This past semester (Spring '22) I participated in the Marianist exchange program, which allows students at the University of Dayton to study for a semester or two at our sister institution, Chaminade University, for the same tuition price. I am extremely grateful to our global Marianist family for this opportunity. I made good friends, explored mountains and coral reefs, and got a deeper sense of the natural, cultural and political history of Hawai'i. Settling inWhen I arrived at Honolulu I was immediately greeted by my close friend Kristina. We met freshman year when we were paired together as lab partners in general chemistry. The amazing thing is, she came all the way to Ohio from her home on O'ahu! It was surreal to finally meet her 'Ohana in person, rather than over facetime. They helped me get completely settled, fed me a great dinner, took me grocery shopping, and let me explore some of the city from the bed of their truck (its legal here in Hawai'i!). I felt very much at home thanks to their Aloha spirit. Once at my apartment, I had a while to wait until I got to meet most of my classmates. Our first three weeks of class were virtual due to smart COVID precautions. However, we still had an informative and interactive welcome week thanks to the hard work of OSAL and Resident life. Below: the view from the library was always beautiful. Lots of adventuresIn those early days before in person classes, I spent a lot of time on the beach. Usually I would go to Waikīkī, Waiʻalae beach park, or Kuilei Cliffs (which my classmates and I actually volunteered at later in the semester!). Throughout the semester I went on weekly hikes. There were a lot of good places thanks to the two mountain ranges on the island. Despite the virtual nature of the first part of classes, I still got to cheer on the Silversword women's basketball team and join a few clubs, namely Surfrider and Lumana’i O Samoa (LOS), which I will discuss later in the blog. There was an astonishing abundance of plant life on campus. The plumeria trees were my favorite, they smelled amazing and it was fun to put one in my hair from time to time. My Volunteer Position at Waikīkī AquariumAbout The Place Early on, I began volunteering at the aquarium. First, let me give you a sense of how special this place is. The Waikīkī Aquarium is 118 years old, making it the second oldest in the United States. Therefore, it has quite an interesting history, which I suggest you check out here. One of my favorite things about the aquarium is its corals: nearly every coral in the aquarium is a real, live animal. This is an accomplishment, most of the world's aquariums use many fake corals in the exhibit due to the difficulty of maintaining the animal's health in artificial light. Much of the light in Waikīkī aquarium is natural - straight from a glass roof. Even more amazing is the coral research they are involved in. I personally am impressed by the “Coral Ark” started in 2004 to house rare Hawaiian corals. Read more about their coral initiatives here. On top of the rich history of the aquarium, the people involved there are even more impressive. As a community based institution, much of its manpower is made up of volunteers, with people of all ages and life experiences working together to share a mutual love of the ocean. There is also dedicated staff which takes excellent care of all of the plants and animals, everyone really goes the extra mile to make this place a home for joy and discovery.
As an "Aquarium Activator", I prepped and facilitated crafting activities which engaged children in something they may have seen or learned during their stay. For the arrival of our Whitetip reef sharks, kids learned about the 8 different fins the shark has, and made a first dorsal fin to wear themselves. When prepping the fins, I noticed something that reminded me about the beauty of form and function in aquatic animals. When opening the leftover sharkfin paper, I saw a Ray, or a Skate shape! As I said, the volunteers and staff were such a joy to work with. This is Char, a former art teacher turned interior stager. I loved sitting with her, just talking and creating with the kids.
The Aquarium's 118 birthday was some-fin special. Click here to see just a taste of how much fun we had! There were lots of craft tables to help with, and there was a table showcasing ancient Hawaiian tools, weapons and drums, many of which relied on shark skin and teeth. My favorite classes: Advanced Marine Environmental Science, Environmental Ethics, and Current Issues in Surf StudiesAdvanced Marine Environmental Science taught by Dr.Lupita Ruiz-Jones is one of the main reasons I wanted to have this exchange experience. Her labs were amazing, and solidly grounded in community work. We mainly assisted in the restoration of two sites, an ancient turtle pond we called Pahonu, and an old community fish pond we called Paiko. On the farthest right, Kumu Kimeona leads us in an exercise which will strengthen our Kilo, or skills of observation. He was out there with us every other week, showing us how we can assist with the efforts of Waimanalo Limu Hui. We collected temperature data, identified plant and animal life, attempted to re-seed limu, and documented the biodiversity of the nearby reefs. Our second site was Kalauha`iha`i, fishpond, aka Paiko. We worked with Uncle Chris to asses the damage done by the construction of the nearby highway, which broke the lava tube that used to bring freshwater to the briny pond. We monitored temperature, pH, and documented the plant and animal life. We also removed invasive species such as tilapia and Haole Koa, and threw helpful bacteria into the pond so that the microbes could eat the excessive buildup of decaying matter. Environmental Ethics with Sr.Malia gave me the most inner-peace I have had in a long time. I was expecting to be riddled with impossible moral issues about the climate crises, stressed after every lesson. Instead, I was given assorted tools to work through the ethical implications of solving environmental issues, and found a deeper connection with the land and people around me. Whether it was a delightful three hour mediation with a forest-dwelling Buddhist monk, a lesson about La’au Lapa’au, or a discussion on the history of Mānoa Valley, we learned so much in an interactive way. This class is also where I met my friend Lucy Lee, you should learn more about her work with the Polynesian Voyaging Society here. Our classmate who interned at the center explains the significance of the Kūkaʻōʻō Heiau, an ancient temple. Read more about it here. One of our assignments was to participate in a community art project. I became friends with Jun, the resident artist leading the project alongside Sensei Oishi, the ceramics professor. Her concept of "Symphony" was beautiful and the work of so many hands (and a few paws) was powerful. Another project I did was under the guidance of retired professor Yukio Ozaki. After he guest lectured and introduced my class to Ikebana, I knew I wanted to learn more from him. He was kind enough to meet me outside of class and teach me how to carve lava rock. Well, first he taught me how to find the correct rock for a beginner. It needed to feel soft, with lots of holes, and light in your hand. Then he taught me how to grind and carve. I made a work inspired by my favorite banyan tree on campus. Inspired is the key word here: one of the first things he taught me was that the rock will do what it wants, not necessarily what I want it to do. I really enjoyed getting to know the art form and Yukio himself, he has lived an interesting life. I woke up early on the spring equinox to see the sunrise over Kūkaʻōʻō Heiau with the art professors before helping them to set up an exhibit. It was a thrilling morning. SURF 480, or "Current Issues in Surf" taught by Prof. James Kraus (former publisher of Hawai'i Surf & Sea magazine) introduced me to a myriad of topics surrounding the sport including issues facing women and native Hawaiian athletes. I also had the privilege of meeting the ONE AND ONLY Banzai Betty and took a few surf lessons from big wave rider Carol Philips. My final group project was a small collection of interviews from her and other local women surfers.
