Marine Biology 450

Blog Week 10

noreply@blogger.com (Marine Bio 450) — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 09:09:00 +0000

As we are all putting the final finishing touches on our projects and polishing up those presentations, I hope that we can all take a minute and reflect on this past term. Writing this blog has forced Nathan and I to travel back, (only ten weeks ago!) to when we first started this grand adventure. Here’s a few of our favorite moments from the past term:

1) Mudfights at Sally’s Bend. I’m not sure if it was a “fight” or a general free-for-all-get-everybody-as-muddy-as-you-can-fiasco. That was ten weeks ago and I don’t remember but either way, it was fun as hell.
2) Midnight paper ball fights in the library. Yeah… Unprovoked massacres of the “Quiet Side” by the “Collaborative Side”. And sometimes all out, balls-to-the-wall library wars. And on that note, library climbing, library Olympics, general library adventures, etc. were awesome. Don’t worry Sally, we didn’t break anything… too badly.
3) The 4th Invertebrates Presentation and Dessert Extravaganza. I remember Reed doing a ridiculous crab dance, some other hooligans performing another dance to Maddona, and an educational video about a new drug craze: The Green Tide. (I’ve tried it myself, and now I see why this thing could sweep the nation.)
4) Monday night dance parties. Reason? Because we can’t party on Thursday because we have finals on Friday.
5) Water balloon massacres on the Bunk House (and other miscellaneous pranks on the bunk house).
6) Annette eating, drinking, and partying with us after the algae section.
7) Donut Wednesdays. Nuff said.
8) Pirate day on the Elakah
9) Hotel party.
10) No Final for Karen’s section.
11) TAs playing sand vol with us.

And as the term ends and we part ways heading off to summer jobs, summer school, or *gasp* the real world. We all leave with a tear in our eye and look forward to the Hatfield Reunion in 2010.

Oh my god it's projects week!

noreply@blogger.com (Marine Bio 450) — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 02:46:00 +0000

The plot thickens....
Monday morning came to greet us for the first time without a class day, but we still had a full week ahead of us in a different way....RESEARCH PROJECTS!!
And so it began...the chaos bubble came rolling in quickly, in fact some of us spent the weekend filling buckets with ice to try to keep a so called "cold room" cold, turned out that we were using the wrong thermostat to try to control the temperature the whole time, ah the perils of being new to research (and knowing what a thermostat looks like :).
Others of us scrambled to collect enough specimens to get the ball rolling. Learning how to collect and document data in a way that makes sense has been quite interesting as well.
There has been bartering to acquire and keep hold of supplies, as we are all running around like chickens with our heads cut off. Still we are oddly enough maintaining some sort of schedule and learning to be quite resourceful in the mean time.

From harassing fisherman at the docks to acquire crabs, numerous store visits for random supplies to rigging hand made filtration systems to tanks, we have persevered and should have some interesting presentations next week to show for it given that no one decides to have a melt down in the mean time, hee hee hee :).
We are almost done and getting sad about the thought of leaving, though we will definately enjoy the much need rest after this.

Despite some sleepless nights, we are getting to do science which is the coolest part of all. We have learned so much so far. Finally we get to use the knowledge we aquired through this course, our wonderful instructors, and T.A.'s, to produce something all our own. Exciting!
Till then bloggers, the project mayhem continues and we are still head strong and going full steam ahead!

The Adventures of the BI 450 class: week 8

noreply@blogger.com (Marine Bio 450) — Tue, 26 May 2009 04:39:00 +0000

This week the BI 450 class continued to work with renowned ecologist Bruce Menge and his teaching assistant Alison Iles. No more field work for us. Nope, it's time to crunch the numbers! The class was divided five ways, each studying a different set of data including tide pool diversity, transect quadrats, belt transects, algae and invertebrate biodiversity, and Whelk and Pisater predator/prey studies. The projects proved to be a lot of graph making but we ended up with some interesting results.

After Bruce's test on Thursday, the BI 450 students worked furiously to write and turn in their project proposals. Though projects don't officially start until week nine, some students have already been collecting data. For example: Students Mackenzia Sullivan, Tyler Van Demelen, and Chelsea Stover were able to set up 20 pit-fall crab traps on Tuesday in the notoriously muddy Sally's bend in Yaquina Bay, Oregon. Also Kailtyn Mac Leod and Kaley Lischke have recently been seining in South Beach for bay Pipefish as part of their project. You may be wondering what students are studying. Well you'll have to wait and see!!!

In other silly news, in celebration of the return of beloved invertebrate professor Sally Hacker, the BI 45o class collaborated to surprise Sally with their own 80's day, dressing in the finest fashions of the 80's. Needless to say Sally got a good laugh and the class immensely enjoyed themselves!

Well that's all the news for this week. Stay tuned for next weeks adventures of the BI 450 class!!!

Ecology and Biodiversity Galore!

noreply@blogger.com (Marine Bio 450) — Tue, 19 May 2009 15:43:00 +0000

Hello all! This week brought Dr. Bruce Menge, world-renowned ecologist, out to Hatfield to show us the ins and outs of Community Ecology on the Oregon Coast. This was a week that could make or break any aspiring marine ecologist. With Bruce came very early tides, forcing us out of bed in the early morning hours for field outings to collect as much data as humanly possible. Most days included morning field trips followed by data entry and a lecture. In addition to learning data collection techniques in the intertidal zone, the week was a culmination of everything we have been working on up to this point.

