Tag Archives: Sponges

Annelids and molluscs are cool, marine debris is not 

DAY 5 — Another full day of field biology! Starting with fried jack and fresh fruit for breakfast plus a leisurely coffee with Tian-Tian and Sarah. Our departure was postponed because of the windy conditions, so we listened to Damien talk about annelids and mollusks. 

Instead of heading out on the boat for an explanation of reef zonation, we suited up and walked through the “Mangroves of Death” to the back reef. We planned to assess the presence of Christmas tree worms (Spirobranchus gigantea), trying to answer the question: do Christmas tree worms show a host preference for stony coral? We hypothesized that more Christmas tree worms would be found on brain corals and that more Christmas tree worms would be found on larger corals.

Collecting data was difficult on the shallow reefs; constantly being pushed around by the waves and crashing into rocks was an inconvenience. Adolfo found a Caribbean spiny lobster shell from a recently molted lobster, which was pretty cool. 

For a sponge update: I didn’t identify any new sponges among the patch reefs today. BUT Adolfo found a big, old dead coral specimen. See below. 

PHOTO OF SPONGE (AND ME)

I’m pretty sure it’s a yellow tube sponge (Aplysina fistularis). 

I’m hoping that when we eventually get out to the reef crest and fore reef I’ll see some more new species of sponge. I’m still hoping for a barrel sponge (like the Giant Barrel Sponge, Xestospongia muta) or the Pink Vase Sponge (Niphates digitalis). 

After a delectable lunch, Isaac gave a lecture on marine debris. A fun fact: microplastics are thought to account for 90% of marine debris. Our next activity fit with the theme. We collected trash and marine debris from various locations around Middle Caye (11 people for 30 minutes, so 330 people-minutes). There was SO MUCH TRASH, especially plastics. Kind of a bummer.

We arrived back at the wet lab with our trash bags stuffed with plastic forks, bottles, toothbrushes, sandals, combs, Styrofoam pieces and much more. Waiting for us were several freshly collected and cut coconuts. Man, I love coconut. 

After a brief stint in the hammock, we sorted, counted, and weighed all of the debris. 2,460 pieces, or 18.46 kg, of plastic. 

Before dinner we played some beach volleyball. Look out for an EBIO 319 intramural team, coming SY 2018. 

Later in the evening, Scott and Adrienne set up lights in the water at the end of the dock. It was kind of eerie being out on the dock in the darkness, looking out over the huge ocean. The water was choppy because of the strong wind, but we were able to observe a bunch of fish and a sting ray. Also, we saw the bright, reflecting eyes of a crocodile lounging behind a log. 

Until tomorrow!

Non-MPA Experiments and a lot of data

DAY 4 — We started another busy day with some urchin measurement and identification. The urchins collected yesterday at the MPA area were happily bubbling in the bucket overnight. We identified at least one urchin from all four expected species: Echinometra lucunther, Echinometra virdis, Eucidaris tribuloides, and Diadema anitullarum. Sarah, Tian-Tian, and I measured the tests (circular body parts) with calipers. Urchins are pretty cool. 

After the urchin extravaganza, we quickly shifted gears and headed out on the boat. We returned the urchins to the MPA and motored over to an area of patch reef outside of the protected area. 

We all plopped off the edge of the boat and repeated the transect experiment from yesterday. We quantified benthos cover into the following categories: live stony coral, recently dead coral, bushy macroalgae, sand, soft coral, sponges, and other (which became a mostly sea grass category). Alessi and I were extra efficient and got plenty of time to snorkel around and explore the new areas of reef.

Today was a good sponge day. I saw more Chicken Liver Sponge (Chondrilla caribensis), Branching Vase Sponge (Callyspongia vaginalis) and Scattered Pore Rope Sponge (Aplysina fulva). Some new discoveries today were the Lavender Rope Sponge (Niphates erecta), the Orange Icing Sponge (Mycale laevis), and the Green Finger Sponge (Iotrochota, birotulata). 