School and Community EngagementIt was important for me to give back during my stay on the island. By joining in on beach clean ups, assisting in Dr. Gail Grabowsky's cat project, participating in a community Huki with Mālama Maunalua and more, I got to use my free time wisely and have fun while doing it.
Below you see Alex from Mālama Maunalua leading in a community effort to remove invasive limu. It is important to remove this algae because it harms the coral reefs, essentially growing so much it chokes out the reef, as well as changes the microbiology of the environment. Read more about that here. My favorite part of this entire semester was joining Lumana’i O Samoa (LOS). My friend Alycia Tausaga was president of the club and invited me to join. I practiced with them almost every day for a month or so, laughed a lot, and learned about not only Samoan culture, but a few Micronesian island cultures as well as it was not a requirement (obviously) to be Samoan to join the club and many of the members were from places such as Kosrae and Chuuk. They were all incredibly fun to be around and welcoming. Preforming with them at the International Extravaganza was very exciting. We went out for a nice farewell dinner at Bucca di Beppo, but I hope to say Talofa to them again soon. “O le Ala i le Pule o le Tautua” (The Pathway to Leadership is through Service) Going to the Hawai‘i State Art Museum was a lovely experience. It was a great time to visit, thanks to the Hawai‘i Triennial 2022 (HT22), I went to many places free of charge: Foster Botanical gardens, the Bishop Museum, Iolani Palace... I learned so much from each experience. Those places were definitely a big part of forming my understanding of the history and culture of Hawai'i and neighboring Polynesian islands. This is the MUCH wetter Kalo patch I mentioned earlier. Before you do anything else, read this short story about the plant here. The experience put together by Chaminade student life was called "Put Your Hands to the Land: Kākoʻo ʻŌiwi Loʻi Kalo". We learned from Chaminade alumnus Kaipo Leopoldino ‘14 about how to cultivate Kalo and the many stories of the surrounding land. The Great OutdoorsThe Kalo story leads us well into the next segment of this blog: I was outside as much as possible during my stay. Whether it was hiking or snorkeling, every single week my friends and I found a new place to explore. My favorite kind of hikes were the ones that took us so high up, we could literally feel the moisture of the clouds as they crashed into the side of the mountain. I loved experiencing that part of the island's water cycle, so up close! Intertidal zones- everyone's favorite, right? Every nook and cranny has something interesting, especially in the many holes of the lava rocks. Snails, urchins, maybe even a Zebra Blenny or a small Moray eel... Makapu'u had wonderful pools. There were lots of interesting epiphytes, or plants that grow on the surface of another plant. Koko Crater was not for the faint of heart. The story behind the mountain and its connection to Pele and Kamapua'a is intriguing though. Discretion is advised, if you do decide to look up that story.
I saw Monk seals napping fairly frequently on Waikiki beach. HMAR does a good job of making sure people stay away and give these animals the space they deserve. This is a photo of Benny, and old Monk seal who sadly passed recently.
Making New FriendsThis was an extremely important part of my experience. The people really made this past semester all the good that it was.
