On the rocks, please... intertidal monitoring bliss

Skillz: a park volunteer (yet another professional biologist) perched atop a large marine boulder (at Cabrillo National Monument) searching for and measuring every owl limpet (Lottia gigantea) within 1 meter of a metal bolt. Note the wet spots where her feet were are only where owl limpets are not. She's good. =)

This is a picture of a good day.

If you see me doing this,

you will know I am in my happy place.

I will have ocean-soggy feet,

blonde hair flying wildly,

and a semi-permanent grin on my face.

I love the above photo

because it shows you a part of this work

that is very important,

but few would ever think of.

Our team: 3 professional biologists working for free 'cause a) we're just that nerdy, b) it's such a freakin' awesome place, and c) it's a fabulous cause. =) Note the orange chalk marking either the plot boundaries, or owl limpets that have already been measured.

Something that adds another level of complexity

and makes me love this work all the more.

Aside from having to lean into, hover over, squat under, or perch upon

a cold, hard, damp, variably squishy or scratchy boulder for up to an hour, 

and find and measure all the owl limpets

(being careful not to confuse smaller L.g. with other species),

you need to do it without crushing any owl limpets.

Don't tread on me! Lovely owl limpets. Note the area they've cleared of competitors (via bulldozing) so they can farm algae. Pretty awesome and interesting way of life. Clearly, though, it's tough to doze your own back....

And perching can include tip-toe-ing around on slimy

boulders or ledges: slipping is not an option.

Sometimes you get smacked around by waves,

and you always have to watch the tide.

Sing with me! "Every Lottia is sacred. Every Lottia is great. If a Lottia gets wasted, bb gets quite irate."

Finally, these boulders, ledges, and cliffs were selected for this study

because they sport so many owl limpets. High density.

I kind of love that.

So, while you try to work quickly and accurately,

to accomplish as much as possible in the time given,

within an ever-changing environment that's entirely out of your control,

you must also ensure that you don't hurt anyone.

I think it's good practice.

For lots of things.

=)

xoxobb

Props to NR folks, & photo of bb teaching rocky intertidal mon. in 2002

bb training volunteers to conduct rocky intertidal monitoring at Cabrillo NM, 2002 (NPS photo).

In celebration of rocky intertidal monitoring everywhere.

I didn't help out at Cabrillo NM this year, so in lieu of that is this photo.

I am the bent over creature standing buns-to-sea.

I am surrounded by amazing people.

A few words about a few of them.

1. The guy w/his rubber boots near my head has since passed away, but he was this amazing just-for-fun geology professor at some local college, but really was a retired lawyer (and geologist?!?). He volunteered for our program 10 billion hours (rocky intertidal monitoring, and MILLIONS of hours for herp monitoring) Amazing, fun, super smart, interesting person, grew up in Wyoming, and game for anything. Helped me monitor veg, too, which can be SERIOUSLY rigorous on a v. steep peninsula made of crumbling sandstone and peppered w/cacti, poisonous plants, and rattlesnakes. He was a Vietnam vet, though, so this, for him, was a cake walk.

Spent his first social security check on a mountain bike. AWESOME!

Said he was living off $ he made from widows and orphans, so this was his way to give back, post-retirement. =) Fabulous. He would quote this if I tried to reimburse him for ANYTHING. He refused it all.

2. The guy standing furthest to the left is an amazing (USGS) herpetologist w/ridiculous photography chops. This guy is ALWAYS energetic and ALWAYS upbeat. And fearless. PERFECT personality for a delightful fieldwork experience. Besides having a lightning fast brain & being funny. A gem.

3. The woman standing behind the rubber-boot-ed-lawyer was marvelous, ALWAYS could be counted on to BE there for rocky intertidal monitoring (that's amazingly important) and was SUPER SOLID, smart, interested, gracious creature who was also (bonus!) a delightful person. And, far as I can tell, ONLY volunteered for rocky intertidal monitoring. JUST us. YAY, us!! (us = the science nerd division I headed)

4. Oh, and did I mentioned that ALL of these amazing people were VOLUNTEERS? Paid ZERO dollars to help. And SO marvelous; I was ultra-spoiled.

Anyhow, am kinda swamped for the next week, so thought I'd share that photograph, and through it

SALUTE EVERYONE WHO WORKS HARD

TO UNDERSTAND AND PRESERVE OUR NATURAL RESOURCES,
whether paid or volunteer.

