SciDay, Part 2

Part 2: Science Research Day

On their applications for the Science Research Day, many of the ‘nauts expressed interest in learning about sea turtles.  Lucky for us, SCUBAnauts has our very own turtle expert – Rhonda Bailey.  Ms. Bailey works for the Florida Wildlife Research Institute in St. Petersburg, focusing on turtle strandings and unusual mortality events.  Working with her, the ‘nauts learned how to accurately measure turtles and were able to see a lot of sea turtles that had been killed by the extreme cold weather last winter.  They also learned about bivalves from Sarah Stephenson, a scallop expert at FWRI.

Learning how to open a scallop

Using calipers to accurately measure turtles

Our last stop of the day was over at the USGS.  The ‘nauts listened to a presentation by geochemist Jen Flannery.  She gave a presentation on the purpose of the USGS (“Science for a changing world”) and went over some of the current projects at the St. Petersburg office.  Jen also showed the ‘nauts some of her work on the isotopes found in coral skeletons and plankton that have died and settled in the sediments.  The ‘nauts learned about how these basic measurements can be used to determine past climate change and that the earth’s climate has natural variability.

Listening to Ms. Flannery talk about climate change throughout history and how scientists measure it.

What did the 'nauts think about this experience?  In their own words:

We got to do some awesome things at the science research day.  I really enjoyed all of the events and people we met. My favorite was the plankton tow and identification.  I learned a lot during the microbiology with Ms. McDaniel, like separating split pea DNA.  Another cool thing was learning about the sea turtles and bivalves. All and all I learned a lot and got to know about specific jobs in the oceanography world.

-Mackenzie

Mackenzie identifying plankton with Sennai

On Saturday (the 11th), I was able to participate in an event where we did intriguing labs with different scientists relating to their different professions. We got to make a spectroscope, catch some zooplankton, and I learned how to shuck an oyster!!! We even found out how to extract DNA from a pea plant (we thankfully ate lunch before that one). By participating I gained new knowledge about bivalves, such as how a green scallop is an invasive species, and the differences between sea turtles. Overall it was a lot more interesting than I would have thought and it was way better than just staying at home! 

-Jessica

Jessica doing a plankton tow

I had a great time at the science research day at USF. We met many scientists and learned about their fields of work. One of my favorite scientists was Maria, she taught us about spectroscopes and we even got to take one we made home. I messed up a lot making mine but in the end it worked! Another scientist I enjoyed hearing from was Sennai. He informed us about plankton - zooplankton are animals and phytoplankton are plants. We even did a plankton tow, collected some, and examined them under a microscope. Lastly I really enjoyed the sea turtles with Rhonda. We learned how to take real stranding report. All in all, I had a really informative and fun day!

-Ashley

Ashley learning how to measure a sea turtle

Science Research Day, Part 1

On August 11^th, a six SCUBAnauts from two chapters were able to participate in a Science Research Day put together by Carlie Williams, the Education Officer from the Tarpon Springs chapter.

The goal of SciDay was to show the ‘nauts some of the many different research projects going on in the Marine Science cluster in downtown St. Petersburg.  St. Pete hosts an amazing number of marine science-focused agencies.  These include USF College of Marine Science (many of our valuable volunteers are graduate students there!), the Florida Wildlife Research Institute (FWRI), U.S. Geological Survey Coastal and Marine Science Center (USGS). The scientists at these agencies are involved in a huge range of experiments such as biology, geology, ecology and much more.

The ‘nauts got the chance to learn from these researchers and see their personal projects.

First up was a presentation by Maria Vega-Rodriguez on how she uses satellites in her research.  Remote sensing is a very useful resource for oceanographers, allowing them to access data about the ocean on a very large scale and over long time periods.  The satellites can measure a lot of things including ocean color (indicating how much chlorophyll is in the water, measuring plankton blooms) and sea surface temperature. Sea surface temperature can be used to track currents or even help Maria to predict when coral bleaching might occur.  After learning about remote sensing, the ‘nauts got the chance to build their own spectroscopes, a simple method for separating light into it’s basic wavelengths.

The ‘nauts make their own spectroscopes which demonstrate that visible light can be broken down into parts (like a rainbow)

A picture of the 'nauts testing out their spectroscopes.