From left to right: James, Kobe, and Noah. These guys made me laugh a lot in our Marine lab. I especially enjoyed hearing stories about Kobe's childhood growing up in Palau. Palau is at the forefront of the fight to protect our oceans, with a marine protected area that spans larger than the state of California. This is Laura Fan and I, doing what we did best: talking while eating amazing food. I met Laura on the bus early in the semester while heading to my aquarium shift. She sat down next to me, I said hello, she saw my aquarium uniform and asked me what it was like to be a volunteer there. We instantly connected, talking the whole bus ride about her work as a food historian and my hopes to become a marine biologist. Her father was a geologist at UH Mānoa, and therefore, Laura has a lot of friends involved the sciences on the island. Namely, she wanted me to meet her friend Patty Lee. I was happy to, and we exchanged information and agreed to meet the next week at Patty's church. We had dinner after mass with Patty and her husband Danny, and had a wonderful time getting to know each other. I really enjoyed Patty's fossil collection, especially the ones she had from the Cambrian era. Danny was an amazing cook. We got together a few more times that semester. Laura would meet me at great restaurants and help me think through graduate school and life in academia. She has become a great mentor for me. Patty has been immensely helpful as well, as a retired UH Manoa instructor and current philanthropist, she had lots of advice for me in regards to preparing for grad school. Patty also helped to make O'ahu feel like home by having me over for Easter Sunday with her family. Laura, Patty and Danny were a huge part of my stay on the island and I am so grateful for all they have done for me. This is Keiko Wilkins, M.S.. I met her through the Ocean Sciences Meeting I attended virtually that spring. She is a PhD student at UH Mānoa studying corals and their interactions with microplastics. She met with me a few times to mentor me, and we also had fun exploring Plantoem, a cool plant store/cafe which hosts community poetry nights. Learn more about my time with Keiko here, her linked in is connected to that post as well if you wish to follow her work (you totally should!). I am so thankful for her time and sage advice. I would like to end with one last story. The man on the far right is Kumu Keahi. He works at the Hawai'i state capital, but I met him at the Bishop Museum when he was guest lecturing for my ethics class. He was saying some really powerful stuff about the importance of land, name, and vocation. We got to talking and he invited me to go on a hike with him before I headed back to Ohio. He also wanted me to meet Aric, one of his interns at the Hawai'i state capital, who had been on exchange from UD like me back in early 2020 but then just didn't go home because he loved it so much on the island. (Aric is in the coral tank). We all went to the ridge hike around Hanauma Bay, and had the best time just enjoying nature with friends.
All in all, this past semester was full of experiences that I will hold dear. It strengthened my drive to become a Marine Scientist, as well as my passion for working alongside coastal communities. Mahalo nui loa for reading. :)
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Good News! I have just received the |
Tortoise BeetleWEEVIL! I think they are so cute.Don't let their long snout fool you: these are not Hemiptera, or true bugs (which typically have a sucking mouth part). Weevils are actually beetles, at the end of that snout are mandibles, or the chewing mouthparts typical of Coleopteran. LOOK AT THIS FLY!To the right of this is an image of a fly that completely perplexed the lab: I found only two of them in the samples; a fly with a unified, or some sort of false wing! Kind of messes with the whole "Diptera" name, huh? (Di means 2, ptera means wing) I am still not sure exactly what is happening here. | Assassin BugHard to mistake the Hemipteran mouth part here! Assassin bugs coat their legs with sticky plant resins to catch prey. |
Other Good River Steward Moments
Learn more about Dayton's history of Redlining with this great video series.
Park clean up!! How old do you think this shoe is???
Honored to visit SunWatch Village and hear from community partner, Native American activist, Hunkpapa Lakota Elder and member of the Standing Rock Sioux Nation, Guy Jones.
My brother and I's 21st Birthday
We spent it playing dominos, listening to good music, laughing and eating good food with our family... It was such a special day. Pictured below, we are using my Grandpa's telescope stand as a table. You can see his astrophotography here, he is entirely self taught.
Class highlights
I loved my Biology of Rivers and Lakes class! It was primarily about ecotoxicology, which is a cool science that intersects ecology, chemistry, physics, geology, you name it. Here is a graphic describing the Biotic Ligand Model, which you can read more about here but is basically a way to understand how bioavailable metals interact with a biotic ligand, such as the surface of a gill, depending on what else is in the water that those metals could interact with. (image from https://www.cremazylab.com/research)
I spent a lot of time with my physics study group: we would have some fun, too. The board says "Taking over the world with physics", we had to hype ourselves up. We all ended up doing just fine in the class.
Swan Song
Ok, so it's not actually my swan song- I will be back with these bands next semester. However, I normally would sing in the spring as well: I just knew at this point that I made it into the Marianist Exchange program and would be studying at Chaminade this semester!
Monday-Wednesday (August 2nd-4th)
My last run in the marsh, both literally and figuratively. I went for a run, but these were also my last few days at Haskin Shellfish Research Laboratory. I spent that time taking some last minute pictures for my poster that showcase P.marinus cultures (using a really cool microscope that connected to a computer screen and HD camera so I could take the pictures), packed up my life from the last few months and hung out on the dock one last time. We also celebrated fellow intern Joe Nichols and his well-timed 21st birthday.
Thursday (August 5th)Made the drive to New Brunswick, my first time at the Rutgers main campus. The drive was fine, just typical of Jersey I would say. The Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences building was amazing, I loved touring the research posters and artwork in there. We settled into a very nice place thanks to the RIOS administrators. Read about the history of the University Inn here. We also had dinner together with all of the other RIOS interns who were not based at Haskin. |
Friday (August 6th....the last day...)
Presentations began in the morning. We each had a 5 min oral pitch to a panel of three judges. There was a poster session afterward where faculty, family and friends could browse all the great work the was done over the summer. I was blessed to be chosen as one of the top 3 presenters to be funded by ASLO to present in the Ocean Sciences Meeting 2022 (hence the cute ribbon on the corner my poster in the image of me speaking with Dr.Ximing Guo below).
I know that my success rests heavily on all of the help from the Haskin staff and the RIOS administrators. Someone was always there for me to bounce off ideas and answer questions. Dr.Dave Bushek, Heidi Yeh, and Elizabeth Bouchard were especially instrumental in preparing me for the presentation. I am so excited to present again this march at OSM 2022!!
