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Day 5: Fabulous Data Collection!

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The first thing we did after breakfast today was get our snorkel gear, quadrats, and transect tapes and pile into the boat again. We went to two more patch reefs, both of which were located in the Marine Protected Area (MPA). The data collection today went MUCH BETTER (some combination of better weather, deeper water, and more practice).

We got back just in time for lunch, which was barbecue chicken and macaroni and cheese (a little taste of home!) After lunch, we learned about green algae, crustaceans, and the effects of climate change on the reefs. After dinner, we had guest lectures from the Belize Fisheries Department and the Belize National Coast Guard (they do important work to ensure that Glover’s Reef Atoll stays beautiful and sustainable).

Between lunch and dinner, we had some free time where we could work on our field notebooks, take a nap, or go on an optional snorkeling excursion. Because I regretted my choice yesterday to abstain from snorkeling the second patch reef, I made sure I wouldn’t miss out on another opportunity to snorkel! We snorkeled just on the inside of the reef crest, and we saw tons of anemones and fishes, but unfortunately no sponges 🙂

Sponges seen in the MPA Today:

  • Brown Variable Sponge
  • Orange Icing Sponge
  • Red Boring Sponge
  • Scattered Pore Rope Sponge
  • Erect Rope Sponge
  • Branching Vase Sponge
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Reef Day 4: More Data Collection

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Our class began the day bright and early snorkeling out on the farther reef patches again, continuing to collect data for our ongoing research project. We visited two different patch reefs within the marine protected area, and took measurements on the area in which there was dead and live corals, as well as collecting sea urchins to identify and return to the reef. Here is a picture of what taking those measurements look like in the field!

While in these reefs we were able to see more variety of the biodiversity reefs have to offer, but unfortunately, I did not see any more jellyfish today either. But, I was able to see some examples of the challenges facing coral reefs we have learned about from our lectures on coral death ad disease. Today I was able to spot some different types of diseased and dead coral out out on the reef. In this picture you can see some dead coral overgrown with algae.

Tonight we had a guest lecture from an officer with the Belize Fisheries Department who told us all about the kinds of conservation and protection efforts being made to help ensure that fishing is practiced sustainably Glover’s reef is actually a World Heritage Site, and Belize has extremely strict regulations in order to help protect this unique ecosystem for our future, and hearing about the conservation efforts taking place was great to contextualize our experiences with the reef.

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Fire and Burns

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Hey guys! It’s Michiel again : )

We started this morning with breakfast (big surprise) before going out to collect more data for the research question we started on yesterday. The first reef we went to was in the Marine Protected Area, and it was deeper than the reef we went to yesterday. It also had a lot of sea grass, algae, and dead coral. Ava and I laid out our transects and quadrats and counted a lot of coral all over the reef. While we were doing this, Ava took a picture of me counting squares in my quadrat, and I’m sharing it here (once again, thank you Ava)! After collecting this data, we were sent out to collect sea urchins. I found a lot in coral crevices, but these were really difficult to pull off of the coral. However, that did not deter me from trying. I ended up getting two sea urchins, but as I tried to get another one, the crevice my hand was in had fire coral. Thankfully, only my pinky brushed up against it, but I definitely had a burning sensation there for about an hour. It was worth it, though, because we ended up collecting 52 sea urchins! Additionally, I believe I saw a male Bluelip Parrotfish (Cryptotomus roseus), and I definitely saw more Ocean Surgeonfish (Acanthurus bahianus) and Blue Chromis (Chromis cyanea). Scott also took a video with a damselfish in it that kept making its signature popping sound to show aggression. Damselfish are aggressive toward other fish that come near their algal gardens because they don’t want those fish to eat the algae they’ve worked so hard to cultivate.

