{"id":7537,"date":"2023-07-15T01:13:46","date_gmt":"2023-07-15T01:13:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/salishseasciences.org\/blog\/?p=7537"},"modified":"2023-07-15T01:13:48","modified_gmt":"2023-07-15T01:13:48","slug":"surveying-algae-transects-awesome-art","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/salishseasciences.org\/blog\/surveying-algae-transects-awesome-art\/","title":{"rendered":"Surveying Algae Transects + Awesome Art"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Salutations fellow citizens of our green world, it’s the students of Salish Sea Sciences writing yet another blog. Today was yet another eventful and action-packed day for us. The day started off a little early with a 6:30 wake-up call that I could only describe as harrowing for many of us tired teenagers. Despite this momentary challenge, we were all able to push through and commence our first activity of the day. We drove over to Cattle Point where we rendezvoused with Dr. Dobkowski, the scientist who spoke to us the night prior. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The wonderful Katie, decked out in her FHL swag as many of us are now too !<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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A beautiful view of the start of Cattle Point at a nice and early 8 am<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The primary goal of our Cattle Point expedition was to survey different squares filled with algae within a medium-sized grid called a transect. We used data sheets to record which species of algae we could identify and the general percentage of each square they covered along 4 different sections of the beach. The explanation I’m writing probably doesn’t do an adequate job of explaining the process, but the general idea was simply that we were helping Dr. Dobkowski collect data on species diversity in different locations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Finlee proving to everyone just how qualified (and excited !!) we were to be doing research with professionals<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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My wonderful and experienced research partner Khadija demonstrated extreme professionalism in the field<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Me reallyyyyyyyy excited over a tiny crab kelp I found !! photo creds to Maddie \ud83d\ude42<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The squad doing as the squad does: absolutely crushing it out in the field<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

On our walks along the shore from site to site we also encountered some pretty cool creatures in the tidepools. Some of us even saw a fuzzy-looking nudibranch chilling in some grass. Overall, it was a pretty busy morning but it was also a good introduction to the kind of field work that marine biologists do to determine the health of an ecosystem. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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One of the creatures: Tommy getting in his daily hours of staring off into the distance longingly<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n