Katie CUR: I Don't Know About You, But I'm Feeling 22!

22 Results of Biological Tests

I don't know about you, but im feeling 22..biological results that is. Jackson F. in section 31A asked me a question on last weeks blog post and I thought I would focus this blog post on the questions he asked. I have so far caught a total of 11 sharks. Some were caught by Josh Munsey and his dad and some were caught by me. We have a total of 11 samples, but the first 3 samples were contaminated so there are no results for those test. We have gotten samples from Scalloped Hammerheads, Sandbar, and Atlantic Sharpnose. We are trying to get more of a variety of sharks to swab, but fishing is a very tedious activity and with the hurricanes recently the waves have been a little high for my grandfather's boat!

Biological Tests: The Stains

The samples that are gathered are taken back to the Microbiology lab where I run biological tests on them. Soon we will hopefully be able to start classifying the bacteria once we figure out what type of identification test we need from them. I have made 3 tables with all of the biological tests I have ran and what they can tell us about the bacteria that grows on/in them.
I unfortunately lost my Go Pro to the ocean this past week while fishing and I wasn't able to do the virtual tour of me doing the biological tests. But do not worry because today I was able to get another one for my birthday so next week will be the week for the virtual lab tour.

Biological Test: The Plates

Biological Test: The Plates 

With that being said, get familiar with the stains and the plates since this week I will be doing the virtual lab with the plates and stains! If you have any questions leave them in the comments below!
Or feel free to email me at katelyn_digirolomo@daytonastate.edu.

Josh Munsey: How we get the Data!

Hello everyone, I hope all of you have had a good couple of weeks! Today I want to go over my procedures and some of the materials that I use so all of you know a little more about my project.

I typically go shark fishing within a mile and a half offshore of the Ponce Inlet Jetties. First to attract the sharks we use a constant output of chum. We then use a rod and reel setup with a hook, weight or float and line to catch the sharks. For bait, we typically use cut dead Bonita, whole dead Finger Mullet, or live Pinfish.

Bonita

Finger Mullet

Pinfish

Once we catch the shark we take a total length measurement, a fork length measurement, we take identification photos of the full body and the dorsal fin of the shark and we tag the shark depending upon the size. We use a spaghetti style tag to identify different individual sharks so if we or someone else catches the same shark we can gain data on the species.

Spaghetti Shark Tag

I received a question on my last post from Jackie sec. 102. We are collecting the data through the catching, tagging and measuring of the sharks. If we can catch enough Scalloped Hammerheads of juvenile size and maturity in this area then I believe that we have enough to prove that this is at least a nursery area for these sharks and if we get enough of the right data we can conclude that this is a birthing site for these sharks.

The New Food Chain- CUR: Allie

   Fay C. sec. 101. Have you found anything in the birds or fish? Why do they eat plastic?

   The current data collected within the Daytona Beach area, include the findings of positively identified microplastics consumed by 5 fish and 2 birds. These discoveries contain microplastic fibers and Styrofoam bits. Plastic is a foreign substance to the natural environment and unfortunately many animals end up consuming them. The two main reasons for this are succumbing to their surroundings by nature and mistaking microplastics for food. Regardless of how consumed, microplastics are found in the stomachs of many different species and have severe negative effects on the environment and the animal’s habitats that it invades.

Bass fish open wide while feeding 

   As stated in the article ‘How Freshwater Fish Eat: Usually in One Go’ by Max Lepley, it is referenced that many fish use a vacuum method to suck up their food. This occurs by opening their mouths and expanding their buccal cavity. Creating an area of low pressure as water rushes in from the outside, this captivates and traps any prey within their surroundings. Once the fish close their mouths, the food is caught, and the excess water is released through the gills. Generally, the larger the fish the stronger the suction. Tiny floating microparticles of plastic and other materials can easily be accidently accepted for prey or product of the environment. This is how plastic becomes part of the new food chain. 

Click here to watch a video that shows fishes' feeding method in a 3D demonstration.

This week, research continues..

   Recently recovered microplastics and styrofoam particles have been located in 3 local lionfish and 1 whiting fish.

Styrofoam bead found in Whiting fish

Styrofoam takes 500+ years to decompose into the natural environment. This styrofoam particle was found in a local Whitefish.

Microplastic fiber found in Lionfish #1

Lionfish #2

Lionfish #3

3/3 Lionfish after microscopic examination were found to have consumed microplastic fibers. 

