By Brian Chu, Evelyn Wyman, and Gabrielle Cooper

We woke up to a beautiful morning, and headed to the infamous False Bay, where we met up with Dr. Vik Iyengar to collect samples of marine earwigs.We had lots of fun flipping over logs and searching for the wriggly creatures underneath, which reminded Evy of every hike she has been on with her brother. We learned not only about earwig mating and fighting habits, but also about how Dr. Iyengar became interested in earwigs in the first place.One day while walking on the beach with his twins, he flipped over a log and was filled with wonder about why earwigs lived in this habitat. Many of us were intrigued by the different patterns of earwig behavior and are eager to learn more about them.

Relaxing on the beach in between runs to the lab

After our earwig adventures, we headed to Friday Harbor Labs and had the opportunity to participate in an ocean acidification experiment with Dr. Rebecca Guenther. Earlier in the program, Dr. Guenther visited us to talk about ocean acidification and algae identification. We were finally able to use the valuable information she taught us during the tide pool pH experiment at the Friday Harbor Labs tide pools. From 11:30 to 1:20 we ran up and down from the tide pool to the lab to measure the effects of light on photosynthesis and respiration occurring in the tide pools. In between the frantic runs to the lab, we enjoyed a sack lunch on the beach with a beautiful view.

Dr. Guenther talking to us about tide pool pH

After spending hours baking in the sun, we were all exhausted. After a few precious minutes of down time, we were whisked up to Spring Street lab to enter and analyze data. We also talked about the differences between mensurative and manipulative experiments in preparation for experiments we will be doing tomorrow with the earwigs we collected this morning.

We had a delicious dinner with Ph.D candidate Christopher David Wells who studies anemones. After dinner, while enjoying bowls of ice cream, he gave us a stunning presentation on the complexities of the interactions between sea anemones and sea stars. We can’t wait to observe and study these fascinating sea creatures with Chris tomorrow!