6.22.22 | Pre-Dive Selfie! The crew getting ready to set up Maria’s thesis project experiment at Big River looking at Bull Kelp growth in various local ecosystems (e.g., urchin barrens, pterygophera-dominated sites, bull kelp-dominated sites) with our awesome interns Taylor & Fern as shore support. (PC: T. Nelson)4.25.22 | The lab at the SSU Graduate & Faculty Science Symposium. Each lab member presented on their respective theses.11.18.21 | Vini checking out two large red abalone at Timber Cove. His upcoming thesis project will focus on the relationship between spawners and recruiters of this species to help inform conservation efforts.
10.15.21 | Counting fish caught in our beach seine at Navarro River. We counted over 17,000 Three-spine Stickleback that day! Our intern, Bethany (in the mid-ground), did a fantastic job keeping track of everything we counted.
10.1.21 | Rachael and Vini outplanting baby bull kelp (Nereocystis luetkeana) at Big River in Mendocino County! Our Kelp Squad grew these spores in the lab at UC Davis’ Bodega Marine Lab on a gravel substrate then transferred them to ocean waters where they will hopefully grow into full-grown kelp.
9.10.21 | Dr. Hughes with a 120cm Leopard Shark caught in the mudflats of Drakes Estero.
7.8.21 | Using a gastric lavage (stomach pump) on Leopard Sharks in order to analyze their diet. Ambient seawater is pumped into the shark’s stomach so they regurgitate their gut contents. We then catch those contents in a net, put them in a glass container with ethanol (for preservation), then look at the individual items back at the lab. Our intern, Reese, did a fantastic job catching all the gut contents!
6.24.21 | Untangling a Leopard Shark from a gillnet in Drakes Estero. Even the small ones are strong! Our interns, Kade and Reese, did an excellent job helping Alyssa wrangle this one.
6.11.21 | Our awesome interns, Maria and Marisa, taking a core sample at Ten Mile River to analyze the benthic infauna (the little critters like worms and isopods that bury into the substrate).