PHOTOS OF LAVENDER ROPE, ORANGE ICING, GREEN FINGER SPONGES

We also saw a Gray Angelfish (Pomacanthus arcuatus) which was So Big and a nurse shark, but he or she was hiding under reef framework. 

We executed another 25 minute timed urchin collection at the non-MPA site. I couldn’t find a single urchin 🙁 We measured the urchins that were successfully collected on the boat and identified them before tossing them back into the ocean to continue their lives. 

PHOTO OF DIADEMA 

The afternoon was filled with data analysis. As a group, we totaled group data for the MPA and non-MPA reef health assessment experiment,, including the quadratic data and urchin data. Our efforts culminated in a poster, tracing the experiment from question and hypothesis to results and discussion. 

My favorite part of today might have been the early morning urchin measurements. After I got used to the feeling of little spines wiggling around in my palms, I really liked looking closely at the Aristotle’s lantern. I also enjoyed the delicious pineapple cake at dinner. Happy Birthday, Jordan! 

Before dinner, we had some ever-coveted free time. Some soccer was played, some showers were enjoyed. Our plans for a night snorkel were thwarted by weather conditions, but hopefully we can make it work another night! I imagine the reef at night is a whole different experience.

Quadrats, Transects, and Urchins (Oh My!) 

DAY 3 — This morning I woke up to the sound of the ocean. Very pleasant. We started our second day at Middle Caye with some quadrat practice, investigating the crab density on the island. We worked out standards for the whole group to use with the transect tape (100ft) and intervals of quadrats (every 20ft) in order to ensure that our data, collected in six separate groups, would be comparable.

After our land practice, we left the turf and went to the surf for transect practice in the sea grass beds. We were looking at benthic organism diversity, and recorded any sightings of molluscs, crustaceans, algae, echinoderms, cnidarians, annalids, and arthropods in our quadrats. Alessi and I nailed it, and were able to efficiently collect data from the quadrats and spot some cool creatures along the way. We saw some really cool anemone, a conch, and a barracuda.

Quadrat on seagrass bed

After lunch, we embarked on the Koolie Gial, with Captain Buck. In the patch reef, we were looking to assess reef health and cover. Alessi and I were both thrilled to see so many representatives of our taxonomic groups, soft corals and sponges, respectively.

Speaking of sponges, I saw some good ones! First and foremost, the Chicken Liver Sponge (Chondrilla caribensis)! A very exciting spot for me.

Chondrilla caribensis up close 
Chicken Liver Sponge (Chondrilla caribensis)

I also saw rope sponge, probably the Scattered Pore Rope Sponge (Aplysina fulva). Another familiar face, the Branching Vase Sponge (Callyspongia vaginalis) was also on the patch reef today.

Aplysina fulva

Our final reef-related activity of the day was an urchin collection. For 25 minutes, we all swam around the shallow reefs and tried to grab the urchins hiding in little rock crevices. We brought a bucket of urchins back to the island and will measure them tomorrow morning before returning them to their home.

Middle Caye and me

DAY 2 — After an early morning PB&J, we left TEC at 6am and drove back through Belize City to the docks. By 8am we were loaded on to our boat, the Manta Ray, and were peeling away from shore, accompanied by our reef guides, Javier and Adolfo. Goodbye land! 

The boat ride was, as promised, magical. We saw some flying fish, a giant green sea turtle, and last but not least, brown algae! The water was super blue: turquoise in the lagoons, and deeper blue in the open ocean. We ate more PB&J. 

We arrived at Middle Caye and it’s beyond expectations. Words don’t do it justice and pictures might not be upload-able on the limited wifi so just imagine the most beautiful, natural, tropical island you can. After a quick tour and lunch, we suited up and got in the water. What a nice relief from the sticky, sweaty heat. 

Arriving at Middle Caye
The Manta Ray

I saw sponges! I saw the Branching Vase Sponge (Callyspongia vaginalis) which is commonly found in communities of many “vases”. With less certainty, I identified the Scattered Pore Rope Sponge (Apylsina fulva). My goal tomorrow is to find these sponges again, with a less foggy mask. 