Monday began at 5 am when we crawled out of bed for our first field trip of this section for some community sampling and transect surveys. We loaded up and by six we were headed out to a familiar spot: Boiler Bay. There we received a crash course in field sampling methods for the intertidal zone and every group was able to play a part in collecting data. This allowed us all the opportunity to gain valuable hands-on experience which some of us might even use this summer for internships.

On Tuesday we were allowed to sleep in a tad longer before we took off to another well-known spot: Strawberry Hill. There we had a day much like Monday where each group was assigned a different task for collecting data. Luckily by Tuesday we were all somewhat well-versed in data collection and the day went more smoothly for everyone.

Wednesday and Thursday we spent time at Boiler Bay and Strawberry hill again, respectively. But on these two days we all individually focused on Biodiversity Surveys. This meant that we all had a data sheet and we separated ourselves into three zones (low, mid, and high) and spent half an hour in each zone marking off all of the either algae or invertebrate species which we could find. These were both more relaxed fun days for us. And Thursday even brought us surprises in the form of adorable seal pups at Strawberry Hill and a couple members of our class enjoying the cool, refreshing tide pool water…

Outside of class on Thursday, during a rousing game of sand volleyball, we learned that there was a washed up baby whale in Depoe Bay! So those of us present took off North up the 101 and scoured the beaches for a dead whale. Unfortunately we learned that the whale was in a small cove inaccessible from land and we were only able to see it from a distance.

The end of the week brought us a very short day with only one lecture in the morning. This allowed us time to work on our biodiversity projects in groups, and to play some sand volleyball in the afternoon. After an intense week this was a much needed break.

Overall the field section of Marine Community Ecology was a fast-paced, fun-filled, whirlwind of a learning experience which was valuable to all.

A conservative week for conservation

noreply@blogger.com (Marine Bio 450) — Tue, 12 May 2009 04:40:00 +0000

After three fastball weeks of memorizing species and working hard in the field, the Bio 450 class threw us a change up last week with regular days and only one in the field. Three out of the five days had very similar schedules. Lectures were regular and discussions in the afternoons were a great trade from the late hours of drawing in our notebooks and identifying species till early hours in the morning. Karen McLeod gave a variety of lectures on marine conservations issues. She started by giving us a good overview of the state of the oceans and what policies were in place as well as what that meant in the science world. Karen then moved on to talk about marine reserves, fisheries, and other economical roles of the ocean. After each morning lecture informing us of these issues, she would always follow with an afternoon lecture on how to best approach them. The highlights this week included a field trip up ten mile creek: Hiking through a beautiful forest in the rain, learning about fish habitat restoration projects, and learning about endangered birds in the area. At the end of the week we had a full day of student presentations where we could dive deeper into the issues that we wanted to become learned about, and then present them to the class.

Student presentations were much more formal than the presentations about inverts or the in-lab presentations of algae. Dressed in our best we delivered presentations on current issues. Throughout the day we learned about hypoxia, coastal development, Humboldt squid, ocean acidification, jelly fish blooms, shark fining, wave energy, harmful algal blooms, and even seafood origination labeling. This was a very mixed array of knowledge but never the less enthralling. We also got to eat cookies shaped like squid and some that were not.

Tuesday Morning we got a special talk delivered by Karen describing her work with COMPASS. She explained to us how the organization compiles credible research data and facilitates the scientific community. By developing a concerted front, the labor of many professionals can be channeled into an effective political tool. The focus is kept away from public education and outreach, in order to reinforce the goal of commitment towards policy amendment.
On Wednesday we got the chance to hike at Ten-Mile Creek, the site including the largest stand of old-growth remaining in the nation! It was pouring rain almost continuously, so we kept morale high by calling in the owls (unsuccessfully). The focus of the trip was to give us a tour of the stream restoration project, and to show us the methods used for sampling fry and smelt. We got to see Salmon, river Sculpin, and even a Lamprey! The fish were chemically sedated so we could take a closer look. We had a brief talk regarding the restoration of the stream, including the removal of old roads, and the input of timber utilizing helicopters. We also had the chance to learn about a unique species that nests in the Pacific North-West. The Marbled Murrelet uses moss platforms high in the branches of old-growth evergreens. It will fly in from the ocean, travelling many miles inland to find protected home sites. Flying back and forth to the ocean to gather food for the young is not uncommon. This site at ten-mile creek is one of the last remaining habitats suitable for the species. Corvids, mainly crows, have begun to compete in most areas because the chicks are left unattended.
The most notable topic from our field-trip was the discussion about fry-boxes for hatchery steelhead and salmon. We learned that attempts to include the public in raising stocks have perhaps been counter-productive. Usually the hatchery stocks lose much of their natural instinct, as well as the ability to sense a home range. They also compete strongly enough with native fish to have become a serious threat. In the end it doesn’t matter whether we retain all that we heard. We have all been struggling to cope overstressed. And as it turns out, school doesn’t get much better than this!

