Adventures in Madagascar or On The Importance of Doing a Pilot Study!

by Angela Szesciorka, Vertebrate Ecology Lab

This summer I hopped on a plane, flying 29 hours one way (via Paris — ooh la la) over a period of three days to spend nearly a month on the island of Madagascar working on my pilot study.

Madagascar, a former French colony until 1960, is the fourth largest island in the world. Don’t let it fool you. It looks so tiny next to Africa, but it has 44 percent more area than California, and boasts more than 4,800 km of coastline.

Rocky coastline in Madagascar. Photo by Angela Szesciorka.

Most of the country’s export revenue comes from textiles, fish/shellfish, vanilla, and cloves. Newer sources of income include tourism, agriculture, and extracted materials (titanium ore, chromite, coal, iron, cobalt, copper and nickel). Madagascar provides half of the world’s supply of sapphires! But with a GDP of around $20 billion, The Economist rated Madagascar as the worst economy in 2011. Most of Madagascar’s inhabitants are subsistence livers, meaning they live off of what they can grow or catch.

Local fisherman spear hunting for crabs. Photo by Angela Szesciorka.

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

It’s Whale Soup Out Here!

Looking for whales in Monterey Bay

Ok, so it’s not literally whale soup out here, but Monterey Bay has been full of humpback whales for the past few weeks.  Casey Clark, a graduate student at Moss Landing Marine Labs, has been taking advantage of this opportunity to investigate migrations and feeding behavior humpback whales in this region.  Each whale’s tail (known as a fluke) has a unique pattern of black and white markings and scars, which can be used to identify individual whales, much like fingerprints are used to identify humans.  As part of his research, Casey has been photographing the flukes of whales encountered in the bay and referencing them to a catalog to determine when and where they have been seen in the past.  Spring and summer are great times to see humpback and blue whales in Monterey bay, so keep your eyes out for a glimpse of these huge marine mammals!

Last look at a humpback whale.

The Ballast Water Balancing Act

By Catherine Drake, Invertebrate Zoology Lab

Docked in the Carquinez Strait, an offshoot of the San Pablo Bay in the city of Vallejo, is the TS Golden Bear.  It is a training ship for the California Maritime Academy, which—like MLML—is a campus of the California State University.  The Biological Oceanography lab at MLML utilizes the ship for ballast water research.  As ships traverse the globe, they pick up ballast water from one area and release it back into the ocean once they reach their destination.  Ships uptake seawater into their ballast tanks to optimize balance and streamlining when traveling a great distance.  During this process, potentially invasive planktonic organisms are brought into the tanks and transported by being held in the ballast tank during travels.  As these organisms are released back into the ocean, they are now introduced into a new environment.

The TS Golden Bear, which houses the laboratory and is the source of ballast water used in the research conducted by the MLML Biological Oceanography lab.

Ships take in seawater and store it in ballast tanks in order to remain balanced as they glide through the oceans. Then, they discharge the ballast water as they enter a port or harbor.

This can pose a problem, as some plankton can become invasive, meaning that they can outcompete native organisms in a habitat.  According to Ruiz, et al., shipping is considered the largest transfer mechanism for coastal invasions.   As a result, regulations developed by IMO (International Maritime Organization) are implemented to reduce invasive plankton.  One of their requirements forces ships to reduce the number of live zooplankton to 10 live zooplankters per 1000 liters after the water has been treated with a kill-factor (toxic reagents, oxygen reduction, UV light, heat, etc).  “Though the challenge of coming up with an effective but environmentally safe kill factor is still up and coming, so are the methods to determining the quality of the treatment system,” says Julie Kuo, a student in the Biological Oceanography Lab.  Consequently, this has enhanced the collaboration between engineers, and scientists to construct standard operating procedures to determine the quality of a treatment system based on IMO regulations.

Copepods, tintinnids, rotifers, and cladocera are all zooplankton that can be found in ballast water.

Enter Dr. Welshmeyer and the Biological Oceanography lab: the purpose of their project is to count the number of live zooplankton alive before and after the treatment.  This process is used to determine whether or not the treatment tested on the Golden Bear is successful at meeting the IMO regulations.  As we boarded the ship, we carried microscopes and coffee down through the ship to a room that was designated as our lab.  In the 8 by 15 foot room, we setup our microscopes and began counting zooplankton.  That particular day, we were counting pre-treated water, which was full of zooplankton swimming around; this included tintinnids, copepods, rotifers, and nauplii.  After our counts of the live and dead zooplankton, we extrapolated that there were anywhere from 100,000 to 200,000 live organisms per cubic meter; up to 60% were alive in an untreated sample that was concentrated from one cubic meter of water from the Carquinez Strait.  So, treatment systems have to be incredibly affective in order to kill all but ten zooplankton in ballast water!

