Anyone uncertain about the scope of the human footprint in the ocean just needs to do a deepsea trawl off the coast of southern California. During a government fish survey, we pulled up everything from weather instruments, army helmets and canteens, to bottles, cans and boots. The ocean is big, but it can only hide so much if we use it as a dumping ground. Who knows, though – maybe these would make good habitat for a shoe crab. They’re not a matched set, but in a pinch…
Monterey Bay is not only a tourist attraction for visitors from all over the world, it is also a destination spot for animals from across the globe. Some animal visitors swim the distance, like the leatherback sea turtles that journey from the beaches of Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. Others just wing it for thousands of miles, like these seabirds called sooty shearwaters that hail all the way from New Zealand in flocks of hundreds and thousands.
Researchers think that the rich feeding conditions in the California Current are a major attraction for these long journeys. MLML student Melinda Nakagawa put satellite tags on some sooty sheaterwaters to track their movements. For her thesis, she is investigating how the birds move in relation to physical forces, such as winds and currents – such information will help us better understand these birds’ epic migrations.
By Elizabeth McHuron, Vertabrate Ecology Lab
This harbor seal was captured in San Francisco Bay as part of several students’ thesis projects. One of these projects is looking at why harbor seals in San Francisco Bay are rusting (notice the red fur), and why some seals rust and others don’t. Some of the samples collected for these projects include blood, hair, morphometric (body) measurements, and nasal/rectal swabs. All seals involved receive two blue rear flipper tags and a PIT tag (microchip), so that they can be identified in the future.
I have been in traffic while driving toward Moss Landing from Santa Cruz more often then I prefer. I have noticed Snowy Egrets, (Egretta thula), standing as still at statues around the wetland areas, almost at Moss Landing. It’s nice to observe some birdlife while still in the comfort of my car. If you watch closely you may see the statues move quickly and BOOM, they’ve caught a meal! Be careful and slow down as the speed limit declines through the Moss Landing area – there are many Egrets and Gulls out and about!
There’s history written in the mud of the ocean floor. Geologic Oceanography professor Ivano Aiello and the Geologic Oceanography class examine a sediment core pulled from the depths of Monterey Bay. Changes in the size and composition of sediments along the core help researchers go back in time and understand processes at play in the historic ocean.
Just like a space rover, this instrument is designed to help us study places that are inhospitable to people. But rather than the furthest reaches of space, this corer travels to the depths of the sea to where it collects cores of the mud and sand on the ocean floor. Geological oceanographers like MLML professor Ivan Aiello (left) can use the samples to learn how different geologic features in an area formed throughout history – in this case, the study site is Monterey Bay.
By Brynn Hooton-Kaufman, Phycology Lab
I’ve spent a lot of time over the past few months diving, tidepooling, and digging through rotting wrack on the beach in search of seaweeds. Sometimes I get skunked, driven out by the swell, weather, and even tsunamis. Sometimes I spend hours searching around, just to find that the seaweed I want isn’t even in season, and is nowhere to be found.
But we all know it’s the victories that count. When I march back up to the car, spoils of battle in hand, laden with the seaweeds to be used in the following week’s class, I’m pretty pleased with myself. And unfailingly, I run into someone on the way. “What did you catch?” they usually ask.
“Seaweed!” I proudly announce, waiting for what will hopefully be an enthusiastic response. But usually, the responses fall a little flat. Often they come in a variety of “hmm, that’s interesting” or some sort of feigned interest. I can’t say I really blame them. Seaweed isn’t quite a trophy fish that you would pose with in a picture (although most phycologists have), and most people don’t have much experience with it.
I didn’t have much experience with seaweed either before I started graduate school at MLML. To be honest, I really didn’t know what phycology was at all, even though I was joining the Phycology Lab. Kelp forest ecology was my main interest, and more specifically I wanted to study how organisms use kelp as habitat. If that was going to make me a phycologist, that was fine by me. Read more
One of the best parts of Moss Landing Marine Labs is getting out into the field after learning in the classroom, and applying your knowledge outside. We ask questions like, Why does this particular organism occur where it does? You begin to notice that a particular type of algae loves waves or that banana slugs eat dead plant material like redwood bark. Taking walks around the local state parks, such as Henry Cowell, can be an eye opening experience everyone can do. Just be careful where you step, the UC Santa Cruz mascot is right at your toes!
While aloft in a small plane, recent MLML grad Heather Hawk snapped this aerial shot of Moss Landing Marine Labs. A whole wall of the lab faces the Old Salinas River Channel and its pickleweed marsh. The flying snowy egrets and splashing sea otters in the channel are a dangerous distraction for the studier-turned- window-gazer…
On a recent Moss Landing Marine Lab field trip, the Biology of Seaweeds class went exploring north of the bay for different types of marine algae. The algae pictured here is a really tough one compared to the others. The Sea Palm, Postelsia palmaeformis, lives in the harsh crash zone of the intertidal. It loves intense wave motion and lives on hard red algae. Due to over-harvesting the little palm is now protected and illegal to collect. It looks like a nice view but I don’t think I could take the punishment of having this kind of beach-front property!