Another day of diving... nothing too crazy to report. We went to Flat Cay today, a couple miles of the coast of St. Thomas. We did 1 dive this morning and then a deeper one to about 70 feet this afternoon. I was looking for the corals I need to collect samples from. There isn't as much green algae here as there is in the Florida Keys, but there certainly is a lot of brown algae!
After our deep dive this afternoon we decided to try to swim around the small island we were diving off of, but the waves were pretty big (4-6 ft) and the current was ripping, so we only made it half way around. It was fun to body-surf the waves back to the boat! I also saw some beautiful Elkhorn coral, the coral that is now on the threatened species list. I was happy to see it alive and well. There are pictures of Elkhorn coral (Acropora palmata) in my pics from the NOAA cruise.
Hope you're enjoying the week! How are those vertebrates doing? I saw a big stingray today, what kind of fish is he?? Does are his bones made of?
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Day 1
Just a quick update... I felt like I was sleeping in the middle of the rainforest last night, I might as well have! These are all the crazy noises I heard at one point in time or another.... frogs, crickets, geckos, roosters, fighting dogs, gusts of wind, rain, the futon falling apart in the living room, oh yes and the power going on and off as the wind knocked the power lines down! Apparently a tropical depression/storm was sitting over top of St. Thomas last night but it thankfully moved past us by this morning.
We did 2 hour and a half long dives today at a site about 200 yards off the beach, which we swam too.... needless to say, we got quite a workout today. We counted corkscrew anemones and measured their size and number of symbionts (what's a symbiont again?). These anemones have all kinds of commensal shrimp and crabs that live within the protection of the anemones tentacles. No one knows if the shrimp provide any benefit for the anemone yet. Maybe we will find out!
Check out this link to see a pic of the anemone and shrimp: http://www.deepseaimages.com/dsilibrary/data/832/2006-05-23-01-57-56.jpg
We did 2 hour and a half long dives today at a site about 200 yards off the beach, which we swam too.... needless to say, we got quite a workout today. We counted corkscrew anemones and measured their size and number of symbionts (what's a symbiont again?). These anemones have all kinds of commensal shrimp and crabs that live within the protection of the anemones tentacles. No one knows if the shrimp provide any benefit for the anemone yet. Maybe we will find out!
Check out this link to see a pic of the anemone and shrimp: http://www.deepseaimages.com/dsilibrary/data/832/2006-05-23-01-57-56.jpg
Monday, December 10, 2007
Hi everyone!
Me and my labmate, Mike, finally made it to St. Thomas this evening (Monday). Yes, that's a day late! We had quite an ordeal yesterday trying to get here. We were supposed to fly from Atlanta to Charlotte to St. Thomas, but our first flight was canceled, by the time we got to charlotte we missed our St. Thomas flight, we were re-directed from USAir to American Airlines, and then American wouldn't let us get on our flight! When we asked why, and were clearly a bit upset since all our luggage was on the flight, but we were not, we had security called on us! Needless to say, it was a long day.... But, we spent the night in charlotte and flew out today. So we are here now and I'm enjoying a beautiful view of sailboats in the bay, the breeze off the water, and I'm finally able to relax a bit. I'll check in later. We dive tomorrow!
Monday, October 15, 2007
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
NOAA Mission Logs
Check out the new link to the right - "NOAA Cruise Mission Logs" to read more stories from myself and other members of the scientific team. And stay tuned for pictures from my previous research in Kelp Forests off the California coast.
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Dogfish
Who wanted to know about dogfish?? The name dogfish is applied to a number of small sharks found in the northeast Atlantic, Pacific, and Mediterranean.
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Pics from the Foster
I'm back in Auburn and finally able to post some pictures. Check out my album of the 'best of the best' from everyones pictures on the cruise. Let me know if you have any questions!
I had an amazing time and could have stayed out at sea for another couple months. Life is quite enjoyable when you're surrounded by like-minded people, have chefs to cook for you, beautiful sunsets every night, and the ability to dive as much as you want, whenever you want. Now I remember why I chose this field. Sometimes you get swept up in the work and forget about what you're working for.