Callysponiga vaginalis on the right

I also saw a butterflyfish (Chaetodontidae) grazing on the reef and lots of purple gorgonian (sea fans). Overall, it was a good first day in the water. I’m excited to get back in the water tomorrow and practice my snorkel skills. 

Chaetodontidae

The coral graveyard, between the reef and before dinner, was a highlight today. We were able to identify lots of coral species by their calcium carbonate structures. These coral skeleton fragments are old, old, old and well preserved. I was able to correctly recognize some species learned in EBIO 372 including but not limited to Pseudodiploria strigosa, Orbicella annularis, Colpophyllia natans, and trusty old Montastrea cavernosa. 

Montastrea cavernosa (left) and Pseudodiploria labyrinthiformis (right)
Colpophyllia natans (left) and Pseudodiploria strigosa (right)

I’m feeling pretty sandy and salty, but not too tired (after being awake for almost 17 hours). Can’t wait for another day!

Just like that, we made it to beautiful Belize

DAY 1 — We met this morning, bright eyed and bushy tailed at 10:30am. By noon, we were waiting in the security line at Hobby. By 1:45, after a quick bite, we boarded our plane and took off!

Looking out the plane window during our descent, I began to get a sense of Belize. I could see the bright blue coast, large expanses of lush green, expanses of brown, and, nearer to the airport, brightly colored homes.

Leaving the airport in our van, we got a little taste of Belize City, with its colorful buildings and big, bold Belikin advertisements. We stopped at Low’s general/grocery store for snack-age (I got some plantain chips and wheat biscuits).

The drive to TEC (Tropical Education Center) was beautiful, the sun was low in the sky. When we arrived around 6pm, we were greeted by a procession of leaf cutter ants (see below) and a delicious meal (beans and rice, plantains, banana bread, etc).

Hard to see here, but there were leaf cutter ants crossing, I promise!

No bee sightings today. I’ll keep my eyes peeled. No sponge sightings either (surprise, surprise). Hopefully, I’ll see some sponges tomorrow, our first day on the reef.

We did see a cool, calm, and collected green iguana teetering on a skinny little branch at the top of a tree, eating leaves. We also had a little frog friend in the cabin.

I’m really looking forward to the boat ride to Glover’s tomorrow. Sunscreen will be applied amply (don’t worry, dad).

The gals of dorm 7 (minus yours truly):

Left to right: Tian-Tian, Anna, Sarah, Jordan, Ellie, Alessi

Belize, here we come

The day after tomorrow we fly to Belize! I’m pretty pumped.

I expect to learn about a huge variety of rainforest and reef organisms, both from lectures and in person. Reading the book beforehand was unquestionably valuable, but I think that I will learn so much more by being in the ecosystems of Belize.

I hope to improve my snorkeling skills, and I hope to correctly identify some sponges and bees! I’ve been researching both taxa for some weeks now, and I am crossing my fingers for some orchid bees (Euglossini tribe) and a chicken liver sponge (Chondrilla caribensis). I also hope to get to know everyone on the trip and learn how to work together as a team.

I am most nervous, and also excited, about snorkeling on the reef. I am especially excited to see, in person, some of the species we talked about in Coral Reef Ecosystems. All semester I have been looking forward to seeing the coral reef, in all of its glory, in real life. I hope I’ll be able to identify some of the coral species that we learned this past semester. I am especially nervous about the reef slope, which is heaven for coral but maybe will require deeper diving than I have practiced/done before. Hopefully, I can keep up with the experienced snorkelers!

I don’t have much experience in the tropics, especially not related to tropical ecology. I am approaching this experience with an open mind, ready to soak up as much knowledge as I can. Like, say, a sponge. This is a really cool opportunity, and I am glad that I am able to take this course during my time at Rice.