A is for Algae...

noreply@blogger.com (Marine Bio 450) — Tue, 05 May 2009 01:28:00 +0000

…And Freakin’ A!!!! Week 5 started Monday April 27th at 6:45am, which was rough as most of us are not morning people.We headed out to Boiler Bay to continue our algae education (the algae section started Thursday of week 4) collecting brown and red algae specimens to bring back to the lab. Annette tried to teach us about the algae in the lower intertidal but was pretty well thwarted by uncooperative waves. There were a lot of mixed feelings on this fieldtrip, some were tired and possibly a little bored, some were trying to be optimistic, but most of us were trying really hard to focus on what Annette had to say. Upon moving to another sect ion of the intertidal, some of our classmates found a very special algae, Egregia, which is commonly known as the feather boa. We all agree that this is a very classy look. The rest of Monday was filled with lectures and lab time focused on phylum Ochrophyta, aka the Phaophytes, aka brown algae.

Tuesday turned out to be a beautiful day, despite the forecast of rain and 40 degree weather. We left for Seal Rock at 7:45am with a much needed extra hour of sleep. We had some reminders of our days studying inverts, which now seems like a long time ago, but then quickly returned our focus to algae. On this trip we found another interesting algae, Desmerestia which secretes an acid and should not be stored with other algae. The next neat looking algae is Postelsia palmaeformis, which ironically looks like something tropical here on the Oregon coast. Back in the rocks at Seal Rock called the “needles,” there was algae that couldn’t be seen from the beach which was a treat for those who dared to climb through. Finally, we found that algae can be fun! This bull kelp makes a great jump rope! Rock encrusting Codium setchellii

could be found surrounded by other algae including Mazzaella spp. and a bushy branched red algae that would have to be identified in the lab. Tuesday and Wednesday we spent a lot of time in class and lab learning about phylum Rhodophyta, aka Red algae, aka the ”Dreaded Reds.”

Wednesday came quickly and we spent a large portion of the day setting up for our group projects. The projects entailed each group becoming experts on a specific type of algae through out the week and presenting them to the class Wednesday night with the main focus of helping each other out for the final and lab practicum. This also came in handy on Thursday when we had lab review because then we were not fighting over Annette like usual because there were experts at all the sections. We then studied all day and all night Thursday for our finals Friday. After the final and lab practicum some parents showed up for Mom’s weekend and we had an awesome chicken dinner/ get together to finalize our week of FREAKIN’ A!!!!

50-50 Fish and Algae: The Perfect Combination!

noreply@blogger.com (Marine Bio 450) — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 00:31:00 +0000

Ahoy, mateys! Arrrgh, this exciting week began with a voyage on one of OSU's two research vessels, the Elakha, dressed as pirates. Instead of pillaging and plundering, we went trawling for fish in Yaquina bay. The first trip departed bright and early in the wee hours of the morning, and proved to be more successful than the later trip, catching sculpin, gunnels, starry flounder, and a Pacific sanddab. The second group of scallywags was defeated in a battle just before their turn to board the Elahka. Although the weather was nicer, all they caught was a few flounder. Oh, and some sea stars.

After the voyage on the Elahka, it was full speed ahead to the aquarium where we went on a treasure hunt to find our assigned fishes for a habitat study.

The rest of the day was a scramble to put the finishing touches on our presentations for that evening. We had to create a proposal for marine protected areas off of the Oregon coast. Everyone from the "local community" was there to hear out our proposals: the upset fishermen, critical scientists, annoying ocean resource managers, tree-hugging (or in this case fish-hugging) hippies, and of course the town crazies, who looked a lot like Reed and Mackenzie...

After a late night of cramming, our two exams went off without a hitch. We were glad to have the rest of day and Wednesday off to do absolutely nothing and prepare for the beginning of our algae section on Thursday. We started off with a nice transition between animals and plants, where Annette Olson had us think of different interactions - both good and bad - between algae and sea critters - including limpet hats (an invertebrate we studied weeks ago shows up wearing cute algae attire!). We ended the week with a trip to seal rock on a beautiful day to collect algae specimens for our group presentations. Luckily for Gimpy (aka Kaley), there isn't a hike down a steep cliff to get to the Seal Rock site. We encountered many different types of algae, and learned the very important lesson of which algae you can walk on and not fall on your butt, "Endo is our friendo". There were a lot of specimens for the 'little brown people,' but not so many for other groups.

From our short preview on algae thus far, we can be sure that we will learn a lot in this coming week. Finally we will know the difference between green algae that's really green and green algae that's really red. As well as what these little things are...

Week 3 Marine Fishes

noreply@blogger.com (Marine Bio 450) — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 02:19:00 +0000

Week 3 started out by welcoming Scott Heppell, Assistant Professor (Senior Research), from Fisheries & Wildlife to our class to teach the Marine Fishes section.

Monday started by heading out to the Yaquina Bayfront and netting fish using a seine net to collect shallow bay fishes. These specimens were then taken back to our lab for study and classification.

Tuesday was a day filled with lecture and a disection of fish. We all disected either an Albacore Tuna, a Black Rockfish or a Dover Sole. We looked at their internal organs and how they are specialized for the lifestye of the fish: such as the large heart of the Tuna, fitting for its high energy lifestyle.