YAY, YOU!!!!

And, thank you. =)

1,000 times.

You rock.

xoxoxoxoxxobb

There's good news, more good news, and bad news...

 

The good news is that I got to do rocky intertidal sampling last weekend, as evinced by the above photograph.

The more good news is that we finished a day early so I had Sunday just to play around there and take tons of cool pictures.

The bad news is that the above picture, taken while hiking to the rocky intertidal area, is that last picture my camera would take that day.

The image of a battery flashed wildly in the view screen as I tried to take a photograph of this gorgeous inlet where the layers of sandstone have been scooped out so you see many many layered stripes, all different shades from pale sand to deep brown, accompanied by rounded boulders.

My stomach dropped in panic.

NO!

As I pressed the take-the-freakin'-picture button over and over in manic denial, I thought about the story I'd relate to you through this photograph. It'd be so cool...

This is the very inlet, complete with sandstone shelf, that sported a very large, rotting sea lion carcass many years ago. It had washed up during an unusually high tide.

It smelled really bad.

It was gruesome.

Visitors asked about it.

Some complained: "Can't you do something about it?"

And I, smug, young little conservation biologist that I was, smiled kindly and said: "It's nature. We're not going to do anything."

And the warm, sunny days passed. And the smell and display grew more and more offensive.

Visitors were horrified. I consulted the tide charts and thought: well, it's gonna be a while...

Months later, we finally got a high tide of over 6 feet, and it was swept away.

But not before many people experienced "nature" and our comfort with it, be it ever so messy-stinky-death-in-your-face-y.


Like the time that dead gray whale washed up onto the intertidal.

HUGE huge stinky, smellly, oozy carcass. Festooned with hungry, busy gulls.

Visitors were horrified.

Rangers were grossed out.

I was fascinated.

I took close up pictures of its eye.

I took a photograph of its body in the very close foreground, and rangers in the way-far-away background, all looking at it warily, from a distance.

I loved it.

I thought "This is why I'm a biologist." Well, that, and the fact that I can voluntarily not breath through my nose so I can cease smelling at any time for any duration.


But, no. My camera battery insisted upon dying, despite my calling it a "stupid, stupid." My back up battery was safely 430 miles away, proudly shining it's green "I'm-fully-charged" light to no one in particular.


So, no rocky intertidal pictures.

No shot of where the sea lion was years ago.

Or where that gray whale was.


But, it was fun. =)

It was cool.

The rocky intertidal was awesome as ever, and there were lots of people out there having a great time, being fascinated by that seldom seen world of surprises.


And, isn't that mostly the point?

And, I now vow to always carry the back up battery in my pocket.

I promise.


xo

biobabbler

Phriday photo quiz answer: plus bonus photo of Science Chicks!

 

Anonymous AND Jim got this one, Ding ding ding! Yes, biobabbler is toting quadrats to aid and abet rocky intertidal sampling. =) Great job, you two!

And I must say this is probably the funniest round of guesses I've ever received. =) Also, thanks to Melissa for getting me to answer-mode. =)

YOU GUYS ROCK!

Details:

I was at that moment tromping out to the next photo plot (probably mussel, as they are deepest photo plots) to lay out a quadrat on the next to-be-sampled boulder so that it's aligned with the frequently subtle blobs marking the plot corners.

This saves time for the person who is photographing the plots.

In our case, it was our marine biologist with a camera set up, connected to her own quadrat. This way, she can get to the plot, fling my quadrat aside, and BANG, put hers on right where mine was, make a note (via assistant) and CLICK/FLASH! She's done, and on to the next plot.

Here's an example, probably from the same day.

This also happens to be what was my division at the time: 4 Science Chicks, gettin' it done. GREAT fun. AWESOME group. The bending-over-one is me. Photographer is Marine Biologist, ladies on left and right were spectacular Biotechs. 'Fraid I don't know who took this picture (looks like a slide, based on film lint).

Time is of the essence when you can only sample while the tide is out (hopefully, way out). This means once the tide is going out and plots are becoming exposed, it's GO GO GO GO GO!

=)

And, then, when the water comes back, you're done. No matter how ready you are, when the ocean returns, it's over, baby!


Fun stuff, and I get to help out again this Friday-Sunday--cannot WAIT!!! I'll be leaving snow and rain, praying for warmth and good lows.

And, of course, taking pictures, so will share the adventure upon my return. At least, that is, once I scrape the salty crust off my clothes and myself. =)

xo

biobabbler

Sign of a good weekend...