Julie Kuo, a graduate student in the Biological Oceanography lab at MLML, counts the number of zooplankton in a sample of pre-treated ballast water.

Moss Landing Scientists Contribute Four New Shark Species

by Angela Szesciorka, Vertebrate Ecology Lab

One hundred and forty two new species were discovered last year. Four of those were deep-sea shark species discovered by Moss Landing Marine Laboratories’ Dr. David Ebert and his colleagues. Their findings, as well as some interesting facts about the sharks, were featured in National Geographic among the new species found in 2011.

The previously unknown shark species they described included Pristiophorus nancyae, Etmopterus joungi, Etmopterus sculptus, and Squatina caillieti (does that last one sound familiar?).

Pristiophorus nancyae was named by Ebert and Dr. Gregor Cailliet after it was accidentally captured in a 490-meter trawl off Mozambique. This species, also called the African dwarf sawshark, is the seventh species of known sawshark. Like all sawsharks, P. nancyae has an elongated beak (rostrum) like a sword. It will swim with schools of fish, sideswipe prey with its rostrum, then snatch them up. P. nancyae was named for Nancy Packard Burnett because of her support for chondrichthyan (sharks and rays) research at the Pacific Shark Research Center at Moss Landing Marine Labs.

Pristiophorus nancyae (Photo: Dave Ebert)

Stillwater Cove Thesis Work – algae bracelets

The John Martin took us out to Stillwater Cove.

Stillwater Cove is one of the best studied kelp beds in the world.  Moss Landing Marine Lab’s very own Mike Fox is studying giant kelp growth in Stillwater.  The R/V John Martin took a group out to tag giant kelp in order to more easily locate them when they go reproductive.  Large blades called sporophylls cover the holdfast and make it difficult to see the tags, so we attached white lines to a nearby winged kelp algae.

Tag and line connecting this winged algae to giant kelp.

Mike Fox tagging kelp to be able to locate them after they get more reproductive.

A Rhodolith Thesis Defense: Thursday May 19th

Paul diligently sorting his samples in the lab. What was the point? Come hear his thesis to find out! (photo: E. Loury)

Congratulations to Phycology Lab student Paul Tompkins, who will be defending his thesis this Tursday, May 19th, at noon.  Paul’s thesis is entitled “Distribution, Growth, and Disturbance of Catalina Island Rhodoliths.”  What’s a rhodolith, you ask?  If you can’t come hear the scoop on Thursday, check out these photos belows, or browse around the Drop-In:

Rhodoliths are round, free-living corraline algae - kind of like ocean tumbleweeds (photo: P. Tompkins)

Unlike most seaweeds, rhodoliths are algae that have a hard skeleton made out of calcium carbonate.  The structure of a rhodolith bed creates a habitat for many types of organisms, like a mini coral reef or kelp forest.  Beds like the one shown below were the subject of Paul’s thesis.

A rhodolith bed at Catalina Island. (photo: P. Tompkins)

The Colors of Nature in Cancer Crabs and Stunning Sunsets

Straight from the fish's mouth: a juvenille red rock crab (photo: E. Loury)

Erin Loury

by Erin Loury, Ichthyology Lab

This baby red rock crab (Cancer productus), only about an inch wide, still shows some of its bright patterning even after being digested in a gopher rockfish stomach.  Spending more hours than I’d care to admit sifting through fish guts may give one a slightly skewed perspective on the definition of “pretty,” but after identifying so many drab brownish crabs of other species, I found this little guy downright bedazzling.   The color variation in this species is captivating: check out its shocking-white color morph.

How charitable of nature to lend its best colors to both baby crabs and the evening sky.  After hours of staring through the microscope, nothing is more rewarding than stepping out on the back deck of the lab to soak up the amazing view.

photo: E. Loury

A Pack o’ Peanut Worms

photo: E. Loury

These little goobers are called peanut worms, or sipunculids.  Sipunculids are in their own phylum Sipuncula (that’s a pretty high level of taxonomic classification), so while their unsegmented bodies make them look like other marine worms (phylum Annelida), they are not directly related.

Sipunculids are pretty fascinating to watch because they can invert their long proboscis to bunch up (like the little peanut-look-alike on the far left), or extend it by essentially turning inside out.  These specimens were just some of the great diversity of critters I found poking around in a kelp holdfast.  Now the question remains: would you like those salted or unsalted?