im still here! and soo happy!

its been too long!

hello everyone! i have been super busy so here is an update

i have two projects going

1. How do fish herbivory pressure affect mesograzer herbivory, abundance, and richness?

so... what is a mesograzer? it is a herbivore that is less than 2.5 cm/ 1 inch in size
so for our project, we conducted fish surveys and mesograzer surveys and we are now placing algae in cages with differing sized openings that will allow us to control for who is eating our algae.  we collect, dry and weigh the algae before we put is out and when we take it back in to check for herbivory

2. How does Porites rus morphology and abundance along a depth profile edges? Is there an effect of edge on Porites rus growth and abundance? Does this edge effect differ between boat channels and natural drop-offs?

so what is Porites rus? it is a species of coral that is a significant contributor to reef construction and is abundant in the fringing reef of Moorea
here it is:

so i spend my days diving and snorkeling and building cages and putting cages into the ocean, gathering, cleaning and weighing algae, and measuring coral and depth and playing some volleyball and stargazing and watching the sunset, eating tons of pineapple and enjoying the most incredible 5 weeks i have ever had 

i am so grateful to be here. i am so happy.

Science and the Death Snorkel

Science is cool!.... especially when science involves snorkeling around the warm South Pacific water with  a hammer in one hand and algae in the other or when it mean an hour of SCUBA diving in and out of the coral bommies gathering bags of sediment.  we are doing class projects this week and starting next week we will be doing projects in groups of three that we design and implement ourselves!

our class projects are: 

1. How do nitrogen and phosphorous (which often comes in human sediment) affect Turbinaria (algae) growth?

2. Do nutrients and herbivory control the population of Turbinaria?

3. Where do mesograzers live/ eat? (mesograzers are invetrebrates smaller than 2.5 cm)

here I am doing science!

Its been stormy here!  We have had tonnnnnnns of rain! its great because the rain blurs the line between air and ocean even more- it feels very similar to stand in the rain and to swim in the ocean- i love it!

THE DEATH SNORKEL!!!

Today we had an island tour (pictures will come soon) and we did the 'death snorkel' it was beautiful! i think it was our most beautiful snorkel yet. 

here is why it is called the 'death snorkel' it is full of these diadema urchins and it has very high wave activity. i dodged all of the diadema and didnt even get cut on coral!

here i am! happy!

and here is our group!!

see you soon!

atitia

atitia is the name of the cultural center associated with the gump station

last night we had our first rain storm!

we started walking to the atitia center to learn some polynesian dancing and as we walked down the road the rain began to come down harder- we hopped in with the group and did our best to learn their dance

it was so fun! it started pouring rain! the dancing is done in lines and its all in the hips we had just gotten into our groove when the rain began to pour and the music stopped and we headed back to the dock for a late night swim in the rain.  its an incredible feeling to be soaking wet from rain and jump right into the warm ocean.  i love the tropics.

motu!

here is me and a black tip reek shark!

just swimming down to see the rays

i touched a ray!

motu

here is the view from my room!


















motu: polynesian word for an island formed by broken coral and sand surrounding an atoll; it is usually formed when there is a rapid drop in sea level- this leaves a high stand of coral that accumulates sediment and forms a small island


here are some pictures of the day!  we swam with sharks and rays! and then swam all the way around the island and saw some amazing coral reefs and life!

well... my computer is being slow..so pictures will come soon!

Day One:

Moorea!  We are here!  

5:30 am: we arrived in Papeete, Tahiti and were welcomed by hot, humid air and tahitian dancers in the airport.  i was jumping up and down with excitement (and maybe delirium from the all-nighter).  

6:00 am: we hopped on a bus and landed at the ferry port where we watched the sunrise over moorea (you can see it in the distance) and waited for our ferry

7:30 am: our ferry left for moorea- we got an incredible view of the island as we approached

8:20 am: we took a bus nearly all the way around the island and got to see the houses, stores, trees, and ocean all around.  moorea is so green! there are tropical trees and plants covering every surface. impressive cliffs shoot straight up all across the island and it feels like paradise. well it is!! this picture is from our drive around the island- there is one road that goes all the way around the island and its pretty much the only road.

9:30 am: breakfast? lunch? dinner? a meal- I can't tell what time it is anymore

10:30 I JUMPED IN THE WATER! WE WENT SNORKELING! i was blissfully happy as we swam around the reef surrounding gump station. here i am!

its bedtime so ill talk to you soon and tell you more about the life underwater!

Moorea

Moorea.

I'm headed out today to Moorea, French Polynesia!

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=moorea&hl=en&ll=-17.538642,-149.829483&spn=0.320161,0.606308&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=34.038806,77.607422&t=h&hnear=Moorea&z=11