MARINE CONSERVATION LAB
  • Home
  • About
  • People
  • Fisheries
  • Pismo clams
  • Offshore wind
  • Parrotfish & corals
  • Prospective Students
  • Publications
  • Lab News!

Marine Conservation Lab presents (virtually) at the Western Society of Naturalists

11/8/2020

0 Comments

 
Both graduate and undergraduate students from our lab had a great time presenting research virtually at the 101st meeting of the Western Society of Naturalists conference!
 
Age and growth of Pismo clam populations:
  • Undergraduate Noël Clark presented a talk on 'Age & growth of the Pismo clam (Tivela stultorum) in California'. A video recording is available here.
​
Coprophagy by tropical herbivorous fishes:
  • Undergraduate Abigail Siebert gave a poster presentation on 'Quantifying species-specific rates of coprophagy by herbivorous fishes in the Caribbean'. You can view her poster here, and watch the accompanying video presentation of her work here.

Ecological drivers of parrotfish predation on coral communities:
  • Undergraduate Tara Hale gave a poster presentation on 'Effects of ecological community characteristics on parrotfish corallivory intensity in the Caribbean​'. You can view her poster here.
  • Recent M.S. graduate Hannah Rempel presented a talk on 'Ecological drivers of parrotfish corallivory across multiple spatial scales in the Caribbean'. A video recording is available here.
Picture
Picture
0 Comments

Coprophagy by Herbivorous Caribbean Fishes

10/30/2020

0 Comments

 
Parrotfishes and surgeonfishes are important herbivores on Caribbean reefs, but did you know that they also consume fish feces (a behavior known as coprophagy)? Master’s student Hannah Rempel discovered that they some species regularly consume the feces of the planktivore Brown chromis while conducting research in Bonaire last year. To better understand this novel behavior, Hannah and undergraduate Abby Siebert are are evaluating species-specific patterns of coprophagy by herbivorous fishes on Caribbean reefs.
Picture
A Princess parrotfish (Scarus taeniopterus) and Blue tang (Acanthurus coeruleus)
​compete for a Brown chromis (Chromis multilineata) fecal pellet, circled in red.​

Image copyright Hannah Rempel 2019, not for use without permission.
Why do they do this? Maybe for a little 'Vitamin Sea'. We theorize that the feces of planktivores may provide an important nutritional supplement to their algae-dominated diet. Last summer, Abby was awarded a Cal Poly FROST Undergraduate Research Program fellowship to study the nutritional quality of fecal samples with Hannah. She is continuing this research for her senior project, evaluating the carbohydrate, lipid, and protein and trace mineral content of Brown chromis feces, which will help us better understand the nutritional drivers of this behavior.

Want to learn more about this work? Abby gave a virtual talk at The California Central Coast Chapter of The Wildlife Society's annual symposium earlier in October and will be presenting a poster at The Western Society of Naturalists in November.  Stay tuned for more updates, as moving forward Abby will continue presenting this research at scientific conferences and we anticipate a research paper led by Hannah and Abby will be forthcoming next year. ​
0 Comments

Our first socially-distanced Pismo clam survey of the Fall!

10/19/2020

0 Comments

 
Yesterday, we kicked off our first socially-distanced Pismo clam survey of the Fall, led by our lab's new master's student, Marissa Bills. Our team dug, measured, and reburied 1,700 clams!  By comparing changes in these data over time, we can monitor trends in Pismo clam populations to inform local management and conservation efforts. Marissa will be building on the work of recent graduate Alex Marquardt, as well as evaluating the aquaculture potential of Pismo clams. 

​Interested in helping with surveys? Sign up for our volunteer list here!

​Prefer to donate to support student research on Pismo clams? ​ Click here!


Thank you for your interest in our research! Community support helps to keep this important, local research going during these challenging times!
0 Comments

The Pismo clam needle in a haystack

10/13/2020

0 Comments

 
A few years ago, Cal Poly undergraduate Emily Knighton conducted a pilot tagging study of Pismo clams as part of her senior project. She developed methods to mark them, tested finding them (with a metal washers and a metal detector!), and then marked 50 clams and put them back on the beach. A month later, we went back to look, but a series of swells had rearranged the beach. We found none, and thought they were gone forever...

...until this month, when someone found one of our marked shells, posted a picture on social media, and the social media science world helped us connect. Clam #18 was 57mm when it was tagged on Dec 8, 2018, and the shell was found on Oct 11, 2020, almost two years later! It was dead (but with hinges still attached, so probably hadn't been dead long) and it had grown to 77mm. So not only do we get a little growth data, but we have evidence that the tags will last at least 2ish years. We will try again, so stay tuned for more info. And, if you happen to find a marked clam, please let us know!
Picture
Picture
0 Comments

Noel wins honorable mention for best talk!

10/9/2020

0 Comments

 
Noel Clark presented a talk at the Pacific Coast Shellfish Grower Association (PCSGA) and National Shellfisheries Pacific Coast Section (NSA-PCS) joint virtual conference! Her talk "Age and growth of the Pismo clam (Tivela stultorum) in California" shared findings from her summer FROST internship and senior project.