I had an amazing time and could have stayed out at sea for another couple months. Life is quite enjoyable when you're surrounded by like-minded people, have chefs to cook for you, beautiful sunsets every night, and the ability to dive as much as you want, whenever you want. Now I remember why I chose this field. Sometimes you get swept up in the work and forget about what you're working for.
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| NOAA Nancy Foster Cruise |
Friday, September 28, 2007
Still Cruisin!
Hi everyone! Where are all your comments??? Sorry it has taken me a day or so to post again. The internet connection has been slow because the ship has been carving back and forth across the ocean using sonar to map the bathymetry around the NOAA undersea habitat called aquarius - very cool!
Here is what has been going on over the last few days....and a little more about my research. Sorry if it's a little long, skip around and pick out the good stuff! :)
We are still cruisin the western Florida Keys and outer bank reefs. Wednesday afternoon we dove ‘The Pulaski’ – a reef located adjacent to a tower equipped with oceanographic and atmospheric equipment that can monitor the weather as it passes through the western keys into the Gulf of Mexico. The current was ripping, but I got some great photos of moon jellies in the water column with their commensal fish hitchhikers. We spent the evening touring Fort Jefferson until the rain forced us back to the ship. There are some idyllic views that span 360o from the upper battlements.
Today (Thursday) we descended about 75 feet onto deeper reefs in the Tortugas Banks. There was an ominous darkness that enveloped us as we sunk deeper through the water column – this is because red and yellow (warm colored) wavelengths can not travel as deep as the blue and green spectrum. As we settled down to the bottom we could immediately recognize a difference in benthic diversity compared with the shallow reefs we surveyed over the past few days. Here there were far fewer gorgonians (e.g. sea fans) and soft corals. There were also several coral species that were more common at this deeper depth (e.g. Montastrea franksi, Mycetophyllia sp. and Dendrogyra).
Though I was most intrigued by the macroalgal differences – at depth there were very few Halimeda, a calcareous green alga. Halimeda are generally a primary component of shallow reef communities and contribute a significant portion of calcium carbonate which is then incorporated back into the system. These deeper reefs were dominated by several species of Dictyota, which are brown algae (also prevalently found on shallow reefs), but thrown into the mix were short bushy clumps of Hypnea and encrusting Lobophora.
As a Ph.D student at Auburn University my research interests generally include how these foliose macroalgae associate with one another and with corals through competitive and facilitative interactions. Many algae are strongly chemically defended, producing secondary metabolites known to deter herbivory. Secondary metabolites (which means, not used for primary metabolic processes) also can be active antimicrobials and may influence the natural microbial flora on and within adjacent organisms. Organisms, such as humans, have natural microbial assemblages that serve to protect us from disease and assist in boosting our immune system. Because corals do not have complex immune systems, microbes are proving to be a critical protective mechanism against disease. When these bacteria are disrupted the overall physiology of the coral may be compromised leading to increased disease susceptibility. Tomorrow I will collect samples of coral mucus and associated macroalgae during our dives off Summerland Key at Looe Reef. Hopefully these data will help me determine whether macroalgae play a role in the prevalence of coral disease along the Florida Keys reef tract.
Here is what has been going on over the last few days....and a little more about my research. Sorry if it's a little long, skip around and pick out the good stuff! :)
We are still cruisin the western Florida Keys and outer bank reefs. Wednesday afternoon we dove ‘The Pulaski’ – a reef located adjacent to a tower equipped with oceanographic and atmospheric equipment that can monitor the weather as it passes through the western keys into the Gulf of Mexico. The current was ripping, but I got some great photos of moon jellies in the water column with their commensal fish hitchhikers. We spent the evening touring Fort Jefferson until the rain forced us back to the ship. There are some idyllic views that span 360o from the upper battlements.
Today (Thursday) we descended about 75 feet onto deeper reefs in the Tortugas Banks. There was an ominous darkness that enveloped us as we sunk deeper through the water column – this is because red and yellow (warm colored) wavelengths can not travel as deep as the blue and green spectrum. As we settled down to the bottom we could immediately recognize a difference in benthic diversity compared with the shallow reefs we surveyed over the past few days. Here there were far fewer gorgonians (e.g. sea fans) and soft corals. There were also several coral species that were more common at this deeper depth (e.g. Montastrea franksi, Mycetophyllia sp. and Dendrogyra).