On Wednesday we returned to Strawberry Hill but this time with hand nets in hand to collect tidepool fishes. We then returned to the classroom for a facinating lecture on ontogenetic shift which is a change in lifestyle associated with growth and development. Later, Scott presented a section on the reproductive biology of fishes.

On Thursday Boiler Bay was our destination to collect marine fish while Gray Whales fed just offshore of the bay. Later in the day during lab we learned how to use otoliths (the ear bone of fish) to determine the age of fish and what we can learn about their life history from the spacial arrangment of the rings. This data especially comes in handy when studying the effects of climate change on marine ecosystems. By looking at the rings scientist can decifer whether it was a good year of biological productivity or whether food sources were scarce (much like that of the rings of terrestrial trees) often linked to an increase of temperature in the oceans.

Friday was spent in lecture learning about Fish Habitat, the Red Grouper as an ecosystem engineer, and about fisheries and their impact on the ocean's resources. Also preparation took place on the group project determining which areas would be suitable to conserve as Natural Resource Reservations.

This Week in HMSC: Guests Lectures, Confused Fishermen, and Cramming for a Test

noreply@blogger.com (Marine Bio 450) — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 16:37:00 +0000

Oh snap! The second week of BI 450 is passing us in a flash and it’s been great!

The week started out with two very informed guest lectures. First was an in depth look at the mechanisms of invasive species from Dr. John Chapman, focusing on Yaquina Bay’s own mud shrimp, Upogebia pugenttensis, and its quite damaging isopod parasite Orthione griffensis, a relationship we saw first hand last week while visiting Sally’s Bend. Then we had a talk from Dr. Sylvia Yamada, a specialist on the invasive European Green Crab. Sylvia took us down to the shore of HMSC to take data on the crabs she caught so we could get an idea of how diverse the range of species is in our backyard. Much pinching of fingers ensued.

Tuesday was an adventure out at the boat yard where we diligently searched the waters for any signs of life. Mostly we just confused the fishermen. But we did not go away empty handed! We found an abundance of Polyorchis penicillatus, commonly named red-eyed medusa, along with a ctenophore, Pleurobrachia bachei, also known as a sea gooseberry. A quick break for ice cream was a well deserved reward.

Wednesday came with a mad rush to finish our Favorite Invertebrate projects. There was dancing and games, lots of food and an odd new drug craze involving some unfortunate anemones and interviewees. It was a wonderful break from our diligent studying, but now it is time to get back to the grind and finish those darn notebooks!

Donuts, Pie, Beer and the Occasional Ecological Trek: A Beginner's Guide to The Oregon Coast

noreply@blogger.com (Marine Bio 450) — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 04:34:00 +0000

Hey everyone!

Spring is here, and with it a new class of 450'ers has blown into Newport for what some have called "the reason why I chose OSU in the first place!!" Our great adventure started on Monday with an orientation to the Hatfield Marine Science Center by Itchung Cheung, the Academic Program Coordinator of the facility. Tuesday we had our first lecture by BI450's head professor Dr. Sally Hacker, then headed directly to Cascade Head, just north of Lincoln City. This headland serves as a prime example of the many geological processes and events we had just discussed in lecture that morning- beach deposition, rip tides, headland erosion (see photo), estuary formation and several types of coastal dunes (see photo) can all be seen at a single glance!

A half-mile hike up 500ft of muddy, twisting, single track trail opened up onto a large grassy hill with a sweeping view of land and sea, where we could see a most dramatic example of coastal geology:

A giant landslide on the western face of the hill just north of the headland (see photo) sent tons of rocks, sandstone and other debris washing down into the sea, toppling dozens of trees and creating a jagged scar on the hillside! General erosion of the cliffs and hillsides that come in direct contact with the sea over thousands of years was discussed in class, but to see such a dramatic example of this on such a massive and rapid scale was incredible.

As the day wrapped up and multiple group photos were taken, an increasing sense of the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead left us all in high spirits. The feast of pie and witty banter at the close of the evening solidified this feeling and helped us relax, if only for a few hours before the next day's adventure swept us off again.

Until next time, peace and firm footing to you all!!

2009

noreply@blogger.com (Marine Bio 450) — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 17:59:00 +0000

Marine Bio 450 2009 is about to gear up.
One week and counting before we kick off the course with the Marine Invertebrate section.
See you at the Hatfield Marine Science Center!

A long, long time ago in a reality not so far away...

noreply@blogger.com (Marine Bio 450) — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 00:30:00 +0000

Greetings, bloggers! We thought that as a last post we would present a compilation of the semester in pictures! So, sit back and enjoy...

Who could forget day 2 at Cascade Head? After a relaxing 1500 foot vertical climb, we were treated to stunning views of the ocean and wonderful weather. Unfortunately, it was not to last.

Our first group photo. And our second. And third. And 20th. We would never look this young again.

The search for invertebrates was the agenda for the first week, with the occasional dead and decomposing octopus to keep us entertained.

Visiting the local docks in Newport in the continuing search for those elusive Ctenophores!

(They showed up about a week later)

Trips to the local aquarium helped in adding more critters to our ever expanding notebooks, while also allowing us to spend some quality time together.

Having helpful TA's ever available was a boon to those of us trying to memorize vast amounts of science. Here, Margot was helping us tell the difference between Cryptosiphonia and
Polysiphonia. Of course, many of us can now tell these two apart in our sleep. Then again, many of us can't.