Sennai Habtes led a great activity where the ‘nauts used a net to do a plankton tow.  Plankton are any living organisms that can’t swim against the current, and are made up tiny little plants (phytoplankton) and little animals (zooplankton).  Many zooplankton are actually the baby larvae of bigger fish and animals that we like to eat (like tuna and lobster), so it’s really important to know what’s out there.  The ‘nauts were able to do their own plankton tows and then check out their plankton under the microscope.  Sennai challenged the ‘nauts to identify their plankton, and it was definitely difficult!

Ashley towing the plankton net along the seawall

Sheridan checking out some plankton underneath a dissecting microscope.  She's using a book about the plankton of the Gulf of Mexico to help her identify what she sees.

After lunch, the ‘nauts visited a microbiology lab to learn how marine scientists use DNA in their research.  Bacteria and viruses form the basis for many chemical reactions in the ocean, feed or cause disease in other organisms. The DNA in these microbes can tell us a lot what they are and what they do in the oceans because they’re too small to see and hard to work with in the lab. Dr. Lauren McDaniel demonstrated how to extract DNA from a sample.  After the ‘nauts learned how to get DNA out of the cells, Dr. McDaniel showed them how to visualize the DNA to see its quality and quantity.

Pulling out extracted DNA (the white stuff) with a Q-tip

Loading DNA into a gel to test the quality and size of it.

Stay tuned for Part 2!

Ask the 'nauts!

We ask all of the SCUBAnauts to keep a journal during our science expeditions.  This is both so they can take notes during lessons and to record their thoughts throughout the trip.  Here is a sample of some of their journal entries from the Bahamas trip.  Thank you to our trip helpers Alyx and Courtney for deciphering the ‘nauts’ handwriting and typing these up!

August 1, 2011 – Our Travel Day

“It’s very beautiful here on the island. Today I learned that there are over 700 islands that make up the Bahamas. I want to keep my eye and camera out on the acropora corals and all the neat creatures”

- Brooke Liston

“Learning new things makes me happy. Weird, but yes happy. We are learning about surveys and new dive stuff. I’ve learned so much; there are so many types of branching corals here.”

-Sofia Alaniz

August 2, 2011 – First Day of Diving

“Today we started diving; our first dive was at Plate’s reef. The visibility was amazing and it was more than 60 feet down. I saw PAST – yellow mustard hill coral, DLAB [Diploria labyrinthiformis] and a plethora of fish”

-Brooke Liston

“On the dive this morning I saw PCOL [Porites colonensis] and live MFRA [Montastraea faveolata] for the first time and they were everywhere. First dive was good and we saw some large snapper and grouper. On the second dive I saw a 7 foot Reef Shark up close with Kaedon. I saw an Indigo Hamlet and it is now my favorite fish. I thought the Tiger Grouper we saw was cool looking too; especially since it let us go right up to it.”

-Conner Hutchinson 

“My dive buddy (Conner H.) and I dove around, watching other people observe coral, and when we looked up we saw a 6-7 foot Reef Shark! There was also a 2 ½ foot Tiger Grouper and a lot of other awesome fish and corals.”

-Kaedon Hamm

“I have to say that the best dive was for sure dive number 3 at a site called “Shark Alley,” it lived up to its name. We saw four Caribbean reef sharks; it was probably the highlight of my trip, seeing sharks in their habitat is exactly why I wanted to start diving on top of my love for the ocean.”

Connor Waugh

“The best dive was “Shark Alley” during shark week, it was amazing. Six sharks were circling me and Ashley while we were doing point count. The sharks were so cool, one had a hook on both sides of its mouth. The last dive was in 4-12 feet of water there was a ton of dead Elkhorn Coral and some recovering.”

Colin Cassick

“Observation 60 foot dive, visibility perfect. It was a huge and I mean huge reef. The second was a 45 foot dive in “shark Alley,” I saw like 10 Caribbean sharks and got a picture with one. I also did point count on this dive. For our 12 foot dive it had really nice Elkhorn Coral [Acropora palmata] all over.”

-Ashley Hilbert

“Day 2 I saw two huge Cubera Snapper. I also saw 3 huge grouper and 4 Caribbean reef sharks; the “Shark Alley” was the coolest. One of the sharks had a hook in its mouth that had to be at least a 17/0 hook. The last dive was only 10feet and I really could’ve snorkeled it, but I really wanted to get in another dive.”

