By: Naomi, Ashley, and Jesse

Mussels!

Today, we spoke with Dr. Emily Carrington, a biology professor at the University of Washington  who studies mussels and the ecophysiology of wave-exposed organisms. Dr. Carrington explained the many behaviors of mussels and their impact on the environment (aside from the amazing food). 

Dr. Carrington studies how the mussels attach, what causes these attachments to weaken, and how global warming impacts the mussels. The focus of Dr. Carrington’s lecture was the glue and byssus that mussels use to attach to rocks. These materials help the mussels stick to wet, salty surfaces, and keep them grounded when exposed to the elements. 

Are Dr. Carrington and her team on to a new type of super glue?

And Snails!

Next up, Dr. Hilary Hayford, a coastal marine geologist who tracks the effects of climate change on nearshore species. She spoke to us about Dogwinkle (Nucella lapillus) snails and how the tides affect their feeding patterns. 

Her numerous experiments demonstrated when and how the snails forage. A snail’s journey to their prey – mussels – is long and dangerous as they are slow-moving and vulnerable to heat. The snails must time their trips wisely.

The Dogwinkle snails are unable to survive heat over 34º Celsius. They must forage during the two high-low tide cycles when the lowest tide occurs at night. This way, the outside temperatures will be cool enough for the snails to stay hydrated.

Dr. Hayford made it clear that the window of time to help these creatures survive the effects of global warming is small. Soon it will become too warm for the snails to make the long journey up to their food. However, climate change’s ticking time bomb doesn’t just impact the intertidal zones: practically every environmental ecosystem will be adversely influenced. We must act quickly!

And Octopuses!

Yep. You heard us right, octopuses! Dominic Sivitilli, a Ph.D. student in behavioral neuroscience and astrobiology, confirms that the plural of octopus is in fact “octopuses”.

The final hours of the day flew by as Dominic hypnotized us with videos of wandering octopus legs and suckers. These benthic beings are some of the most ecologically unique in the ocean. With camouflaging powers, soft bodies, and decentralized nervous systems, octopuses are quite an unusual intelligent being.

Dominic’s work mainly focuses on the nervous system of this intricate invertebrate. Thousands of suckers line the eight flexible arms of the octopus, each equipped with chemical and mechanical receptors. Each individual sucker is hundreds of times more sensitive than the human fingertip!

Armed with its own computational system, each sucker is constantly scouring the surrounding objects in order to decipher between food and foe. When one sucker finds something intriguing, it recruits its buddies in hopes of possessing the object.

Oh My!

In between the constant, captivating lectures, we have been continuing to conduct our own research in hopes of making our own great scientific contributions.

By Anders, Colette, and Julia

Sometimes when things around us get crazy, we find ourselves asking, “How did I get here?” 

Ascidian Update 

In some cases, the answer is pretty simple. Those who read our blog on Day 13, might remember the ascidian zygotes Dr. Billie Swalla fertilized in vitro.

In over just two days, the unassuming clumps of cells have taken shape, forming tiny ascidian larvae (also known as ascidian tadpoles due to their resemblance to… tadpoles). 

The Marvelous Daniel Pauly

However, while tracking the growth of ascidians might come down to basic biology, following our own path, things can get confusing.

Today we were visited by Dr. Daniel Pauly, an influential fisheries scientist at the top of his field. As we listened to his stories and ideas, we couldn’t help but wonder how we came to be here; learning from such a knowledgeable person, while seated in the comfort of our own homes. 

Dr. Pauly shared with us the most concise version of his journey he could muster, before opening up to our questions. He emphasized the importance of involvement and even expressed his willingness to speak with us next week about his recent research.

We are so grateful that Dr. Pauly was willing to speak with us today. It almost goes without saying that we are brimming with excitement to hear what he has to share next week.

Projects Continued…

As the third week of this program draws to an end, we’re inching closer to the grand conclusion of our individual projects. 

While Naomi spent the past week counting anemones, Ashley logged hours reviewing footage of the behaviors of marine mammals. With climate change in mind, Jesse considered the significance of weeds and oxygen. On the muckier side of things, Colette trudged through the mud at Chatfield Reservoir to collect her data. Using his backyard inhabitants as study subjects, Anders explored the behavior of pill bugs while Julia has devoted her time to documenting the reclamation of nature. In her last day of data collection, Julia ventured to an abandoned Boy Scout Camp to gather the remainder of her data. 

It’s super exciting to watch all this effort materialize, our ideas are finally coming to life!