And who could forget this momentous occasion? For the first time in 30 years of teaching, Bruce Menge canceled a field trip due to weather. It wasn't too bad, if you liked 50 mph winds. Instead, we got to go back and listen to 4 hours of lectures. Woohoo!

After our day "off," it was back to business community ecology style. Now let's see... was that 5,276 C. dalli, or 5,277?

After 1 day off, we jumped into fish week and broke the trawling net!

It was nice to see Yaquina Bay from a different perspective (other than covered in about 2 feet of mud).

We caught many more specimens to once again fill our notebooks full of beautiful drawings. Every fish caught was another opportunity to draw another picture in our books. All of us were extremely excited and motivated by that prospect!

Karen showed up the next week, and we became familiar with the business end of marine conservation and policy.

We also had a chance to visit the Audubon Sanctuary. Before we arrived, there was a playground that was empty. Some folks (Megan and Christine) couldn't resist...

At Ten Mile Creek, we were shown a fishery monitoring station and the efforts by ODFW to manage this basin.

Another group shot. At this point, nobody was interested in setting up 20 cameras anymore.

Then, our research projects began. We had a week "off" to collect our field data, then a week back "on" to finish up in community ecology, part 2. Here, we were more interested in the biological interactions that affected organisms within the estuarine, salt marsh, and dune environments.

Our final group shot. If you look closely, you will see a lot more gray hairs in this photo.

The last couple days have been devoted to the arduous task of compiling the mountain of data that many of us have accumulated and trying to organize it in such a way that it will actually make sense. Sound easy? It is until you actually start.

Here is a typical scene for those of us whose data wasn't compiling in such a way that made sense. It was a good idea to take a number so that you could be seen in order by Sally.

And the end result? A moment of glory! A chance to shine! Or not...

It's been a long road, but none of us are the same people we were when we started out 2 months ago. Thanks to all the great staff including Sally, Annette, Bruce, Scott, and Karen. Also, thanks to all the great TA's including Margot, Alison, and Jeremy.

Final Fiesta

noreply@blogger.com (Marine Bio 450) — Fri, 30 May 2008 00:39:00 +0000

DUNE DAY!
Our first stop was to see the cobra like flower the Darlingtonia, it lures insects in with tantalizing nectar and brilliant colors once inside they get confused, it traps and then digests them. We only caught a glimpse and we were off for Honeyman.

We got a taste of the dunes with our lunch.

Upon arrival at the Umpqua Dunes we were excited to see no rain. We began our hike climbing the dune.

It felt like we were in the desert just walking and walking and walking. Then we came upon an oasis. Well, not really it was actually just a pond with some shrubs.

We continued our trek where upon nearing the wetland area we found cute little frogs of all colors. The wetlands were not there historically but with the introduction of Ammophilia the sand was stabilized and the dunes changed shape. A foredune was created and behind it moisture built up, providing a wetland habitat for many species.

Finally we made it to the beach, there were many sand dollars collected, a lone girl (Megan Cook) ventured in for a swim. Then it began to mist, causing us to begin our homeward journey.I didn't remember it being so steep. A last group field trip photo and we headed for pizza.

Only Two Weeks Left!

noreply@blogger.com (Marine Bio 450) — Tue, 27 May 2008 22:17:00 +0000

After returning from a fabulous 3 day weekend it was back to work. Sally started out the day with a lecture on Community Ecology. We discussed Estuaries before heading out to the Salt Marsh in front of our apartments here at Hatfield.
We stopped to chat on the boardwalk before venturing into the Salt Marsh. First we stopped and ate some Salicornia, an edible plant that can be pickled. It was very salty.

Sally busted out the Redox meter and began testing the mud for oxygen content. In a Neotrypaea (ghost shrimp) burrow the redox meter read 10, but in the black anoxic mud the oxygen content was as low as -299. Here is Aleshia taking measurements.

Along for the journey was another fun tool the Refractometer. Ashley, a little confused at first used it to measure the salinity of the water.

We wandered around the marsh for awhile looking at unique plants like Triglochin, which smells like coriander. We also found a now rare three edged plant used by Native Americans for basket weaving. Our T.A. Jeremy got stuck in the mud. Tomorrow the dunes...

Research Extravaganza!

noreply@blogger.com (Marine Bio 450) — Tue, 20 May 2008 21:08:00 +0000

Hello 450 faithfuls!

If you've been reading our blog up until now, it's fairly apparent that our schedule is pretty rigorous. This week, however, we've been set loose on the intertidal! That's right: we get to conduct our very own research! Basically, the last three weeks of the course are set aside (well, mostly) for these over-arching projects. The best part is, we can look into whatever we want! Let the evil plans commence! Bwahahahaha!

The project subjects range from work with crabs to work with urchins, limpets, chitons, sea stars, snailfish, sculpin and tidepools! There are many interesting ideas and setups. The creative jucies are definitely flowing! Things are just underway though, so more is definitely to come. We should be looking forward to some very interesting data and presentations come Week 10!