-Tyler Harder

August 3, 2011 - Second (and last) Day of Diving

“We went to “Ben’s Blue Hole” for the 3rd dive. Connor and I were doing coral surveys when a curious grouper came up to us to see what we were doing. He was so close that we actually petted him. We went to “Picasso’s Gallery” and saw another reef shark that swam under us during our buoyancy stop.”

-Kiana Hamm

“The second dive had 3 sharks and they came really close. As the day went on I found myself knowing more and more fish. The 3rd and 4th dive were really amazing, it is a lot better diving here than in Florida.”

-Danny Alaniz

“Today we had to do fish surveys and I learned how to identify Black Grouper, because they are a little confusing. On the 3rd dive at “Ben’s Blue Hole” there were 2 sharks that were following us and came within 4-5 feet of us!

-Alex Coronado

“The shallows had lots of branching corals that had the ability to move with the ebb and flow of the tides, as opposed to in the deeper water where there is less tidal action. The second dive was at “Papa Doc’s Wreck” and my buddy Sofia and I conducted our point count survey. On the two afternoon dives it was cool to see two invasive lionfish in the wild as well as several rays (“Ben’s Blue Hole”) and some squirrelfish (“Picasso’s Gallery”). Overall it was a great trip, even though the stupid weather caused it to end early.”

-Jeremy Koch

Belated blot post and Bahamas wrap-up

As many people know by now, the Tarpon Springs Chapter’s summer trip to the Bahamas got cut short by Tropical Storm Emily.  After our second day of diving on Wednesday, we all returned to our rooms to find notes on the door saying that our original departure date of Friday wasn’t going to work anymore.  The ship we were planning on taking home from the Bahamas had canceled its run on Friday in preparation for the tropical storm slowly making it’s way north from the Caribbean.

Our only options were to come home a day early (cutting out an entire day of diving!) or stay for a few extra days. Since we would have to pay for those extra days and none of us wanted to ride out a potential hurricane in the Bahamas, the chapter leaders opted to head home the next day.  We were all a little bummed but it was the only best choice.

Because we missed out on our third day of diving, we didn’t get to do our final rotation of surveys.  The three basic surveys we use look at fish, corals, and bottom types.  The buddy teams each focused on one of the survey methods for one day, using their multiple dives to ask questions and learn the details of the method.  The next day they’d switch to a new survey technique.  This way, the ‘nauts are able to learn each survey technique in-depth and experience all of them by the end of the trip.  Or at least that was the plan! Being familiar with 2 of the 3 surveys is still pretty good, and our science leaders will make sure everyone catches up on the one they missed.

On the ferry ride back to Florida, the ‘nauts sat down to take their post-trip assessment.  This is the same set of questions we gave them on the ride over, and many of the ‘nauts struggled to answer the questions.  We use the pre-trip assessments to check the current knowledge base of the ‘nauts and to show them what they’ll be learning over the course of the trip.  The post-trip assessments document how much they’ve learned in just a few days and allow us to show them their improvement.  We’re so busy diving on the trips, the kids don’t always have a chance to reflect their new knowledge.

All of the ‘nauts showed a lot of improvement on their tests, and we know they all had a great trip.  Even though we missed out on our last day of diving, we’re still thankful for the two beautiful days of diving we did get to experience.  Great dives sites, a great dive crew, and very spacious boat.  Thanks again to the Viva Wyndham resort and dive shop for helping us have a fantastic summer science expedition!

-Julie Galkiewicz
Chief Scientist, Tarpon Springs Chapter

Science dives in the Bahamas

Our second day on the island and our first day of diving!

Everyone went to bed really early last night after our looooong day of traveling.  So we were all ready for breakfast at 7 am.  Everyone, especially the teen-aged boys with endless appetites, is enjoying the buffet food.  After eating bacon, french toast, cereal and fruit, we all headed over to the dive shop.

Because we’re such a large group (20 divers!), we’ve basically taken over the dive boat for our three days of diving. We’re doing two dives every morning and afternoon on different reef.  The dive boat here is so nice for large groups – there’s plenty of space for all our gear and the science equipment we bring on board too.  I’m sure we got some funny looks from people as we were loading up.

Colin using the whirling hygrometer to figure out how humid the air is. This is only one of many pieces of science gear we brought with us.