   The next question I ask is, to what extent are our local fish/ marine animals influenced by the increase in foreign materials into their natural environment. Thank you for your question, as my research continues I hope you have many more!

Citations

Lepley, Max. “How Freshwater Fish Eat: Usually in One Go.” Infolific, 12 Oct. 2013, infolific.com/pets/fish-in-the-wild/underwater-eating/.

VOA. “Fish Use Whole Bodies When They Eat.” VOA, VOA, 19 July 2015, learningenglish.voanews.com/a/fish-use-whole-bodies-when-they-eat/2856879.html.

Augustus CUR - DEPLOYED!

I am so excited to announce that the data loggers are now deployed! With the help of Dr. Woodall and her husband, Paul, we were able to deploy both of our data loggers this weekend and begin capturing data for this research. Ive included a link to a basic ArcGIS app showing the locations.

A very Simple Web App showing the locations of the Loggers

The still which the logger is housed in is made up of about 2 10' PVC pipes attached together with a 4" locking cap at the top. At the bottom of the housing are holes drilled to allow the water to pass through the PVC, while being covered in copper mesh to keep any organisms from finding their way into the still.

The still at Canaveral Sea Shore

The stills themselves are tied down to the wood columns on the dock using metal straps to stop them from moving up or down and skewing our data and the PVC lays on wooden support blocks drilled into the dock, which I don't know if you've ever tried to drill while floating on water but as a little physics lesson, if you are applying a force in one direction you will generally move in the opposite direction of that force if you have nothing stopping you.

Trying to keep ourselves stationary.....Keyword Trying

Drilling the wood support blocks into the Dock.

We have started collecting the data, which basically gives us a graph inside the software provided by the company, but we can also export it as an excel file so we can create our own graphs with said data.

An example of the data in Excel

I received a question on my last post from Fay C. sec. 101 asking: How will you take sea level measurements and how often? Seems like a lot of work to have to go out everyday to take water level measurements.

Thank you and Good question! Actually the data logger itself records the water level and temperature every 30 minutes on its onboard computer, it will save that data until it runs out of memory, so we plan to download the data about every 2 weeks and create on ongoing graph with that data.

Please keep the questions coming! This is a big project and I want everyone to follow me, so if you have any questions please ask and I'd love to answer them!

Kayla Grubbs--HSR: about me and what I do.

Hello,
My name is Kayla Grubbs. I am 16 years old and a high school student. I am in the marine biology field and I'm not dual enrolled. I am a advanced open water, boat, and nitrox diver. I love the ocean and everything in it. I am working with micro plastics in our water ways and our oceans. I will be presenting my work at the Shores conference in 2018.

I like scuba diving, figure skating, hapkido (martial arts), cooking, weaving, and photography. I have 2 cats, 1 fish, 2 shrimp, 1 guinea pig, 1 hamster, 2 snakes, and 1 red footed tortoise. My goal is to make sure that I can get a point out to people about plastic and what we need to do.

My baby boy tigger.

My baby girl meeka.

Hannah Vu-Bennett CUR - Volusia County Groundwater Quality Study, Continued!

Hello everyone and welcome back to the blog!

For those who are new to the blog, my name is Hannah Vu-Bennett and I'm conducting research on groundwater to determine the health and quality of the aquifer in the Volusia County region. I began my research in the Spring of 2018 and thanks to Dr. Woodall, I'm able to continue my research this Fall semester of 2018. 

Presenting my research poster at the Arts & Sciences Colloquium.

Volusia County, Florida is a coastal county vulnerable to coastal urbanization, saltwater intrusion, over-pumping, leachate from a landfill, treatment plants, and agricultural farms. Many sources of drinking water in Volusia-County communities and private homes come from aquifer-sourced wells. These private well water systems often have private filtration system and are not subjected to water testing regulations as do residential homes, or homes that receive their water through the city, thus allowing contaminates to be easily missed until health conditions from toxins are developed. My goal is to conduct test on water sample taken from various locations with well water throughout Volusia County and determine the quality of our local groundwater. Each water samples will be retrieved from private homes and facilities in Volusia County and tested for nitrate, phosphate, salinity, pH and possibly lead. So far, four sites throughout Volusia County has been tested and analyzed.

Aquifers are a crucial source of drinking water for communities throughout Volusia County. It’s important that the quality of an aquifer system is studied and monitored to not only ensure the safety of locals, but to sustain a delicate natural resource. 

If you have access to a location with well water and would like to support my research, please email me at Hannah_Vu-Bennett@daytonastate.edu or comment below! In the meantime, I cant wait to continue my research and share my finding through this blog. 

