Tag Archives: green algae

3..2..1… Beleeeese

One of the things that ties the rainforest and coral reefs together are the physical materials they are built upon. Not only is the reef framework, the sand of the reef, and the limestone underlying the rainforest soil all based in calcium carbonate, but the calcium carbonate all originated in the same way, from calcifying marine organisms who either laid it down as reef builders or built it into their tissues before they died. This leads me to another similarity between reefs and rainforest, they are both shaped by the power of erosion. The Chiquibul rainforest is shaped by rainwater slowly chipping away at the limestone, etching out caves and a dynamic landscape. Similarly, reef eroders on the coral reef like urchins and parrotfish burrow or eat away at the the coral framework causing diverse and dynamic nooks and topographic characteristics that provide the environment for a variety of organisms and ecological niches (contributing to its incredible biodiversity). This dynamic topography created by both reef-framework building organisms like corals and reef eroding forces like waves and urchins is similar to the topographic diversity of Rainforests. Competition for sunlight, and specialization in different quantities of sunlight, leads to many layers of the rainforest, with tall canopy trees, epiphytes clinging to their sides, and shade tolerant plants competing for space below. This similarly is a causes of the great biodiversity and abundance of ecological niches of the rainforest. In both rainforest and reef, this was also something that was readily apparent for me to observe myself, and the dynamic topographies stood out very starkly compared to other ecosystems I have seen. In addition to space, there is another scarce resource in both reefs and rainforests that leads to biodiversity, competition for nutrients. Both coral reefs and rainforests are very nutrient poor, and this competition for nutrients leads to specialization in specific ecological niches contributing to diversity. In rainforests this is because the limestone underneath the soil causes nutrients to wash or leach out of the soil very quickly making plants compete to take them up and keep them. Especially when there is deforestation however, the nutrients might wash out all the way to the reefs on the ocean. This is unhealthy for the reefs which are also used to being in a very low nutrient environment. The nutrients could cause mass algae growth, and as algae competes with corals, this could lead to coral decline. 

 

Overall, the course definitely exceeded my expectations. I was pleasantly surprised by the number of amazing wild organisms we got to just run into. Whether it was, snakes, toads, or barracuda, I didn’t expect to be as mind blown as I was to see all these real life wild animals! Something else that was a pleasant surprise was that snorkeling in the ocean and trekking through the rainforest was not as hard as I thought it would be. The ocean water was much warmer and (generally) calmer than any I had experienced before, and the fins helped make me really buoyant and easy to float. As for the forest, the canopy shades the forest floor so much that its actually not that overgrown, and with the help of Dr. Solomon’s machete we found it reasonable to walk through!

One of my favorite just being out on the rainforest trails. It’s really hard to describe, buts its like going to see the Eiffel Tower for the first time or a natural wonder like the grand canyon. It’s just like “Wow, this is real… I am in it.” It was really immersive and cool. 

One of my least favorite parts of the trip was the bug bites. Need I say more? I don’t think so. If you went on the trip you know. If you didn’t go on the trip… well… enjoy looking down at your legs and not seeing polkadot scars. 

One thing I am going to remember about this trip was what I learned about marine debris, having to do a presentation on them made me learn about plastic production and pollution, micro plastic, marine life entanglement in fishing nets, and so much more. Having seen and dealt with soo much plastic at glover’s reef really solidified the lessons I had learned about the scale and impact of our ocean plastic problem.  

I am also going to remember the lessons and research regarding Scarlet Macaws that Boris Aravelo spoke to us about. Not only was it fascinating and inspirational to learn about his efforts to save the Macaws, but it was also super cool to hear about the pressures facing scientists to appease politicians, the dangers of protecting their own work over conservation, learning how to communicate with leaders and the public, etc. 

Finally, something that made a lasting impression on me was the plight of coral reefs today. What we learned about hard coral diseases, global warming, and loss of key species like Diadema urchins that stop algae overgrowth impressed on me just how gravely in danger coral reefs are, and just how much we have already lost. I am also glad that I will have a memory of their majesty and preciousness while I had the chance.

A Grand Finale

Today we finally finished our sea urchin/coral health correlation study. Unfortunately the last reef we surveyed was not the healthiest, with very little reef structure or live coral. However, there were Sooo many urchins. We collected over 170 of them. I remember turning over a rock and seeing both the rock and the sand  under it simply covered in urchins. I had to get someone next to me to come help me collect them because I couldn’t carry them all.

We also saw reef squid for the first time. There were seven of them right off the boat, and they seemed to be all in a straight line in the middle of the water column. I didn’t see any new species of green algae, but I did see some very unique looking individuals. One was a a green bubble algae (dictyospaeria cavernosa) that looked way more yellow than any I had seen before. When I lifted it up it looked like the inside of the bible had been completely filled with sand!