Our first dive was a simple observation dive, to familiarize everyone with the reef.  The ‘nauts got to see how different these tropical Bahamian reefs are from our typical reefs in Tarpon Springs.  They were all amazed at the depth (more than 60 feet), the number and types of fish, and the strange new corals.

Our second dive was to a shallower site so we could start doing our scientific surveys.  Each of the buddy teams was assigned to a survey (fish, coral, or point count) for the day.  The Science leaders wanted to make sure that each ‘naut had a chance to do the same survey a few times in a row to really understand how it works.  Tomorrow the ‘nauts will switch to new survey method and work on that all day.

 I think the favorite dive of the group so far was our third dive of the day, visiting Shark Alley.  This spot is where a lot of dive boat operators come to show tourists sharks.  I was very glad to hear that the Viva Wyndham dive crew doesn’t chum the waters to get more sharks to the area – chumming is a bad idea because it teaches sharks to associate swimmers with food.  We were able to see lots of Caribbean reef sharks just cruising by.  They barely noticed we were there, but we all got to see them up close!

Our final dive for the day was on a very shallow site - my dive computer turned off a few times because it assumed I had surfaced and finished my dive.  This site had a lot of large corals including a big stand of Elkhorn, a very rare coral.

To wrap up the day, our evening science lesson focused on reflecting about what we learned today.  Everyone got a chance to share three things they saw underwater that they already knew and three things that were new to them.  It was great to hear that some of the fish and corals they saw on the first dive that they didn’t know were easily identifiable by the end of the day.  The ‘nauts also got to share advice about their challenges learning the new survey techniques.

Cross your fingers for us that Tropical Storm Emily stays away for the rest of the week!

-Julie Galkiewicz
Chief Scientist, Tarpon Springs Chapter

The SCUBAnauts travel to the Bahamas!

Today was our travel day, and it was long and difficult. We started off by driving from Tampa Bay to Fort Lauderdale overnight, with several of the parents driving vans and cars loaded with gear, luggage and kids. It was definitely an all-nighter for those parents and some of the kids who spend the night talking instead of sleeping!




Ashley, Connor, and Kaedon taking their pre-trip assessment tests
on their cruise to Grand Bahama.

 
We got to Fort Lauderdale at 4:30 am and ate breakfast at a Denny’s before heading to Port Everglades. We had chosen to take a small cruise ship over to Grand Bahama instead of flying due to cost and because we wanted to fit in a few more dives on our last day. All of our divers know that you can’t go diving 24 hours before a flight, so we would’ve had to cut out afternoon dives on our last day. Taking the cruise ship got around those problems, but we ran into a few more challenges...



As we are all well aware of now, any kids under the age of 18 who are traveling out of the country need written consent from their parents. Unfortunately, none of our parent-less travelers had those specific forms. So a mad dash ensued with the ‘nauts frantically calling their parents at 7 am trying to get them to fax or email over proof that would allow us all to travel as a group. A few tense minutes passed, but we finally got everyone on-board the ship.

Alex getting excited about the field guide to the Bahamas!

As we all breathed a sigh of relief and enjoyed the breakfast buffet (breakfast number 2 for the day if you were counting), the ‘nauts got to work on their pre-assessment tests. Carlie, the Education Officer, and I use these tests to see how much the ‘nauts already know about various topics, including chemistry, biology, geology, history, geography, and dive skills. As we go through our week, the kids will be learning more and more about each of these topics, and they’ll get a post-assessment test to see how much more they know after our science expedition.



The cruise lasted about three hours, and we were all happy to finally reach the hotel. This is different from any other SNI summer trip because we’re staying in an all-inclusive resort. It’s very nice that our meals are cooked for us and that we don’t have to provide a lot of the basics. But we’re not here on vacation – this is a science expedition! The kids are expected to attend science lessons every night, write in their journals, and prepare for each day.

Colin stunned by the new things he has learned from
the field guide.

Today presented a lot of challenges, a lot of “hurry up and wait” moments, and some exasperation. But we all made it to the Bahamas in one piece, we have a gorgeous view of the ocean, and our dives are all lined up for tomorrow – the first real day of science. Can’t wait to see what the rest of the week holds!



-Julie Galkiewicz
Chief Scientist, SNI Tarpon Springs