Course Review and Wrap Up: Michael Saucedo

I want (an it is required of me) to recount the three most memorable experiences from this course. The first is obvious, and that is the experience of meeting and getting to know the incredible group of instructors and students who decided it was important or even necessary to complete this course. Most people would not consider trudging a dozen miles in the Chiquibul or collecting marine debris at Glover’s Atoll to be an entirely pleasant way to spend one’s summer. Each and every participant made it their aim, however, to not just complete these and other challenges, but to take away from them a positive message. Not to mention the positivity and diligence of the workers at each of the two field sites we stayed at. These people have devoted their life to the cause of conservation and biological research and to the education of young people like myself. In five years, I am confident I will still remember the attitudes and moments of courage from those who inspired me during the last two weeks. This was undoubtably my favorite part of the course.

Secondly, I will never forget the peace of mind that comes with field work. Never before had I reached a feeling of calm as when diving to the bottom of a reef, hearing nothing but my own air bubbles, and carefully observing and recording the diversity of life I saw. The same is true of my time spent in the Chiquibul, where the cacophony of noise reaches a transcendental hum. In the field, your eyes and ears become attuned to each stimulus they encounter. Over time, nothing slips by and you can appreciate everything around you. I dream of a time in my life where I can spend months or even years in this blissful state. I guess this experience has given me a dragon to chase, my first taste of “field euphoria.” I take it back, you guys were great, but this was undoubtably my favorite part of the course.

The third memorable aspect of this trip (and reducing this trip to just three memories does not really do it justice) was the unstoppable stream of information coming from both qualitatively observing and directly quantifying my surroundings. Both from direct observation and methodical quantifying I became more attune to the biotic and abiotic processes occurring all around me. But comfort in your assertions about this environment are short-lived because of the astounding amount of alternate information popping up left and right. When we conducted studies of different biological systems we constantly faced the dilemma of what question to ask (what data to quantify), because there are a million valid questions, but many fewer that actually lead to meaningful results. Even once you have asked the right question, it is not always clear how to interpret the data you have collected. Different statistical methods can lead to finding wildly different conclusions from the same data set. This experience has taught me that specific knowledge of life is key to understanding the problems that face our modern world. It has also taught me that careful scrutiny and painstaking attention to detail is the only way to sift through this wealth of information and acquire relevant knowledge. The daunting feeling that comes with this realization could be viewed negatively (as my least favorite realization) but as always understanding what you are up against can make it feel less scary. So overall, a net positive experience.

How can I most succinctly summarize this experience and still do it justice? One adjective that comes to mind immediately is educational.  EBIO319 is hands down the most educational experience I have had in my time at Rice. You can read and discuss all you want and begin to understand the systems of organisms that exist in the tropics, but until you see them first hand it is near impossible to fully appreciate their novelty and complexity. My expectations of adventure were certainly met, but I had no idea how much knowledge I could attain from exploring these pristine habitats.

Moreover, the nature of this experience was paramountly thought-provoking—stimulating connections each time we reached a new location and inspected its life forms. One of the first lectures in the Chiquibul focused on life in the rainforest canopy. It touched on the paradoxical duality of high biodiversity existing in soils without highly abundant nutrients. This concept immediately rang a bell in my head because it was so connected to one of the fundamental aspects of my lecture topic from the reef. On coral reefs, waters are oligotrophic as well and yet support a similar richness and abundance of life. Both ecosystems rely on the cycling of nutrients from the top of the ecosystem to the bottom and back again from the bottom to the top. In the rainforest, decomposers like microorganisms, fungi, roaches, and other insects recycle plant and animal detritus which then can be absorbed by roots. These lucky roots (along with the beating tropical sun) support the growth of tall trees that host the larger heterotrophs which ultimately (along with plants) become food for those detritivores I mentioned before.

On the reef this process is more cryptic, since it prominently features microbes. Here highly abundant and productive autotrophic bacteria photosynthetically fix carbon within their cells. Along with dead microbes and larger organisms, the exuded photosynthates from these bacteria become food for heterotrophic bacteria, abundant in the water column and more so on the reef benthos. This cycle of nutrients is so tightly linked that nutrients hardly exist free floating in the water for long. Larger organisms filter feed on these nutritious microbes, grow, and are then consumed themselves by ever larger organisms. All eventually die and become food for the heterotrophic bacteria that form the base of this microbial loop.

