Life After MLML: Research from the Galapagos

Research cruise, Queen Mabel, with a view
Photo by: Paul Tompkins

By: Paul Tompkins

MLML Phycology Lab

PhD Candidate
Leibniz Center for Tropical Marine Ecology (ZMT)

After my master’s thesis was accepted in the fall of 2011, I began applying for PhD positions.  I was accepted at the University of Bremen’s Center for Tropical Marine Ecology.  My current advisor, Dr. Matthias Wolff, leads the resource management working group within the department of ecological modelling.  He has spent many years studying the highly productive waters along the Pacific Coast of South America, and is currently leading a project in the Galapagos archipelago.  The goal of this work is to understand how upwelling influences the tropic structure of the islands, and to use this understanding to inform fisheries management in the face of climate variability.   My role in this project is to describe the biogeography of macroalgae around the Galapagos archipelago, and determine the functional role of these primary producers in the Galapagos marine tropic web.  Of particular interest is the influence of upwelling on algal species distributions, community structure, and productivity.

View from my desk at BioMar
Photo by: Paul Tompkins

I have now been in living in Puerto Ayora for two months.  During my first week here, I was living on the R/V Queen Mabel, with collaborators both from ZMT and the Charles Darwin Foundation (CDF), and surveying the Islands of Darwin, Wolf, Pinta, and the East coast of Isabella. To estimate the percent coverage of macroalgae, I used sampling protocols were similar to those used by the CDF’s ecological monitoring project.  At each site, a 50 meter transect was laid parallel to the shoreline at depths of 15 and 6 meters. Every five meters along transects, a 0.25m2 gridded quadrat with 80 intersection points was placed on the seafloor, and the primary substrate was recorded.

Life’s a Beach

MLML bloggers Michelle, Diane, and Catherine volunteer with Young Women In Science

By Catherine Drake and Michelle Marraffini, Invertebrate Zoology and Molecular Ecology Lab

Photos by: Diane Wyse, Physical Oceanography Lab

Summer is here on the Central Coast and MLML students as well as a few MBARI interns took some time off to play hooky for a cause.    We volunteered with the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Young Women in Science (YWS) program to help middle school girls in this summer camp monitor the beach for sand crabs and learn how to boogie board.    The camp’s aim is help empower young girls interested in science to be guardians of the ocean.   Many of these girls have never been swimming in the ocean before and fellow bloggers Diane, Catherine, and myself showed the girls the joys of splashing in the surf.

Lifeguards explaining some water safety ideas before we head into the water

Catherine catching a wave with the girls of YWS

We spent half of the day using the scientific method and sampling along a transect to look for sand crabs.  The campers were encouraged to form hypotheses about where the crabs were living and use results to think about larger food webs and ecosystem processes.   After lunch and a safety lesson on currents and waves from the lifeguards, girls rushed towards the ocean with boogie boards in tow ready to conquer this new frontier.  We ran in after them and helped them learn to catch a wave and dive under ones that were too big.   This was the first time being in the ocean for many of these young ladies, and they were so brave as they dominated the large waves.  When it was time to go, many of the girls had enjoyed their time in the water so much that they insisted on catching one final wave.  It was inspirational to see the girls having so much fun making observations about sand crabs and trying to catch every wave they could.  We had a great time volunteering for this essential program, and can’t wait to help out again!

Michelle riding a wave and showing the girls of YWS how much fun boogie boarding is

Never a dull day for a Marine Biologist in Monterey Bay, Catherine models some giant kelp, Macrocystis pyrifera, while boogie boarding

 

That’s Not a Seashell!

By Michelle Marraffini

Invertebrate Zoology and Molecular Ecology

Massive dock from Japan that washed ashore in Oregon. Photo by Oregon State Parks and Recreation Department.

At 66 feet long, 19 feet wide, and 7 feet tall, the massive dock that washed ashore on Oregon’s Agate Beach is larger then anything I have ever found on the beach.   This dock is one of the first large pieces of debris to make it across the Pacific ocean from Japan after the earthquake and tsunami in March of 2011.   According to news reports, the debris came from the northern Japanese city of Misawa, arrived almost nine months earlier than officials originally thought.

