Our last days at Bocas

The Bocas Research Station

This is the final blog post for the 2015 OIMB goes to Panama adventure.  We are coming to the close of two weeks spent at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institution’s Bocas Research Station (BRS).  The Station is dedicated to understanding biological diversity and we have had a great opportunity to access the extraordinary diversity of marine and terrestrial biota that is characteristic of the Bocas del Toro region.

  

 

We have all spent over 25 hours in the water snorkeling on reefs, seagrass beds and along the edge of mangrove forests, and that is not counting the time the students have been in the water conducting their research projects.

Snorkeling on the reef above Acropora palmata

We have identified many of the common animals and algae and learnt some details of their biology, but there is still a lot more to see and learn.

 

We have spent time in the lab identifying organisms, planning projects, analyzing data and listening to lectures.   

 

 

BRS is a wonderful place for OIMB’s two week marine biology adventure in Panama.  The lab facilities, boats, seawater system, dorms and dining hall make it easy to run a field course.

 

The station personnel, especially Plinio Gondola, Arcadio Castillo,Deyvis Gonzalez, Urania Gonzalez and her assistant Tanyusha Grenald, have been most gracious and assisted us in many helpful ways.  The boat captain, Arnulfo Record, took us to some beautiful snorkeling sites.  Our cooks have fed us three square meals a day and we have eaten foods never tried before. We thank them all for making our stay at Bocas such a fun and productive time.

         Below are some photos of the great facilities that have supported us during our stay.

2015 students in the BRS station lab

Student Dorm and Dining Hall

Snorkeling and diving facility

Scarus - the boat we took to our snorkel sites.  Named for a parrot fish.

The seawater tanks at BRS where we kept our research animals

 

 We have taken 1,000s of photos and a lot of videos that will take us many hours to sort and label.  They will serve as a reminder of the wonderful opportunity that eight OIMB students and two faculty members have had to see remarkable things while in Panama.

Just a few of the wonderful animals we have seen: Southern sting ray Dasyatis americana, Batwing coral crab Carpilius corallines, Mantled Howler monkey, two-toed sloth, sea star Oreaster reticulatus

 

Es Miercoles - que lastima! No hay más tiempo.

(Its Wednesday -  oh no!  There's not much time left.)

The reef shallows at Punta Cocos

This morning the class went on its last snorkeling trip away from the marine station.  First we visited a new spot, a patch reef near Punta Cocos (Isla Cristobal) - this was our eleventh location to snorkel on six days of organized outings.

In the shallows, the reef was a patchwork of finger coral (Porites) and fire coral (Millepora alcicornis), intermingled with bright turquiose zoanthids (Zoanthus pulchellus), and sponges.

Closeup of corals, sponges and zoanthids                      A damselfish and its algal turf farm     

The blue-green sheet of zoanthids surrounded emergent coral colonies and sponges.  No open space was to be found on this carpet.   Brittle stars with their long, spikey arms lounged on the sponges and other highspots, or draped the bottom.  The shallows also were bustling with damselfish constantly darting out to guard their territories of turf algae that they farm for a living. These plots attract roving fish grazers that try to get a free lunch.

Staghorn coral (Acropora cervicornis) and fishes

A little deeper we saw several small stands of staghorn coral (Acropora cervicornis) which made safe havens for a variety of other fishes.  Also deeper were the occasional gorgonian (octocoral) "trees", mounds of brain coral, and pot-bellied sponges decorating the sand and coral rubble bottom.  The visibility was excellent, the sea calm, and the snorkeling great.

A redband parrotfish (Scarus aurofrenatum)

Later we re-visited Hospital Point (on Isla Solarte) where lots of fish grazed and browsed.  My favorites are the parrotfish that clip the turfs, crop the algae, and scrape the coral- producing lots of carbonate sediments.   The students have grown ever more comfortable in the water, with buddy-pairs wondering out, no longer clustered in a group of 10.  We have developed an efficient snorkel routine; everyone shares his or her discoveries below as well as above the water.