I know that my success rests heavily on all of the help from the Haskin staff and the RIOS administrators. Someone was always there for me to bounce off ideas and answer questions. Dr.Dave Bushek, Heidi Yeh, and Elizabeth Bouchard were especially instrumental in preparing me for the presentation. I am so excited to present again this march at OSM 2022!!
Well, I guess that wraps up my REU experience. It's difficult to put into words how much this summer means to me. It made me feel absolutely solidified in my dreams for my career/vocational path. I loved the research, the exploration of new ideas and new places, the experience of working on a team, and especially the experience of working at a field station. Living in the ecosystem I was studying taught me so much and made the experience a lot richer.
If you are considering applying for an REU, please do, and reach out if you have questions or need help. I applied to 11 and got into 1, so its a bit of a scary process, but being ok with rejection is also a good skill to have because it makes you more persistent with your efforts. You can learn more about yourself and how you can improve in that process, too. Consistence is the key!
I hope to be posting more on my blog soon to catch you up on my Junior year, thank you for following along thus far. :)
If you are considering applying for an REU, please do, and reach out if you have questions or need help. I applied to 11 and got into 1, so its a bit of a scary process, but being ok with rejection is also a good skill to have because it makes you more persistent with your efforts. You can learn more about yourself and how you can improve in that process, too. Consistence is the key!
I hope to be posting more on my blog soon to catch you up on my Junior year, thank you for following along thus far. :)
Monday (July 26th)
It was on this morning that I tragically finished reading David Copperfield. I have a set of Harvard classics that my uncle gave me and I started Copperfield the summer before. I got about halfway and then forgot about it, but I returned to that world while I was at Haskin. I would read it every morning with some yogurt and coffee...it was nice. I recommend the book, its oddly comedic. The rest of the day I read RFTMs.
RFTM slide- this was a pretty sick oyster. See earlier posts for more on what this is or read this.
Tuesday (July 27th)
Most of this day was spent at the AIC using the Coulter counter to analyze the results of my culture fever study. Its a little cold in there, but I always had a good time because the people who work there are fun to talk to. It was interesting just hearing about what they were all up to: algae can be quite fickle to cultivate but they do a great job.
Wednesday (July 28th)
This day was spent cleaning all of my equipment that I had used over the summer and putting it back into storage, analyzing data, poster drafting, going to a farmer's market and trying canned oysters. It was a goal of mine to try oysters prepared in many different ways: soup, raw, fried, canned... canned was my least favorite I must admit.
For anyone who is looking for long term waterproof temperature and light sensors, I highly recommend HOBO!
Thursday (July 29th)
As I said, at this point it was crunch time... I don't really have photos from this week because a lot of it was spent on the computer getting ready for my presentation. I did some meal prep though. Cooking is definitely a stress reliever for me.
Friday (July 30th)
Today I read some RFTMS and also helped Jenn process some oysters. We found a big cluster of them, its kinda fun to figure out where one ends and another begins. I also did some small paintings of pea crabs and polychaetas that I put on thank you cards later when I said my goodbyes.
Oyster rectums that have been incubating for a week in the dark, stained with iodine and squished. Pretty attractive, huh?
How many oysters can you count? Comment your answer.
The Weekend (July 31st-August1st)
This was my last weekend in Port Norris, a sad milestone to be sure. We went to the Maurice River Diner one last time, I played with the microscope some more, I made my thank you cards, and we all scratched our heads together about how to code using R.
Monday (July 19th)
THIS WAS SUCH A BIG DAY! This was the day when I sacrificed my oysters post fever treatment, the day the answers would finally start to come in... the day I had been waiting for all this time.
As you can see: the oysters are laid out by treatment and bay. Pictured are the control/unheated oysters. Again, notice the size difference due to the varying salinities and temperatures they grew up in.
I ended the day hanging out with Elizabeth as she was in the middle of sorting through her samples from her own project on the dissecting scope. Saw lots of neat segmented worms, which by the way, if you don't know much about the segmented worm body plan I highly recommend checking this out. They are actually quite complex.
Below is drawing I did to unwind, a mixing of two worlds: my partner was in Utah at the time while I was by the sea, so I drew those two systems together.
Below is drawing I did to unwind, a mixing of two worlds: my partner was in Utah at the time while I was by the sea, so I drew those two systems together.
Tuesday (July 20th)
This was another amazing day (those tend to happen at Haskin...)
Dr.Monroe invited me to assist on her research vessel for a day of oyster larvae hunting. We went all over the bay, carefully using a net and varying filters to remove debris so that we could get clear images of the microscopic life in the seawater. Now this is going to blow your mind: watch this video to see what we used to identify the particles in our water samples. Flow Imaging Microscopy is just beyond cool.
Dr.Monroe invited me to assist on her research vessel for a day of oyster larvae hunting. We went all over the bay, carefully using a net and varying filters to remove debris so that we could get clear images of the microscopic life in the seawater. Now this is going to blow your mind: watch this video to see what we used to identify the particles in our water samples. Flow Imaging Microscopy is just beyond cool.
I love Hannah and Alex, and I miss moments like this. Hannah is holding the timer to make sure we collect water from the bay the same way each time, Alex is holding the plankton net and I am holding the hose that pumps water from the bay. There was definitely a process and we had to make sure to keep it uniform as we sampled many times throughout the bay. I get sea sick pretty easily, but Dr.Monroe does too and she told me that its ok, I didn't choose the wrong career path, I just need to stock up on ginger and Dramamine.