Chromis cyanea

After this, we went to another reef in the Marine Protected Area. This reef was much shallower than the other one; it was about as shallow as the reef we went to yesterday. We did manage to collect our data better in this reef than the one from yesterday, though, because the waves were not nearly as strong as yesterday’s. However, Ava and I were very scared we would touch some fire sponge because it was absolutely all over the reef and we were swimming only inches above it. After collecting our data, we were out on the hunt for sea urchins once again. I collected two sea urchins again, but I learned my mistake from last time and only tried to collect them from beneath coral rubble instead of from inside coral crevices. In total, we collected 56 sea urchins from this area!

On our way back to the island, I noticed that I got a sunburn on my hands, so I’m really excited for the tan I’m about to get that starts at my fingers and ends at my wrists. On the island, we had lunch and were given the option to participate in an optional snorkel activity. I opted out of the activity because I was so drained from this morning, but I spent the afternoon working on my field notebook, messaging some friends, and reading my book. I’m very glad I chose to rest.

At the end of the break, we had dinner, were given presentations on the Belize Fisheries Department and the Belize Coast Guard. Overall, today began with lots of work and ended with a well-deserved break. I’m excited to go out onto the reef again tomorrow to collect more data and see more fish!

See y’all next time!

2022, Uncategorized

Lionfish: 4 TFBs: 1

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Another early morning and right onto the boat! We went to two different marine protected areas. After laying out our transects and quadrats and collecting our data on live versus dead coral we did another sea urchin hunt. The first area I was only able to find one dead urchin skeleton, but as a class we got 52 sea urchins and a sea egg named Harry. The second site I had a little better luck, I managed to find one sea urchin, but with it was a bonus brittle star! I also found 2 crabs while searching for urchins but I couldn’t see any of them aside from colors before they scrambled away. Best guess is that they’re either green porcelain crabs, or emerald crab/green clinging crab. I didn’t see any lobsters, but Ruth, one of our water safety officers, found a ton and took some photos on my camera (her photography is miles better than mine!) that I’ll add here after I figure out how the camera works. We also caught another lionfish on this trip out, it’s in the freezer now waiting to be eaten. Everyone is saying we’re going to make ceviche at the end of the week with the fish, I’ve never had it before so hopefully it’s good!

Our post lecture snorkel took us to a reef just a little off of the island, this reef had lots of fish and even a stingray and reef squid! We also saw 4 lionfish around the reef but since they were small they were hard to catch and we didn’t manage to get any of them. Hopefully we’ll have better luck tomorrow. This reef was much more bleached and dead then the other patches we’ve visited, and there was a lot of algae on the sea floor decaying and suffocating the coral with their decomposition. Despite that the living parts of the reef were amazing and the fish were huge! I can’t wait for tomorrow, I’m really hoping conditions are good enough for us to visit the fore reef.

2022

Fire Coral – What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Stronger (Reef Day 4)

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Today is the day that my hand, neck, and snorkel mask tans are so defined that they are becoming obvious. We started the day fast and strong TFB-style by hopping into a boat to collect more data for our coral/urchin experiment in two different MPA patch reefs.

The first MPA reef we went to had the best conditions for data collection by far for me and Liliana. The depth (5-6 ft) was perfect, the current was light, and the non-outrageous amount of sea fans helped tremendously with the quadrats. However, I did encounter a challenge at this location. When I was floating and writing on my clipboard, I drifted into a !!*FIRE CORAL*!! It brushed against my elbows and forearms and caused a burning sting. It wasn’t unbearable and went away after 30 minutes, but I have learned to always be on the watch for these vengeful creatures.

^ This is the culprit coral 🙁

The second MPA location was a little more shallow, so this made data collection harder, but the urchin collection led to so many cool finds. One of which was a new taxa discovery! When turning river pieces of coral rubble in search of urchins, I found a red beaded anemone! I was so excited to find a new anemone, and I got a picture of it (the urchin next to it was shortly collected).

I also got to hold a West Indian sea egg! This hedgehog of the sea was named Sally, and she was very adorable and spiny.

