Amber Hanick, UR- Seining, Identifying, and Calculating!

Site 2-Ponce Inlet

Site 1-Mangrove Cove

Class on 2/17 was full of new experience, excitement, and marked the first day out in the field thus far. The Friday before, Chad Macfie from the Marine Science Center visited us in the DSC Lab and briefed us on fish seining and identification using dichotomous keys. Upon arrival at the Marine Science Center in Ponce Inlet the next Friday, Chad immediately gathered the class and we began to venture off towards the Mangrove Cove and Ponce Inlet. The first site, the Mangrove Cove, is a small partially enclosed cove with mangroves partially surrounding the area. Before we began to seine, we first took into account and observed our surrounding environmental parameters like salinity, pH, and dissolved oxygen. Environmental conditions at the site were sunny, a fair wind, with a water temperature of 19.6 degrees Celsius. We also noted that the low tide that morning was at 7:10 a.m. so at our time of research the tide was flooding. The movement of the seine net consisted of a rectangle as we brought the net away from the shoreline and then transferred into a quarter circle as we brought the net full of collected specimens back towards the shoreline. For the Mangrove Cove site, the width of the seine net was

Site 1 Catch

22.22 meters, while the length of the net was 12.46 meters. We began our seine at 9:50 a.m. and ended at 9:57 a.m. with an elapsed time of effort of 7.06 minutes. This site was a rather low energy site, however, after we pulled in the seine we ended up with 7 different species including Atlantic Croaker, Mullet, Mojarro, Atlantic Silverside, Striped Killifish, Mummi Chug, and Sharptail Goby. Our total catch was 1,419 with the most common species being the Atlantic Croaker with a total of 1,085 individuals caught. Site 2 was the Ponce Inlet location where there was a high energy environment, a water temperature of 20.3 degrees Celsius, and many sources of error. As we arrived to the site we noticed a hole in the seine net, fishermen, passing boats, and strong currents making this site a difficult pull area. Our width of the net pull was 16.42 meters and our length was 15.2 meters. The current definitely made this pull rough with almost every member of the class pitching in effort to manage the shoreline side of the net as Chad and Lyle pulled the net offshore. As they were just rounding the turn and pulling the seine in a boat raced by creating large wake which rattled our net and most likely allowed for specimens to escape under and over the net area. This pull only netted 21 mullet which was disappointing to say the least, on the bright side, it showed us just what environmental conditions and human interaction with an area can do and how every source of error may not be within your control. I learned a lot from this experience and it definitely opened my eyes to how challenging this field of study can get. I chose to do my graph on the Atlantic Croaker catch over the dates of study at the Mangrove Cove. I chose a line graph to represent the data due to the data being shown over time. As shown it can be concluded from the graph that the beginning of

the year is the best time to collect Atlantic Croaker due to their abundance on seine dates 4/10/2015 with a catch of 1,563 and on 2/17/2017 with a catch of 1,085. The first day in the field makes me crave more and I can't wait to experience the rest of field studying in this class!

Stephanie Guyotte, UR- Let the Dinoflagellate hunt begin

My methods are simple in theory but things are always easier said than done. I plan on sampling as far down on the eastern coast as i can, exact locations are still to be determined. The locations I will be choosing are going to have mangroves, algae and other vegetation present and coral offshore would be most favorable as this is the best habitat in which to find Gambierdiscus.

Example of ideal testing location (redwood mangroves)

To collect my specimen a bit on luck would have some algae floating by that I could just scoop up in a 50-100mL glass collection jar, but more likely a little light scraping of algae that is growing on a mangrove or other vegetation will do. At site location if possible; I would like to take salinity, pH, temp, and DO readings (all information will be recorded in my Rite in the Rain All-Weather Environmental Field Book No 55oF). After collecting the specimens, samples should be stored in a cool container but for no more than 24 hours to prevent decay. To view the specimens within the samples a wet mount, whole mount (w.m.) slide must be prepared (slide preparation methods found in Exploring Biology in the Laboratory). A slowing solution such as methyl cellulose may need to be added to slide if specimens are too lively, but no dye or stain is needed. Some trial and error will take place in the best way to prepare the solution on the slide.