We are so happy to be where we are today, surrounded by like-minded people, and learning from incredible teachers. 

We simply wouldn’t be where we are right now without the guidance of Derek and Kay, the knowledge of Tom, and the support of Caroline. We couldn’t be more thankful for the incredible experience we’ve had with Salish.

By Naomi, Ashley, and Jesse

Alone but Together

If we were to sum up today in one word it would be productive! We spent our 8 hours following a detailed schedule; something we haven’t done since the beginning of the program. There was work to be done!

From monitoring dolphins to designing t-shirts, everyone had something to do. Even while we worked on our projects individually, we were all connected through our usual Zoom room (a.k.a our second home). Through the main room, breakout rooms, and chats, our unity kept us motivated!

Engaging with the Public – Always Advancing Awareness

Today, Tom met with us in response to our email pitch for our new podcast-art engagement project. The new tab was a go! We all searched up the Salish Sea Sciences website as fast as possible to view the new update. The new outreach tab will take visitors to a webpage on which they can view informative blogs, podcasts, and artwork. We can’t wait to upload even more work. Stay tuned for more factual figures!

Ever since Derek received the exciting news that Dr. Daniel Pauly, a celebrity in the world of fishery studies, would be joining us for a Zoom discussion tomorrow, we have been inspired. Dreaming big, we’ve brainstormed other famous figures to invite to our Zoom meetings. If Dr. Daniel Pauly will come and talk to us, who’s to say Sylvia Earle – a scuba diving star – won’t! 

With high hopes, we have emailed other inspirational individuals such as Al Gore, Angela Sun, Hank & John Green, and Leonardo DiCaprio. We eagerly await their responses! Even if one of our idols is able to join us, it will be the opportunity of a lifetime.

Engaging with the Private – Investigating Individual Ideas

Focusing more on our personal projects, we each took 15 minutes with Kay & Derek to discuss logistics and potential ideas that would spur our experiments. After researching and collecting data, we all had our share of tedious work. Despite the tasks, the outcomes were truly rewarding as we all made great headway (whether it was starting to analyze data or designing a pillbug container).

Though we may all be conducting our research separately, there still remains what could possibly be the most important aspect of this program: the t-shirt. Throughout the program, some of the best artists of the group have been submitting t-shirt designs. Today was the day to decide which design we would use! Once the shirts arrive, Derek will screen-print the design onto the garment along with the names of the students in the program and the Salish Sea Sciences logo.

While it’s possible that we may never be in the physical company of one another, (which we hope isn’t true) these shirts will remind us of the ties (and knots) that we made in this program.

As the program end date starts to creep up on us, we have discussed ways to keep in touch with each other after this amazing experience ends. We agreed to update each other on our future endeavors and to never be afraid to reach out for support.

By Anders, Colette, and Julia

The creation of life is certainly an interesting process…

While Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein presents a shocking inception, (pun intended) Dr. Billie Swalla showed us today that things are often far simpler. With some elbow grease and a pair of tweezers, Dr. Swalla set out to create some ascidian zygotes. After harvesting a few sacrificial Sea Squirts, Dr. Swalla then surgically removed both male and female gametes from the adult ascidians.

We later had the excellent opportunity to see these rapidly growing ascidians up close using one of the marine lab’s microscopes.

As easy as it may be to create life, Morgan Eisenlord’s work with eelgrass wasting disease shows how life can also be taken away just as swiftly. Today, we devoted much of our time to helping Morgan with her data analysis. By crowdsourcing some work to us, we’ve been able to lighten the load. As they say, “teamwork makes the dream work”!

Eelgrass wasting disease has wreaked havoc on eelgrass beds worldwide. Scientists like Morgan are working diligently to help this species and document the effects of the eelgrass plague. 

Unlike the disappointing outlook for the eelgrass, this afternoon brought us plenty of excitement. Yesterday, Derek went out on a limb and contacted Daniel Pauly, a world leader in fisheries science and conservation, to ask if he’d be interested in speaking with us this week. To everyone’s astonishment, Dr. Pauly responded… and he loved the opportunity to share! At that moment, more than a few jaws dropped. Or in Derek’s case, his jaw practically fell off.

With project deadlines growing ever closer, Derek and Kay showcased a handful of previous projects to get our gears turning. By discussing past posters, we’ve gained a better understanding of scientific media.

We quickly recognized that, regardless of how much we have to say, fitting everything on a small poster is simply not realistic. Nevertheless, excluding pieces of our projects seems unimaginable. But, just like the conclusion of this blog, the end is ultimately inevitable. 