Over our time here we have snorkeled on fringing reefs, patch reefs, in seagrass meadows on the reef flats, and we have explored the mangrove root communities that line the shore of these emerald islands.  The class has explored a swath of reefs distributed over more than 30 kilometers of the Bocas ocean.  Students have experience data collection as a group and have worked hard on their planned projects that culminate tomorrow.  

Map of Bocas region and general location of our outings

 The second offering of this OIMB field course “Tropical Marine Biology in Panama” has gone very well.  The students’ enthusiasm has remained high; their focus on the living organisms above and below water has been sharp; their interest in this tropical and Panamanian experience has been substantial.   The class has been an excellent one to co-lead. In preparation for the class, I have enjoyed my summer reading about Tertiary and Quaternary coral reefs, climate change, sea level, and species turnover in reef systems.

 My co-instructor, Jan Hodder has been a pleasure to work with again.  The students have represented OIMB and the University of Oregon extremely well, and I am delighted to have had the opportunity to bring them to Panama in 2015.  The hard working research teams - “Damsels in Distress”,  “Cucumber Crew”, and “Go with the Flow” are on the home stretch and I look forward to their research presentations and posters.  Great job students!

Hasta mañana,  Richard (Emlet)

 

Snacks, Science, Snorkeling, & Stick-Bugs.

MORNING:

Snorkel Snack Of The Day: Cookies!

The rain Gods decided to release all of their fury on us early this morning so we cancelled our afternoon boat trip to devote time to collecting group data. Snorkel gear in hand, all of us hopped into the water and dispersed around the STRI dock and House Reef to make headway on our projects (and without fail, Jan had snorkel snacks waiting for us near the check-out/check-in board when we returned).  

AFTERNOON:

All of us came back together for a quick lunch and then went right back to work. Below are the up to date project statuses for each group thus far. 

Muffle Furnace Used For Ashing

Cucumber Crew:

Late last night the Cucumber Crew (MacKenna, Natasha, and Katie) collected their first set of night samples and today were able to place their sediment samples into the muffle furnace. This method, known as ashing, is useful for measuring the composition of organic carbon in the samples by comparing weights before and after exposure to heat.

                   Go With The Flow:

Hard Candy Trials

Katalin and Alyssa were hard at work in the mangroves using lollipops as a

water motion measurement device. They are using the Plaster-of-Paris cubes as well and have already collected them and taken measurements. The use of both methods will allow them to have a set of both short-term and longer-term measurements for their overall data set. In lab, they are performing salinity tests and use of the drying oven for their sediment samples.
 

             Damsels In Distress:

Modified Centrifuge Tubes

Nicole, Craig, and I were able to test out our damselfish aggression table in the field and replenish the centrifuge tubes in the nutrient increased sites to ensure algal growth. We went out after lunch (when the fish would be the most active) and collected data on the individual sites by observing each fish and marking their aggressive behavior toward others that enter their territory.

EVENING:

This evening, each group spent time in lab compiling data and organizing PowerPoints in preparation for presentations that are coming up soon.

Stick Bug Post-(Unwantedly) Climbing MacKenna

Dinner was prepared for us when we got back to the dining room, where we all got to hear about each others progress in the field (this is the only place where hearing the words “Donkey Dung” mentioned at the dinner table is acceptable). Tonight our dinner guest was a massive stick bug that was hanging out on the wall while we ate. We concluded the day with another installment of reef fishes taught by Richard, where he discussed key species of fishes and their impact on the coral reefs.  

Goodnight from all of us here in Panama! 

-Morgan. 

All day boat trip

Islas Zapatillas

Upon arriving at out first snorkel destination, we were greeted by bottle nosed dolphins; a clear sign that today was going to be a great day for an all day snorkeling adventure. Our first stop was between the Zapillas islands, Bastimentos marine reserve founded in 1988 that includes 11,730 ha of marine environment and 1,630 ha of terrestrial environment.

elkhorn coral, Acropora palmata

We all jumped in anxious to see what was hidden beneath the waves without realizing how strong the current was. Luckily our captain was kind enough to re-anchor the boat so that we could do a "drift" snorkel rather than fighting the current to get back to the boat. The coral reef was beautiful, with a vast amount of life and color. The highlights at this site were seeing the large colonies of elkhorn coral and large stoplight parrot fish.

stoplight parrot fish, Sparisoma viride

flattened helmet comb jellies, Beroe ovata

After watching the soft corals sway back and forth for about an hour, several of us felt a bit seasick (including myself), so we decided to go explore the island and then have lunch. On the island there were numerous posts with colored tape indicating the where Hawsbill sea turtle eggs had been laid earlier this year. Just about the time we finished out lunch, several boats full of tourists showed up on the island, indicating it was time for us to venture on to our next snorkeling site.