Oh, it's not all fun-and-games, though...waking up at 5 AM to scour the rocky intertidal can be pretty trying, not to mention tiring! We split some of the class into two groups (SH and BB) to get the projects underway. Other groups took their own initiative and worked on their own elsewhere. We all know that Strawberry Hill is usually a blast, but not at 6 in the morning. Boiler Bay wasn't much better. Thankfully to save some of us from getting even sicker the weather held up fairly nicely and the rain subsided. Still, with these comprising 25% of our total grade for the course, we think that it's worth it (rain or shine!).

A photo of the Strawberry Hill crew:

Various research project photos:

Calista and Ashley hard at work in the lab:

Their setup:

Megan Poole's setup:

Sean, Alissa and Shiane's setup:

More photos to come later in the week! ;)

Answer: Have someone throw it at you

noreply@blogger.com (Marine Bio 450) — Fri, 16 May 2008 04:23:00 +0000

Our riddle has been answered (see previous blog titles), hopefully you all guessed somewhat close! (Although I know with this weeks lectures, we could have come up with many conservation answers to our riddle about ecosystem based management, marine reserves, and ecosystem restoration.)

Wednesday was spent down South of Hatfield in an ongoing restoration effort. First we headed out to Yachats City Hall for a passionate lecture by Paul Engelmeyer . He informed us of ongoing projects that he and several other members of the Audubon Society have been working on. He also described the state of many salmon, rockfish, sea birds, and mammals that have raised concerns along the Oregon coasts.

After a quick diversion on the City Hall playground, we were off in our vans to meet up with Chris, who had been monitoring a section of Ten Mile Creek searching mostly for juvenile salmon swimming out to sea and back again. Chris explained their methods of collecting and releasing the younger fish back upstream. He also showed us a few examples of different aged species living in the cool waters. One thing Paul pointed out to us was the extreme importance of loose logs and stumps that provide a habitat and refuge for the larvae, eggs, and younger species (They are similar to Kelp beds in marine environments that create a more 3-D structured habitat).

From there we did some trekking through a few wooded areas, concentrating mostly on forest growth and habitat restoration. We also enjoyed our delicious packed lunches while listening to Jack, another important contributor to the restoration project.

Thursday began with a lecture on ecosystem based management and meetings about our conservation presentations (to be given Friday afternoon). After a sweltering lunch hour, we headed back into the classroom (or what some deemed as "sauna" due to extreme Newport temperatures). Our afternoon was filled with questions such as "Should marine reserves be in state waters?" and "How do we MANAGE these marine reserves?" There to help inform us about current Oregon policies and political contreversies was Dr. Selina Heppell. Her discussion left with plenty to think about:

**What evidence is needed to answer the question, “why do we need marine reserves in Oregon state waters?”

Well, that about wraps up conservation week. Hope you all had fun and can now explain the difference between MPAs, EBM, Marine sanctuaries, and Marine reserves. Good luck on Friday's presentations and op-eds! And don't forget, as Karen pointed out to us, we are the future of marine conservation.

Question: What is the best way to catch a fish?

noreply@blogger.com (Marine Bio 450) — Tue, 13 May 2008 23:56:00 +0000

Yesterday we started off our conservation biology week with a slew of celebrities including Dr. Jane Lubchenco and former President Bill Clinton (who was speaking just a hop, skip, and jump away from Hatfield)! (Not to mention our infamous marine ecologist, professor, and amazing van driver- Dr. McLeod)

While Bill Clinton was entertaining the rest of Newport, we were more interested in Dr. Lubchenco's two lectures she gave on marine conservation biology. She touched on topics such as global ocean trends, fishing practices, climate change, and options for the future. Dr. Lubchenco talked about declining fish stocks on a global scale giving such options for improving them as: improving fishery management and enforcement, adopting ecosystem and evolutionary management, establishing networks of no-take marine reserves, making aquaculture sustainable, and aligning economic and environmental incentives. We also had an afternoon discussion with our new professor for the week, Dr. Karen McLeod. We talked about science, policy and ethics and everyone was fired up and interested about the topic and their ideas were very broad. We discussed what the difference between a scientist and an advocate is and how they can walk a very fine line.

Today, we had a lecture on fisheries and took a trip down to the Newport docks to investigate the fisherman's side of the conservation biology we'd learned the day before. Charlie from Local Ocean Seafoods took us on a tour to look at boats and talk to fishermen such as the man pictured below. He talked to us about different types of fishing and the methods he uses. He was a Salmon fisherman until the fishery was closed this year. Pictured below (from right to left) are weights used in Salmon fishing, empty weight containers on a boat no longer fishing for Salmon, and how expensive the "last" wild Salmon fillet is.

The fisherman has now moved on to Tuna as well as Lingcod. Some fishermen we saw were remodeling their boats in order to start fishing for Hagfish instead of their usual fish in hopes of finding more money on the Asian market. Hagfish are long, jawless fish that release slime when scared and so the fishermen have nicknamed them "Slime Eels." You wouldn't want to sit down to a Hagfish dinner now would you?!

After our tour we went back to Local Ocean Seafoods and Charlie did a fish filleting demonstration. He showed us how to fillet a Lingcod and a Rockfish. Pictured below, the mouth of a Lingcod! He told us a funny story about a time he was attempting to fillet a Lingcod and it had no intentions of being filleted! He had to wrestle with it and even took out its brain and it still wouldn't die! He eventually got it on the filleting table brainless but still moving. After his demonstration he let Sean get in on the filleting action!