Though I was most intrigued by the macroalgal differences – at depth there were very few Halimeda, a calcareous green alga. Halimeda are generally a primary component of shallow reef communities and contribute a significant portion of calcium carbonate which is then incorporated back into the system. These deeper reefs were dominated by several species of Dictyota, which are brown algae (also prevalently found on shallow reefs), but thrown into the mix were short bushy clumps of Hypnea and encrusting Lobophora.
As a Ph.D student at Auburn University my research interests generally include how these foliose macroalgae associate with one another and with corals through competitive and facilitative interactions. Many algae are strongly chemically defended, producing secondary metabolites known to deter herbivory. Secondary metabolites (which means, not used for primary metabolic processes) also can be active antimicrobials and may influence the natural microbial flora on and within adjacent organisms. Organisms, such as humans, have natural microbial assemblages that serve to protect us from disease and assist in boosting our immune system. Because corals do not have complex immune systems, microbes are proving to be a critical protective mechanism against disease. When these bacteria are disrupted the overall physiology of the coral may be compromised leading to increased disease susceptibility. Tomorrow I will collect samples of coral mucus and associated macroalgae during our dives off Summerland Key at Looe Reef. Hopefully these data will help me determine whether macroalgae play a role in the prevalence of coral disease along the Florida Keys reef tract.
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Ship Tracker
Goodmorning!
I haven't had a chance to get online much in the last couple days, but I'm writing a post on another computer that I will blog this afternoon... until then I thought you might be interested in checking out our progress! You can track our ship, the Nancy Foster, on our voyage at this link: Ship Tracker
Have a great day and I hope to write more later!! :) Check back soon.
I haven't had a chance to get online much in the last couple days, but I'm writing a post on another computer that I will blog this afternoon... until then I thought you might be interested in checking out our progress! You can track our ship, the Nancy Foster, on our voyage at this link: Ship Tracker
Have a great day and I hope to write more later!! :) Check back soon.
Monday, September 24, 2007
knots to miles per hour
Follow-up to Day 2 Question: 12 knots = approximately 15 mph (haha, we're crawling out here!)
Fort Jefferson - Day 3
Hello from the the Dry Tortugas
This morning, after a night of rocking and rolling from Key West, we anchored off of Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas National Park.
The Dry Tortugas are a small group of islands, located at the end of the Florida Keys, USA, about 70 miles west of Key West. Still further west is the Tortugas Bank, which is completely submerged. The islands were discovered in 1513 by Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León.
The islands get their name from their distinctive characteristics: Dry because none of the islands have fresh water and Tortugas because seafarers stopped at the islands to take sea turtles, which they kept on their backs in the holds of sailing ships and butchered when they wanted fresh meat. Thus, there are very few sea turtles left in the Caribbean.
The islands, or keys, that encompass the Dry Tortugas are contstantly changing over time as wind and waves reshape them. There are seven islets, which are from West to East:
1. Loggerhead Key
2. Garden Key with Fort Jefferson and the inactive Garden Key lighthouse
3. Bush Key - formerly named Hog Island because of the hogs that were raised there to provide fresh meat for the prisoners at Fort Jefferson. Bush Key also is the site of a large tern rookery.
4. Long Key
5. Hospital Key - so called because a hospital for the inmates of Fort Jefferson had been built there in the 1870s.
6. Middle Key - it is not always above sea level, disappearing for weeks or months only to reappear again. And finally,
7. East Key
Today we did 3 dives throughout the Tortugas - we saw Nassau Grouper (Epinephelus striatus), more huge Moon Jelly (Aurelia aurita), and many other beautiful fish, corals and invertebrates. The weather changes and quickly and dramatically - and this evening after a long rainstorm a beautiful double rainbow arced across the sky over Fort Jefferson. What a great day at sea! Now it's time for me to try to sleep, hopefully I'll be used to the rolling of the boat tonight....
Goodnight
This morning, after a night of rocking and rolling from Key West, we anchored off of Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas National Park.
