This week we have been learning how to do water titrations with Julie and it has been so much fun. At first it seemed extremely intimidating, but once you get the hang of things it’s not that bad. We also had an R workshop with Ross and it was super beneficial especially with posters coming up. Things have really started to speed up and time is flying by now. My confidence in myself and my work has dramatically improved since I first arrived at OIMB. I have so many new skills and can’t wait to continue with school.
My family visited over this weekend and we stayed in the beach house right up the road from campus. The view was amazing to fall asleep and wake up to. I’m really sad they had to leave, but know the next three weeks will fly by in no time. My mom toured some of the labs on campus and thought everything we are doing is incredible and she can’t wait to see what I find out from my research. We also did some thrifting in town and found some really cool clothes. We are almost ready to start our experiment, but some there is some upwelling on the coast here and it is causing the pH to drop all over campus. This makes it harder for us to control the pH in our tanks and puts a few roadblocks in our way. Hannah has been trying to fix the pH in our open tank room experimental set up while Erica and I run water titrations in the old lab. Everyone has been working really hard to get everything stable so we can get all the experiments rolling and start collecting data. If we get the pH fixed over the weekend there should be crabs in as soon as Monday. I will have updates next week and hopefully some crabs in our open tank room.
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This week has been extra warm and sunny which I really needed. It’s a nice change from the fog filled mornings we have gotten in the past few weeks. Things are picking up and I feel like I get more and more done each day. The open tank room is almost fully set up and then we just have to get the water chemistry down. I feel like I have learned more by this point than I do in a school year. We have now passed the half way point and its bitter sweet. I don’t know how to feel about being closer to this experience coming to an end. For now, busy weeks will keep me distracted from thinking about the end of everything. We have a busy weekend coming up with a full day Saturday and Sunday. Saturday we are going to the Newport aquarium and Sunday we are having a lake day with some of the University of Oregon students. I’m so excited to go to water we can actually swim in without having to wear a wet suit. I started to get a little homesick this week and think a weekend full of fun will help. Luckily my mom and grandmother will be here the following weekend and I will get all the family time I need. I wish they could bring my dog, but she doesn’t know how to behave so another month till I will get to see her. All the REU’s are planning on going to the Virgin Islands for spring break. I think it’s the perfect place for an intern reunion. It also helps that Mathew lives there, so we would have our own personal tour guide. I wish we had a week in Charleston where we didn’t have anything to do, but hangout with each other. This summer has been full of laughter and I am truly thankful that I was chosen to part of the OIMB family. When I came in to this program I had no idea I would meet so many new friends that I hold so close to my heart. This week Julie, Erica, Natalie, and I all started to set up the crab lab for Julie’s ocean acidification grant. I learned how to install ground wires to make sure the tanks aren’t generating an electrical current that could possibly hurt someone or the crabs. This was way out of my comfort zone, but was a great learning experience. I don’t think I have ever used half of the tools we used during this process. At first, I was really hesitant to work with power tools and now I feel like a pro. Going in to week five I feel like I’m running out of fears to conquer and it feels nice. Julie has helped me work through some of the things that I thought I would never be able to do. There was a lot of errand running this week to get all the parts for our open tank lab. Erica is a scientist working in the Galloway lab and she is amazing. She took Hannah and I to a few places to eat in downtown Coos Bay. One was a Mediterranean restaurant and the other was a Thai restaurant. She also helped us learn how to shop for parts for our experiment and learn that everyday items can be used in science. Proposals were due this week and I was extremely nervous, but am so glad that I finished. I felt like everything went really well and can’t wait to put all my data together at the end and see my results. My cousins are visiting this weekend and I’m super excited. I want to show them all the beautiful spots we have found. It will be nice to see people from home; I have been missing all my family lately. There is the Oregon Coast Music Festival this weekend and I think all the REUs want to go. It’s nice to finally have a free weekend with nothing to do except things we plan. It feels like we have been super busy for four weeks straight and I’m ready for a little break. Who knows maybe I’ll even sleep this weekend? Tune in next week to find out if I get the rest I desperately need. This week some of the REUs went on a guided tour of the plants in the forest near sunset bay. We learned some of the common names for the native plants and which ones could be potentially edible. When the REUs were on this hike we ventured off from the group and found a rope that led down to a hidden beach. There were rocks blocking the larger waves from getting in, making it the perfect swimming spot. We plan on going back and having a fire there soon and maybe roast some marshmallows. We took some of the University of Oregon kids down to the spot and they couldn’t believe how cool it was. Some of them want us to go down and camp on the beach one night. On one of our beach days this week we decided to build our very own crab city, because they deserve a nice house for them and their megalopae. Unfortunately, the tide had taken our city out by the next morning. Things are staring to move really fast we have proposals due by 9th and rough drafts were due by the 3rd. I’m really lucky to have a lot of amazing people in the Galloway lab who are willing to help me and edit my rough drafts. Hannah and I will start building our mixing tanks to simulate ocean acidification Monday. I should be running tests by Wednesday next week if the megalopae (Dungeness crab larvae) come in large enough numbers for me to begin preconditioning them to the acidic water. We have set up our containers to house our juvenile Dungeness crabs in the open tank room on campus. I’m so excited to start collecting data and putting it all together. We got to be part of the OIMB 4th of July picnic and it was so fun and just an overall good time. Everyone played a big game of ultimate Frisbee on the beach. The food was amazing and the kitchen staff did a great job putting it all together. We had an egg toss contest, went on a small hike, and even went for a swim. It was the perfect day to be at the beach with the sun shining bright and smiles all around. I think everyone was tired Friday trying to get up in the morning. This will be one of my best 4th of Julys ever and I will never forget it. This week the University of Oregon students moved in and things have gotten a lot busier on campus. All the interns had to present project ideas and I think things went really well. Everyone is working on really cool stuff. Hannah and I got to tag along with Renee and Sophia to help map Bird’s Beak in the Sough Slough. Birds beak is an endangered plant that Sophia and her mentor Alicia Helms have been mapping and studying. It seems like we have been here for months and known each other our whole lives. Everyday has been filled with adventures and laughter, it feels more like summer camp than work. Aaron ran a seminar on his Julie, and Ross’s trip to Antarctica and all the work they did there. The pictures and videos were so beautiful, one can only imagine what it looked like in person. I have started to polish my project idea and now have a better understanding of some road bumps I might run into. I plan on building a flume which is a device with two different pH that don’t mix and would allow juvenile crabs to pass back and forth as they please. I want to see if they can sense the more acidic water and are willing to cross over in to it. One main issue I have been told is the crabs are drawn to light, but they can’t see red light. I want to set up a camera and run the experiment at night with red light to remove the light variable. I will leave the crabs overnight and see what pH they chose to remain in or if they can even tell. Our pH probes are calibrated and we should start setting up our experiments really soon. At night the UO students and the interns go on adventures and stay up playing Mario kart. I’m learning so much and having fun all at the same time. A student named Lincoln showed us a cave that leads to a rope you can climb down to the beach. At first, I was skeptical but once everyone started going, I knew I couldn’t be the only one who didn’t go. It was worth the climb and we all sat and watched the sunset while talking. Watching the waves crashing on the rocks and the sky slowly get dimmer was a magical experience. I have started trying to go for a hike every morning. The trails around campus are perfect for any plant lover and will keep you looking for new plants to identify. Stay tuned for week three and all events to come. |
AuthorHi, my name is Steven I’m an environmental studies major at Portland Community College. I hope to do conservation or restoration work when I graduate. Anywhere outside is where you will find me! Archives
August 2019
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