We wrapped up our day with a discussion, this time on sustainable fisheries and seafood as well as catch share programs. Through catch share programs, fishermen are given a share of the total allowable catch and given the flexibility and accountability for meeting it. Throughout our discussion there were a lot of questions brought up about how we are going to maintain current fish stocks. Hope everyone has gotten a good start on our conservation research projects for Friday, we'll be back with the answer to our riddle next time!

Dissection Day!

noreply@blogger.com (Marine Bio 450) — Tue, 06 May 2008 04:18:00 +0000

Hope everyone had a steady hand today in our fish dissection lab. We had rock fish on the cutting board, which was graciously donated by Local Oceans Seafood (best seafood in town). First we had to identify which species we had and then we got to dig in to identify the internal organs.

From the image above we can see the liver, heart, and intestines very clearly. The most interesting part of the dissection was retrieving the lens from the eye and two of the otoliths from the head. We can see these both in the image below with the lens on the bottom and otolith on the top.

Determining the sex of a dead fish is always exciting. We can tell this by removing the gonads and looking at the shape of them in a cross section. For males the cross section is triangular as opposed to females, which are more rounded. We can see an example of female gonads in the image below.

And of course we had to have some fun!

Gone Fishing!

noreply@blogger.com (Marine Bio 450) — Fri, 02 May 2008 05:16:00 +0000

There’s nothing like starting your week with a little dash of statistical analysis! With our community ecology presentations on Tuesday, Monday was a day full of analyzing data the class collected over the previous week in the field. The class split into groups to highlight and discuss the predator feeding dynamics, biodiversity, tidal pool diversity and community structure of Boiler Bay and Strawberry Hill. Many hours of hard work produced great results when Tuesday morning all the groups presented their findings. It was rewarding to watch our personal data evolve into the recognizable trends we study in class. Also on Tuesday, we wrapped up the community ecology unit with a charming exam written by Dr. Bruce Menge. During that celebration of learning we had the opportunity to showcase our mastery of the Oregon intertidal, or perhaps our mastery of a small glimpse of the intertidal communities. We’re sure all emerged with flying colors.

Wednesday was a well-needed day of rest for all of the Hatfielders. A few dedicated classmates just couldn’t get enough of the intertidal and spent the day tidepooling and relaxing on the beach. Others couldn’t get enough of their pillows and caught up on some necessary sleep hours.

Thursday morning began swimmingly with our introduction to Dr. Scott Heppell and our fish unit! After a morning of lectures we met once again with our dear friend- the intertidal mudflat. Rather than digging for Upogebia sp. today’s adventure was beach seining. We used a quarter inch mesh net, four feet tall and fifty feet long to catch bay fish along the water’s edge. A dedicated class mate would wade out about chest deep in the water carrying one end of the net until it was outstretched. Their partner on the beach would walk along combing the water with the net. After approximately thirty feet of collection the deep edge was brought back to shore capturing any fish that may have been within the sampling area. Fish were identified and counted by our eagerly waiting class and then returned to the estuary. Most fish we found we small juveniles, presumably using the estuary as a nursing ground. We identified English sole, pipefish, chum salmon, smelt, and many species of sculpin. Samples were returned to lab so we could begin our drawings and descriptions for lab notebooks.

We are looking forward to a great day tomorrow with a trawling trip aboard the RV Elahka and a visit to the Oregon Coast Aquarium. It will be very exciting to get to sample the larger life of Yaquina Bay that swims each day just outside our classroom. Think sunny thoughts!

Community Ecology Week Part II

noreply@blogger.com (Marine Bio 450) — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 21:58:00 +0000

Today was our last fieldtrip for community ecology. The beautiful weather welcomed us into Boiler Bay’s and Strawberry Hill’s intertidal! The class split up between the different sites to make up for our canceled field trip. We surveyed the biodiversity at each site in the low, mid, and high zones for 30 minutes each. Half the team looked for algal species, while the other half identified invertebrates.

Half of the group: The Boiler Bay Biodiversity Babes!

For all of the field trips we had this week, vertical zonation patterns in the intertidal were extremely important to consider when we were collecting data. There are three different zones we collected data from defined by the following:
Low-zone: The low zone is the area below mussel beds
Mid-zone: The mid-zone is the area where the mussel beds are found
High-zone: The high-zone is the area above the mussel beds that is characterized by species that can tolerate desiccation.

A view of the zonation (low and mid intertidal zones) at Boiler Bay.

This zonation is strongly structured by environmental gradients like tides, wave action, and temperature (related to desiccation and physiological processes). These characteristics change vertically as you move farther away from the ocean
Zonation also is a result of complex species interactions. For example, different distributions of barnacle species competing with mussels for space or seastars eating mussels. Overall, these environmental gradients and species interactions heavily influence the overall composition of the rocky intertidal and thus, likely had a large impact on the data we collected this week.

Lydia and Ashley working on a quadrat in the protected zone at Strawberry Hill.

We also started working on our mini research projects with the data the class has gathered over the last week. Some of the topics are predator diets, tide pool diversity, transect-quadrat data for community structure, and biodiversity throughout the intertidal. We also must mention the amazing potluck we had on Thursday night! Yay for delicious dinners and food babies!

