Category Archives: Visiting Scientists

Local Community, Outreach, Pelagic, Plastics, Student Research, Sustainable Systems, Visiting Scientists

The Island School Hosts an International Youth Summit with Musician Jack Johnson and 5 Gyres

Two weekends ago, The Island School hosted the SEA Change Youth Summit with musician, Jack Johnson and 5 Gyres to raise awareness about the impacts of plastic pollution in the ocean and to inspire young students to be advocates for change. 34 Students gathered from Abaco, Grand Bahama, New Providence and Eleuthera as well as a school group out of New York and another student from Jamaica.

Musician Jack Johnson plays a few songs at the UNEP Designation where he was recognized as a Goodwill Ambassador.
Musician Jack Johnson plays a few songs at the UNEP Designation where he was recognized as a Goodwill Ambassador.

As part of the kick-off for the weekend on Friday June 5th, Jack Johnson took part in a designation ceremony to become a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The designation was timely as last Friday marked World Environment Day, a UN flagship event encouraging worldwide awareness and action for the environment, celebrated in over 100 countries.

Included in the kickoff to the festivities hosted on The Island School’s campus were remarks from Chris Maxey, founder of The Cape Eleuthera Island School, Anna Cummins and Marcus Eriksen, founders of the 5 Gyres Institute and Celine Cousteau, film maker, environmentalist and daughter of ocean explorer Jean-Michel Cousteau and the granddaughter of Jacques Cousteau. Also in the line up was Kristal Ambrose, founder of Bahamas Plastic Movement and Minister of Education, Science and Technology, The Hon. Jerome Fitzgerald.

Students at the summit make all-natural tooth paste.
Students at the summit make all-natural tooth paste.

The first day of the Summit centered around raising awareness on the issue of plastic pollution so that the students could create their own solutions based on the stories and information they’d received. In the afternoon students, facilitators, Jack Johnson and visiting UNEP representative, Naysan Sahba visited a local beach to do a clean-up lead by Kristal Ambrose. The day finished with a Junkanoo, cultural activity lead by Art teacher and Space to Create founder, Will Simmons in which Summit attendees, Island School students and Jack Johnson created original songs about plastic pollution to the Junkanoo beat provided by the visiting South Eleutheran students from Preston H. Albury High School.

The second day began with a workshop on how to reduce single-use disposable plastics in the household. Students were given tips and tools on how to make their own toothpaste and steer away from buying highly packaged products and personal care products containing plastic micro-beads. After lunch, David Stover, co-founder of Bureo Skateboards told his story of making skateboards from fish netting found in the ocean and beaches of Chile. The students then sifted through their findings from Friday’s clean-up to create a symbolic SEA Change eye sculpture out of plastics with Dianna Cohen, founder of Plastic Pollution Coalition. The sculpture was then showcased at the Deep Creek Homecoming where Summit attendees enjoyed a plastic free event thanks to a donation by World Centric for all food packaging. Recover also pitched in with a donation of t-shirts for the homecoming made from recycled plastic bottles.

Students at the summit make all-natural tooth paste.
Students at the summit make all-natural tooth paste.

The last day of the Summit was spent teaching the students how to tell and share their own stories and to create their own solutions. Facilitators and visiting activists, scientists and artists participated in group discussions on how each student could make a change in their home, on their island and in their country. The day ended in a closing ceremony with music by local band, The Rum Runners, as well as Jack Johnson, who performed alongside local and visiting musicians and even played a tune with two Island School students.

Summit organizer, The Island School’s Brittney Maxey, was blown away by the energy coming from the young students. “This is a historical event not only for us at The Island School and the island of Eleuthera, but also for The Bahamas and other island nations as a whole. We are sending these motivated young people back out into the world equipped with the tools to make a difference in their communities. The Island School’s mission is leadership affecting change and this weekend embodied this belief not only for the students but for the island of Eleuthera. We are a small place making big change.”

Summit attendees, 5 Gyres, and Jack Johnson celebrate World Environment Day on June 5 and show off all of the beach plastic they gathered.
Summit attendees, 5 Gyres, and Jack Johnson celebrate World Environment Day on June 5 and show off all of the beach plastic they gathered.

Thank you to event supporters: Johnson Ohana Charitable Foundation, AML Foods, Cape Eleuthera Resort & Marina, Recover, World Centric, From the Bow Seat, Bahamas Waste Limited, Cable Bahamas, One Eleuthera, The Muggia Family and Kim & Floyd Wilson

facebooktwittergoogle_plusredditpinterestlinkedinby feather
Flats, Visiting Scientists

Graduate student research update: Petra Szekeres and her work on juvenile bonefish

 

Nearshore habitat where juvenile bonefish have been found in groups of mojarra; this bit of shoreline is just outside of Rock Sound.
Nearshore habitat where juvenile bonefish have been found in groups of mojarra; this bit of shoreline is just outside of Rock Sound.

Petra Szekeres is a Master’s student in the Fish Ecology and Conservation Physiology Lab from Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Her research topics focus on the behaviour, physiology and ecology of juvenile bonefish (Albula vulpes). To date there has been very little research conducted on juvenile bonefish; this is due to the difficulty in locating them. In the past two decades, exhaustive efforts along the Florida coastline have yielded few results with regard to juvenile bonefish capture.