Compound Microscope

Some methods call for putting the algae through a fine mess first then prepare slide, while other methods just prepare with algae and all. To view the slides a compound microscope with up to 100x objective will do just fine. Here is where things will get really fun; identification! In order to identify Gambierdiscus I will use a combination of an ebook from the Daytona State Library Identifying Marine Diatoms and Dinoflagellates, and other pictures. These sources of information will allow me to find distinct characteristics like plate structure and other morphological features that are used in indentation of Gambierdiscus.

 My scientific question is simply just to see if Gambierdiscus is present in our waters which it should not be, this is why I also want to try and get samples from further down south where the water is warmer and odds are greater to find Gambierdiscus.                  





Kelly-Ann, UR - Going Against The Flow

Sample Locations

     After researching several ways to test for nitrate in water, I have decided that using a nitrate selective probe will give me a level of accuracy acceptable for this project.  I will be testing water at three different locations on the St. Johns River: Ed Stone Park, Lake George, and Lake Monroe.  These sites are noted with red dots on the Sample Location map.  I had considered switching to the Tomoka River due to its manageable size for this project, however, I was unable to find the extensive historical data for the Tomoka River that is publicly available
for the St. Johns River.
     The materials I will need for this project include:

• nitrate selective probe
• calibration liquids
• 3 opaque sample containers
• small cooler with ice packs
• gloves
• 550F field notebook

    My method may change depending on the specific instructions for the probe that is available to me.  My experimental procedure tentatively is as follows:

1. Begin at Lake George
2. Record conditions
3. Wearing gloves, dip the sample container and fill halfway
4. Close sample container and shake
5. Dump the water in the container away and downstream of the sample site
6. Fill sample bottle most of the way
7. Label the bottle and keep chilled
8. Record any possible errors and other notes
9. Repeat steps 2-8 at Ed Stone Park and Lake Monroe, in that order
10. Refrigerate samples until ready to process
11. Calibrate the probe with high and low standard solutions
12. Clean probe with distilled water and blot dry
13. Place the tip of the probe into the water sample and stir gently
14. Hold the probe still and wait until meter reading remains stable
15. Record data/any possible errors and repeat steps 12-15 with the remaining two samples

Weather permitting, I would like to do this procedure twice, once after the area has received rain, and once after it has been dry for at least a week.

Bibliography
Lagnado, J. (2000). Testing water quality.  Retrieved February 22, 2017, from http://www.scienceteacherprogram.org/envsci/Lagnado02/html

Garth UR - Unicorns or climate change, to bad they are both related....hmmmm?

Once upon a time our climates were more stable. The problem is global climate is proving to not be so stable any longer. Things are simply changing little bit, by little bit. As time goes on the world around us adapts, people adapt, clothing departments and merchandising stores adapt, animals and vegetation adapt. Although, you must wonder just exactly where, when and how adaptation may not represent such a feasible option.  When does mother nature say no and mankind has no other option but to bow?  

One question I would like to address is exactly how much are things changing. Our President and many others believe global warming is a mythical Unicorn, unseen, unknown and unanswered. So unfortunately, unlikely to be adequately addressed. No one wants to take the blame, how could one organization, individual or continent, possibly be responsible for the warming of an entire planet. To be honest I don’t believe there is or that pointing a finger will help bring whatever change may be needed.

Most of my research will require the compilation of historic climate research and the compilation of data, graphing, compiling and simply making sense of it all. I will pick between 1 and 4 locations and chart temperature and rainfall in these areas. The limitations I may have will be based on what resources I manage to gather. I would prefer to track at least 50 years of average temperatures and rainfall, as these factors are extremely important to wildlife, ecosystems and many other factors. Ranging from our personal wellbeing to the world which feeds, surrounds and humbles us. The website Weather underground has proven to be a good online resource although the data is limited until around 1980’s. I will also be making phone calls to national forests and state parks for potentially more accurate and specific research and data.