  

Luggage, field backpack, sundry outdoor gear, fuel, and a box of new trail-running shoes! (city time = shopping time)

Don't normally need this much for 2 days, but I had 2 days of sampling, 2 parties, and decided to actually dress for the parties vs. show up algae-covered, salty and smelling like dying pelagic micro-fauna...

Good times!

Photo quiz, more intertidal mania, + new-to-me species

  
First, the photo quiz. How many animal species can you find and name in this photo? It's officially a photo of 2, but maybe you'll find even more. =)

So, I'm thinking. Maybe I can have Photo-quiz Phridays as a regular feature (pheature?). I may have enough of a bank of pics, be they obscure, or abstract, to try that out for a while. Thoughts? Please opinion-ify in comments.

More from the glorious days in the rocky intertidal at Cabrillo National Monument in San Diego. HEA-ven.

First, the setting in the southern-most part of the rocky intertidal. It's closed to the public (so SOME part of the intertidal gets a break from people trampling and flipping rocks, etc.) but as I was there to sample, me and my scientific friends got to explore. We also knew what stuff to try and avoid stepping on. =)

View of absolute southern tip of Point Loma, gazing east, beyond the study area, and into the San Diego bay. It's GORgeous out there. LOVE this place. There's a string of large boulder pointing south, upon which we have numerous plots to work, so it's a happy obligation to trek out here.

Zoomed in a bit more. You can see the Coronado Bridge on the left of the horizon.

Looking SSE (ish) at, among other things, Mexico. My friend who sampled with me said the whole time he was there (Point Loma rocky interitdal), his cell phone was convinced he was in Mexico, and thoroughly confused. The WHOLE time.

Looking (mostly) south. There you can see, if you look closely (and enlarge) in the foreground are snowy egrets, demonstrating the birds we wanna count in the shorebird count as they are predators which shape the intertidal. Actually, by eating species which compete with each other, they moderate this competition, which allows more species to exist. Nice! In the background are terns and gulls resting, staring into the breeze, occasionally squawking. They're so chill.

Here are two friends, one new, one old, sampling (finding and measuring longest dimension of) owl limpets (Lottia gigantia) on a boulder which is one of the permanent plots.

FYI, I am obsessed with doing Lottia plots. Obsessed.

The tiny person in the foreground was volunteering because her biology professor at Point Loma Nazarene, bless him, requires his students to GO OUT and DO BIOLOGY/ECOLOGY for part of their grade. What a delight. SO helpful to let folks know what it's actually LIKE. Genius.

The gentleman in the background was my study partner my entire last year of college (undergrad) and is why I got straight As. He's much more disciplined than I, so cracked the whip, and up my GPA went. Yay!

They are both great field people. Accurate, motivated, good communicators, relaxed and fun.

So, here's a closer shot of a plot with gorgeous mussels and actual Lottia and chalk marks, which help us track what limpets we've already measured.

I think these mussel beds are particularly handsome.

If you look closely, you can see the tell tale marks where the Lottia has grazed over the mussels, keeping them clean of algae, pesky barnacles, etc. Tough to describe, but they're definitely visible (again, if click on) on the mussel with the watermark. Seeing those grazing marks makes me inordinately happy. Above that central mussel, right above the watermark, is an actual Lottia, and clearly one that's already been measured.

Beneath the mussel mass are aggregating anemone. Also festooning mussels are thatched barnacles. Scientific names for all in last post.

Glamour shot:

sigh...

So beautiful.

Urf.

Oh, yeah. Waking back up from gorgeous mussel-induced dream state. Resume blog!

Here's the other species I saw that weekend for the FIRST time in those tidepools, despite YEARS of exploration of same.

SO charming. Here's a zoomed in view:

It's the ringed nudibranch, San Diego dorid, common names vary, but Diaulula sandiegensis, not so much. CHARM-ing creature. SO excited to see it.

I had to tell the person who pointed it out to me that it made my day, the next day, and the day after that.

Apparently these guys eat sponges. I seem to have noticed more and more sponges in the CABR rocky intertidal in the previous 5 years than before then, but maybe it's just me. Thanks to http://www.seaslugforum.net/factsheet.cfm?base=diausand for the clues.

I love nudibranchs. Love.

I used to think that they are among the VERY few creatures I adore enough to study to get Ph.D., but need for Ph.D. never materialized. Plus, I'd probably go more toward landscape ecology, but these little creatures are so TEMPT-ing to study. Just to see and be with them.