Noel was awarded an honorable mention for Best Student Presentation! Congratulations Noel! 
Picture

0 Comments

Adapting Marine Science Research During COVID-19

9/22/2020

0 Comments

 
COVID-19 has created challenges for us all, but we've found creative ways as a lab community to adapt and continue pursuing research and marine science education in a sage setting.

We're presenting research at virtual conferences, adapting undergraduate summer research positions to focus on building student's skills in fisheries data analysis and scientific communication, and finding creative ways to continue engaging students in hands-on research in a socially distanced setting. 

Check out Dr. Ben Ruttenberg teaching 'BIO 322: Ichthyology' undergraduate students about fish dissections in a pop-up outdoor lab! We imagine this is a major improvement to the olfactory system as students learn about the anatomy and identification of these "pickled" fishes.
0 Comments

Offshore Wind Energy: A Promising New Renewable Energy Source for California?

9/18/2020

0 Comments

 
Research led by postdoc Dr. Yi Hui Wang in the Marine Conservation Lab demonstrates the promising potential of offshore wind energy as a renewable energy source in California.

​She found that offshore wind energy supply peaks seasonally in Spring and Summer and daily in the evenings, when there is a high consumer demand for energy, but production of energy from other renewable sources, such as solar, is lower.

These findings highlight the strong potential of offshore wind energy and provide an important framework for future studies on the spatiotemporal dynamics of this renewable energy source.

Read the Cal Poly news article here and publication here.

Picture
0 Comments

Welcome to the lab, Marissa!

9/15/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
Our lab is excited to welcome Marissa Bills as a Master's student in September of 2020. Before joining the Cal Poly Marine Conservation Lab, Marissa  was a Laboratory Assistant for California Sea Grant. Marissa's past research has focused on marine aquaculture and conservation. She will be continuing the lab's research on Pismo clams populations in California and is exploring the aquaculture potential of this species.

​Welcome, Marissa!

0 Comments

Hannah successfully defended her master's thesis! Congratulations!

9/3/2020

0 Comments

 
Hannah Rempel defended her master's thesis on 'Quantifying the ecological drivers and impacts of parrotfish predation on Caribbean coral communities' today! She and collaborators have conducted research across three regions of the Caribbean, she has mentored over 20 undergraduates these past three years, and her research represents an important contribution to our understanding of the capacity of corals to heal from parrotfish predation scars, as well as ecological factors of coral reef communities that influence patterns of parrotfish corals predation intensity. 

We are excited to announce that Hannah is starting her PhD studying the trophic dynamics of herbivorous fishes using behavioral and molecular techniques with Dr. Jordan Casey's lab at the University of Texas at Austin Marine Science Institute this Winter!
​
Congratulations Hannah!
Picture
0 Comments

Undergraduate Frost Scholars Ellie and Abby present on their summer research

8/28/2020

0 Comments

 
As part of the Cal Poly Frost Summer Undergraduate Research Program, Ellie worked with master's student Erin to study 'The Effects of Marine Heatwaves on Sebastes mystinus Growth Rate' and Abby worked with master's student Hannah to study 'Coprophagy by Herbivorous Fishes in the Caribbean'. The two recently presented their findings at the Frost Summer Research Symposium.

The Effects of Marine Heatwaves on Sebastes mystinus Growth Rate

This summer,
Ellie analyzed age-at-length data for Blue rockfish during the 1982-1983 El Niño to determine the relationship between anomalous warm water events and growth rate. She constructed Von Bertalanffy growth curves before, during, and after the El Niño and found that growth appears to slow during and after warm water events for this fish species. Future directions this study could take include examining growth curves of other temperate fishes during warm water events and combining multiple datasets into a powerful predictive tool for estimating growth rates during future climate anomalies.

Coprophagy by Herbivorous Fishes in the Caribbean

Abby analyzed feces consumption (or 'coprophagy') by herbivorous parrotfishes and surgeonfishes in the Caribbean. She found that while there are species-specific differences in rates of coprophagy, the majority of species engaged in coprophagy to some extent. To determine the nutritional drivers of this behavior, Abby helped develop a lab protocol to analyze the nutritional breakdown of targeted fecal pellets. Over the next year, she will work to analyze these fecal samples and report on these findings for her senior research project, supported by a Cal Poly Baker/Koob award.

Congratulations on concluding this exciting summer research!
​

We extend our deepest thanks to William and Linda Frost for their generous funding of undergraduate research that helped to support this research. We look forward to sharing our findings with the broader community in the future. 
Picture
Picture
0 Comments
<<Previous
Forward>>

    Well, we're a collection of science-minded marine misfits. But we're always up to something...

    Archives

    March 2022
    February 2022
    November 2021
    June 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    May 2020
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    August 2018
    June 2018
    September 2017
    July 2017
    October 2016

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

© COPYRIGHT 2021. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
  • Home
  • About
  • People
  • Fisheries
  • Pismo clams
  • Offshore wind
  • Parrotfish & corals
  • Prospective Students
  • Publications
  • Lab News!