Later in the day, we went on a swim just for fun on the lagoon side of the reef crest. This was anemone haven! I saw so many Giant Caribbean anemones; sadly, some of them were bleached. On a happier note, I also got a new taxa sighting here! Encrusted on the side of a mound coral, I found a mat zoanthid colony! The tiny polyps (<1cm) were blue/green and curled up into domes when disturbed. Yay zoanthids!

After dinner, we listened to two guest lectures from the Belize Fisheries Department and Belize Coast Guard. I have so much respect for all that is being done to protect and conserve the ocean and its resources.

Today was extremely productive to the point where I am struggling to finish writing this blog. I look forward to going to bed and having my recurring dream (only started a few days ago for some reason) of going snorkeling and turning into a mermaid. Maybe my dream behind-the-scenes is super inspired by mermaid Ruth!

– McKenna

2022

Day 5 – Close call with fire sponge and a good sunburn

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Today we continued our project monitoring urchin populations and live coral cover in the Marine Protected Area (MPA). We started the morning off taking the boat our to a patch reef near Long Key, where we collected our first set of data. This went much more smoothly than our first attempt at data collection yesterday, as the reef was a bit deeper and the waves were much calmer. While we were here I saw lots of diseased common sea fans, but also a bunch of other healthy looking soft corals. Today was the first day I was able to see and recognize sea plumes (a type of soft coral) although I couldn’t quite figure out the species! The largest contrasts between this patch reef, and the one we visited yesterday outside the MPA, was that this reef had far more macro algae and also a lot more fish!

Here is a picture of the sea plume!

Here is a picture of my snorkel partner taking data!

We also surveyed a second patch reef inside the MPA this morning, although this one was a bit more difficult. The water was quite shallow, so we were attempting to float right above the reef as we lay down our tools and measured live coral cover. However, there was a ton of bright red fire sponge all throughout the reef! As we’ve learned over the past 4 days, if it says ‘fire’ in the name, its probably best to avoid touching it!! So we had to do some tricky maneuvering to avoid touching the reef floor and possibly some fire coral while floating just slightly above it! Luckily both Michiel, my snorkel partner, and I survived unscathed. After collecting coral cover data, we collected urchins, and today I was able to find 2 little ones hiding underneath some coral rubble!

Although I avoided the fire sponge, I found out upon arrival back at Glover’s Reef Research Station that I had sunburned my scalp on the boat! Also both Michiel and I had accidentally tanned our hands at least a shade darker than the rest of our bodies (that were covered by our Lycra suits).

Tomorrow, I will definitely remember to wear my hat!

– Ava (here’s a good underwater selfie for the fans… common sea fans and otherwise)

 

2022

D-5 Barracuda:1, Maggy:0

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Hi everyone!

I’m so glad to say that our team has actually gotten so much better at using our tools out in the field! We went out today to two more coral reef patches and were able to collect data the first time it took 40 minutes and the second time it took 30 minutes, both of which are a great improvement from yesterday’s hour long data collection at a single patch! I was also super glad to see some of the Tunicates Sophie talked about in her taxon lecture last night. Considering how small they are I thought I wouldn’t spot them, but the second patch we visited actually had a ton laying around in many of the corals. Our group also saw and captured a second lionfish today. This one was much smaller than the one collected yesterday. But mostly everyone in the group seems very excited to have lionfish “ceviche.” Regarding our sea urchin collecting we were able to find a lot more than at the patch we visited yesterday! That either means we were at patches today with lots more, or that we are getting better at finding their hiding spots. Today I also happened to (for the first time) slightly rub against some fire coral. It hurt a bit right after I came in contact with it but it got a little more painful once I was out of the water. Thankfully the burning sensation subsided in about half an hour! Another new experience I had today was seeing a barracuda for the first time! It was actually huge and really intimidating. I was kinda shocked by its behavior as well, but I could see how it is fitting of a piscivorous fish! While most fish I have encountered so far on this trip tend to see any of us and turn and swim the other way, when the barracuda and I made eye contact instead of swimming away it began swimming towards me. Let me tell you as soon as I saw that I started swimming the other way! After seeing that barracuda I had no idea I would see another one, but I happened to see yet another at the Glover’s reef gift shop!