The Dry Tortugas are a small group of islands, located at the end of the Florida Keys, USA, about 70 miles west of Key West. Still further west is the Tortugas Bank, which is completely submerged. The islands were discovered in 1513 by Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León.
The islands get their name from their distinctive characteristics: Dry because none of the islands have fresh water and Tortugas because seafarers stopped at the islands to take sea turtles, which they kept on their backs in the holds of sailing ships and butchered when they wanted fresh meat. Thus, there are very few sea turtles left in the Caribbean.
The islands, or keys, that encompass the Dry Tortugas are contstantly changing over time as wind and waves reshape them. There are seven islets, which are from West to East:
1. Loggerhead Key
2. Garden Key with Fort Jefferson and the inactive Garden Key lighthouse
3. Bush Key - formerly named Hog Island because of the hogs that were raised there to provide fresh meat for the prisoners at Fort Jefferson. Bush Key also is the site of a large tern rookery.
4. Long Key
5. Hospital Key - so called because a hospital for the inmates of Fort Jefferson had been built there in the 1870s.
6. Middle Key - it is not always above sea level, disappearing for weeks or months only to reappear again. And finally,
7. East Key
Today we did 3 dives throughout the Tortugas - we saw Nassau Grouper (Epinephelus striatus), more huge Moon Jelly (Aurelia aurita), and many other beautiful fish, corals and invertebrates. The weather changes and quickly and dramatically - and this evening after a long rainstorm a beautiful double rainbow arced across the sky over Fort Jefferson. What a great day at sea! Now it's time for me to try to sleep, hopefully I'll be used to the rolling of the boat tonight....
Goodnight
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Sunday Day 2
Ahoy, Happy Monday!
My first day on the ship was quite exciting! I rolled out of my bunk bright and early Sunday morning and grabbed some breakfast before our dive de-briefing and safety run down. Then we got all our dive gear together and put it into one of three smaller boats set in locks on the back of the larger vessel. After all our SCUBA gear was loaded, a huge crane on the back of the ship hoists each small boat into the air and deposits it into the water. After the small boats are in the water, we can board and take off for the reef where we will dive.
For each dive we swim a 6 ft metal pole down to the reef bottom and place it into a holder that was previously cemented on the reef floor. From the metal pole a 10 meter string is unraveled and held taught. One diver holds the line taught and swims around the pole and two other divers record: 1) all coral species and 2) coral disease and what species it appears on. These observations are taken between the 8 and 10 meter marks on the line. I was the line swimmer today, pretty exciting, haha. But, it’s a lot tougher to hold a line straight underwater than it is on land (why do you think this is??). This same scenario will be repeated each day at 3 or 4 different reefs all through the Florida Keys.
Today when I rolled backward into the water I saw 5 or 6 huge moon jellyfish (just like the ones in my photo album posted previously). They were beautiful as they were buoyed along by the currents, capturing microscopic algae and food particles to eat. Our dive today was just off Key West and right now we’re cruising out to the Dry Tortugas, one of the only coral reef protected areas in the U.S. I’ve been told we will be cruising all night while we’re sleeping in order to be there by morning.
It’s so strange to walk around on a moving ship (we can go about 12 knots in smooth seas – how fast is that??). The inside of the boat is quite spacious, you would never even know you were on a boat accept for the strange dizzy feeling you get now and then – plus it seems very hard to walk in a straight line – I hear you walk wobbly for a while once you get off the ship too. It’s hard to imagine I’ll be experiencing this rolling sensation for the next 8 days! Weird!
Well it’s off to a final dive de-briefing for the day where we will discuss what worked and what didn’t worked and how we can improve our sampling tomorrow. Maybe I’ll walk out to the bridge and see what the ocean looks like as the sun sets off the bow tonight.
Cheers!
P.S. We have a satellite connection to the internet – so it’s slow going uploading anything larger than 1 MB – I’m not sure whether I’ll be able to get many pictures uploaded while I’m here but I’ll try!
My first day on the ship was quite exciting! I rolled out of my bunk bright and early Sunday morning and grabbed some breakfast before our dive de-briefing and safety run down. Then we got all our dive gear together and put it into one of three smaller boats set in locks on the back of the larger vessel. After all our SCUBA gear was loaded, a huge crane on the back of the ship hoists each small boat into the air and deposits it into the water. After the small boats are in the water, we can board and take off for the reef where we will dive.
