Marine Field Studies 2018: Week 4

This week was the most lecture-heavy of the trip so far. The highlight of the week for me was definitely the trip out on the R/V Weatherbird II on Tuesday. Another cool activity was when we went to the Florida Aquarium in Tampa on Thursday.

Monday was a lecture day, then Tuesday was the trip on the Weatherbird II. On Wednesday, we processed the plankton samples from the day before and discussed possible research projects based off of the data. Thursday afternoon, we headed to the aquarium to learn to use ethograms to analyze animal behavior. On Thursday and Friday morning, we worked in class on our group research projects, then we presented on Friday afternoon and took the skills test. For the research project with the data from the research cruise, my partner and I looked at change in abundance of fish over time. Putting together the presentation and having it critiqued was a great opportunity to practice presenting scientific data and research.

For the cruise on the Weatherbird II, we visited two sites, an offshore site and a nearshore site. At each site, there were four stations: CTD, Plankton, Otter Trawl, and Capetown Dredge. We divided into four teams of four students, and each team was responsible for one station. When we moved from the offshore station to the nearshore station, all the teams rotated to a different piece of equipment, so each team got to try out two equipment stations. I deployed the CTD at the offshore station, then deployed the otter trawl at the second station. After the otter trawl and dredge were hauled in, everyone helped sort the organisms. For vertebrates, we identified, measured, and weighed them. For invertebrates, we identified and measured them. Once something was recorded, we tossed it back in to the water, in an effort to keep mortality rates low. I loved being on the boat; I spent the entire ride out to the offshore site on the bow, watching the waves. It was an amazing opportunity to be able to spend the day on a research vessel and use research equipment. It was also really neat to put together a research question and presentation using the data that we collected and to see how much could be done with the data.

Sincerely,

Megan Novak