By Naomi, Ashley, and Jesse

Researchers helping researchers from afar

When you think about the people affected by Covid-19, patients and essential workers immediately come to mind. But the underlying effects of the coronavirus branch much farther than the doctor’s office. As far as the Salish Seas. 

The Salish Seas and other marine science data collection hubs around the world are inaccessible to many researchers this summer due to the effects of Covid-19. Scientists are unable to visit their typical research areas leading to data gaps, unproductive summers, and incomplete research projects with years worth of data. 

However, the Salish Sea Sciences team was able to help out one of these scientists today; specifically, we had the chance to go out and collect earwigs for Dr. Vikram Iyengar. 

Earwig Encounters 

Dr. Iyengar studies sexual selection and dimorphism in maritime earwigs (Anisolabis maritima). (Dimorphism is when opposite sexes have physical differences other than their sexual organs). This entomologist is one of the many scientists who has volunteered their time to speak with our cohort about their work. These scientists are truly interested in what we are doing and we couldn’t be more grateful.

In an attempt to repay his kindness, we watched from afar as the team collected maritime earwigs for Dr. Iyengar’s labs. They turned over driftwood and scooped the bugs into a tub as fast as they could. They then packed the earwigs in little vials and made sure they were ready for their flight to Philadelphia. Have a safe trip little arthropods!!

As we watched, we were able to learn even more about the Earwigs habitat. Tim Dwyer – a high school teacher who has an Antarctic giant sea spider collection, ancient pottery surveying experience, and who has explored the deep sea using ROVs – explained why the earwigs were being collected and demonstrated how to identify the earwigs’ sex. As we learned yesterday during Dr. Iyengar’s lecture, the male earwigs have asymmetrically curved pincers while the females have straighter ones.

Tedious tasks 

Last week we had the chance to speak with Morgan Eisenlord about her research on eelgrass wasting disease. Morgan introduced us to the methods required to measure the infected lesions of the grass blades. Today we were able to give back by helping her measure the area of different eelgrass blades. This process was new to almost all of us, and as we downloaded ImageJ and began to measure, we realized why Morgan had left the task for us! The tedious task had us fried! 

Despite this mental setback, we powered through, and the Salish team made noticeable progress on the data collection. We will continue to analyze Morgan’s data as the program goes on.

Podcasts and Planning

Since Colette was unable to record the Mako’s podcast yesterday due to data collection for her individual project, Derek and Kay split us up into 2 different breakout rooms. The Makos worked on the recording, while the Bottlenose Dolphins planned for future outreach projects.

The Bottlenose Dolphins researched and found different topics and media to spread awareness of environmental issues. Our ultimate goal, create a page on the Salish Sea Sciences website with podcasts and artwork on environmental conservation. Stay tuned for future developments!

In the meantime, please enjoy this podcast from the Bottlenose Dolphins on A Decade After Deepwater, the documentary we had the fortune of seeing before it was released! Click on the link or search for A Decade After Deepwater Review on Spotify.

By Anders, Colette, and Julia

Earwigs … 

If you’re like us, you might hear the word earwig and feel a chill rise up your spine. Earwigs are generally despised and often regarded as pests. However, to the very few, the thought of Earwigs prompts nothing more than excitement.

Introducing… Dr. Vikram Iyengar!

Dr. Iyengar is a busy biology professor at Villanova University, having devoted the past few years to studying Maritime Earwigs (Anisolabis maritima) and all their many secrets. 

Today, he taught us about his adventures researching the sexual dimorphism present in these insects. Through his work, he’s analyzed the sexual preferences and aggression of these unexpected creatures. During mating season, sexual tensions between males and females turn especially strange; occasionally entailing jousts with forceps and often triggering wholesome mother-offspring cannibalism. Watch your fingers

Mysterious Remains

Luckily we were all able to spend some individual time today with Derek and Kay to discuss our research projects. While Julia hopes to explore abandoned buildings, Colette enjoys a muddy sludge through Chatfield reservoir. We are all now finalizing our research questions and should soon be collecting data. 

Colette, already with one foot in the door of her research project, had to leave for a couple of hours to collect data at the reservoir she’s been working at. While her data collection may not have been as fruitful as she expected, she picked up something pretty interesting on the way.

