Research Time!

Today marks the halfway point of our Panama trip. It is going by so fast! Since spring term we have been working on group research projects that focus on the marine ecology of multiple habitats in the Bocas del Toro area here in Panama. Since then, there has been some group personnel and project changes but the details seem to have been smoothed out and we were ready for action this morning. It was our first chance to work independently as scientists without having our professors hovering over us. This, however, didn't stop the constant questioning from Will and I concerning our project. After breakfast everyone strapped on their snorkeling gear and headed out into the water.

Robbie, Susanna, and Kristi aimed for the sea grass meadows. Their project is focusing on the gradients of epibiont grazing and herbivory with distance from the mangroves as possible contributing factors to the amount of epibionts as well as sea grass shoot density and height.

 

Robbie and Kristi working in their quadrat

The original idea was that the gradient was caused by juvenile fish that use the mangroves as a refuge, but upon further observation there are more variables that may attribute to this phenomenon. Some of the potential grazers are juvenile Grunts, juvenile Threespot Damselfish, the Slippery Dick fish, and a variety of snails. The main herbivore in the area is the Bucktooth Parrotfish.

Sea grass with a bite mark and epibionts

 Today the group measured out their 20m transects and set up their permanent quadrats.They counted the amount of sea grass shoots in each transect and collected five of the shoots to bring back to the lab to scrape off the epibionts and weigh them. 

Christy and Mandi are well prepared!

Christy's and Mandi's hypothesis is that because mangrove prop roots are a day time refuge for juvenile fish to avoid predation from visual predators, there will be a greater abundance of fish during the day than at night.
Also, while seeking refuge the fish will display more resting behavior than feeding behavior. To measure this the group stretched three 15m transects parallel and adjacent to the mangrove prop roots.
 They record both the species and the abundance of the fish as well as the behaviors of the fish. They will sample both during the day and during the night to observe the differences.

A large school of herring in the mangroves

Theresa and Kassie are focusing on the behavior of the highly aggressive Threespot Damselfish. They are looking at the differences in aggression between individuals that maintain territory on continuous reefs and isolated patch reefs. This aggression can be both interspecific (between species) and intraspecific (within species), and these interactions will be recorded. The hypothesis is that since continuous reefs are more complex and contain more species that the damselfish with exhibit greater interspecific aggression.

Juvinille Threespot Damselfish

 Today the group searched for territories suitable for observations and recorded baseline data of the territories. They are quantifying the fish behavior using an ethogram. An ethogram is a list of behaviors that are defined from observations, and in this case scholarly sources, and then during sampling they record the number of times the behavior occurs.

Will and I went straight to the coral and are working dangerously close with the stinging fire coral, Millepora alcicornus. We are trying to  correlate both micro- and macro-morphology with the flow rate of the water. Micro-morphology is quantified by polyp density and macro-morphology is quantified by branch diameter, branching rate, and branch fusing.
Today we found three samples with differing morphologies and used two methods to measure the flow of water in the vicinity; fluorescein dye and clod cards. A meter stick was placed adjacent to the sample fire coral at the .5 meter mark and the dye was injected near the same point, measuring the time it took to travel .5 meters. Then we placed two clod cards made of plaster adjacent to the sample which we will retrieve after ~20 hours. The higher the flow the faster the clod cards will dissolve thus giving us a comparable measure of flow rate.

High flow morphology with fluorescein dye

Low flow morphology of M. alcicornis

 Question: Did you run into any problems today?
Susanna: "Yes, setting up the transect lines under water is harder than it looks. Water is fluid."
Mandi: "Yes, the massive schools of herring makes it hard to see any of the fish behind them. You have to see through them."
Kassie: Yes, initially finding the right depth of samples so we don't intrude on their [damselfish] territory and alter their behavior."
Willie: "Not really, the environment was variable so we had to adapt."


Question: What are the potential dangers of working on your project?
Kristi: "Stepping on a Toadfish."
Mandi: "Box jellies, we avoided quite a few of them!"
Theresa: "Getting attacked by the damsel fish that are protecting their territory."
Willie: "Getting burnt to hell on the fire coral."

A Toad Fish laying comfortably on a dive fin.

 Question: What was you favorite part of being in the field today?
Susanna: "Seeing Toadfish and Cassiopea. Crazy!"
Mandi: "The Ragged Sea Hare, we had no idea what it was at first."
Theresa and Kassie: "A Balloon Fish!"
 Willie: "Seeing the variation in fire coral on a single reef point."

A Ragged Sea Hare

  The Balloon Fish

After a long day of stepping out into our projects we reigned in September 7 with a somewhat depressing seminar on coral reefs. Here in the Caribbean there has been an 80% decline in coral cover in the last 30 decades. This same trend is consistent in the majority of the world's coral population. This decline is caused by a combination of climate change and human influences such as removing large apex predators and nutrient runoff. Increasing ocean temperatures stresses the corals and makes them expel their symbionts, zooxanthellae. Removing the large apex predators increases the pressures induced by grazing fish and decrease growth of the corals. The nutrients that are added to the oceans are utilized by the better competing algae which will cover the coral and prevent food and light from reaching it. Protecting the reefs we have now is the most cost effective method for conservation, but will only buy us a couple decades. Hopefully by then there will be a shift in the view on the importance of coral reefs or it will be an ecosystem that will have faded into the past.

On a happier note, we have the day off tomorrow. Most people are planning on sleeping in, relaxing, and exploring the local town. Aside from that the plans include hiking, swimming, and working on our projects!

-That's me Jaron Bowton