Hitchhikers from Japan made it alive and well despite the almost 5000 mile journey.
Photo by Oregon State Parks and Recreation Department

But this dock did not arrive alone.   Many organisms hitched a ride on this dock for the almost 5,000 mile journey across the ocean.   Floating docks and other harbor structures provide habitat for many invertebrates and algae.   The movement of these organisms to the Pacific Northwest, many of which are not native to this coast, may pose a threat to the diversity of native species that live there.   To prevent these possible problems, scientists and managers took samples of organisms that arrived on the dock then scrapped the remaining organisms, buried them deep in the sand up the beach, and then used blow torches to dock to remove all remnants and reproductive material of the organisms.

Battle Under the Docks

By Michelle Marraffini

Invertebrate Zoology and Molecular Ecology Lab

With continued global expansion of humankind and climate change, how will native communities be affected by introduced species?  Recent state surveys identified at least 312 non-native species in California coastal waters, many of which are known to have strong negative impacts on shipping, recreational and commercial fishing, and native habitats and local species (CDFG, 2008).  Factors regulating the success of non-indigenous species are of interest to scientists and managers.

A view of boats that use Monterey Harbor and may unknowingly transport invertebrates from other marinas and harbors.

Artificial habitats like floating docks and pontoons act as ground zero for newly arrived non-indigenous species.  These species arrive though many mechanisms, such as ballast water and fouling on the bottom of boats; we heard all about ballast water from fellow MLML student Catherine Drake, The Ballast Water Balancing Act.  Species that settle in marinas and harbors can than travel along the open coast and into estuaries, where they may outcompete native species for resources and become dominant on human structures such as water pipes, sewer grates, and aquaculture cages.

Dockside view of my thesis installation with helpers Hannah and Heather. Photo by Scott Gabara

Under the floating docks of Monterey Harbor animals are battling for space. For my thesis at MLML, I am studying the role of native invertebrate species on invasion success.   I will look at the sessile invertebrates like tunicates (Phylum Chordata), mussels (Phylum Mullusca), bryozoans (Phylum Byrozoa), hydrozoans (Phylum Cnidaria), feather-duster worms (Phlyum Annelida) and anemones (Phylum Cnidaria).   By making experimental treatments that vary the number of species, the amount of native verse non-native species, and the amount of open space in artificial communities hopefully I can untangle part of the story about how non-native species become established.

Take a look under the dock as the battle is under way and stay tuned for the winner!

Diver, Heather Hawk helps steady treatment plots of native and non-native sessile invertebrates Photo by Scott Gabara

Students and Faculty Compete for Glory in Inaugural MLML 3K

by Diane Wyse, Physical Oceanography Lab

In the spirit of community building and maintaining positive energy during finals in May, MLML Student Body hosted the first official Moss Landing Marine Labs 3K race.  The course covered what most students, staff, and faculty know as “the loop,” with the race starting and ending at the entrance to the labs.  Students challenged the faculty to a friendly cross-country style competition.  While the faculty team gave the students a run for their money, the students’ overwhelming turnout dominated the competition. Approximately two dozen participants and supporters came out for the inaugural race and post-race BBQ.  Stay tuned for the next running of this fun and sporting community event!

Participants prepare to go the distance
(Photo: A. Woods)

Welcome to Moss Landing Marine Labs!

Michelle Marraffini

Invertebrate Zoology and Molecular Ecology

Have you ever wondered about the secret life of deep sea fishes?  Or what the inside of a whale looks like?  Have you touched one of the largest sea slugs in the world?  Well, visitors to this year’s Open House at MLML got a chance to do all of this and more!   Over the course of this two day event students, faculty, and staff opened their labs and their minds to over 2300 visitors of all ages from around the Monterey Bay area.  If you missed it come on a tour with me and walk through the labs.  At the first stop we see a large mahi mahi fish and skeletons of local and far away fish.

Mahi Mahi on display at Open House

Fish skeleton to be viewed but not touched in the Ichthyology Lab

Lights, Camera, Action!

By Michelle Marraffini

Invertebrate Zoology

MLML’s annual Open House is fast approaching and our students are busy trying to make sure everything goes off without a hitch.  One of our main attractions is the marine adventure themed puppet show.   Students invite the audience to dive into the ocean with a much anticipated, “Welcome to the Moss Landing Marine Labs Open House Puppet show!”  This puppet show aims to teach the audience about the ocean and get them really excited about studying and conserving it.