I also saw a Ventricaria ventricosa (sea pearl) that looked like a deep shade of blue that really stood out from the dark green I usually see. I am not sure what caused this appearance but it was really pretty!

When we finished collecting and analyzing our data, we found a that more sea urchins were correlated with a lower percentage of coral cover being alive. However, our conclusion was highly suspect as for example, we got better and better at finding urchins each time we collected data.

Finally, at the end of the night we dissected the lion fish we had speared over the course of the week. It was a little gross, but it was also really cool to open up the stomach and find the little fish the lion fish had been eating still inside!

I feel cool

Today I feel very accomplished. We did a coastal trash survey and cleanup to find the most efficient cleanup location and figure out what portion of the trash could and couldn’t be burned on the island, and I found this!

We think it was a box fish or cow fish. Either way the skeletal structure exoskeleton thing is amazingly cool.

Also, on that trip I picked up some shells I thought some hermit crabs  might enjoy, and when we got back I got one to move in! We were all standing there with our breath held as it inspected the whole shell inside and out, and we let out a cheer when it pulled itself out of its old shell and into mine!

The other major even for the day was that we went to the edge of the atoll, known as the reef crest to snorkel. The waves were massive and rather scary, but it was also really cool to see such deep water with massive coral structures on the bottom.  There was also a massive drop-off at the edge of the reef crest that felt like looking down a cliff to nothingness. Some highlights included seeing walnut comb jellies and a sea turtle sitting on the bottom! There was also a large school of what looked like possibly parrotfish swirling around us! Unfortunately it was too deep for me to be able to decipher the green algae on the bottom, but tomorrow we should snorkel in shallow water so hopefully I will see some there!

Baby Fishies!

Today we collected data on our study of urchins and live vs. dead coral cover on two reefs inside the marine protection area! It was really interesting to see how the two areas differed from one another. The first one had really abundant brown algae and was extremely topographically diverse with large structures built up overtime by chorals. In contrast the other reef was very shallow and flat, with not very many sizable live corals and lots of scattered dead coral rubble scattered around.

Overall, surveying live and dead coral was much easier today as there was less current, and we also were much better at using our tools. Also, we had gotten much better at collecting sea urchins, collecting 108 in total!

One really interesting behavior I saw on the second reef was what I believe were long-fin damselfish with schools of tiny little baby fish all hanging out in the same area. It looked like the parent fish were corralling the babies and even transporting them in their mouths! It very much reminded me of when my dad bread cichlids in our living room  and the parents similarly raised a little school of babies.

As for algae, the second reef had loads of green bubble weed (dictyosphaeria cavernosa) which is a hollow crisp light green mass with a bubbly surface. I realized that I had actually been seeing pieces of this before with a broken or incomplete bubble, but I didn’t realize it until now when I saw some with a complete bubble!

Lobsters and Lionfish

To start the day we designed a study that we could execute on patches of coral reefs inside the lagoon. What we came up with was to see how density of sea urchins would effect the percentage of coral that was alive vs dead! However, we needed to go out on the boat to collect data and we didn’t have time before lunch, so before hand we collected organisms from a shallow sea grass area behind the kitchen.

What we found was incredible! We brought back punching mantis shrimp, a lobster, a poisonous sea urchin, conchs, damsel fish that grow and protect algae gardens and so much more!

There were also an insane number of algae species. One’s I hadn’t found before include Chaetomopha linum (sea hair) Caulerpa sertulariodes(green feather Algae). Acetabularia caliculus (Green Mermaid’s Wine Glass) Halimeda , Caulerpa ashmeadii (also feathery), and Halimeda monile.

After lunch we went to collect our data on a patch reef, but it was very shallow and very windy, so trying to count how much coral we were seeing while being pushed around and trying not to hit anything felt impossible!

After that adventure, we decided to go into the marine protected area just to snorkel for fun, and we found much more fish diversity and varied topography. Dr. Solomon also speared and invasive lion fish we plan to eat tomorrow. I also saw a pine cone algae of genus Rhipocephalus and some Ventricaria ventricose (which look like bubbles and are all one cell… they are super fun to explode) both fore the first time!

 

 

Research? More like reef-search!!! (Day 4)

Hi all, it’s Faith with Day 4 updates from the 2022 Belize trip!!!

Today we started our attempt to answer our new research questions: “ What is the correlation between percent live coral and the sea urchin population?” and “How does that correlation change between mpa and non mpa reefs?”