In recent years, researchers have turned to the relatively pristine coastline of The Bahamas to find these elusive juveniles. Petra’s research will be building upon Christopher Haak’s research, which he conducted at CEI in 2013. Christopher is a PhD student at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and has conducted thousands of seine hauls along the coastline of Eleuthera to locate areas juvenile bonefish inhabit. Now that some of these locations have been identified, Petra hopes to build on the foundation provided by Christopher. She will be collecting juvenile bonefish from the flats of southern Eleuthera and, for the first time, will be transporting live juvenile bonefish to the labs at CEI for further behavioural and physiological experiments.

A juvenile bonefish previously captured in southern Eleuthera.
A juvenile bonefish previously captured in southern Eleuthera.

Continue reading →

facebooktwittergoogle_plusredditpinterestlinkedinby feather
Sea turtles, Uncategorized, Visiting Scientists

Prominent sea turtle researchers visit CEI

During the first week of May, Cape Eleuthera Institute and the Sea Turtle Research and Conservation Program were honored to welcom Dr. Karen Bjorndal and Dr. Alan Bolten to our facility. Dr. Bjorndal and Dr. Bolten are co-directors of the Archie Carr Center for Sea Turtle Research at the University of Florida and collaborators on the “Tracking Sea Turtles in the Bahamas” Earthwatch program conducted at CEI.

Research assistant of the Sea Turtle Research Program, Rachel Miller, watching Dr. Alan Bolten take a biopsy from a green sea turtle caught in Starved Creek, The Bahamas.
Research assistant of the Sea Turtle Research Program, Rachel Miller, watching Dr. Alan Bolten take a biopsy from a green sea turtle caught in Starved Creek, The Bahamas.

Dr. Bjorndal and Dr. Bolten came to CEI to discuss the program as well as scout out potential study sites for their newest graduate student to investigate the effect of green sea turtles on the carbon cycle of seagrass beds. They also accompanied the turtle team on a trip to Starved Creek. Here, Drs. Bjorndal and Bolten taught the turtle team how to take skin biopsies from a sea turtle. These skin biopsies will be used to conduct stable isotope analysis, an analysis that examines the diet of the turtle, as well as genetic analysis. The genetic analysis will help give the team at CEI an idea of which rookery (nesting area) the sea turtles came from as the green sea turtles feeding off the shores of Eleuthera most likely traveled long distances from their hatching grounds.

Dr. Karen Bjorndal gives a presentation to Island School students about her work in the Bahamas over the last 40+ years. Photo Credit- Dr. Jocelyn Curtis-Quick
Dr. Karen Bjorndal gives a presentation to Island School students about her work in the Bahamas over the last 40+ years. Photo Credit- Dr. Jocelyn Curtis-Quick

On their final night at CEI, Dr. Bjorndal gave a presentation to the Island School students and staff. Dr. Bjorndal was a doctoral student of Archie Carr, the grandfather of sea turtle research, and her presentation gave background information on sea turtles in the Bahamas and provided insight into the research she has conducted for the last 40+ years in The Bahamas. Dr. Bjorndal initially monitored nutritional ecology of green sea turtles in the early 70’s but this has grown into a long term monitoring program in Inagua, southern Bahamas. She and Dr. Bolten also monitor abundance of sea turtles (green, loggerhead, and hawksbill) as well as growth rates of sea turtles throughout various sites in the Bahamas.

The turtle team are grateful for the time they got to spend with these distinguished scientists and look forward to their graduate student joining the team at CEI next year!

facebooktwittergoogle_plusredditpinterestlinkedinby feather
Flats, Outreach, Sharks, Visiting Scientists

Researchers travel to Great Exuma to present at the Bahamas Conservation Symposium

IMG_7967In March, Florida State University Master’s students Brendan Talwar and Mackellar Violich, and Flats Ecology and Conservation intern Georgie Burruss traveled to Great Exuma to present at the Bahamas Conservation Symposium. The Symposium was organized by the Exuma Foundation, the Elizabeth Harbour Conservation Partnership, the Bahamas Marine EcoCentre, and the Bahamas National Trust (BNT) and hosted by the Exuma Foundation. The idea for the Symposium arose as a way to share scientific knowledge on the years that the Bahamas National Trust Conference does not meet. The Symposium was open to a general audience, drawing in community members of the Exuma Cays as well as local scientists.

Catherine Booker (Exuma Foundation/Community Conch) introduces Brendan Talwar (FSU/CEI) to an eighth grade science class at LN Coakley Secondary High School
Catherine Booker (Exuma Foundation/Community Conch) introduces Brendan Talwar (FSU/CEI) to an eighth grade science class at LN Coakley Secondary High School

Brendan Talwar gave a talk on deep-sea sharks, followed by Georgie Burruss’s talk on the Bahamas Initiative bonefish tagging program and their recent bonefish tagging trip to the Exuma Cays, and Mackellar Violich presented on deep-sea diversity, the Medusa project, and deep sea traps. Continue reading →

facebooktwittergoogle_plusredditpinterestlinkedinby feather
Flats, Visiting Scientists

Collaborative research on Exuma will have conservation implications for important nearshore species

Dr. Owen O'Shea releases an adult bonefish.
Dr. Owen O’Shea releases an adult bonefish.