Wednesday and Thursday (July 21st-22nd)
These days were more or less the same. A problem I was trying to figure out was how to combat the drop in temperature of my oven whenever the oysters would be put in. Months later, this oven experiment was entirely redone by Heidi. We learned that in order to heat oysters in an oven at a consistent temperature, we needed to add lots of rocks to help maintain thermal inertia.
On these days I also was preparing my data, trying to learn R somewhat, trying to clean up any remnants of past experiments, etc.
On these days I also was preparing my data, trying to learn R somewhat, trying to clean up any remnants of past experiments, etc.
Yup: things were getting real!! Oh, also, a ciliate was eating some of the P.marinus that I had in non-sterile seawater (the cultures I was playing with to try and figure out their behavior in salt wedges, see more in earlier posts).
Friday (July 23rd)
The day started by exploring Joe's pet project: husbandry. You cant really see him, but Benny the Blenny is hiding under that arch.
It was a nice day, so Dr.Bushek treated us to a boat ride. I even got to steer it for a little. I was a natural.
We passed the A.J. Meerwald.
We ended this great day by having a dorm watch party of the Olympics.
The Weekend (July 24th-25th)
Ok, let me explain something about south Jersey to you: Lots of amazing Italian food. Lots of pizza. In fact, lots of pizza places with similar names... This prompted some of the interns and I to hold the first annual "Pizza Pie-athalon" . We hit Dino's, Pino's, and Nino's pizza. We had a scoring system on a 1-10 scale for crust, cheese, and sauce (we got a single slice of cheese pizza at each place to ensure a fair game) and an extra 1-5 points could be awarded for the atmosphere of the joint. Dino's, the establishment closest to the lab, won, of course.
A polaroid at each pizza trial.
We also went to Barnegat Lighthouse. There were some beautiful tidepools there. Besides learning some more R, that was pretty much the weekend!
Monday (July 12th)
It was a fairly gray day, so I waited for the sun to come out by performing a buoyancy/salinity experiment. I took care of my cultures as I normally did at the start of each week. I would begin by diluting them, taking half of the media out and replacing it with fresh media, and then adding in a few drops of antibiotic. I would then take the old media I had pipetted out and spin it down using a swing-bucket centrifuge. Those spun down cells, or "harvested" cells, were then kept in the fridge until I decided to use them for a test. This took a decent amount of time since most of that is done under a sterile hood, but I did have time to run one test in which tried again to observe the sinking rate of the concentrated P.marinus cells.
I left the culture flasks tilted like this because Dr.Bushek has found in his past culturing endeavors that when P.marinus cells are closer together, they proliferate at a much faster rate. After the sun came out, I was able to perform my dock fever experiment.
I spent the evening painting the interns as they all watched Shark Week together.
Tuesday (July 11th)
During my time on the dock this day, I saw a dead horseshoe crab floating in the grasses. There had been quite a bit of wind and rain that night so there was lot of interesting things to look at.
An oyster rectum after week long incubation in RFTM fluid and iodine staining.
After my dock fever I read some RFTM slides, then I experimented with using a straw to release the cells into the burette during the salinity trials to see if that would take away any propulsion that would have occurred if a pipette had been used, so as to eliminate further variables when observing sinking rate. Taylor helped me to film while Rebecca worked close by on her wave sensors.
Wednesday (July 14th)
Dr.Bushek helped me perform a mortality assessment on my oysters this day, and taught me that you can somewhat determine how long an oyster has been dead by the color of its shell. The dirty one has been dead a lot longer than the white one, which makes sense.
He also helped me experiment with starting long term studies of P.marinus buoyancy by dying the cells (in this case we used food dye, in later cases we used Neutral Red), a light fixture, and slightly higher salinity seawater. Elizabeth came to check in and was very interested to help us think through it all.
I went for a run a little earlier than I usually do this day, and so the tide was super low. Its amazing to see how much the environment fluctuates. This is roughly the same spot that sunset picture from a week back was taken.
The RIOS interns treated ourselves to sushi and Ice-cream. The Ice-cream place was suggested by Emily McGurk- thank you!
I just thought the names on this menu were entertaining.
Thursday (July 15th)
Alright, so I need to provide some context here. A few weeks back, I told Dr.Bushek that I brought my guitar, and planned to jam out with some of the grad students. Not long after, an anonymous culprit wrote this on the intern white board schedule: "RIOS Rock Fest, July 15th". A weeks or so later, the words "Sold Out" were written below it. Elizabeth and I had figured it was Dr.Bushek, and so her and Rebecca made a PowerPoint presentation to celebrate Rock Fest on July 15th, complete with fun facts and a Kahoot about Rock, just in the geological sense of the word. Everyone joined on their lunch break, and it was a good laugh.
On this day, I also performed a buoyancy/salinity test involving three seawater dilutions: 21, 25, and 30ppt. I also used a highly concentrated sample of cells that had been dyed with neutral red.
There were some oysters leftover from another project at the lab that Dr.Bushek and I opportunistically salvaged, and thus, I began my third fever experiment. This experiment involved oysters all from the same bed (Middle part of the bay), exposed to a more controlled source of heat than the sun: an oven. I performed pre-exposure RFTM tissue analysis and took the dimensions of each oyster to account for any size variables.