It's probably me. Tho', if I remember correctly, my high school biology teacher, who was WONderful, LOVED nudibranchs.

Anyhow, that's enough for now.

In summary re: comments:
1. please guess what creatures are in photo quiz
2. what do you think about having Photo Quiz Phridays?
3. do you prefer photographs centered or flush left on this blog?
4. have you gotten out for any outdoor nature adventures of late?

xo biobabbler

Rocky intertidal splendor in the surfgrass

            
Had SUCH an amazing weekend. Got a big, fat dose of the ocean and it's creatures. And fellow bio-enthusiasts.

Basically drove all day Friday and Monday, but Saturday and Sunday participated in the 20th year of rocky intertidal sampling at Cabrillo National Monument.

I've spent a LOT of time, mostly on the clock (tho' now I volunteer), in the rocky intertidal. On Sunday I saw TWO species I've NEVER seen there. Shocked and excited.

Here's the setting. Rocky intertidal zone, tide decidedly OUT. Doesn't immediately make you think WOW, a biological wonderland!

If you look v. close (and click on pic, of course) you can see the Coronado Islands, property of Mexico.

I like the above photo 'cause the flying blonde hair nicely demonstrates the afternoon wind that gradually gets faster and faster. With ocean-drippy pants and shoes, it can get a wee bit cold, but we lucked out with very nice, warm weather.

The low was only about -0.8 feet, but the high pressure (very sunny, dry day) really helped push the water out so I think the effective low was much better (at least -1.0).

Here's a lovely boulder sporting California mussels (Mytilus californianus), owl limpets (Lottia gigantia),  aggregating anemone (Anthopleura elegantissima), thatched barnacles (Tetraclita rubescens), various algal species, plus many other things I can't see in this picture which are, nevertheless, tenaciously present.

Huge, old mussels, covered in thatched barnacles, acorn barnacles (Chthalamus spp.) and more. Awesome old brutes.

Knobby seastar (Pisaster giganteus). A pretty big one for this area, and the blue was fairly muted. I've seen some with more intense blue, but they are, nevertheless, pretty cool looking creatures.

Click on this to see the knobs more clearly. Interesting structures, and you can also see the little red thingies that look to me like the tiny finger-like projections in our intestines (villi) to increase surface area.

According to my genius marine biologist friend up at U Washington, Tacoma, Dr. Bonnie Becker, they are "Pedicellariae. Little pinchers on the surface." See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedicellaria.

Best picture I EVER got of a giant keyhole limpet (Megathura crenulata). You can actually see the creature and his/her little face! Upside down, clinging to underside of intertidal rock; both rock and limpet festooned with algae.

The first of the two new-to-me species:

I believe this is a blind goby, Typhlogobius californiensis, but I have only found ONE picture on-line to confirm my on-the-spot guess, and that picture was from far, far away from San Diego. I do know someone from Scripps surveyed for them decades ago and found a lot, then another Scripps person (this a Ph.D. candidate) searched for same around the year 2000 and found close to, if not, none.

Anyhow, if I'm right, these creatures live comensally with ghost shrimp in burrows. Both species can tolerate very low dissolved oxygen. This is all stuff I learned through my contact with the aforementioned Scripps student.

Okay, I'm out of time, but next thing I'll post on this topic is a) the 2nd new-to-me species, and b) a photo quiz!

=)

biobabbler

off to splash in the intertidal

        

I'm heading south to do some rocky intertidal sampling this weekend.

I'll be slapping on sunblock, sloshing around in soggy fleece pants, trying not to crash and burn on a boulder (one time that created what has ever since been called, and I was quoting an urgent care doctor, the "terrible hematoma"), or get swept away by a sneaker wave (happened--lifted by wave, carried off a few yards and unceremoniously dumped), and seeking and measuring owl limpets (Lottia gigantia) for hours at a time.

I CANNOT WAIT!

I seriously live for this kind of thing. =) 

Am bringing (typo was "brining") camera, even though I'll be in an environment (splashy, salty, wet, algae-y, slippery, sandy, rocky) that terrifies my Nikon. So, hope to have some pics of SOME kind next week from this adventure, as well as a healthy camera--no promises, though, re: photos, as I will be sampling and since it's only possible when the tide is out, one is somewhat pressed for time.

Hm.... where did I put my drybag?

the biobabbler