Check out previous puppet show here

To learn more about how the creators of this year’s show feel about the show I asked each of them a few questions.

What is the best thing about the puppet show?

Nicole: The creative process that brings the whole show together; writing songs, developing choreography, crafting sets and props, all for the purpose of educating visitors about marine life in a super fun way!!

Marilyn: The best part of the show for me has to be people coming up afterwards to tell us how much they learned from and enjoyed the show, especially when we’re able to reach both kids and adults. It means a lot when we’re able to communicate crazily complex scientific concepts to everyone in a fun and accurate way. And the singing and dancing, of course. And writing the songs. Wait. That was more than one best thing…

Follow me to Open House

By Michelle Marraffini

Invertebrate Zoology Lab

Follow me to Open House! Students on a field trip in Chile sporting their Moss Landing gear.

The labs are a buzz gearing up for this year’s Open House festivities.  If you haven’t heard, Moss Landing Marine Laboratories host an annual Open House during our spring semester.  This large public outreach event allows our neighbors, local school children, parents, and hopefully incoming graduate students to interact with current students, faculty, and staff in a fun, exciting way.   This event will include a scavenger hunt, seminar talks, dune walks, a marine themed puppet show, and so much more.   Don’t miss out on this amazing opportunity to take a behind the scenes look at our lab and the research we are doing.

See you there April 21^st and 22^nd!!!

For more details visit our website at openhouse.mlml.calstate.edu

From Diving to the laboratory

By: Michelle Marraffini

Invertebrate Zoology and Molecular Ecology

Scott Gabara makes an appearance in in the lab after a long day of diving

A six hour drive and an hour long boat ride from Moss Landing Marine Laboratories brings you USC’s marine laboratory, Wrigley Institute of Environmental Science on Catalina Island.   Here several current and past students are working to understand the unique habitats surrounding the coves of this island, Rhodolith beds.   Rhodoliths are free living coralline algae that branch out from a central axis to form a round ball.  These balls aggregate to form beds which provide a great amount of habitat heterogeneity in area that is surrounded by soft sediment.  These beds are home to a large amount of invertebrates including white urchins we found on our last dive trip down to Catalina Island.   Scott Gabara, blog co-author and phycology student, is studying the invertebrate recruitment of invertebrates to these beds.   He brought a group of Moss Landing students, lab helpers and divers, down to help collect and analyze recruitment devices placed in the beds last October and to collect samples for isotopic analysis of the community.   The results of this experiment are yet to be analyzed but we had a blast collecting them.

White Urchins found in a rhodolith bed surrounding Catalina Island

Basking Shark on the Move

By: Dave Ebert

Pacific Shark Research Center

Basking Shark Photo by Alex McLeod

A Basking Shark (Cetorhinus maximus) tagged off the California coast in June 2011 has turned up northeast of the Hawaiian Islands. The shark, which was first spotted, and tagged with a pop-up satellite tag, traveled nearly 2500 miles over the past 8 months, making this the longest recorded movement of this shark species in the Pacific Ocean. In addition to the distance moved by this shark, data on the water temperature and the depth that the shark traveled was also recorded. This information will be important in determining habitat preference and utilization.

Despite their coastal occurrence in temperate seas, this large (up to 30 feet or more) charismatic species is poorly known. This is especially true in the Eastern North Pacific where no studies have been made on their abundance or population structure. The IUCN lists the Basking Shark as vulnerable globally, but in the Eastern North Pacific it is listed as endangered.  In Canada it has been listed as endangered where its population has undergone significant historical declines. More recently (April 2010) the U.S. listed the Pacific coast Basking Shark population as a “Species of Concern”.

The Basking Shark is the second largest shark species in the world and has been reported globally from high latitude seas, including arctic waters, to the lower latitudes including the tropics. The distribution of these sharks changes seasonally with their abundance shifting from higher to lower latitudes in the autumn and winter months. As they move into warm temperate and tropical seas they exhibit subtropical submergence diving to cooler waters often several hundred meters below the surface. This explains why they are rarely, if ever, seen in the tropics.