{"id":6919,"date":"2021-06-30T05:41:55","date_gmt":"2021-06-30T05:41:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/salishseasciences.org\/blog\/?p=6919"},"modified":"2021-07-29T21:37:20","modified_gmt":"2021-07-29T21:37:20","slug":"day-10-seals-and-mountains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/salishseasciences.org\/blog\/day-10-seals-and-mountains\/","title":{"rendered":"Day 9: Seals and Mountains"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

We woke up excited and got quickly on the move. Today we had the amazing opportunity to observe a necropsy. The San Juan County Marine Mammal Stranding Network (SJCMMSN)<\/a>, based at Friday Harbor\u2019s Whale Museum, had found two harbor seal pups and would be working on them on the table this morning in collaboration with Dr. Joseph Gaydos, wildlife veterinarian and Chief Scientist for the SeaDoc Society, flagship program of the Karen C. Drayer Wildlife Health Center <\/a>at the world-famous UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. We received the signed book written by Dr. Gaydos and Audrey Benedict, The Salish Sea: Jewel of the Pacific Northwest<\/a>, as a welcome gift when we were accepted to the Salish Sea Sciences Marine Field & Lab Research program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The summer months in the Salish Sea are also seal pupping season. Around this time, mother seals give birth to their babies who begin their journey in the ocean. Unfortunately, about half of the pups never make it to adulthood as harbor seals have reached their carrying capacity in the area. This results in more seal pup deaths which the SJCMMSN performs necropsies on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The goal of the scientists in this setting is to try to determine the cause of death of these baby seals. Data they collect from the necropsies can be used to create effective policy to better protect marine mammals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cohort wasn\u2019t sure what to expect upon arrival. Would the body smell? Would people get sick? Would it be super gross? Perched on the dock looking below, we all wondered. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before they cut open the first animal, we were invited down to the table to touch the dead seal pup\u2014with gloves of course! Feeling an intelligent animal you\u2019ve only seen from afar is a special experience that cannot be replaced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Things did get pretty graphic, but the group handled it pretty well. We left the ideas of grossness behind and delved into exceptional science and anatomy questions. The whole experience was thrilling. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They can\u2019t be certain the exact cause of death from just the necrosy, but guesses were made. The next step in the process is to send the samples they collected down to a university in Florida for further examination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, we can\u2019t post photos from the necropsies, per the advice of the scientists. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After our time at Friday Harbor Labs was up, we headed to Argyle Lagoon to study detrital composition . There we had a quick lunch and met up with marine ecologist Dr. Eliza Heery<\/a>, the MarineGEO Hogan Postdoctoral Scholar for Salish Sea Research. Marine Global Earth Observatory (MarineGEO)<\/a>, directed by the Smithsonian\u2019s Tennenbaum Marine Observatories Network (TMON), is “a global network of partners focused on understanding how coastal marine ecosystems work\u2014and how to keep them working.” Dr. Heery taught us about detrital decomposition and graciously let us help her set up devices to measure sediment microbiomes.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The survey hopes to test the hypothesis that eutrophication reduces carbon storage and increases the rate of decomposition. This can vary the microbial biodiversity of a body of water, which are essential to ecosystems. The survey also serves to measure the link between climate change and water quality. To measure this, devices made up of rebar, pvc pipes, zip-ties and tea bags had to be inserted into the sediment, under about a meter of water. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Excited to help out with these surveys that are taking place all around the world, our entire cohort waded into the  cold water without complaint. We buried the devices in the sand and are looking forward to seeing the results of the surveys. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After we were thoroughly soaked, we jumped back into the van and headed back to the dorms. Once we hosed off our equipment and boots, we all settled down to learn about our upcoming canoe trip from Caroline. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We will be splitting up into two groups in the coming days to either set off on a canoe voyage to Turn Island or to stay in Friday Harbor and work on our independent projects. All of group one (including the authors of this blog) are really excited to head out on our trip!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For a picnic dinner we took an adventure to the ridge of the Mount Grant Preserve<\/a>, 250 acres diverse forest, woodlands, meadows and incredible view, where we had a great talk with Doug McCutchen about the work that he does with the San Juan County Land Bank<\/a>. The Preserve is managed in collaboration between the Land Bank and the San Juan Preservation Trust<\/a>. Doug talked to us about the process and work they put into conserving land in the islands.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wow! Us standing on Mount Grant! – Photo taken by Estevan Torres<\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We woke up excited and got quickly on the move. Today we had the amazing opportunity to observe a necropsy. The San Juan County Marine Mammal Stranding Network (SJCMMSN), based at Friday Harbor\u2019s Whale Museum, had found two harbor seal pups and would be working on them on the table this morning in collaboration with Dr. Joseph Gaydos, wildlife veterinarian and Chief Scientist for the SeaDoc Society, flagship program of the Karen C. Drayer Wildlife Health Center at the world-famous UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. We received the signed book written by Dr. Gaydos and Audrey Benedict, The Salish Sea: Jewel of the Pacific Northwest, as a welcome gift … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":151,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"yes"},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/salishseasciences.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6919"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/salishseasciences.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/salishseasciences.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salishseasciences.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/151"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salishseasciences.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6919"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/salishseasciences.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6919\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7146,"href":"https:\/\/salishseasciences.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6919\/revisions\/7146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/salishseasciences.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salishseasciences.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/salishseasciences.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}