By Kevin WittI am Kevin Witt, a second-year intern in the SRJC-BML program who has just finished his third year at Santa Rosa Junior College with a series of associate degrees in various scientific disciplines. I will be beginning at Sonoma State in the fall of 2023 as a Junior. I will be studying for a double major in Biochemistry and Geology. After completing my bachelor’s degrees, I hope to pursue a PhD in conservation science, preferably through Davis studying here at BML. This summer I have been helping to prepare an experiment to study the feasibility of using aquaculture to grow gooseneck barnacles. Gooseneck barnacles are filter feeders that live in the rocky intertidal. They grow on a meaty stalk unlike the more widely known volcano style of barnacles. In general, gooseneck barnacles belong to the infraclass Throacia, however for this experiment we are specifically interested in those of the genus Pollicipes. They tend to grow in colonies or groups due to a process known as gregarious aggregation. This means that when a larva is ready to leave the water column and fuse onto a substrate, it generally seeks out an adult of the same species to cement itself onto. It is common for an adult gooseneck barnacle to have many larvae settle onto it. These barnacles are a delicacy in many parts of the world, especially Spain and Portugal. They are the most expensive seafood on the market right now. Their meat can fetch a price of over 100 dollars a pound. Due to the high value of the meat, and the complicated life history of these individuals, they are extremely vulnerable to overharvesting. Traditionally gooseneck barnacles have been collected by free divers, who will harvest multiple entire colonies of them at once. The main problem with this of course is that if an entire colony is harvested, there are no longer any adults left at that location for the larvae to settle on. Since they immensely prefer to land on adults of the same species, this means that most of the larvae do not, in fact, settle at all and die off in the water column. Also, they share a range with many other intertidal mollusks such as muscles. When a colony of barnacles is completely removed it is not uncommon for these other animals to overrun their former locations before new gooseneck barnacles can reestablish a foothold there.
In order to combat this vulnerability, we are looking into the feasibility of growing Pollicipes under controlled conditions. Since they are filter feeders, they need to be grown in moving water. We are using three existing upwellers in the red abalone lab to test three separate high-protein diets, a classic fish food diet using tropical fish flakes, a diet of fly larvae, and a diet tailored to grow shrimp. We are suspending several baskets of barnacles in a column in each upweller. There will be an air stone at the bottom of each column both for aeration and to aid in the uplifting of the food. The experiment will run for six months. We will count the number of individuals in each colony and weigh the colonies at the beginning and end of the experiment as well as measuring the change in size of several marked individuals of each group. We will count the number of dead individuals in each group on a weekly basis. As we are still at the beginning phase of this experiment, we obviously have no data at this point. The results of this experiment will be used to inform future experiments.
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By Kamryn ConwayI am Kamryn Conway, an SRJC student transferring to UCSD in Fall 2023, majoring in Human Biology. I am interested in systems biology and medicine. My mentor was Keira Monuki, a 4th-year PhD student. The SRJC-BML internship was an eye-opening and rewarding experience. A hope I had before transferring was to learn about research and graduate school, two things I was interested in. BML became the perfect introduction to everything I was curious about. I learned that I want to pursue research, gained a realistic perspective of what that might look like, and had fun participating in fieldwork, field surveys, lab work, and more. During the internship, I started a project involving Acanthinucella spirata, a marine snail, and its egg capsule aggregations. These aggregations are regularly yellow-cream colored but when exposed to environmental stressors, can turn pink, a sign of inviability. Salinity is a known environmental stressor for marine snail egg capsule aggregations, and for this project, we were curious if the temperature is an environmental stressor for A. spirata. This project adds knowledge to the topic of temperature changes and what that could mean for rocky intertidal species range shifts. To gather data, I measured the pink area on 126 egg capsule photos using ImageJ from May and June of 2022 and 2023. I made it a proportion of the total area and ran a statistical analysis. I found that the colder year, 2022, had significantly more pink egg capsules than 2023. I also found a correlation between temperature and the proportion of pink area: cold temperatures and an increase in pink area. Completing this project under Keira’s guidance and being in the BML atmosphere taught me many skills, like improving attention and detail to introducing me to experimental design. I learned that it takes time, and one rarely comes up with perfect, novel ideas but leans on mentors and peers for collaboration. My overall experience at BML was incredible; everyone was kind, welcoming, and always happy to answer questions. I am grateful that this internship strengthened my passion for science and created a desire to pursue research in the future.