Friday (July 16th)
Besides my dock experiment, I helped Jenn and Jenny to sort the catch from the annual oyster bed sampling. We sorted into buckets labeled with volumes, and according to four categories: cultch (broken up shell), box (intact but empty oyster shell), debris (everything else), and whole live oyster. My favorite was the Red Beard sponge. Also, Iris gave me a NJ peach!!! They don't call it the garden state for nothing, the produce is top notch out there.
Sea-Squirts/Sea Grapes and Red Beard.
The Weekend (July 17th-18th)
Ocean City, babay!!! Rebecca and I went to see my aunt, who normally resides in NY but happened to be on a beach trip. Here is a link to learn more about her, she is a renowned glass artist and I highly recommend you check her out! Elizabeth also joined us. We strolled up and down the whole boardwalk at least three times, did an escape room (we won with 4 minutes to spare!), mini-golf, and I had my first lobster roll.
Monday (July 5th)
The day started out as usual, on the dock performing my farmed fever experiment. I had been collecting blue crab parts that the seagulls would leave, I had thought of doing some sort of sculpture with them, but later on in the week while they were left outside to dry, a wind blew them over into the river and I didn't attempt to collect them again. It was still fun to look at their parts up-close without them trying to pinch me.
On this day I also performed my oven fever experiment with teh cultures, and I explored a new way to test Perkinsus marinus buoyancy. I did an experiment involving 24mL burettes filled with 20 ppt seawater. I would let Perkinsus cells which had been acclimated to 20 ppt seawater sink from the top of the burette for a certain period of time, observing its sinking rate. I would then rapidly collect the contents of the burette, mL by mL into a 24 well plate, and then observe the presence or absence of cells in each well using an inverted microscope. The goal of the experiment was just to get a closer idea of how Perkinsus might sink or move through the water to the benthic layer when it is in water that it is already acclimated to.
This is just a screenshot from a video of me practicing collecting rapidly from the burette. I wanted to see how fast I could collect each individual mL, so I used food dye and a beaker to feel it out. It took me about a minute and a half to collect accurately. This screenshot makes me laugh because as you can see I am trying to stay at eye level with the meniscus as I collect and I look very focused.
Tuesday (July 6th)
After my morning dock experiment, I had the pleasure of participating in a tour of the Bayshore Center given by curator Rachel Dolhanczyk. I had been there previously for the Friday Buck & Shuck, but I had not yet experienced all the center had to offer. We watched a few films explaining the rich history of Bivalve, which I recommend here.
One of the most special things the Bayshore Center has to offer is the AJ Meerwald and her stellar crew. Read about the exciting history of this vessel here.
Rachel showing us the different oyster bed locations in the Delaware Bay.
A mock "wanted" poster for my subject of study: Dermo. Going to this museum made me much more emotionally connected to the impacts of this disease as I was able to learn on a deeper level how it has affected the Bivalve community.
After the tour I had a training session with senior lab tech Iris Burt. She had some recently made dermo RFTM slides for me to look at under the compound microscope. To jog your memory from weeks back, RFTM tissue squash assays looks at mantle and rectum of oysters that have been incubated in growth medium for a week and then dyed with iodine to observe disease intensity on a scale of 0-5. You can read more here. Iris left some unmarked for me to figure out the 0-5 rating on my own.
Doesn't this just take your breath away? This is a scene from my evening run, just a hop skip and a jump from my dorm at the lab. Joe and I saw a wild Terrapin nesting, doing her little post-nesting happy dance. Not too far off though, were a handful of raided nests. Perhaps she didn't pick the best spot, but fingers crossed her eggs stay hidden!
Wednesday (July 7th)
This day was mostly spent organizing data, and performing my usual fever experiments. I also went grocery shopping and did some meal prepping. I experimented this day with using corn starch to crisp up my tofu.
Thursday (July 8th)
This day started by assisting Dr.Ximing Guo and others with scallop processing for the Sea Grant project, which you can read about more here. Scallops are harder to shuck than oysters in my opinion, because they actually fight back, unlike oysters who can't move at all. They also have an insane row of eyes that I recommend peering into if you ever get the chance.
After my usual fever experiments, I performed another salinity test using burettes. Below is Rebecca helping me observe the presence or absence of cells, along with some pictures of the well plates from the inverted scope.
Perkinsus marinus cells magnified in seawater on inverted scope.
Friday to the weekend (July 9th-11th)
This day was pretty relaxed- after my usual dock and oven fever experiments, I cleaned up and drove to Philly to explore for a weekend. I went to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and ran up the stairs just like Rocky. They had a food truck called "Brotherly Grub" which sold cauliflower based Philly Cheese "steaks", which were delicious. Below is one of my favorite pieces from the museum, its quite simple but equally wonderful. I also went to Cape May for a beach day, it was an eventful weekend.
(28th) Monday
After Joe helped with the dock fever experiment, I performed the first of the new culture fever. Instead of putting the culture flasks in the bag, I am now doing a more controlled oven study. Even though the bottles were sealed and regularly sanitized in the old culture fever, this will help them to remain un-contaminated. Later, I counted the densities of the cultures after the exposure. I also took the time to dilute my stock cultures so that I have healthy cells with plenty of fresh food to collect from for salinity experiments. At some point today I also gave my midterm presentation to the Haskin lab as practice for the real deal midterm presentation set for Wednesday. I later integrated their helpful feedback into the PowerPoint.
