research symposium with a look back at the 30 years of Marine Biology 450. Melissa's mom graciously made a cake for the birthday celebration, and for that we thank her! It was delicious!

Alex Gulick, Kelsey McCoy, and Sarah Vojnovich (who managed not to fall down during her presentation-- just kidding Sarah! ), took a look at the Social behavior of the saddleback clownfish, Amphiprion polymnus, and found that they have preferred group sizes among other interesting behaviors.

Jessie Johnson, Vathani Logendran, and Cela Sibley tethered crabs and observed their mortality due to predation by marine birds.

Erin Bruce and Casey Pollock found that bay pipefish don't readily change their color, but found there may be habitat preference. 

Cynthia Sells looked at the relationship between benthic biomass and dungeness crab landings. Her research didn't seem to suggest that there was a relationship, though it was very interesting.

Amanda Brunner, Lisa Neyman and Emily Pickering looked at predatory avoidance behaviors by a marine snail, Littorina sitkana, and found that clumping may be a response to predators in the near vicinity. 

Steven Van Auken and Allan Chan found that stronger magnetic fields showed greater effects on degree of rotation and total distance traveled in giant pacific chitons, Cryptochiton stelleri.

Reed Norton worked in a NOAA laboratory under Dr. Tom Hurst, and found that acidifying oceans may have negative consequences for size at hatch of some walleye pollock larvae. However, some fish did not show any effects of the low pH waters.

Paul Dixson and Stephen Nelson found a possible link between the color of Pisaster ocraceus and mussel consumption.

Karl Biederbeck also looked at Pisaster and its diet, but found when starved, they move higher in the intertidal.

Wendel Raymond and Melissa Errend took advantage of some artificial tide pools at Boiler bay to determine the effects of a simulated extinction event on sculpin metapopulation dynamics. What they found was that sculpins will recolonize evacuated pools, significantly after 2 days from the removal.

And with that, the research symposium was drawn to a close, and our term at Hatfield was over. We'll miss the early mornings on the tide, and the late evenings in the library, but we'll always be thankful for the opportunity! Goodbye Hatfield!