By Julian Schiano Di ColaI am in the SRJC-Bodega Marine Lab summer internship studying harmful algal blooms with the Coastal Oceanography Group. I am driven and motivated by my strong work ethic, which makes me feel accomplished when I have accomplished something I thought was difficult. I believe I am great with people when it comes to helping, whether that be having a conversation or being a good listener. My current short term goal is to finish classes at SRJC and gain more experience in research so I can apply to medical school to become a medical doctor. The Coastal Oceanography Group at the Bodega Marine Lab collects data for so many important topics in terms of global warming and overall ocean health. Their data collection varies across many different devices precisely placed in parts of Bodega Bay, the Russian River, and even Fort Bragg. My favorite experience was getting to join Nicholas and Robin on fieldwork by dropping a device that measures temperature and salinity of ocean water in precise locations of the Russian River. We were tasked to collect data of salinity and temperature in precise locations along the river, all varying in depth. It was such a beautiful and sunny day, and doing something active while data collecting out in the real world was the most fun I have had in years. It was something I had no idea the coastal oceanography group got to do, but I felt very thankful that I was invited to do something so interactive. I believe I signed up for the SRJC-Bodega Marine Lab internship to challenge myself. I had never done an internship previously, so I felt that it would be a new experience that I would never forget. I was previously a marine biology major at SRJC back in 2017, but changed my major because I thought it would be too difficult. I am currently interested in pursuing medicine, but I still have interest in something I thought I would not be able to do, even if I think it's too challenging. I believe this internship really opened a new chapter in my life, which I think will allow me to push myself and try internships that are completely different from this one. I do not feel afraid to challenge myself to learn new things anymore.
By Daily AlvarezDaily Alvarez is a 21 year old biology student at the SRJC, intending to transfer to UC Davis and eventually pursue a career in the veterinary field. She is a person passionate about animals, and enjoys spending time out in nature and swimming. This summer has been one of the most incredible summers I have ever experienced. I decided to sign up for this internship with the hopes of getting a glimpse of what the research world has to offer. To my surprise, I got so much more than that. I got to meet great scientists and learn about what they do, I got to learn about white abalones, and most important, I got to do one of my favorite things, spend time with animals.
From working with my mentor, Leela Dixit, I learned about white abalones and what drove them to be endangered. White abalones are threatened by a disease called Withering Syndrome, caused by a bacterium that affects their esophagus and causes them to wither away. This summer I worked with the White Abalone Team with the purpose of helping rebuild their population. I got to assist my mentor in cleaning and swapping the ogo and dulse cultures that we would then feed to the white abalones. I also performed checks twice a day to ensure that the tanks, water flow, air flow, UV treatments, and sumps were working properly. I was able to take part in the heritability experiment where we dissected and took data from abalone populations with the goal of identifying a resistance to the bacterium that causes withering syndrome. Another project I helped with was shipping out white abalone populations that would go to facilities to be monitored and then put back in the ocean. This was truly magnificent to witness. The feeling I got when I heard that I would take part in such an important moment for the white abalone, filled me with joy. There is so much more I could say about the things I got to experience at this internship, this opportunity has allowed me to learn more about life, about the world, about animals, and even more important about people. I feel so grateful to mentor Leela, Lauren, Nora, Audrey and so many more amazing scientists for teaching me about white abalones. In addition, I'm thankful for the Bodega Marine Lab to allow me to experience a summer like this one. This is truly a summer I won't forget! By Bailey GlashanI am a third year student at Santa Rosa Junior College and hope to transfer to UCSC or Cal Poly Humboldt next fall. I am studying Biology with a specific interest in organismal biology, but every time I try something new, I want do that forever, so I like to keep my options open for now. I had a fantastic summer at the Bodega Marine Lab this year, and consider it to be one of the best experiences I could have had. I got to connect with all sorts of people and learn about their role at the lab, and the way that all of their roles fit together to make the lab run. I got to work in the field all summer, and learned a lot about the land we were working on, and I really enjoyed it. Each day, my mentor Luis and I would go out and do weed work to control the encroachment of invasive species on the dunes or coastal prairie, and we would do basic maintenance to make sure that the reserve functions, such as cleaning slippery algae from the greenhouse or fixing the signs in the mudflats. I was also able to complete my own research project at BML this summer. I developed my own proposal, met with the research coordinator, and submitted an application to use the reserve. I did a small survey of the native bees that lived in a small section of coastal prairie above Salmon Creek Beach. On three different days, I collected bees over a forty five minute period, then once they were pinned, I used a key to identify which genus they belonged to. I feel very fortunate to have been able to complete this project and for all of the restoration work that I was able to do on the reserve, but my personal and professional growth over the summer has been the most valuable reward.
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April 2024
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