(29th)Tuesday
Besides my daily oyster and culture fevers, much of today was spent helping Iris and Jenn process oysters for dermo testing of the bay. I also took tissue samples for RFTMs of my old fever oysters post-treatment. Another exciting thing that occurred this day: there was a shipment of oysters that needed shucked only for the shells to be studied, and Jenn and Iris let me keep the meat to cook for the dorm. Later you will see the stew I made using Iris' classic Port Norris recipe.
Joe has got the right idea: Always wear gloves when shucking an oyster!
Today was also my dad's birthday, and so I got to spend some part of the evening facetiming my family. I then counted my cultures, organized data, and went to bed.
(30th) Wednesday
I hope I remember this day for a long time. I am going to have to do this in bullet point form, or I will never stop writing about it.
- Up early to leave at 7:30am
- Had my very first Wawa's breakfast!
- Met the New Brunswick RIOS interns in person for the first time at the JC NERR
- Took a hike with guide in the reserve, learned what a Bio Blitz is. I want to organize one with the River Stewards back home.
- had a lunch graciously provided for us, and the first half of RIOS interns presented their midterms. (SO MANY AWESOME PROJECTS! SO MANY SMART, UP AND COMING MARINE SCIENTISTS!)
- Drove to Rutgers Marine Station, read about its incredible history here
- Split into groups: one got a tour of the lab, one got a boat ride, and then we switched
- Gave my midterm presentation: it went well!
- Had another graciously provided meal, talked on the porch and made new connections with those interns and scientists stationed in Tuckerton and elsewhere
Taylor heading to the station. My ballcap was scarified to this marsh later in the day when the wind picked up.
Getting an exciting tour of the facilities by Dr.Jessica Valenti, who was once a RIOS student herself.
Irene and I, getting our sea legs
Thank you Roland Hagan and crew for the boat ride and fish identification lesson!
Rios 2021
- The Haskin RIOS students stuck around on the porch to watch the sunset, and Motz showed us where I could harvest some pickle grass for my oyster stew
- The Haskin RIOS students went to The Pine Cone for ice-cream. I ordered a sundae and did not expect to receive a pie pan full of ice-cream and four brownies.
(1st) Thursday
Today I performed my oyster fever, culture fever, and subsequent culture sampling and counting. I also helped Heidi process some of her oysters from cape shore, but this time I had extra help from Elizabeth and Rebecca! I then cooked the stew for everyone and finished the night with the usual computer work.
(2nd) Friday
Today was similar to Thursday, however, after work I began to pack... so that the Haskin RIOS students and I could leave that night for an exciting weekend in LBI!
The weekend (July 3-4th)
Taylor invited us to stay with her family at their home in Long Beach Island. Not only was it a beautiful place, but her family were models of hospitality. We explored the shops and eateries and the beach, as well as her mother's Terrapin Nesting project: check that out here. The project has expanded a lot since this article, but it gives you a taste.
Every circle is a Terrapin nest
Tofu scramble from Wally's.
Taylor and I in Viking Village
Alright readers: I know I still have a few weeks to write about, but I will be taking a break from the computer the rest of the day and plan to continue this blog next weekend. All will be revealed in time, as always, feel free to comment or email me with questions :)
Hello all: I realize it has been a month since my last blog post. My project has really picked up, and after spending hours looking through a microscope or on the computer, I try to spend the little free time I have exploring the area and living in the moment with the new friendships I have been forming. I am now going to try to spend today catching you all up on the adventure I have been having!
(21st) Monday
Pictured below: Divets in the sand at Cape Shore visible during low tide, a result of Cownose Ray feeding behavior.
This day was spent with PhD student Heidi Yeh. We performed a fever trail so that she can see the effects of monthly heat shocks on the microbiome of an oyster. As you can see, it was slightly grey today, and there was a bit of a breeze, so the bags didn't get to the optimal temperature of 50°C very well, but luckily she went out again on Wednesday and things went much better. It was still good to be out there at Cape Shore and get a feel of the process. Later, we went back to Haskin, collected tissue samples for RFTM analysis, and processed water samples we took so that she could get information about the microbiome of the bay that day. She also took samples of the fluid inside the oyster, called "oyster liquor", really the hemolymph of the oyster. After she went back home, I spent some time reading up for the R workshop later in the week.
(22nd) Tuesday
Much of today was spent in the microbiology lab preparing new cultures. Since the last ones were contaminated we didn't trust the results of the cultured fever study. I am writing this from the future (July 6th) and I am happy to say that my new cultures have been doing quite well as I have become more proficient in aseptic techniques. When I take microbiology at UD, I will be so ahead of the game! The rest of the day was spent on the computer, organizing data.
Above: The breakdown of what goes into each culture flask. Notice how an antibiotic, gentamycin, is added to prevent further contamination since the flasks much be opened frequently for sampling.
I'm getting lots of practice pipetting.
(23rd) Wednesday
This day was so much fun. I started it with a salinity trial. I put concentrated P.marinus cells in the Wave Tank simulator and tried to see if syringing samples at different time was an effective way of determining the cell density in the layers that formed. I had help from Joe and Taylor so that multiple samples could be collected simultaneously. A message from the future: I will likely not keep this method of sampling. When trying to count the samples later in the week, I discovered the syringes collected such a small amount of the layers that the diluted P.marinus cells were hardly picked up. In the future, I will likely need to collect the entire layer and spin it down in the centrifuge. Just another moment to learn about the practicalities of experimental design! You can watch a small clip of us trying to figure the experiment out here.