Our hypothesis are as follows:  we think that areas with moderate amounts of sea urchins will have the highest percentage of live reefs. Additionally, we think that the unprotected reefs  will have an abundance of sea urchins and therefore have less live coral. We think this because unprotected reefs are susceptible to overfishing, which reduces the amount of creatures that prey on sea urchins.

Our methods were to lay out 50ft of transect tape in random, radial direction s from one central point. Then, at every 5 meters we would count the squares of live coral and dead coral using a quadrat. Our final part, would be collecting as many sea urchins as possible in 10 minutes, which we would identify later.

This method sounds easy in practice, but let me tell you. Counting. The. Corals. Was. Hellish. Don’t try to tell me,  “Corals are delicate, don’t touch them because they’ll get hurt.” * I now know the truth. They will cut you, burn you, and make you lose your quadrat to the current. If I wasn’t wearing a wetsuit, I would be covered in the wrath of a fire coral right now. So, yeah, getting the data from the West patch reef was very difficult, but collecting the sea urchins wasn’t easy either. Most of the time, the sea urchins were 1cm-2inches burrowed in the remains of hard corals (specifically the ones with a little algae overgrowth). They were hard to see at first, but after awhile they were easy to find. I saw many types, and as the echinoderms expert, I knew exactly what they were (mostly). The most common find was a Common reef urchin, Echinometra viridis, identifiable by the dark body, orange spikes, and small white rings on their spines. We saw a few reef burrowing urchins, Echinometra lucunter, and 2 pencil slate urchins, Eucidaris tribuloides. We found so many urchins that I could hardly count the ones in the wild, but we brought back 20 to classify.  My three favorite finds of this trip were a Flamingo tongue snail, a lobster trio(featured picture), and the donkey dung sea cucumber (Holothuria mexicana). I found the sea cucumber under a coral, and I got to hold him, he was very squishy and started molding to the shape of my hands. I couldn’t identify any particular behavior that he was doing, but maybe he just needed a nap.

Our other daily activity was making a taxa showcase! We gathered lots of creatures from the seagrass beds behind the kitchen. We found one Spiny Sea Urchin, Diadema antillarum, and Kaiu graciously scooped it up for me to talk about. He hardly stole the show though because we found so many types of green algae, a lobster, and two mantis shrimp!

Oh, and did I mention that Prof. Solomon speared a lionfish? Looks like we might have ceviche tomorrow!

Till then!

QOTD: “You made the *dumb* graph, this is on you

The first mantis shrimp I’ve ever seen. Everytime I go to an aquarium they don’t have them, and they are supposed to be really hard to find. I finally accomplished my life goal (twice in one day!!!)
Me and the Donkey Dung Sea Cucumber, Holothuria mexicana
Black long-spined sea urchin, Diadema antillarum, somehow being carried in a tiny net
Some of the guides we used to identify the sea urchins. I made the one on the left!!!
My teacher speared a lionfish in front of me … I LOVE BIOLOGY

* please do not intentionally touch corals its a) illegal and b) bad for corals

Even more things to carry!

Today we practiced using quadrants (squares grids for making observations) and super long tape measures called transects. We did a project in the sea grass about the density of one of my very own green algae: the genus Penicillus! These basically look like lollipops with tops made of super thin calcified filaments on top of a central stalk. We studied how the density of these algae changed as we moved farther from shore, finding density peaked 80m from the dock.

We also visited a coral graveyard. Where everything on the “beach” was petrified into stone! (including conch shells and palm tree remains). This meant that we could see incredibly pristine coral structures that underly the live polyps, and Dr. Correa was filled with overwhelming joy helping us distinguish the different species and explaining their characteristics.

Now, onto green algae. The sea grapes (Caulerpa Racemosa) I saw yesterday I am pretty sure were of the peltata variant based on the shape of the disc like cups. However, I found on the edge of a reef flat in a pretty sandy and sunny area, which makes me think I may have the wrong ID as the peltata variant is supposed to found in shade. 

Today I also found Udotea Flabellum in sandy shallow areas between sea grass. It had the distinctive sea fan shape and was in a pretty large group in close proximity to one another. 

Also, our Penicillus project brought us to lots of penicillus. The species my group found I believe to be either Penicillus capitates and Penicillus lamourrouxii based on the almost spherical cap shape. They also tended to be around one another and among the sea grass, though preferring areas of less seagrass density.

Finally, I think I saw green feather algae, Caulderpa sertulariodes on one of the posts of the dock, but I want to get a closer look tomorrow to be more sure of my ID!

First Snorkel!

After naturally waking up to birds and sun, we got our snorkeling stuff ready for our first trip on the water. Right on the dock, I was struck by the number of fish I could see! There were large fish in close proximity to one another with their fins out of the water, and their was an enormous school of small minor sized fish everywhere! When I got in the water I felt like the whale shark in the aquarium with all the sardines parting around it.