After compiling this data, I would like to show the facts, not point any fingers because what I believe is the most important is that people know them. I want people to know what this means for them and the environment which clothes, houses and feeds us. I will gather information and articles on current and past issues regarding this topic. Through this I will begin to compile a cohesive set of data to build an undeniable resume of blatant facts to lead us all to whatever destination the data may take us.

                                        

Christian Vinciquerra UR, Lots of Energy from the Class and the Jetty

Mangrove Cove- Low Energy Zone

      Greeting, Friday the 17th was a great first day in the field besides the fact if was a little chilly, however, the day turned out to be beautiful. We met up with Chad from the previous week and headed to the first seining site. Mangrove Cove, is what our class is calling it, was a great low energy zone with a mangrove and beach shoreline. Chad led the whole class and jumped right into it with no hesitation. He briefed us quickly on what to anticipate. We unrolled the net and started measuring out the distances.  While we measured, Dr. Woodall and another student took measurements of the water parameters such as temp, salinity, pH, and dissolved oxygen.

Ponce Inlet-High Energy Zone

       Chad wore a wetsuit and walked the net into the water 73' while a student held the shoreline end. Together they walked 41' along the shore, stopped and began to do a quarter turn back onto the beach.  The overall elapsed time from start of the seine to finish was 7.06 minutes. Chad, in a blind of an eye pointed out a few species with code names and we began counting all together while some people tallied. Seven species and a total of 1,384 fish were caught. After counting, we used the dichotomous keys to identify the species of fish from their characteristics. We released all the fish then moved to site two which was a high energy zone on the jetty with no cover and all open shoreline. This time it was hard to hold the net and keeping the weights on the ground. Waves were crashing on the net, pushing and pulling it back an forth might have skewed our data there. Chad was 54' into the water and walked 50' along the shore before the turn, for a total elapsed time of 3.42 minutes. Only catching 21 of one species was a bummer, however, it really shows how species of fish really don't care for high energy zones compared to low energy zones.
      After all the data collection was completed, we added it to the data taken from the same locations

Graph of Mojorra caught in same location
over recent years.

from recent years. After looking over the data I noticed only one species of fish was caught every time this course seined at Mangrove Cove. Mojorra six out of six times here. As you can see from 2013 to April 2015 there was very few caught of ten or less. From October 2015 to February 2017 there has been over 65 caught each time. According is the graph, the population here had a massive increase. Unfortunately this isn't the case. All the times seined here were different, with different parameters and tides. If all the conditions were the same then we can possibly take an accurate estimate of the this species population in the area.
     I really enjoyed this field lab and gained some knowledge from it. I learned that a Mummichug uses its pelvic fins to basically walk on the ocean shore and the eyes are placed on the top of its head just like a Flounder to see the prey above. I also learned how to calculate Shannon Weiner Index as well as calculate the CPUE and CPUA. I also found there is a lot that may go wrong and give errors in your data collection. I believe it's best to not fight the errors rather than embrace them.

Carly, UR - Ping, ping, ping!

Hey guys, how's it going?  We had a super fun lab this past week out in the field for the first time this semester that left me inspired to get to work!  I've been bouncing around ideas all week on methods for my independent research project (IRP).

First thing I did this week was figure out what kind of shark species I'd like to record and which ones.  I'm going to start out with 20 sharks, all from 4 different species and modify as needed.  

With this next part, best way I can explain my thoughts are through pictures (hence my artist background).

Current SST

Let's start with Cisco, who pinged earlier today at 6:33pm from the Ocearch website and then a screenshot from Windytv website (with the sea surface temperature(SST) overlay).  From there I took both images into my favorite program, Photoshop.  I overlayed both, cut out the blue that Ocearch had for the ocean and wa-la! you can now see the SST where this guy pinged.   I did this for both the SST an hour after Cisco pinged (22 C) and the current average for February(18 C).