Just a glimpse of part my findings!
 Here shows a microscopic point of
view of one my samples containing
salt remnants. This is evidence
of a possible indication of saltwater intrusion.

Josh Munsey CUR- Scalloped Hammerhead Shark Birthing and Nursing site introduction

Me doing field research

Hello everyone, welcome back to Daytona State for this semester! My name is Josh Munsey and I am researching the possibility of a Scalloped Hammerhead Shark birthing and nursing ground right here in Daytona Beach and Ponce Inlet. I want too see if this area is an important place for the Scalloped Hammerhead Shark, an endangered species, to give birth and for those juvenile sharks to grow up. Since these sharks are endangered this is a very important subject because they need to be protected from the start and if our area is a birthing and nursing ground for them we could have a very important role in protecting this species.

I'm excited to share my research and this experience with you! I will be keeping all of you updated every week or so on my progress and my past research on this topic. If you know of any Scalloped Hammerhead sightings in our area please feel free to contact me at joshua_munsey@daytonastate.edu

Thank you and I will talk to you all of you soon!

Augustus CUR - Allow me to Reintroduce Myself

Hey everyone, welcome back to the blog and another semester of discovery!

Presenting my Proposal 

My name is Augustus and I am a student here at Daytona State, Just to give a little refresher on what my project is and is about, Dr. Woodall and myself are deploying data loggers out on the coast of Volusia County to measure changes in sea level. Sea level rise is a very big deal for Florida's coast, more so than other coastal states, because effectively with the foundation Florida is on, the state is sinking while the sea level keeps rising! Of course sea level rise can be contributed to melting glaciers but, we can also see natural increases due to thermal expansion and a very important factor, barometric pressure. Barometric pressure is effectively the weight of air molecules on an area, this can raise or lower the sea level depending on how high or low it is.

We have had some troubles over the summer with technical malfunctions and unforeseen dock renovations but I think we are finally ready to begin and really start collecting some interesting data. The two points we have decided to deploy have been changed to the New Smyrna Marina and the Canaveral National Seashore, this will give us two different areas with a wide array of data for Volusia county.

I am beyond excited to really get going and provide you guys and maybe even the state with some really interesting and eye opening information about our local coast. Feel free to ask any questions that come to mind about the research or anything of that nature, I intend to update the blog weekly with some information and I will answer any questions in those updates!

Allie CUR- 'No Guts, No Glory: Diving Deep into plastic consumption'

   Welcome back or to Daytona state everyone! Here's to a semester driven by motivation and ambition, I hope everyone continues to stay interested and intrigued by learning new and exciting things.  

In the lab searching for plasic

   As a recap, I am investigating the growing problem of plastic ingestion by marine birds and fish.  Unfortunately, not many studies have been conducted locally concerning the relativity of species and ingestion of plastics and, more specifically, addressing the relationship between feeding habits and ingestion quantity. My goal is to discover if local birds/fish are consuming plastics. This research will allow me to collect data through the remains of dead birds and fish which are harvested, identified, measured and dissected. A microscope will be utilized to identify and count plastic fibers and particles while statistical analysis will help to determine any relationship between feeding type and ingested plastic quantity.

   Thank you for reading! Each week I will update my blog with new and interesting discoveries, If you have any interests in my research or questions to ask, feel free to message me. Also, If anyone finds any marine birds / fish in the Daytona Beach area salvageable for donation contact me at @alexsandra_femiano@daytonastate.edu :) 

Katie CUR: Guess Who's Back, Back Again? Shark-Girl's Back Tell A Friend!

Myself with a Scalloped Hammerhead, Male.

Who missed school? I felt like summer went by to quick , but luckily for me over the summer I was able to take a very hands-on Microbiology course which allowed me to be very hands-on with my project. Just a little recap on what I am doing for my project! I am taking a closer look into sharks mouths and seeing what actually lives there. Yes I said LIVE there, because there are a lot of things that are residing in their mouths. Things we cant really see with our naked eye. Bacteria can be as small as a pen point. I am swabbing their mouths to see if they do in fact have everything that lives in their mouths. I want to see which of these bacteria are dangerous to humans.


I am excited to be able to take on this journey with you guys following along! If any of you are interested in ever seeing what I do with the samples feel free to email me at katelyn_digirolomo@daytonastate.edu.

Next week I will be taking you guys through a virtual tour on what I do in the lab with my samples and the biological tests I run!