Hi friends! My third day on Heron is coming to an end. Not much happened today, but that doesn't mean it wasn't a full day! In my last post, I talked about going on every morning snorkel, but today I did not. I regretted that decision a little initially, but it actually ended up being the right one. You see, today was windy. Really windy. Not only did this mean it was cold, it also meant that visibility was poor at best. Those that did go on the snorkel told me that it wasn't worth it, and I got to lounge around in bed. I see this as an absolute win! I did miss the part of the snorkel where Russ chest bumped a turtle. I'm sure it was quite the sight. Although, if he wasn't my buddy, I doubt I would have been able to see it through the turbidity anyway. Either way, I enjoyed hearing the story. Instead of the snorkel, I decided to take a shower, which was nice until I had to get in the ocean only a few hours later. I had assumed that we were just going on a reef walk and would be able to keep my head above water, BUT I'll get to that later. Now, however, is time for the first Pat appreciation paragraph. You knew this was coming, I'm sure. Today for breakfast, Pat cooked us cheesy eggs, mushrooms with spinach, and toast served with fruit. A boring, everyday egg dish, this breakfast was not! They were creamy and cheesy and just plain delightful. Pat's awesome. After breakfast, we had our invertebrates lecture by Edd. Just like the coral lecture, it was mostly review from Trisha's Oceanography class, but I actually didn't mind at all. The topics are extremely fascinating to me, especially when as applicable as they are on Heron. We focused mainly on a few phyla of invertebrates that are found in the ocean: annelids (segmented worms), echinoderms (sea stars, sea cucumbers, sea urchins), arthropods ("jointed leg," crustaceans, terrestrial insects), mollusks (snails, octopuses, squids, cuttlefish, clams), and cnidarians (coral, jellyfish). It's crazy to think that every day here, I get that much closer to my goal of becoming an aquatic ecologist. Every new fact I learn and lab I complete, I am becoming that much more qualified in my field of passion. Amazing. After the lecture, we began the corresponding lab. (In case you were waiting with bated breath for the reason I had to get my hair wet, here it is.) In this lab, we took sediment samples from the surrounding areas of a patch reef. In barrier reefs, the reef itself is separated from the shore by a deeper lagoon. There are patches of coral that are surrounded by mostly sand, and these are called patch reefs. We tried to find a reef that was isolated with 20 meters of surrounding sand. This sounds simple, but I assure you, it is not. We spent about 15 minutes searching until Trisha helped us spot some coral with about enough space, but it wasn't as isolated as we would have liked. It worked well enough, though, so we got samplin'! We used a 60 mL syringe with the tip cut off to collect the samples. We sampled at 0 meters, 5 meters, and 10 meters away from the coral. To sample, we jammed the syringe in the ground and worked to push it into the sand far enough to get a 60 mL sample of sediment. We then scooped the sediment-filled syringe out of the ground and put the sample into baggies. The tide was falling from a high tide, so the water was about mid-thigh height. Hence, the wet hair. It was fun, though! The water was high enough that I was able to swim a bit! However, the wind was blowing hard enough that I lost my footing at one point when I was getting ready to start swimming. Instead of gracefully floating and swimming, I fell and got a coral cut on my hand and a few on my left shin. I'm glad they weren't bad cuts, but deep down, I hope they scar. How cool would it be to tell people that I got scars from the Great Barrier Reef? Freaking awesome, that's how cool! I am concerned about the coral, though. I sure hope I didn't cause damage to them. It's not their fault I'm clumsy! After my little tumble, we brought our samples back to the lab and changed into dry clothes. To analyze our samples, we poured some of the sediment and seawater into petri dishes and placed them under a dissecting microscope. A dissecting microscope is used for seeing things just barely smaller than can be seen by the naked eye but cannot zoom to microscopic levels. We rummaged through the sand with tweezers until we came upon a living (or recently living) organism. We classified the organisms as mollusks, arthropods, annelids, or other. We tallied how many of each we found in each sample and brought together everyone's data. It was really interesting to see life at such small scales. I mostly came upon annelids (segmented worms), which seemed to be a common trend. My favorite beastie that I came across was an annelid called a ragworm (do NOT google this. trust me). It was only a larvae, so it wasn't creepy like the adult ragworms. One of the members of my group was playing music, and the ragworm would wiggle enough that it looked like it was dancing to the jams. Who would've thought a worm could be cute? I sure didn't. I thought it was real exciting when I found something in my sample. Surprisingly enough, I wasn't even disgusted by the worms, only excited to find them. In the middle of our analysis, we took a lunch break and had some pretty rocking pulled pork