For each dive we swim a 6 ft metal pole down to the reef bottom and place it into a holder that was previously cemented on the reef floor. From the metal pole a 10 meter string is unraveled and held taught. One diver holds the line taught and swims around the pole and two other divers record: 1) all coral species and 2) coral disease and what species it appears on. These observations are taken between the 8 and 10 meter marks on the line. I was the line swimmer today, pretty exciting, haha. But, it’s a lot tougher to hold a line straight underwater than it is on land (why do you think this is??). This same scenario will be repeated each day at 3 or 4 different reefs all through the Florida Keys.
Today when I rolled backward into the water I saw 5 or 6 huge moon jellyfish (just like the ones in my photo album posted previously). They were beautiful as they were buoyed along by the currents, capturing microscopic algae and food particles to eat. Our dive today was just off Key West and right now we’re cruising out to the Dry Tortugas, one of the only coral reef protected areas in the U.S. I’ve been told we will be cruising all night while we’re sleeping in order to be there by morning.
It’s so strange to walk around on a moving ship (we can go about 12 knots in smooth seas – how fast is that??). The inside of the boat is quite spacious, you would never even know you were on a boat accept for the strange dizzy feeling you get now and then – plus it seems very hard to walk in a straight line – I hear you walk wobbly for a while once you get off the ship too. It’s hard to imagine I’ll be experiencing this rolling sensation for the next 8 days! Weird!
Well it’s off to a final dive de-briefing for the day where we will discuss what worked and what didn’t worked and how we can improve our sampling tomorrow. Maybe I’ll walk out to the bridge and see what the ocean looks like as the sun sets off the bow tonight.
Cheers!
P.S. We have a satellite connection to the internet – so it’s slow going uploading anything larger than 1 MB – I’m not sure whether I’ll be able to get many pictures uploaded while I’m here but I’ll try!
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Day 1 - Saturday
Hi all -
I'm flying to Miami International Airport today and then heading down to Key West, FL where we will board the NOAA ship Nancy Foster. I'm excited but a little nervous! We will be sleeping on board tonight and beginning the day on Sunday at 7am with scientific planning meetings. The 'shake-down' dive will be Sunday afternoon - when we test all our equipment and get used to how each of us dives. Wish me luck!
I'm flying to Miami International Airport today and then heading down to Key West, FL where we will board the NOAA ship Nancy Foster. I'm excited but a little nervous! We will be sleeping on board tonight and beginning the day on Sunday at 7am with scientific planning meetings. The 'shake-down' dive will be Sunday afternoon - when we test all our equipment and get used to how each of us dives. Wish me luck!
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Welcome to the Smith Station Biology Blogger
Hi everyone! Greeting from the deep and welcome to the new Smith Station High School Biology Blogger. This is a casual platform for students and teachers to ask questions about science. I will do my best to answer your questions or direct you to the correct resource that will help answer your questions. Hopefully we will all learn some fun new facts about this beautiful planet we live on. Now a little about me, I'm a Ph.D. student in biology at Auburn University. Previously, I completed a bachelors of science in marine biology and chemistry from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. I went on from there to complete a masters of science at California State University, Northridge in Los Angeles where I studied kelp forest ecology and anemone physiology off the coast of Santa Catalina Island (more info to come later). Check my "Fave Biology Links" for links to the universities I attended.
My present research at Auburn involves the study of how coral-algal competition on tropical reefs alters the natural bacterial assemblage on the surface of hard corals. Bacteria on corals, just like in people, help maintain a healthy immune system, preventing corals (and us) from getting sick. When the bacteria are altered by abiotic stress (such as temperature and light changes, sedimentation, and pollution) or biotic stress (such as competition and predation) the corals natural defense may be weakened and the coral may get sick and die. My studies take me to the Florida Keys and the U.S. Virgin Islands where I collect samples and bring them back to the laboratory at Auburn University. In the lab, I can identify what kinds of bacteria are present and how they change when introduced to different stresses.
That's all for now, but ask questions and find out more!
Let me know if there are any specific areas of biology you would like me to post about.
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