Average SST

I came about doing this because on 
Windytv I can search a latitude and longitude, but when a shark
pings on Ocearch, there is no given latitude or longitude.
I did message Ocearch to find out if there was any way to get that information and they responded "Currently there is no way to get longitude and latitude on the Shark Tracker."

My current method I plan on is recording the current SST if available along with the average SST of each of these shark's pings.  A source of error will definitely be my estimation for the area, which is why I believe the average might bring me closer results overall, but we shall see as I start collecting data.

I'll be checking in with my sharks a couple times a week and see where it leads and see if I need to check more or less often.


I will leave you all with fun bit about Ocearch, their twitter accounts.  Some of the sharks have parody accounts and will tweet when they ping, fun facts, encouraging messages, along with tweeting at each other.

Cisco tweeted while I was writing this!

Fins and Grins -;()
Carly 

Monica Barrick, UR- Feel the Power

My scientific question remains the same as I research more on my topic. I will be observing the correlation between the angle of solar panels and how it effects the power output. I will have three solar panels, all at different angles. There are many websites to find out at what angle the solar panel should be for best performance. I will testing the "best" angle and two others. It is very simple to find the "best" angle. For winter, add 15 degrees (summer you would subtract 15) to your latitude (my latitude is approximately 29 degrees) so 29+15=44. One of my angles will be 44 degrees. The other two I have chosen randomly. The second solar panel will be at 90 degrees and the third one will be at 0 degrees. I put a picture a protractor to show my angles. 

Angle of solar panel 1- 44 degrees
Angle of solar panel 2- 90 degrees
Angle of solar panel 3- 0 degrees

I am still trying to learn how to measure the solar cell power output, but I have narrowed it down to these materials/simple method that will be modified.

MATERIALS

Multimeter 

• 3 solar panels (there are many different ones, will specify when I get there)
• Something to prop up the panels
• Protractor (to angle solar panels at correct angle)
• Negative and positive wires (for each separate solar panel)
• Multimeter (measures amps/volts)
• Feild notebook-550F/Pencil

METHODS

The first thing I will do is to test my solar panels to make sure the are in working order.

After the test is complete, which is just making sure the amps/volts get to a certain number (depending on panel) I pick the best place to set them up at in my backyard. I do not want any shadows that could mess up my data. I will use my protractor to put them at the correct angles. Now I believe it is as simple as putting the multimeter to the wires accordingly (positive to positive, negative to negative), measuring the the amps and the volts in order to get the watts. 

(Volts X Amps =Watts)

Example of how I will log my data

The tricky part will be figuring out what time I can be testing the performance. (I want to keep it at the same time but my schedule might not allow me to) So I may just take the average of each week and get my numbers that way. Can't wait to get this project started!

Casie UR- Down and Dirty for Science

Over the weekend, I went on an expedition to locate the invasive plant known as Eichornia crassipes or more commonly known as the Water Hyacinth. I drove to Blue Springs State Park where the Water Hyacinth grows rapidly.  I was expecting to see hugs swaths of the plant in the St. Johns Rivers but there were none visible. I obviously thought my eyes were deceiving me because several park rangers told me where I could find them. I located the plant specialist that the park employs and he gave me a more specific direction to hunt in. After rolling up my pants and putting on my water socks I trudged into the muck, being very wary of alligators. After several episodes of being sucked in knee deep by the muck I finally came upon the Hyacinth.  They were hidden in clusters of plants known as Spatter Dot and Penny Wort. This was curious as I was informed that I would see an abundant amount of the Hyacinth, but because the temperature of the river is not as warm as it would be in the summer the plant does not grown as abundantly.

After doing some research and going on my own personal exploration I believe I have narrowed my focus and my Scientific Question.

I have learned over the last several weeks that this weed has an affinity for Heavy Metals, it is a natural filtration system and can be used to filter out heavy metals and dyes. I have also learned that this weed will out compete other indigenous plants, choke out the water ways and can cause oxygen depletion.

My new scientific question is this, “Do the water Hyacinths grow more abundantly in areas where there is higher heavy metal concentration?”