sandwiches. If you know me, you know that I'm a sucker for a good pulled pork sandwich. Well, this pulled pork sandwich has probably made my top 5 pulled pork sandwiches that I've had. Pat is a magic man. Put that man in a kitchen, and you'll eat better than royalty. The invertebrate analysis was long enough that we went to watch the sunset at the jetty. Unfortunately, it was too cloudy to really see anything. However, the colder weather brought out quite a few rays. When you read that, you're probably imagining about 10 or so, right? Wrong. There had to be about 40 just in the area that we were standing. We don't know why, but they seemed to be gathering in one spot. They weren't eating because the sand wasn't getting kicked up, but we couldn't think of any other reason they'd gather so close. It was an amazing sight to see the least. Pictures can't do it justice, just like everything else on this island. I didn't stick around on the jetty for very long because it was still windy and cold. When I got back to the research station, I started chatting with my classmates, Clark and Janna. We had a great conversation about literature and poetry. It might have even been one of the highlights of my day. I love that, even though we are science majors, we still enjoy intelligent discussions about the arts. What a well-rounded group of people. About 30 or so minutes of this, dinner was ready, which was braised beef and sweet potatoes with veggies and mashed potatoes of a sort. Need I say this again? DELICIOUS. I can't praise Pat enough. We have decided to recreate 'The Last Supper' as a class with Pat in the middle. After dinner, I was walking toward the lab to write this post when I came upon a shearwater just sitting by a pole. It flinched when I passed but didn't move, which I thought was weird. One of my classmates noticed and told me that the bird had flown straight into the post and was probably disoriented or concussed. We checked to see if the bird was okay and noticed that it still had some down from when it had been just a chick. The bird looked terrified, but I didn't know how to help it, which was sad. Pat noticed us checking out the bird and came over to tell us that it was practicing flying and hadn't done much of it. It had just left the nest and needed to develop the skill if they were to survive their time over the ocean. Apparently shearwaters don't see land until they return to Heron Island to breed. They spend the majority of their lives over the ocean, which is why even adults are clumsy and uncoordinated on land. During this conversation, we actually saw a second bird fly into the side of a building. Not even five minutes later, the very same bird nearly hit me square in the chest. It had to have missed me by just centimeters. The birds in Australia are really something else. I still think they're adorable, though. Except seagulls. Stupid seagulls. (Pat told me that what happened with my muffin is common in the summer months but rare this time of year. Lucky me!) Pat also told us about some of the trees here that are incredibly unique. They get most, if not all, of their nutrients from the decomposing of dead birds on the forest floor. To ensure they get enough nutrients to survive, they produce a sticky fruit that will trap birds and chicks as they fall to the ground. The bird will eventually suffocate or starve, and the tree will get its nutrients. If, for some reason, they don't get enough nutrients during a season, they will actually bloom twice so they can get enough to survive. Pretty interesting that one of the most brutal nutrient gain processes would come from a tree! Crazy cool! Well, that was my day! I'm truly having the time of my life here, and I wish it would never have to end!
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Hello again! Our second day on the island is coming to a close, so here's a day in the life of a student on Heron Island. The day started pretty early; 5:30 to be exact. Yes, it wasn't fun getting up so early. Yes, it was intentional. Yes, it was worth it. Every morning on the island Edd (one of our wicked cool instructors) leads an early morning snorkel session. This morning was mandatory, but from now on, they will be optional. Regardless, I will be going to all of them. It's incredible how many living things are out and about in the early morning. Upon first entering the water with my buddy, Nora, I immediately saw multiple green sea turtles, which, again, were adorable. As we continued in the water, we noticed that we were surrounded by cow head stingrays. They like to bury themselves in the sand, so there had to be about 45 or 50 of them in any given area. We swam along and eventually came upon the famed shipwreck off the coast of Heron Island. It was swarming with fish. It was a sight I never thought I'd see in my life. Mother Earth took something man-made and destructive and turned it into something beautiful and full of life. She never ceases to amaze me. Around the shipwreck, we were able to see a type of shark called a wobbegong. These creatures are able to camouflage themselves extremely well due to their rock like pattern and texture. If it weren't for the dorsal (top) fins, it would have gone completely unnoticed. It was an indescribable experience. I was also fortunate enough to see four spotted eagle rays. They are