In collaboration with the Fisheries Conservation Foundation (FCF) and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), the Cape Eleuthera Institute (CEI) sent researchers to the Exuma Cays in February to tag and collect genetic samples from bonefish (Albula vulpes) and southern stingrays (Dasyatis americana). The CEI team was comprised of Director Aaron Shultz, Associate Researcher Dr. Owen O’Shea, Research Assistant Alexio Brown, Flats Ecology intern Georgie Burruss, and Sustainable Fisheries intern Adrian Feiler. They were joined by FWC Post-doctoral research fellow Dr. Liz Wallace, and a North Carolina based volunteer and avid fisherman, Chandler White. The researchers spent eight days on Hummingbird Cay, a privately owned island south west of Great Exuma, and two days at the Exuma Foundation on Great Exuma.

Adrian Feiler tags a bonefish with a uniquely coded spaghetti tag.
Adrian Feiler tags a bonefish with a uniquely coded spaghetti tag.

The focus of the trip was to continue the Bahamas Tagging Initiative in Exuma, which aims to passively track bonefish movement and growth rates throughout the Bahamas. Each fish is tagged with uniquely coded external ‘spaghetti’ and the length of each fish is recorded. This allows the assessment of growth rates and location data once the fish are re-caught. These data can then be used as a powerful tool in understanding the mechanisms of spatial distribution, natural mortality, and factors influencing growth of this highly prized sportfish. The tagging program has been implemented in Eleuthera, Grand Bahama, Abaco, Andros, and the Exuma Cays. Continue reading →

facebooktwittergoogle_plusredditpinterestlinkedinby feather
Flats, Research Programs, Visiting Scientists

Pufferfish shine in video contest

What happens to the research done at CEI after the excitement of the field season and the hours in the lab are over? Researchers need to find interesting and accessible ways to share their discoveries with others. Naomi Pleizier, a student from Carleton University, is doing this by showcasing her research on pufferfish at CEI in the NSERC Science, Action! video contest.

Take a look at the 60 second video to get a glimpse of one of the emerging projects from CEI, and like and share it to show your support!

Naomi and her team studied several key survival behaviours of checkered pufferfish, a common mangrove fish, to determine whether consistent individual behaviours can be altered by a stress hormone, cortisol. The results help us understand how a resident of these vulnerable ecosystems might respond to natural challenges and stress caused by humans. Follow the link to see research at CEI in action!

 

facebooktwittergoogle_plusredditpinterestlinkedinby feather
Educational Programs, Research Programs, Sea turtles, Student Research, Visiting Scientists

Earthwatch Sea Turtle Programs have a successful year in 2014!

9 expeditions, 92 volunteers, 115 turtles, and 145 Baited Remote Underwater Video Surveys  - just a taste of the successful year the Earthwatch-funded sea turtle research program had in 2014!

All pictures depict volunteers helping out with every aspect of the research project.
All pictures depict volunteers helping out with every aspect of the research project.
This is the first year of study that Earthwatch has supported the sea turtle research program at CEI and 92 Earthwatch volunteers travelled to Eleuthera to assist with fieldwork between February and November this year. The age range was 15 – 80 years old and over the course of nine days volunteers helped conduct sea turtle abundance surveys, deploy and analyse baited video surveys to look at shark abundance and diversity, and hand capture turtles – plus they got to have some fun snorkelling and touring around Eleuthera!
DSCN3268The main species caught is the green turtle (Chelonia mydas) however a few hawksbills (Eretmochelys imbricata) were also tagged! The study is well on its way to better understanding forgaing ground use by juvenile green sea turtles. The study spans across 10 sites around South Eleuthera and Earthwatch volunteers are critical in providing man-power to actually complete field work as well as funds to cover research costs.
Thank you to all the volunteers, interns, Research Assistants and staff at CEI, as well as the Family Island Research and Education team, for their contributions this year – we’re looking forward to another busy and successful year in 2015!
P1010607WP_20140827_025 DSCN3650
facebooktwittergoogle_plusredditpinterestlinkedinby feather
Sharks, Visiting Scientists

Graduate Student Update: Kate McClellan Press Explores Elasmobranch Electrosensitivity

yellow ray measurement
The total length of a yellow ray is measured in the lab.

Kate McClellan Press is a PhD student at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in the Intercampus Marine Science Graduate Program and a fellow with the UMass National Science Foundation IGERT Offshore Wind Energy Engineering, Environmental Science, and Policy Program. As offshore wind facilities are developed across the world, the potential environmental impacts of their construction and operation must be understood, and negative impacts mitigated. One question that arises is whether transmitting energy from the wind farms to shore has any environmental consequences, specifically for electrosensitive fishes. Continue reading →

facebooktwittergoogle_plusredditpinterestlinkedinby feather