Monday started off with heading out to Valino Island, an island located within the reserve, to assist with biomonitoring. My mentor taught me some of the shortened scientific names they use to record plant species. For example the plant commonly known as pickleweed, whose scientific name is Sarcocornia perennis, is recorded with the name SAR PER and the other plants are recorded using this method. By learning this I was able to help with identifying species in quadrat areas along with documenting how prevalent they were. While we were there, we began to flag areas and points where bird’s beak was located. It was exciting to find large patches of the plant growing along the more sandy side of the island and a little nerve wracking when trying to not step on them. The next day we came back to the island with GPS units ready to start mapping the species. This was my first day mapping bird’s beak and it felt sort of like the official start of my project. Beginnings usually make me enthusiastic and anxious at the same time and that day wasn’t an exception. I had gotten a bit more used to working with the GPS, but I needed some help from my mentor when identifying species growing near dense bird’s beak patches and collecting soil samples. By the end of my first mapping day though I felt more confident in those skills. Wednesday seemed to go by even faster, I helped collect water samples and YSI data from sites within the estuary. We went out for both low and high tides, then returned to the lab to use the samples for fecal coliform bacteria counts, inorganic nutrients,and chlorophyll filtering. The lab here has so much cool equipment, I stared at their filtration set up which can do six samples at once! Back at the lab at home I could only do one at a time. I feel like that day I got more familiar with where things are in the lab. One of the things I looked forward to all week though was mapping theDistant Water Fleet site. I was lucky enough to have some other students come out with me to help and it was only a short walk from OIMB. We went through flagging, mapping, and sample collecting. We talk about our projects a lot, but actually being able to show what I do was pretty fun. I’m looking forward to mapping and collecting even more next week. Using pink flags on Valino Island to locate bird’s beak for mapping. Bird’ beak growing with california sea lavender, Limonium californicum, the one with orange and green leaves. California sea lavender is used as an indicator that bird’s beak is near. A meter squared quadrat was used to identify species growing around bird’s beak. YSI data being recorded from sampling site.
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Hello my name is Sofia Suesue and I am an intern here at OIMB for the South Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve (SSNERR). I was born and raised in Hawaii and fascinated by the ocean and it’s creatures my whole life which eventually led me to study oceanography. I love going free diving, hiking, and pretty much anything that lets me go outside. Before starting this internship I recently graduated from Windward Community College with an associate's degree in Natural Sciences. During my time at Windward I was able to conduct research on coral bleaching, photosynthetic sea slugs, and estuary water quality after extensive mangrove removal. One of the reasons I want to study at OIMB is to experience a marine environment that is much different than anything I have seen before. Another reason was to be apart of South Slough’s extensive monitoring of the nearby estuary, which includes research on climate change and the habitats of various species within. This summer I will be mapping the endangered salt marsh plant bird’s beak (Chloropyron maritimus ssp. palustre) throughout the South Slough estuary. It is listed as endangered by the State of Oregon. To get started, my first day I went to the Distant Water Fleet site and learned how to identify bird’s beak along with several low-land marsh plants, which grow near bird’s beak. An interesting thing to see was that there was a species of pickleweed here too and it is also edible! I was also introduced to the GPS I will be using to map bird’s beak, the device and program to create maps seem pretty advanced but I am excited to learn more about them. Throughout the rest of the week I got to help out with other research projects taking place at SSNERR. These included collecting data from sensors set at several creeks that recorded the hydrology of the area and taking samples of eelgrass along with the sediment surrounding it. I even got to start collecting data for my project! My mentor, Ali Helms, and I kayaked to Ferie Ranch marsh, a location that was reported to have bird’s beak years ago from the SSNERR Site Profile (2006). Although we did not find the plant there we took soil samples, measured soil salinity, and recorded the sample sites with the GPS. This data will be used to compare Ferrie Ranch marsh to sites that do have Bird’s Beak in order to better understand the salinity and soil preferences of bird’s beak from different locations. It has been a bit difficult to keep track of all that has happened in the past week since so much has passed, but I already can’t wait for next week, stay tuned!
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AuthorI am an incoming third year student at the University of Hawaii at Manoa studying Oceanography. I’m looking forward to learning all I can about the Oregon Coast from this internship! Archives
August 2019
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