After meeting with Chad Macfie at the Marine Science Center, it looks as though my research might be taking another direction from observing coral in the lab. We sat down and tried for quite some time to develop a study on coral in relation to either food size or current velocity in the lab. There are many ways we could set up experiments to test different factors however the problems arise when trying to determine the results of the experiments. Unfortunately there are few ways to determine how well a coral is feeding. One is as I discussed from looking at other studies which is where groups of polyps are removed and dissected under microscope. This destroys sections of the coral and I cannot do this at the MSC. Another way is to weigh the coral to determine growth however with the growth rates of coral, it would take much longer than allowed. While discussing some of the problems involved, we switched gears to talking about corals specifically in the Indian River Lagoon. We came up with a study we could do out in the environment with a little more real world application. Chad talked to me about a specific area in the Indian River Lagoon that offers a unique chance to research current velocity and the effects it has on growth and succession of marine life. He told me about an area part of a marina with floating docks. There are floating docks in the main river, floating docks in a channel that makes a 90% angle to the main river, then the channel makes another 90% angle and there are more floating docks. What he proposed was picking three of these docks in the same area where the only difference is current velocity, and taking a chisel to the bottom of these three docks clearing a square that can then be analyzed to determine succession rates of marine life with different current velocities. A quick way to sum up succession is talking about clear-cutting a section of forest. Underbrush is the quickest to sprout up, along with other typical fast growing vegetation. The composition of vegetation eventually changes from brush and low canopy trees to hardwoods and evergreens. What we would expect to see after clearing a section underneath these floating docks would be algae quickly covering then being replaced by other more permanent marine invertebrates. These floating docks host a habitat that I think would be interesting to watch as the areas are reclaimed by life.
IMES
Thursday, February 26, 2015
Paul Ferguson, UR - Time for a Change
After meeting with Chad Macfie at the Marine Science Center, it looks as though my research might be taking another direction from observing coral in the lab. We sat down and tried for quite some time to develop a study on coral in relation to either food size or current velocity in the lab. There are many ways we could set up experiments to test different factors however the problems arise when trying to determine the results of the experiments. Unfortunately there are few ways to determine how well a coral is feeding. One is as I discussed from looking at other studies which is where groups of polyps are removed and dissected under microscope. This destroys sections of the coral and I cannot do this at the MSC. Another way is to weigh the coral to determine growth however with the growth rates of coral, it would take much longer than allowed. While discussing some of the problems involved, we switched gears to talking about corals specifically in the Indian River Lagoon. We came up with a study we could do out in the environment with a little more real world application. Chad talked to me about a specific area in the Indian River Lagoon that offers a unique chance to research current velocity and the effects it has on growth and succession of marine life. He told me about an area part of a marina with floating docks. There are floating docks in the main river, floating docks in a channel that makes a 90% angle to the main river, then the channel makes another 90% angle and there are more floating docks. What he proposed was picking three of these docks in the same area where the only difference is current velocity, and taking a chisel to the bottom of these three docks clearing a square that can then be analyzed to determine succession rates of marine life with different current velocities. A quick way to sum up succession is talking about clear-cutting a section of forest. Underbrush is the quickest to sprout up, along with other typical fast growing vegetation. The composition of vegetation eventually changes from brush and low canopy trees to hardwoods and evergreens. What we would expect to see after clearing a section underneath these floating docks would be algae quickly covering then being replaced by other more permanent marine invertebrates. These floating docks host a habitat that I think would be interesting to watch as the areas are reclaimed by life.
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Paul--I have something called'BOBs" Basic Observation Buoys that you are welcome to use to study invertebrate communities. In fact, one of these BOBs has been in the water gathering these invertebrates since last August. If you would like, you can deploy a new BOB and compare the invertebrates that quickly grow on it and compare it to the one that has been around for months. I have permission to do this at a marina in Daytona Beach--quite a bit closer than the MSC.
ReplyDeletePaul, it's a shame you had to switch gears as coral reefs are very deserving of study and help; but I can hardly wait to see what you find on your new invertebrate study.
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