The past weekend we went camping at Sunset Bay State Park. We got there on Friday, the 24th of June, and stayed through Sunday. We spent some great time outdoors surrounding the bonfire, listening to good music, and getting to know each other a bit better. A beach day was in store for us on Saturday after a beautiful hike through the park. It was a landscape unlike I've seen before coming from Pennsylvania. Dazzling cliffs overlooking the ocean, seals and sealions littered on rocks, and massive trees growing all around. That Saturday was the warmest day I have seen in my time on the Oregon coast so far, up to 75 degrees! This beach trip was spent playing spikeball, and getting sunburnt. I slept in a hammock both nights after refusing shelter in a tent through the cold night - for the experience. Following the beach trip was a return to our normal work schedule. One of the things I was looking forward to all weekend was the field work we had planned for Monday. We were to continue the decomposition rate study, but this time, we would be accessing the sites by kayak. We were out on the small boats for about two and a half hours, battling the wind to make it up the estuary. The views out here are absolutely awe-inspiring. While I was initially skeptical of the cold that I am still not entirely used to, the sun came out and welcomed blue skies. Another great time in the field was teaching some volunteers how to set out traps to catch green crabs. They managed to catch the biggest green crab that I've seen yet, 100 mm wide and about 263 grams! This week was a whole lot of getting the methodology for measuring the biotoxins of green crab meat down. The process has been slightly grueling. There's been a lot of messages back and forth with Taylor, a PhD candidate from Portland State University who uses a similar process to characterize Harmful Algal Blooms, to figure it out. I will not go down without a fight, however, and am giving it all that I can to figure it out. I have been getting some wonky results, and have been trying to get to the bottom of it. One of the difficulties with this is balancing the time-sensitive hours-long process with other commitments I have with OIMB programs. A slight project change may come in the future, but I am proud to say that I did all I could with the knowledge I've gathered so far. This process of using ELISA kits and working to develop skills in the methods has been an eye opening experience for me, in a good way. Research and science is not always a straightforward path. There will be many detours, taking us through routes we wouldn't have otherwise pictured, for a chance at success. The OIMB professional development sessions and talks with Shon have been invaluable to me for a similar reason. I am starting to understand the endless opportunities there are in ecology and environmental sciences, and the many paths to them.
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AuthorHey! I'm Sebastian Velazquez, a Biology (Ecology) student from Spring City, Pennsylvania. I am spending the summer studying invasive European Green Crabs under the guidance of Shon Schooler. Archives
August 2022
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