I wasn't alone when I was working in the ecology lab that day. Here is intern Irene Goldwasser (back) helping grad student Elizabeth Bouchard (the one with braids) process horseshoe crab eggs.
The rest of the work day was spent in a 4 hour R workshop lead by post-doc Sarah Borsetti. It was an extensive and very well put together introduction. I thought it was cool that the best way to take notes on what I learned was by putting it right into the code itself! I have a long journey of learning this new language ahead. After the workshop, I briefly helped Heidi process some samples from Cape Shore and then went out grocery shopping with my Haskin RIOS cohort.
(24th) Thursday
Another big day, I don't think there is really an alternative around here. It started with a mortality assessment on my oysters. I determined that I will need a new batch of them for the second fever in order to have enough tissue samples for a proper RFTM from the Heated group. I then did a preliminary test on the dock to observe how venting the vinyl bag once it reached 55°C might help to maintain the desired temperature while also preventing overheating/unwanted mortality: it worked and this venting method has been implemented into the study. Yet again, I was not alone! The dock was positively buzzing with scientific discovery. Here is Rutgers undergrad Ari, working on her senior thesis and using fluorescence to observe oyster feces. Fun fact about oysters: they poop two different ways. Learn more about pseudo feces here! She is under a tarp to trick the oysters into opening up.
Ari, doing her thing under the tarp.
Here comes the best part of the day: receiving my new oysters! My experiment just got a million times cooler because now instead of only looking at how heat affects the same group of oysters, we are experimenting with three different groups all from varying salinities in the bay. There is a general trend: oysters upbay (nearer to the river) are smaller than downbay oysters (nearer to the sea) because higher salinities allow oysters to grow bigger, faster. Remember: Perkinsus marinus also likes higher salinities!
Now prepare for some awesome photos of just a FRACTION of the life that revolves around an oyster.
I tried to blur the rest of the image so that the worm can be more easily spotted. This is a Polychaete worm, and you can see it open and close its mouth with the naked eyes. This was may favorite creature I found on the oysters that day because he reminded me of a Muppet, the way he open and closed his mouth and the way he wiggled his many appendages. There was also a neon green worm of a different, but similar species.
This yellow sponge uses acid to create holes in the shell, called a "gallery".
I really loved this one as well: a Pea crab. It lives its entire life in the gills of an oyster, there is debate on whether it is true commensalism or parasitism.
Taking tissue samples for RFTMs was done this time done by Iris, Jenn and other in the lab since the oysters I was granted were leftovers from a larger project monitoring the bay. I sorted 180 of my own oysters and removed what I could, because these were wild, there were ribbed mussels, barnacles, and the spat to remove and then the oysters themselves were often stuck to each other. Then I bagged and deployed them into the river to acclimate for future fevers. Processing wild oysters takes a lot of time, so this took me to near the end of the day. Then I went on an evening jog with my cohort. We saw a Killdeer protecting its nest along the way, but couldn't get too close. I highly recommend watching this video to understand why we stayed back.
Taking tissue samples for RFTMs was done this time done by Iris, Jenn and other in the lab since the oysters I was granted were leftovers from a larger project monitoring the bay. I sorted 180 of my own oysters and removed what I could, because these were wild, there were ribbed mussels, barnacles, and the spat to remove and then the oysters themselves were often stuck to each other. Then I bagged and deployed them into the river to acclimate for future fevers. Processing wild oysters takes a lot of time, so this took me to near the end of the day. Then I went on an evening jog with my cohort. We saw a Killdeer protecting its nest along the way, but couldn't get too close. I highly recommend watching this video to understand why we stayed back.
(25th) Friday
In the morning, Dr.Bushek and I spent some time troubleshooting how to study Perkinsus Marinus buoyancy. Pictured above is the Wave Tank simulator, a myriad of ways to measure liquid volumes, and automatic pipettor and dyed water in varying salinities.
I also checked on my new oysters and did my first fever with them. That blob is a comb jelly. It eats oyster larvae, and there are often many attached to my bag. I remove them before the fever treatment.
Joe was very helpful today, making sure to vent the bags when they reached 55°C. Here I am double checking what my Bluetooth sensors are telling me by using a hand held thermometer.
After the fever, I spent the rest of the day uploading and organizing data, recording the experimental design updates for my two studies, counting and calculating my new culture densities using the hemocytometer, and meal prepping.
After the fever, I spent the rest of the day uploading and organizing data, recording the experimental design updates for my two studies, counting and calculating my new culture densities using the hemocytometer, and meal prepping.
The weekend of June 26th-27th
On Saturday, the RIOS Haskin cohort went to Adventure Aquarium, it was a blast, lots of the staff were dressed as pirates. Many of us discussed how important aquariums were in inspiring our love for the ocean as children and leading us down the path to this internship.
On Sunday I met up with some friends from the Cape shore lab for live music and lunch at Hawk Haven Vineyard & Winery, a beautiful place. Overall: A restful and fun weekend.
On Sunday I met up with some friends from the Cape shore lab for live music and lunch at Hawk Haven Vineyard & Winery, a beautiful place. Overall: A restful and fun weekend.
Disclaimer: this photo is fabricated. You shouldn't be afraid of sharks.
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Student at the University of Dayton, aspiring Marine Biologist
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