Back in the Zoom call, Colette presented what appeared to be some sort of skull. Everyone pondered at the bone through the screen. Educated guesses ranged from fish to deer. Nevertheless, our search results never matched the artifact…

(If you’d like to take a guess yourself, take a look at the photo below, or if you’d rather just skip to the answer feel free to scroll to the bottom)

Today was another jam-packed adventure. With individual projects now in full swing, we couldn’t be more excited. In the end, it seems as though a lot of awesome science originates from some pretty gross things. I suppose the answer is: both.

Turns out, the mysterious skull wasn’t a skull at all! Anders exclaimed that it must be a synsacrum—which according to dictionary.com, is “a dorsal ridge of bone in the pelvic region of birds”. Nevermind the skull, this was some breastplate of a bird. Though the question still remains who it belongs to.

By: Naomi, Ashley, and Jesse

On our own

When we started our journey two weeks ago, we were just a group of six teenagers excited to learn, and we had no idea what was in store for us. Throughout the past seven labs, we have learned about different topics and practiced skills that we will carry with us throughout our science careers. Today we took on Lab 8.

Lab 8, our final lab of the week, was different from labs we’ve conducted before. Derek and Kay’s lab guidance has prepared us for today’s challenge. It was time to create and conduct our own data collection labs. Our only help, a google doc template, and partners! From ice melting to grass biodiversity, our class studiously and efficiently conducted our individual experiments over the next few hours.

Bea!

After 3 ½ hours of data collection, lab conducting, and lunch, we were greeted by Bea Grauman-Boss, our guest lecturer for today. Bea researches marine biology, cancer treatments, and more. When Bea went to Cambridge University, her professor told her to try everything. From MIT research to sand dollar larvae cloning, Bea has done it all!

Bea started off by introducing us to the rabbit overpopulation on San Juan Island and the impact they have on the Yellow Marble Butterflies (Euchloe hyantis).

While you might think that marine biology and pancreatic cancer have nothing in common, Bea – and now us – would beg to differ. Bea’s research in sand dollar larvae growth development and cloning placed her on her current path, developing cancer treatment. While she never thought of ending up doing this, Bea is so happy to be in her current position.

The end of week two!

To conclude the day we all took 5 minutes to discuss and expand our own ideas for potential projects. Each of us came up with excellent research questions and plans for pilot testing this weekend. Our discussion helped us through our ideas and ways we could find data around our neighborhoods. 

At the end of the week, we reflected on how quickly week 2 flew by (even when compared to week 1)! Although there are definitely restraints to working online, we have made the most of this situation and can’t wait to begin our projects.

By Anders, Colette, and Julia

Where do you come from? 

For most of us, this question probably isn’t all that hard to answer. You might respond, “I’m from Seattle” or maybe “I have some Scandinavian heritage”.

However, when asked to think back even further, things start to get a little complicated. 

When posed with this idea, our minds began to race. Did we come from outer space? How closely related am I to a nudibranch? Where do I even start?

It’s easy to get overwhelmed when tracing back to our prehistoric ancestors. Fortunately for us, we had some help to get us through this subject; none other than Dr. Billie Swalla, an expert in marine genomics. 

Dr. Swalla taught us about her lifelong career studying ascidian embryos. Besides their beautiful features as adults, ascidians stand out due to their interesting larval characteristics. At the time of Dr. Swalla’s first introduction to the species, it seemed as though this creature could hold the key to discovering the common ancestor between vertebrates and invertebrates.

Below is an ascidian. And below that is also an ascidian (otherwise known as a Sea Squirt).

Dr. Swalla taught us about her lifelong career studying ascidian embryos. Besides their beautiful features as adults, ascidians stand out due to their interesting larval characteristics. At the time of Dr. Swalla’s first introduction to the species, it seemed as though this creature could hold the key to discovering the common ancestor between vertebrates and invertebrates.

Each organism begins its life as a larva, with its larval appearance bearing almost no resemblance to its adult form. As a larva, the ascidian spends no more than 12 hours in the water column, all the while searching for a place on the seafloor to metamorphosize. 

Dr. Swalla has spent years behind microscopes, constantly working to unearth new knowledge about these animals. Through her experience, she’s explored the body plan of ascidians, using her studies to build a better understanding of how complex body structures (like those of vertebrates) have evolved.

We are so fortunate to have spoken with Dr. Swalla today! From her words, we learned not only about our closest invertebrate relatives (ascidians) but also of the great importance of following one’s passion. Always remember, if you come across an ascidian in the ocean, just know they’re practically family! 

Transect Time!