 Methods and Materials: 

My plain of action is to concentrate on two areas where there is a higher population of the Water Hyacinth and one area where there is little to none. I will then preform water quality tests to test for high concentrations of copper in the specific area that I choose. I am curious to see if there is a correlation. 

Steve Cofone, UR - It's as easy as catching fish!

Hello everyone,
Today were going to discuss materials and methods we are going to use on our Independent Research Project(IRP). Our set up, as well as online and library resources.
I contacted Maia McGuire, PhD UF/IFAS Extension Florida Sea Grant Agent, she is a wealth of knowledge in this area and gave me a couple great directions to head in.

My materials will be fairly easy:

Environmental Field Book, No 550F- Record all data and specifics. Pencil. Sharpie.

 Fishing licence, fishing pole/Med action, bait (shrimp, worms, squid, mullet)(turkey leg for crab),  tackle box/various tackle(scale/tape measure...).

GPS- My phone, to map each position fished/ Also camera to document.

Fish Identification guide/Dichotomous key.

Cooler, Ice, Freezer bag.

Lab and associated equipment to properly dissect and analyze microscopically, the intestinal track of the bottom feeding species that I catch. 10% KOH solution.

Steve, excited to fish!

My methods/set-up consists of:

Planning where the best spots to fish are/and where I might find microplastics in the water, what times/tides, and what days. How long will I fish for? Will I limit the catch by quanity?

Here is some great data on water samples in my area, Flagler County, SeaGrant project

Log all pertinent data in field book, Date/Time, Tide, Moon Phase, GPS data, Temp, Conditions.

Actually fish- As we all know, fishing by no means is an exact science, this IRP is based on the ability to catch some of the species, Channel Catfish and/or Crabs. Assuming I am able to catch the species, I will immediately identify, record the weight, length (tip of nose to the top of the tail fin/crab, girth of body at widest point) and sex. I will then preserve the whole fish on ice in a freezer bag, marking the sample bag with a sharpie, I will number the species caught and will correspond with the appropriate data in my field book.

Identification aid

(1) Anthropogenic debris in seafood:  Plastic debris and fibers from textiles in fish and bivalves sold for human consumption. 

This abstract talks about the results that were found in 2015, It states that, anthropogenic debris was extracted from the digestive tracts of fish and whole shellfish using a 10% KOH** solution and quantified under a dissecting microscope. In Indonesia, anthropogenic debris was found in 28% of individual fish and in 55% of all species. Similarly, in the USA, anthropogenic debris was found in 25% of individual fish and in 67% of all species. Anthropogenic debris was also found in 33% of individual shellfish sampled. All of the anthropogenic debris recovered from fish in Indonesia was plastic, whereas anthropogenic debris recovered from fish in the USA was primarily fibers. 
**  10% KOH is 10% Potassium Hydroxide Solution

So the numbers, to me,  say that there is a solid chance that I will find something if  I catch enough species.
I have also found an article on "Benchmark protocol", I will return next week with more information on this as I dive into it!

Bibliography

(1) Rochman, C.M., A. Tahir, S.L. Williams, D.V. Baxa, R. Lam, J.T. Miller, F.-C. Teh, S. Werorlangi and S.J. Teh. 2015. Anthropogenic debris in seafood: Plastic debris and fibers from textiles in fish and bivalves sold for human consumption. Sci. Rep. 5, 14340; doi: 10.1038/srep14340.

Dylan Radford UR, Just Keep Swimming!

Site 1 Sein net

My Graph!

