Our fourth week starts with a long weekend of camping at Cape Arago State Park with other undergraduate research interns from University of Oregon’s main campus. On Saturday, after the OIMB interns got done with a nice night of camping to ourselves, we met the other students and some of us were able to give them tours of our labs. Many were interested in seeing Dr. Young’s lab because we have a room of preserved dead creatures including sharks, stingrays, and other creepy crawlies. Once the other interns were done touring campus, we all headed back to the campsite, so that they could unpack and get settled in. To break the ice, we challenged some to an ultimate frisbee game and everyone got pretty competitive, to say the least. We then enjoyed some hotdogs and hamburgers from the grill while everyone gathered around the campfire to listen to everyone attempt to play the multiple instruments brought. The next morning, everyone went to South Cove for a tide pooling expedition and us marine biology nerds pointed out all of the interesting creatures even if the other interns didn’t find them as interesting. The weekend was very fun, but it came with a hint of stress for the OIMB interns because of our big proposal that was due on Tuesday. We fought our lack of sleep and worked hard on writing our best proposals. When Tuesday came it was time for half of us to present our proposal and I thought everyone did very well and I was excited to find out what everyone was planning on doing. I got some very helpful suggestions from my presentation and it got me thinking about the more fine details in my proposal. The main thing I needed to figure out was what my detritus will be made of. Detritus is defined as dead organic matter that sinks to the sea floor. Since it is such a broad term, it is my job to figure out exactly what kind of detritus I want to feed the larvae. I have spent most of my week reading the scientific literature on how others are creating or gathering detritus. I have compiled all of the other methods and I think I have created the world’s first detritus cookbook. With all of the recipes I have compiled, I have been able to create my own homemade detritus recipe that consists of a lot of phytoplankton, a shrimp skeleton puree, acetic acid, and sodium hydroxide. Some ingredients are harder to get than others. Hopefully, after I mix everything together and serve with some freshly filtered sea water, the larvae will happily eat it. I will feed a small sample some detritus and check on them after the weekend to just see if any of them are actually eating. If all goes well, we will start our big experiments next week!
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AuthorMy name is Matthew Mullins and I am from Birmingham, AL. I am currently a rising junior studying marine biology at the University of the Virgin Islands. I am working in Dr. Young’s lab and I’m looking forward to exploring the Oregon coast and getting some interesting research experience! Archives
August 2019
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