Excited to keep active in the afternoon, we all trekked to local parks and green spaces to collect some environmental data. While we’re sure we’d prefer to be at Friday Harbor Labs working by the Salish Sea, it’s still great practice to test our transect skills around our own homes. Each one of us ventured into the great outdoors and rolled out 30 meters of measuring tape; using our quadrats to record the substrate every 5 meters. There is no doubt in our minds that passerbys thought we were crazy. We recorded everything from concrete to animal waste. 

While at times it’s a bummer to be so far apart, our geographical distance certainly comes with its benefits. Each location produced distinct data sets: while some of us dealt with tarantulas and snakes, others enjoyed relaxing parks and the comfort of sidewalks. It made for a very interesting afternoon. No matter where you are, there is always something new to discover. There are so many ways to connect with your surroundings and appreciate the natural world around you.

Get out and explore! 

By Naomi, Ashley, and Jesse

We all know about the current pandemic facing the human race today. But what we don’t know about are the pandemics that are evolving below the surface. 

Morgan Eisenlord from the Friday Harbor Labs enlightened us on one of the many major diseases facing our marine creatures today. The eelgrass wasting disease, not dissimilar to the sunflower sea star wasting disease, eats away at eelgrass plants throughout the Salish Seas.

Morgan discussed the labs she conducted to determine if increased water temperature is an eelgrass wasting disease trigger. She showed us pictures of infected and healthy eelgrass and demonstrated how, using Image J, we could find the area of a disease lesion.

Earlier that morning, we, the Bottlenose Dolphins, introduced Dr. Dobkowski, a phycologist and visiting assistant professor at Bates College. The seaweed expert described the various research systems that she uses in order to conduct different macroalgal labs. One of these techniques involved using a combination of transects and quadrats in order to measure kelp abundance in different intertidal terrains. Her research demonstrated that there is less kelp diversity in the wave-exposed cobble zone due to environmental pressures such as solar and tidal.

Before she said goodbye, she discussed her lab feeding research on kelp crabs. Her main goal was to determine the crabs’ feeding preferences. Dr. Dobkowski conducted an experiment measuring the amount of three types of kelp eaten by the crabs in the lab. From this experiment and many others, she was able to deduce that a kelp crab diet consists of bull kelp, sea snails, and sargassum.

After listening to Dr. Dobkowski’s presentation, we moved on to finishing Kay’s presentation from yesterday. Kay finally showed us the results of her butterflyfish research! She explained how she used linear regression, T-tests, and ANOVA to demonstrate butterflyfish behavior. By comparing the two reef sites where she conducted her research she found that aggression was less common in the degraded reef compared to the healthy reef.

After a long day of lectures and lesions, we received a quick blogging lesson from Caroline to wrap up the day. She showed us ways that we could liven our future blogs. Let’s see if you can notice any of the changes!

By Anders, Colette, and Julia

**Broadcasting from Team Mako…

Today was packed, but fortunately started off a little slower than yesterday, leaving us with some much needed time to get going.

After our daily knot, it was time to sit down and learn about Kay’s past research. Using some Google Slides templates, we began the process of creating a field guide for our home environments. Next up, we learned all about “do it yourself”, or DIY, data collection methods from Kay as she showed us what her research experience has taught her. She provided examples that showed us how to make cheap, DIY alternatives to expensive scientific tools. Fortunately for our wallets, marine science is very accessible. Oftentimes, expensive equipment can be replaced by common – sense creations. 

After lunch, we had the awesome opportunity to meet Liz Smith, a scientist and filmmaker with experience in many different fields. Having studied and worked in the field of scientific communication, Liz taught us all about her work as both an independent contractor and NASA employee. We were also extremely grateful to be selected as one of the very few groups to view Liz’s newest film, YOUTH v. GOV. With confidentiality in mind, let’s just say… Wow! If we were to sum up the film in one word, it would be Empowering.

After we had all taken the time to view the documentary, we wrote about our thoughts in a short survey. This was a nice way to debrief what we learned and to provide critical feedback for the production and editing teams. It’s crazy to know that our feedback is helping to create what we hope will be the next big documentary!

We reconnected on zoom to discuss our feelings about the film with Producer Liz Smith. Both team Mako and team Bottlenose Dolphins voiced the inspiration we felt and agreed that we all had an overwhelming urge to make our voices heard. Every voice counts, and if anything is going to make a difference in this critical time, it’s the youth. Whether it’s by protesting, signing petitions, or creating posters: all efforts are critical during this global fight for climate justice.