Our second site was on another coral reef, and although beautiful I found myself focusing my attention on the pelagic organisms in the water column and benthic creatures hidden in the sand. There were so many ctenophores (comb jellies) at this location, that I could hardly hold in my excitement. We saw several sea walnuts and a few flattened helmet comb jellies.

southern sting ray, Dasyatis americana

On the bottom we saw a yellow sting ray as well as a southern sting ray. We also saw a small school of Caribbean reef squids and a dazzling warty jellyfish. There were lots of other amazing fish, corals and other creatures covering the ocean floor.

yellow sting ray, Urobatis jamaicensis

It was a long day of snorkeling on the reef and when we returned to STRI we continued snorkeling to collect data for our group projects. After dinner we dried out while learning about coral conservation by our professor Jan Hodder and then finished off the night by looking at the pictures we had taken throughout the day.

Although we were all exhausted by the end of the day, everyone went to bed happy after spending another day in paradise doing what we love most, snorkeling for science.

~Katie

warty jellyfish, Pelagia noctiluca

Day 6 already?!

It seems like just yesterday that we arrived at STRI, and first stepped foot at this paradise we are calling our home for two weeks. It was bittersweet waking up this morning; the thought of only having 6 more days sent me into a brief moment of despair. However, this was soon drowned out by the positive thoughts of just how great the experience has been this past week (as you guys have already read on the previous blog posts). And so, with our sights pointed toward the future, we all left breakfast this morning ready to tackle our first full day of project work!

Growing algae in a nutrient-enriched site (with a three-spot damselfish)

Group "Damsels in Distress" (Craig, Morgan and Nicole) made quite a bit of headway with their project. They spent all morning drawing maps of the territories in each site in order to determine if the territory of the fish will increase or decrease over time with the algal growth. The Damsels also observed their fish for quite some time, giving them an idea of what types of behavior to look for in the future. The most important part for them now is to wait - the rest of their observations relies on the growth of the algae (we're all crossing our fingers for them!).

Alyssa and Katalin, who had a slight alteration in project plans, changed their group name today to "Go With the Flow." Their new project is looking at wave action and how stationary objects and moveable objects are affected by water flow. One part of their study will analyze water outside the mangroves and within the mangroves, while the second part of their project will look at water flow over stable reefs. Today, Alyssa and Katalin were able to attach their Plaster-of-Paris devices to the mangrove roots, and place PVC pipes (also with Plaster-of-Paris devices) within the coral reef area.

Mangrove roots near STRI dock

Ready...steady...GO!

"The Cucumber Crew" (MacKenna, Katie and myself) had a very busy morning, focused on tagging all the cucumbers we collected from Thursday, clearing our transect of all outside sea cucumbers, collecting 5 pre-digested and 5 post-digested sediment samples from both species, and placing all the tagged individuals in the center of the transect to begin tracking their day and night movement. In the afternoon, we prepared the sediment samples for drying and ashing to determine whether or not the two species have different diets. Our evening consisted of finding all our individuals in the dark, placing a flag where they had migrated to, and returning them back to the middle for tomorrow's measurement.

The class was also able to enjoy two lectures today - one given by Jan on human impacts on marine environments; the second by Richard on marine fishes (personally my favorite lecture yet). These lectures not only offer the class a chance to learn about local organisms, but to also understand how everything is connected and what kinds of studies have been done in the local and surrounding areas.

Richard giving the first fish lecture (and loving it!)

I hope everyone has enjoyed reading about our expedition thus far. So long for now from Bocas del Toro! Adios!

Natasha Coon