In the reef, we found astounding and dynamic “patch reefs” or structures of chorals, sponges, fish, etc, among the sea of seagrass in the lagoon of the atoll. I was struck by the 3-dimensional variety of shapes and sizes of organisms! Some highlights included seeing a lion fish and a small barracuda.

Dr. Correa also helped me pick a green algae from among the sea grass. I had seen the type of algae she picked but had been initially confused as I thought they were fuzzy spheres on sticks like lollipops. However, they were actually Bristle ball brush algae with rounded tops, a genus called Penicillus I did have on my taxonomic card when we got back! I was able to use the guidebook in the station to identify it as Penicillus Dumetosus mainly through the shape of the top which was much longer than wide and flat on top.

I also saw lots of Halimeda green algae mostly on top of the patch reefs characterized by long chains of roundish segments. Again using the guide books I think it was Halimida goreari as the segments seemed to match the shape and size description best of flattened 2.5-6mm wide segments.

After that we also did a scavenger hunt to practice being in the water with clipboards and cameras in another part of the atoll that was much shallower and sandier. I saw some green algae that appeared to a type of Caulerpa (sea grapes) and Udotea (Mermaid’s fan), but I plan to look at the pictures more closely to get the exact species tomorrow!

Getting to Glovers!

Mask in car e made it! It was quite a long day, but also a really incredible one. We started bright and early at 6:15 meeting at rice before heading to the airport. We had not TOoo much trouble getting on our flight, save for the fact that Dr. Solomon and Dr. Correa found out they need notarized forms to bring their children to Belize, and free to the Belize city international airport. On the flight, I was struck by just how much wilderness I was seeing out the window as we approached the Belize City airport. There were lots of forested areas and small bodies of brown marshy looking water right up until we hit the runway. It didn’t much look like a city! 

After a brief stop at a convenience store (where I got Belizean change for buying a vitamin water) We headed off on what was supposed to be a 2-3 hour boat ride to glovers reef. However, 4.5 hours hater we would realize that the length of that trip was exceeding our expectations. When I first got on the boat I was quite worried as I already felt slightly seasick, but as the journey began I found I could manage (or so I thought) by fixing my gaze on the horizon and leaning back and forth as the boat moved around me to keep myself level. However, the journey got much worse as we left the emerald green waters protected by the Belize Barrier Reef that runs parallel to the shore and into the open ocean. At this point water was spraying onto and over the boat, and it took all my focus to keep from getting completely sea sick as the boat pitched and heaved around me. Finally we reached glovers reef, a ring shaped atoll of coral reefs, and its protected inner waters. We finally made it to the glovers reef research station, a rather magical (and a bit patchy) set of buildings on part of the atoll that has grown into an island. The group was pretty tired after the journey however, so after a delicious dinner made for us by the staff and a group meeting we decided to call it a day. 

With all the traveling I did not have much time to look for green algae. I did see a bunch of what appeared to be brown algae floating during our boat ride, and I did see one patch of green algae near the mainland dock. It was filamentous or hairy in nature making me guess possibly Chaetomopha linum (sea hair) or Ulva Prolifera, and getting pushed around by the waves and occasionally exposed above the surface. Finally, I am very impressed by the crabs and hermit crabs on the research station. They are huge! Often with one giant claw. The crabs can be larger than my expanded hand and look the size of a good meal!

A quick algae photo as we walked to the boat

Pre-departure… Can’t Wait!

I think a lot of what excites me about this trip is summed up in the name: Tropical Field Biology. Firstly, I am super excited about being out in the field, experiencing the tropics. Having read some of the past blogs and learning a bit about what the rainforest and coral reefs from our readings, I know that this is an unbelievable. opportunity to see and experience these incredible areas. However, what makes this even more exciting is that we will be seeing these places through a lense of Biology. Rather than just passively admiring  the rainforest and reefs as sightseers, we will get to study these areas and understand more of how they function. I hope that making meaning of what we are seeing through our understanding of biology will make our experience of these areas even more interesting and exciting!

That being said, I also realize that I shouldn’t expect this trip to be a ride on a merry-go-round. I don’t have much experience in the tropics, but I expect I will have to face a fair amount of physical discomfort, be it the bug bites, the heat, etc, and I also realize that this trip will entail a lot of hard work. However, I am hopeful that those challenges will be part of what makes this trip rewarding and meaningful. I think many times having to embrace and work through those things are what make memories all the more memorable!

But at the end of the day, I find that even in the process of writing this I am realizing that I don’t actually have a very good idea of what I should be expecting at all. But whatever comes, I hope that I learn lots, ride with the punches, and come away feeling like I made the most of it!

See you in Belize!