extremely beautiful and graceful fish. All of these sights plus black tip reef sharks and two guitarfish satisfied my need for shark sightings. However, only for a little while. I'm dying to get back out there bright and early tomorrow morning to see more sharks and rays. After the morning snorkel, we had a lovely breakfast prepared by the one and only Pat. Pat is amazing, and I think it's safe to say we would all die for Pat. I wish we could take Pat home with us. Oh, and the breakfast was great too. We had eggs and bacon with fruit and cereal. What a great way to start the day. After breakfast, we had a lecture on coral morphology. I was fortunate enough to have taken Oceanography from Trisha this past semester (she's the other wicked cool instructor), so the lecture was all review for me. I appreciated the review, though, especially since I can apply it to real life this time. It's a fun experience to attend a lecture on a topic like coral reefs then walk 2 minutes to see it in action. I'd be in college forever if every class was like this. After the lecture, we had a bit of free time. I read my book off an on while chatting with a few of my classmates. The people here with me are all very pleasant, and I very much enjoy the conversation. After a while, we were called in to lunch. (Again prepared by Pat. We love Pat.) We had nachos, chili, and salad. What I'm about to say shouldn't surprise you after all the Pat talk: DELICIOUS! Pat rocks. His food is even so good that I was attacked by a seagull for one of his muffins. I should have known better than taking a yummy pastry outside where the hundreds of birds on the island can see it, yet here we are. I left the kitchen with an apple cinnamon muffin and had only taken one bite before I noticed a seagull flying less than a foot from my head. It was eyeing my delicious muffin. It landed somewhere else and I thought I was in the clear. Next thing I know, a bird is flying straight in to my head and my muffin is gone. Where is it, you ask? In the dirty beaks of sky raccoons, AKA seagulls. It took them less than 10 seconds to devour my poor muffin, leaving only crumbly remains. Filthy bastards. The next part of the day was the most exciting: Lab 1! This lab was very simple. We took transect lines (basically large tape measures) and measured 30 meters away from the shore using the water line as the starting point. Every ten meters we dropped something called a quadrat. Essentially, a quadrat is a square of PVC pipe measuring about half a meter on each side. There are 4 strings tied on the edges running in each direction. This results in 25 squares within the larger square. We would use this to determine the percent cover of the seabed within the quadrat. Each square represented 4% of the larger square, so if a square was mostly covered by coral, that square would represent 4% coral cover. Each transect line had 4 trials each (0-m, 10-m, 20-m, and 30-m), and we did 3 transects each. The tide was fairly low, so it was really interesting to see what some of the seabed looks like up close without needing a snorkel. It's mostly sand on the dry part of land, but in the shallower water, there are countless sea cucumbers and a few sea stars. Edd and Trisha also found what's called a sea hare. These creatures are essentially giant slugs. It was so massive that they caught the sea hare in a bucket and made the rounds to show everyone. There were also little sharks in the shallow water called epaulette sharks. These are tiny sharks that have some fascinating characteristics. Since they like to hang out in shallower water, they sometimes get stuck on land during low tide. This usually means certain death for a fish, but the Epaulette is able to slow its breathing, heart rate, and brain activity enough to survive on one breath for about an hour. If they are still stranded, they are able to use their fins as makeshift legs and walk on land towards the water. Epaulette sharks are shy, so it's difficult to spot them, but every so often, they can be seen zooming through the water when they're spooked. I was lucky enough to witness the shark zoom when I was taking the transect line out to 30 meters. The ocean is wild. When everyone had finished their transect lines, we met back in the lab and worked on the analysis. We tested two hypotheses: 1) coral cover would increase as the distance from shore increased, and 2) algal cover would initially increase before being dominated by coral as distance from shore increased. We proved hypothesis 1 correct, but we never saw a decrease in algae cover after the initial increase. There are a number of reasons for this trend, but that's okay. Science is variable, which is why it's so exciting! Once we finished our analyses and write-ups for the lab, we headed to the jetty to watch the sunset. This is going to be a daily activity, and I have to say, I'm more than okay with that. The sunsets on Heron Island are spectacular, and I don't think I will ever tire of them. They happen quickly, but during that time, the sky looks like a true painting. It's unreal. Once the sun went down, we had a bit of extra time before dinner, so I set off to Shark Bay with a few of my classmates: Nora and Clark. Shark Bay is aptly named. It's fairly sandy compared to the rest of the shallow water on the island, and the sharks like to hang