Hello class! The lab that we all participated in on Friday was my very first lab experiment that I have ever conducted at DSC and it was a blast! Besides it being a little cold in the morning the day turned out to be a beautiful one. I think one of the more interesting things about the lab was the sein net and how Chad was able to use the net with the help of a few other students to catch the fish. Like I have said in my previous posts, I don't have a fishing background so this was a very new type of fishing for me that actually worked! Not going to lie, I didn't think we were going to catch any fish but at the first site in just about 7 minutes we were able to catch 1,384 fish of different species and 35 blue crabs. I was amazed how many we caught and how chad was able to identify them when we were counting. My favorite part of the lab was sitting down on the benches and doing all of the calculations together because I started to understand the importance of doing these kind of tests and what kind of information you can take from it. Not to mention I have lived in Daytona all my life and had never been to that part of the marine science center and it is pretty cool. After all of the experiments, we were asked to create a graph that compares our information from site 1 of 2017 to the information from site 1 of a different year. I decided that I would compare the CPUE¹ from 2016 and 2017. The reason I chose to compare our information to the information of the 2016 class was to see the difference in the abundance of fish in that area of the two years. After creating my graph I was able to tell that the CPUE¹ (standardized for the area sampled) for 2017 at the Mangrove site was 0.2541 more than the CPUE¹ of 2016 from the same place. This graph also basically says that the fish in the given area were more abundant than the previous year. This is awesome because we had a lot more success than the last class to conduct the experiment.
     I am glad that I decided to take this lab because I have never had an experience like that and it has really amplified my interests in the Natural science field. I cant wait to conduct more experiments so I can explore other things that I may not know I would have interests in. I also believe that we have a great class that works together and gets things done as a team so it can only get more fun from here!

Pam, UR- The scientific plan of action!

You can't see one, but of course with many we can see evidence of them. Diatoms I'm talking about.

So now I need to formulate my scientific question, which will determine the purpose, methods and materials, which will determine effectiveness. I'll be dragging a cone sieve behind a boat to gather the diatoms in two different locations. The northernmost sample will be the Tomoka River at the State

Tomoka River near State Park

Park. Here the water is brackish, which is fresh water from tributaries draining into the saltier Tomoka River. The Tomoka also joins two ocean inlets, Matanzzas Inlet and Ponce Inlet north and south respectively.
The southern sample source will be near Oak Hill, the northern end of the Indian River. It is more saline as it is closer to Ponce Inlet, and has less fresh water tributaries emptying into it.

northern Indian River near Ponce Inlet

So my question: How will the samples be different regarding salinity and source. I realize this is broad at the moment but you have to start somewhere.

My methods and materials: for materials I'll use the same seine cone for each, more details to follow. My method: sample for salinity at the start and end of sample area. (If I sample in the middle my sieve will drop or float and my samples will drift away) The sample area has to be large enough to get a representative area meaning time length behind the boat. The cone has to be drug far enough from the boat so the source will not be too disturbed by the propeller and wake.

DSC student Samantha from 2015 blog photo! found while googling info on diatoms!

The water is less turbulent the further from the boat. A standard ski rope is around 75 feet. I guess I'll have to see what is available. The length of time could be 10 minutes. It's all coming together!

Alex, UR- Here Fishy Fishy!

The start of our fish seining

Good afternoon!

I will be talking to you all today about our exciting trip to Ponce Inlet and about the graph that I chose to make.

Okay, so on Friday we went up to Ponce Inlet to do our fish seining, we started at the Mangrove location and we begin measuring out where the net would go. We then, slowly walked out the net and brought it back to the beach with as many fish as we could catch. We did run into a small problem, the ground was uneven in some spots so we may have lost some fish underneath the net. We ended up catching 1,419 I believe, 7 different species of fish!! It took about an hour to count them all up and saved most of them. :)

After we counted all of the fish, we headed over to site 2, which was more in the Inlet and higher traffic area. Dr. Woodall and I took water samples while the others put out the net. Here, we had waves crashing the beach while we brought the net in which was a source of error and could've let some fish escape. We ended up only getting 1 fish species here and a few crabs, site 1 definitely had more activity than site 2.

I enjoy being out in the field and physically getting to experience everything rather than just talking about it or reading it. I think it helps me better understand the graphs and exactly what we are looking at too. For my graph I decided to go with the different fish diversities over the years. All I did was add our information from our field trip to Ponce Inlet to my other graph from the previous week. As you can see below, the fish diversity was much higher in the Inlet in 2013 & 2014 than it was for us this year.

 

My graph with our added data from 2017