Day 1 (Wednesday, May 14):
We couldn't ask for a better start to our 5.5 week journey! After a smooth check-in in the dorms and lunch at The Reef (USFSP cafeteria), we met for lecture. An amazing powerpoint from Dr. Greely on her past endeavors and research set the stage for what is certain to be the best experience of our academic careers thus far. We paired up with fellow students and conducted interviews to better familiarize ourselves with each other and to discover similar interests. We came to a consensus that we all enjoyed water based activities and enjoy too many to pick a single favorite. We then set out for a team bonding activity of kayaking which turned out to more of an adventure than we expected. Not even ten minutes into the trip, the sky let loose for skin-stinging rain! We continued to paddle and became more and more soaked not only from the rain but from the paddle splashing war initiated from the guys in the group! Then dinner to wrap up an amazing first day!
Drenched after kayaking!
Day 2 (Thursday, May 15):
Day 2 was packed with so much learning and exposure. Morning consisted of lectures making sure we're all on the same page with plankton, ocean layers, ocean processes, etc. Everyone in the class comes from different walks of life and each student brings something new to the table. Often during lecture we would have mini discussions and so many great points were brought up. Collaboration is such a great way to learn.
After lunch, we observed an amazing demonstration of seafloor spreading in the wax model lab. The very surface of the wax model that is exposed to the air is a little more solid which allows us to cut a "coast" similar to that of South America and Africa when they were joined as one supercontinent. Once the "continents" were cut, the paddle slowly pulled the two continental plates apart simulating an extremely accurate representation of the formation of the Atlantic Ocean. Observing the rifts forming was absolutely mind-boggling!
Next we visited the Paleontology lab where we learned more about foraminifera; how they form, what they're made of, where they're found, etc. We took a look at some core samples from the ocean floor and learned about the process by which they contract data from the samples. We were shown the mass spectrometer which is an intricate device used to tell the composition of the sample being tested. We also viewed foraminifera under the microscope to get a better idea of what these organisms look like.
In Dr. G's lab we had fun playing with water of different salinities and temperatures. We dyed the water for best results.
Here's a simulation we did, the yellow colored water represents room temperature salty water and the green represents cold salty water. Upon lifting the divider we can see that the cold salty water sinks exactly as it does in the ocean while the warmer salty water floats on top!
Here we observed gorgeous stratification, all four different colors are different in temperature and salinity. Upon opening the dividers, the differences caused definite observable layers!
Day 3 (Friday, May 16):
As with every morning, we started out with lecture. We talked mostly about the diversity in the ocean: we learned about what organisms live where and why. We compared and contrasted different marine communities, adaptation that abled these organisms to live there, feeding habits, body type/shape, migrations, and more. We viewed some great short clips of organisms living in the deep sea and discussed in depth their adaptations to living there, from conservation of energy all the way to their abilities to produce light.
We then visited the Remote Sensing lab, which I honestly had no idea existed in the College of Marine Science. We received a wonderful introduction from the graduate students currently working on projects in said lab. We learned about the vast amount of opportunities for this type of data collection. We were even shown how to access this public data collected from the NASA satellites. It's amazing to learn that this quality data is right at our fingertips.
We were also fortunate enough to tour yet another amazing lab. We visited the electron microscope lab! The lab contains two microscopes; a Transition Electron Microscope and a Scanning Electron Microscope. The Transition Electron Microscope works by focusing an electron source through a series of lenses finally to determine internal structures of the sample, be it bacteria, a virus or cell. The other microscope, the Scanning Electron Microscope, tends to be used for larger samples when only the outside surface is desired to be observed. This microscope also focuses an electron beam upon the sample which presents an extremely detailed image of the sample. These images can even be presented in 3-D form for better viewing.
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| Transition Electron Microscope |
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| Scanning Electron Microscope |
The last activities of the day included FISHES! We were each assigned a real preserved fish. By making observations, we were presented some questions to answers. Questions such as "where do you think your fish lives?" and "what special adaptations does your fish have?". Through observations and collaboration we surprised ourselves with how much we could actually determine from external observations alone! We then shared with the class our hunches about our fish!
My fish was a Filefish. I initially noticed his very small operculum (gill cover) which told me that it doesn't have a protrusible mouth and is therefore not an active predator. I decided it likely just picks at its food off the reefs or sea floor. It has unique scales which appear more "skin-like", these scales are similar to shark scales and are called placoid scales. It has an upturned mouth which is called a superior mouth. It has relatively small fins and is surprisingly lacking pelvic fins but has a post-anal fin. This fish likely spends it's time swimming leisurely through the water column.
Onward and upward to UWF we go!
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