out in the sand. Even after the sun went down, we easily saw 35 to 40 cow head rays just off shore. There was also a guitarfish, which is one of the coolest sharks. It was an unbelievable sight, and I wish I could have stayed to take it all in. We had to leave, though, since dinner was soon, and you can't miss a meal from Pat. On the way back to the station, we walked through the forest, which was noisy and smelly from the hundreds of birds that had flown in to roost for the night. Eventually we made it back to the station and got our last meal of the day: Moroccan chicken and quinoa salad. As per usual, it was delightful. That's about it for the day! Heron Island is truly paradisaical, and I'm continually in awe of its beauty. Until tomorrow! Hello! Hopefully if you have found your way to this page, you want to hear about my experience in Heron Island. Well, I'm not one to disappoint, so stay tuned! First, though, a little about myself: my name is Brynn, and I am studying fisheries and aquatic sciences at Utah State. I only have three semesters of my degree left, so I can almost call myself a college graduate. After that, I plan to attend graduate school and get a Master's degree in aquatic ecology, then hopefully a PhD in marine science. This summer I have had the incredible opportunity to come to Heron Island to study coral reefs! Heron Island is a small island off the coast of Gladstone in Queensland, Australia. Half of the island is a resort, while the other half is a research station run by the University of Queensland. We are staying with the research station and will be working with them to conduct research projects concerning the reef. As a class, we started our journey yesterday, May 28th. However, I have been in Australia since May 23rd exploring the Rocks in Sydney. I spent a lot of my time with my lovely classmates, Cat and Sam. I also spent a day with Sean, Russ, and Zach, so we have all become good buddies before even stepping foot on the island. After exploring Sydney and enjoying the Vivid lights festival, my classmates and I met up at a cute little hostel in the city of Gladstone, a mining town in Queensland. We spent the night then boogied on over to the Heron Islander ferry first thing this morning. The water was calm, and the weather was beautiful. Overall, it was an incredibly pleasant ride, and the two hours flew by. Nothing beats the feeling on sun on your face and wind in your hair! Once we got on the island, we got a brief tour from one of the research station staff members. Every one here is very friendly and has made us feel very welcome. After the tour, we ate lunch, sandwiches and salad. This may sound like a typical, boring lunch, but let me assure you, it was not. The chef here (also very friendly and welcoming) is amazing at his job. So far, all of the food he has fed us has been much better than any food I eat as a poor college student. We're off to a great start! After lunch, we lugged our baggage to our dorm rooms before we checked out our snorkel gear and got a basic run down of the rest of the day and the plan for tomorrow. During this little rendezvous, we decided that an evening snorkel was in order. We got into buddy pairs (I was paired with Sean), and set off for the beach. The snorkel was the highlight of the day. We saw endless amounts of coral and hundreds of little fish (plus a great deal of big fish)! One of the most common fish that we saw was a parrotfish, which are also my favorite sight under the water. They grow to be pretty sizable fish that are brightly colored and have a beak-like mouth that looks like they're always smiling. You can't see a parrotfish and not smile. My classmate Russ and I decided to go back in the water for a few minutes after everyone had gotten out. This is because we saw a few fins of black tip reef sharks. The top of my list of animals I want to see is sharks. Unfortunately, they were too fast for us, and I didn't see them. Soon, little sharks. Soon. As great as the fish were, though, nothing is better than being able to breathe when underwater. It's a completely different world down there, and it's truly a surreal experience. It's easy to let all of your troubles go when you're in a place as serene as a coral reef. The best part is we get to snorkel every day! After the snorkel, we went to the jetty to watch the sun set. I've never seen a sun set like that in my life. Sunsets are never bad, but there's something different about watching one over an endless body of water. We were also able to see a few turtles off the jetty just chilling. They came up for air a few times, which was pretty stinkin' adorable. What is it about turtles that make them so cute? I personally think it's everything about them, but a few of my classmates think that it's the eyes, mouth, and head, which is true. After the sea turtle encounter, we ate dinner: personal lasagnas, salad, and a muffin type dessert with syrup and cream. My classmates can attest to this: that dessert was truly enlightening. Like I said, the chef is amazing. Thanks, Pat! That concludes our first day on Heron Island! I'm so excited to get into this class! Hopefully it will put me a bit ahead in the marine biology world. It's competitive, but it truly is my passion and calling in life. Thanks for reading! Until tomorrow night, I bid you adieu! But first! PICS! |