Community Ecology Week Part I

noreply@blogger.com (Marine Bio 450) — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 22:41:00 +0000

For the community ecology section Bruce Menge is our instructor, along with Annette Olson, and Alison Iles is our new TA. On Monday we prepared for our 4 field trips this week and learned how to use transects and quadrats. Our alarm clocks shocked us at 5:30 am for a field trip at 6 am to Boiler Bay to collect data on community structure and predator diets. We lucked out and avoided the storm that was predicted. The next day however.... The storm was raging! Once again we got up at 5:30 am only to arrive at Strawberry Hill and find crashing waves upon our study site. THE HISTORICAL EVENT: Bruce Menge cancels the field trip for the first time in over 20 years!

It was so windy, we had to take a group picture.

On a higher note, no more species names to memorize! We are learning about important studies that have strongly influenced our understanding of community ecology. These studies include some of our very own Oregon State University professors such as Mark Hixon, Jane Lubchenco, Bruce Menge, and various graduate students from OSU labs.

Some principles covered in these studies include key stone species which are species that have a disproportionately large effect on the community relative to their abundance. One of our own keystone species on the Oregon Coast is the one and only Pisaster ochraceous (Paine 1966).

Algae week

noreply@blogger.com (Marine Bio 450) — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 04:50:00 +0000

Today was the last day of algae and many of us are happy to see the weekend. We had our lecture exam at 10 a.m. and our lab practical at 2 p.m. Both tests weren't as bad as many of us expected and a bunch of us are going to sushi tonight and to a musical based on Animal House on Sunday.

Since we were so busy studying for the exams, we weren't able to post the pictures from our field trip to Seal Rock on Wednesday. We were there for about 3 hours and Annette split us up into groups and had us specialize on certain algae groups. We were basically supposed to become experts of our algae and then teach it to the rest of the students.

Since we've been focusing on algae this week, we thought it would be a good idea to give a little review to those of you who are reading this blog.

This is Pelvetiopsis limitata and is found normally next to Fucus distichus, another species of algae that is very similar except for the presence of a midrib.

This is Mastocarpus jardinii and we found it at Seal Rock. We also found Mastocarpus papillatus.

This was our last week with Margot and we are very sad to see her go. She has been amazing and so patient while we have been slowly learning invertebrates and algae. She was really amazing this week when we were keying algal species out in the lab.

noreply@blogger.com (Marine Bio 450) — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 20:12:00 +0000

The hardest things so far about the algae section has been the earlier lecture hours,

falling in at Boiler Bay (It was so cold and wet!), and learning to key out red algae species. It's hard to key out species because each description contain 5 words that we don't understand and have to look up in the glossary. We all learned what pit plugs were the other day while trying to identify Neorhodomela larix. Frustrations raged when we didn't even know the terms used in the glossary definitions, but Margot and Annette helped us out.

While at Boiler Bay, we each had a partner and a list of particular algae to look for and learned. Then we reconvened while different groups "taught" us their algae. We learned the differences between Neorhodomela and Odonthalia. Some of us got caught up in a search for "Ralph." (Ralfsia sp) We haven't found the elusive brown alga yet, but we're going to Seal Rock today, so maybe we'll find him there. Let's hope so!

noreply@blogger.com (Marine Bio 450) — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 16:19:00 +0000

We started studying algae this week and it has been an interesting transition from invertebrates to algae. The variety of body plans, color and special features of the invertebrates was amazing and, well, algae just don't have many of the features that made the invertebrates so interesting. Nonetheless, we've been having a great time with Annette - our lecturer for this section. Annette has a contagious laugh that makes us all giggle our way through the algae lectures. I never would have thought I'd be laughing over algae!

The first day of class, we had a lecture about the importances of algae in the intertidal. We made a list, and Annette asked us to post it for everyone to see.

1. List at least 4 ways that invertebrates “use” or interact with seaweeds.
Use seaweed as food- limpets, sea urchins, chitons
Use seaweed as habitat- crabs and isopods
Dead invertebrates are a nutrition source for seaweed
Camouflage used by the decorator crab and limpets
Symbiosis with lichens
2. List 2 or 3 invertebrates you have seen “wearing” epibonts of marine algae
Decorator crab, limpets, urchins, cnidarians (endozoic), mussels and barnacles
3. List 1 invertebrate you have observed that seems to be “disturbed” by seaweeds. How?3.
It inhibits feeding through the whiplash effect
4. List 1 invertebrate that you have observed that seemed to be controlling seaweed species composition. How?
Urchins and limpets (halo effect)

LATE NIGHT STUDY FUN!!

noreply@blogger.com (Marine Bio 450) — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 18:32:00 +0000

Hey everyone, finlas are finally here! Only one more to go, better cram now only 2 hours left until the final lab practicum. For those of you who decided to get some sleep before the finals, heres a look at what went on in the library until the wee hours of the morning, and for those like me, hardly slept! Our night began with studious work studying all the names of our organisms and writting out our study guides. But soon the mood turned from studious work to stimulating conversation to wacky antics then finally to full out craziness. We got a lot of work done, and a lot of craziness was produced throughout the night in our caffeine indused haze. For all those late nighters it was a blast! Good luck to everyone on the lab practicum and have a great weekend!