Students standing by their scientific poster during the Symposium poster session
This past Saturday, CEI and IS hosted their Spring 2013 Research Symposium. The event consisted of research presentations and poster sessions, where Island School students got the chance to present their semester’s worth of work to staff, community members, visiting scientists, and representatives from some Bahamian NGO’s, including Save our Bays. After giving brief presentations that discussed everything from the purpose of the research to data analysis and interpretation, IS students had the chance to attend their first poster session as
Students engaging a visitor, answering questions on their research.
young scientists. After working on the posters all semester, students were proud to showcase their effort, and share what they learned with those that were interested. The Symposium culminated with keynote speakers Dr. John Tiedemann (Monmouth University) and Dr. Mark Hixon (University of Hawaii), addressing the students and motivating them to continue their critical thinking as they move on to college.
Last week, our second CEI Symposium kicked off with the first night of presentations by Liz Underwood on lionfish reproduction sites, Skylar Miller discussing larval lionfish recruitment, Maddy Young on flats ecology, and Melissa Dick on mangrove cultivator pots. The second night yielded interesting presentations by Peter Wilson on the oceanic whitetip shark expedition, Lauren Horton on stingray physiology, Will Urmston presenting on the best medium to plant microgreens in, and Kristal Ambrose presenting on her beach plastic research.
CEI hosts a large variety of research projects and this symposium is a great way to showcase the hard work done by the interns for the past five months. Nice job everyone!
The lionfish program trials for their lobster lionfish displacement experiment are well underway. After many hours of work, all three “lobster cams” are now up and running which was only possible with the help of several staff from different departments around CEI.
Fishermen have given accounts that lionfish are invading their lobster traps, and it is affecting their income. To test if lionfish are capable of displacing lobster from their habitat, infrared cameras were set up to film the interactions of behaviors that occur between lionfish and lobster through both day and night. We already have many hours of footage and have seen some exciting behaviors.
Click on the link below to checkout some sample footage (This link downloads a .avi video file so please check your recent downloads after clicking):
This past weekend, the CEI and Island School campus had many visitors eager to hear about CEI research- Island School parents! Parents attended presentations given by IS students on current research projects that the students have been working on since they arrived in March. Research presentations discussed during the event included:
The abundance and distribution of sea turtles in Half Sound
Effects of longline capture on shark physiology
Competitive interactions between lobsters and lionfish
Identifying ideal nursery habitat for juvenile queen conch
Effects of climate change on bonefish and other mangrove species
The relationship between herbivore abundance on patch reefs and proximity to mangroves
Assessing settlement of post-larval lionfish
SP’13 IS students posing for a group picture after research presentations.
Each presentation was followed by a question and answer session, where students demonstrated their extensive knowledge on the background and applications of their study. Parents also got the opportunity to learn about all of the research happening at CEI, and to meet with research advisors.
Lyford Cay grade 8 had a busy 3 days here at CEI diving into the plastics curriculum as well as some of the fun yet educational activities typical of our Island School programs: Sandbar geology, Lionfish lesson/dissection, and reef ecology lesson & snorkel.
Weather was a tad windy for snorkeling at 4th hole but they did have a chance to check out the reef balls. Successful plastics research was conducted on 4th hole beach with Miss Kristal Ocean herself and the results will be used in their science class back at Lyford.
Here are two short bios from two visiting scientists from Simon Fraser University:
PhD student from SFU Luis ready to dive for lionfish.
Luis- I am a marine ecologist with background in oceanography and fisheries ecology; my
research interests are the study of food web interactions and energy transfer in the marine ecosystem. For my PhD at The Marine Ecology Lab in Simon Fraser University, I will focus on evaluating how food webs are affected under different stressors, one very important one being the lionfish invasion on the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean. During the following three months I will be collecting samples of different fish species using non-invasive techniques to study the structure of food webs in reefs off Eleuthera. This is an existing project and having the opportunity of doing it with the help and support of the CEI and Island School staff makes it even better!
SFU Student Sev checking a trap.
Severin- I am a third year biology student from Simon Fraser University. For my cooperative education placement and NSERC – Undergratuate Student Research Award, I have the good fortune of assisting Luis Malpica with his food-web research in the field (under the supervision of Dr. Côté) as well as conducting my own studies on site fidelity and habitat use of yellow stingrays (Urobatis jamaicensis). Although I’ve been diving for several years, my interest for marine ecology was ignited after participating in Dr. Côté’s graduate level, underwater research methods course at SFU.
Last week, the lionfish team here at CEI got out of the office and spent their working hours underwater- about 14 hours to be exact! They conducted a round of patch reef surveys in Rock Sound, counting numerous fish species and looking for and removing lionfish from the reefs. The study is aimed at better understanding the impacts lionfish have in the area. On the 16 patch reefs they surveyed, 56 lionfish were seen and sized. On the 8 patches that were designated as “removal patches,” 19 out of 24 lionfish were removed.
Members of Lionfish Research Team (L to R): Liz Underwood (intern), Jocelyn Curtis-Quick (Manager), and visiting scientists Luis and Sev.
Several exciting encounters with other marine life happened as well, including getting up close and personal with a nurse shark and spotting a unicorn filefish! Seven different people were involved in data collection, including PhD student, Luis, from Simon Frasier University. Luis is back at CEI for 3 months collecting data for his project and helping out the lionfish program any way he can! Continue reading →
This past week, the SP13 Island School students presented Project Introduction presentations to their peers, staff, faculty, and the many visitors on campus. These presentations gave the students a chance to stand up in front of a crowd, and display their knowledge of the background, purpose, and methodology of their specific research projects.
Research projects this year include 1) lionfish and lobster competition, 2) shark physiology after longline capture, 3) effects of climate change on bonefish swimming capacity, 4) effects of decreasing pH on mangrove fish, 5) identifying juvenile queen conch nurseries, 6) green sea turtle habitat use, 7) the settlement of juvenile lionfish, and 8) coral vs. algae cover on patch reefs. These projects are led by CEI researchers, and the students have the chance to work closely with with researchers for the duration of their Island School research class. The class culminates with a Research Symposium, where the students present a scientific poster on the findings of their projects. Continue reading →
CEI attended the 2013 Rock Sound Homecoming as part of their community outreach, and engaged the local community members in a conversation about marine conservation.
The CEI booth was packed with information on a range of issues including plastics awareness, conch conservation, sharks, climate change, bonefish best handling practices, aquaponics, and aquaculture info. We also had free giveaways! The fried lionfish and tilapia samples were a big hit, especially with all the local kids! The aquaculture mini system and free lettuce was also very popular. The day in Rock Sound was great fun – thank-you to all the CEI staff and interns who help run the booth. Look forward to the next homecoming!
For the past two weeks, Mark Hixon’s graduate students from Oregon State University (Alex Davis, Tye Kindinger, and Lillian Tuttle) have been busy SCUBA diving on their experimental reefs where they are observing the ecological effects of invasive lionfish on native communities. Alex has been filming lionfish behavior at dusk, when lionfish are often actively hunting on the reefs. Tye is monitoring two species of native basslets (one of which is a popular aquarium fish) that could be threatened by lionfish predation. Lillian has been measuring densities of cleaner fishes, potential lionfish prey, which pick parasites off of other larger fishes, and are thus an important part of maintaining a healthy reef-fish community. Continue reading →
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