Belize is truly a biodiversity hotspot. A center for conservation focused research and legislation that promotes the sustainability  of such an environment. What we have in both of these locations in Belize is ideal specialization in an ideal habitat. Nothing goes to waste. Every necessary niche is filled by a diversity of life. This is only possible when anthropogenic extinction is limited and preservation is the top priority.

 

Final Snorkel and Travel to Houston

Waking and knowing this was our last day of Tropical Field Biology instilled in me a bittersweet mood that would last all day. Interactions with professors and classmates were charged with notions of remembering. Attitudes like this can cloud an experience, so I tried my best to keep the mentality of “screw it let’s do it” that made this class so special.

We made a few last minute stops on our boat ride to Belize City. The first was to see the Smithsonian research post at Carrie Bow Caye. Here we were greeted by a mild mannered couple from Idaho who were acting as the caretakers of the station—a position they have returned to for four weeks each year. Pretty sweet gig. It was enlightening to tour around the small facility and envision what it would be like to conduct formal research in such isolation. It seemed like the perfect place to have total peace of mind and clarity of thought—an ideal atmosphere for the task of those who enter it.

The next stop was our last snorkel. This time in a densely wooded mangrove. As our boat approached the dock we became aware of the fertile smell emanating from this forest isle. Self perpetuating and incredibly productive, the mangroves of Belize act as a nursery to juvenile marine predators and prey alike.

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This location was also especially interesting as a study site for my marine taxonomic group (sponges) because of the unique symbiosis poriferans have with the mangrove trees. They grow on the roots of the red mangrove tree and  nutrients fixed from the surrounding waters that aid the growth of the tree.

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The substrate of the mangrove roots provides a home for these sponges where they are safe to filter feed out of harms way. One of the sponges I saw here was the toxic Tedania ignis or Fire Sponge, as it is commonly known.

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When you touch this sponge it touches you back, with a painful sting and a lingering rash.

This concluded the formal class experience, so to speak. We dined again at Calypso, a restaurant by the docks known for its slow service and delicious lime juice. Then we bussed the rest of the way to Belize City airport where we finally disembarked for Houston. Arrival in Houston and goodbyes followed. Now, writing this blog in the relative security and sterility of Rice University, the entire experience seems like a fading memory. Where is wealth of life that just hours ago surrounded and fascinated me?

Let’s just say I’m glad we all took so many photos. I don’t want to forget what just happened.

PARADISE Paradise paradise paradise

The day began after restful sleep at the zoo lodge. We returned to see some diurnal animals at the Belize zoo and I picked up a nice T-shirt and some sunglasses to prepare myself for the shift to reef study.

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It turns out the shades were a great investment based on the bright and unrelenting sun we faced on the boat ride over to Glover’s Reef Atoll. Bumpy and long, like a Convoluted Barrel Sponge, the ride to Glover’s gave us some downtime to become delirious and make awful puns (a hallmark of my 319 experience).

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Once we got to the atoll we were briefed on the conservation and safety measures we would be taking while staying here. Then we were introduced to Clivus, our trusty compost toilet.

We did get to do a bit of snorkeling on a patch reef not too far from shore where I found a few examples of sea sponges (phylum: porifera). I saw one that looked like a natural bath sponge and another with a branching morphology and conspicuous oscula (oscules?) lining the dorsal side of its branches (it basically looked like an underwater flute-tree).

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As a brief introduction to these filter feeders I’ll say that water is drawn in through small pores along the body of the sponge and expelled, clean and microbe free, from larger more visible pores called oscules. You can often characterize a sponge species by the size and placement of these larger holes.

I can already tell this part of the trip will be saltier, sunnier, but ultimately a little more like paradise. There are coconut palms ten feet from my room. I was playing with hermit crabs as I arrived. The sunset here is like a painting. Me like Glover’s.

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