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Day four: Dreaded Data Collection

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Today we went out on a boat to visit a patch reef to try to determine what percentage of coral was alive and what percentage was dead. It was not fun. At least, the data collection was not fun. The water was very shallow and the winds and waves were very strong. Our transect line kept getting dragged away and tangled up, and I was thrown backwards onto sharp and hard corals several times. It will be a miracle if we can somehow salvage usable data from today.

After data collection, we decided to take the boat to another patch reef (where we could snorkel purely for fun). I felt freezing cold and was shivering after the previous snorkeling ordeal, so I decided to stay in the boat instead of doing a recreational snorkel.

In retrospect, I regret that decision and I should have gone snorkeling again. I ended up getting wet and freezing cold on the boat ride back anyway, and from what I heard, the group saw some pretty unique organisms (including an invasive lionfish, which they promptly speared and captured)!

Even though we focused on data collection today, I still was able to see (and be thrown into) some pretty cool sponges.

Sponges seen today:

Scattered pore rope sponge (Aplysina fulva)

Erect rope sponge (Amphimedon compressa)

Fire sponge (Tedania ignis)

Brown variable sponge (Cliona varians)

 

P.S. The power has been going out (the island is having some generator issues), so I will have to post this blog a day late

2022

i thought the urchin was my friend…but it was anemone

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Unfortunately, the day did not begin with urchins, but they will enter the scene soon, don’t worry!

We started off the morning by planning out another experiment. We knew we were going to be visiting preserved reef patches and non-preserved reef patches and collecting some sort of data with the quadrats, and that we would be doing urchin scavenger hunts. From there, we developed a research question that we could answer by gathering this data. We decided to investigate the correlation between live coral coverage and urchin prevalence, and how the amount of each changed between protected areas and non protected areas. We did not finish collecting data, so stay tuned!

Before we went out to the reefs, we waded in the sea grass bed and collected specimens to look at more closely in the outdoor lab. Some notable finds include a Caribbean spiny lobster, mantis shrimp, damsel fish, several varieties of crabs, lime urchin, anemone, corallimorph, conchs, and our favorite-brown algae! We found some sargassum natans, and some of the saucer leaf algae!

Afterwards, we went to the reef patches. We went to the non-protected area first to collect our data. It was difficult conditions, since the waves were strong and it was hard to stay in place. The urchin hunt was also difficult, since they like to hide in little burrows, so one could not easily get them out without harming them. We then went to the protected reef to snorkel for fun.  Entering the protected area, I felt like I had died and gone to brown algae heaven (although maybe that wasn’t a great sign for the corals). There was saucer leaf algae, white scroll algae, and sargassum everywhere! They were intermixed with another type of algae, although I couldn’t identify it. The algae was growing all over the old, dead corals so densely I couldn’t even see the sand. Exciting stuff!

We also found a damsel fish garden, which was super cool. The damsel fish have little gardens where they cultivate their favorite algae, and protect it from other fish. And finally, the group spotted a lionfish, which was promptly speared (lionfish are invasive, and their capture is actually encouraged!) and brought aboard so we can use it for activities later this week.

When we got back, we counted, IDed, and measured the diameter of the urchins we collected, and then settled in for the night! Tomorrow, we are going to be collecting more data for our research, and maybe we’ll even have an answer. See you all then!

-Elena

some of the algal friends we collected
a slate pencil urchin
the damsel fish garden ft. the gardener itself
saucer-leaf algae and the unknown algae
free the homie
…but like don’t cuz they’re invasive 🙁
2022, Uncategorized

Lobsters and Lionfish

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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!

 

 

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