landlocked

So this past week has been a struggle for me since I cannot go into the water again until Sunday. But alas it is almost over!!! Because I am land locked I have been helping various people with terrestrial tasks. I got to help finish building a flow tank with this guy Ben. He epoxied and the used fiber glass cloth to seal off an edge. He surfs so knows all about resin and patching, etc, so I learned a lot. Our efforts may have been fruitless though as the tank still leaks...we shall see. I also got to be Yoko's buddy again. She is looking at abandoned coconut plantations. She is doing quadrats and determing what vegetation dominates in the various stages of succession. She has multiple sites and plantations that have been abandoned for varying years. It is really fun to tromp around the jungle, especially the hibiscus! It creates this natural jungle gym/sick game of limbo. I have now been her buddy twice. I attached some pictures from the first time around.

Yoko being adorable on the abandoned plantation.

Me climbing the hibiscus.

Psuedoscorpion!!!! Really awesome because they are really hard to find!

...

In other news we had a halloween party last night. It was so much fun. Everyone here went all out. I was a wineocerous. I definitely attached a wine bottle to my head for my horn and have a shirt splattered with wine. I also got a tail...It was pretty sweet, although the wine bottle on my head was short lived. Sarah was a nutellasaurus, hayley a sea turtle, april the infamous red wax gecko, ben was moss man, brent mishlers alter ego, he had an ammo belt of moss! It was sweet. Jen hoey was a diadema, albert was a crown of thorns, danny was a bee...it was just awesome and biogeeky. We also made these amazing pinatas, once I get pictures I will post them. We had an evil snow man, a spider, and an angler fish. The polynesians got really into it. Last night was sooo much fun!!! Pictures will come soon, I promise.

I cannot believe how fast this has flown by. I only have two weeks left at the station, TWO. HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?? I don't want to leave this amazing place. I dont want to stop studying my rays! I cannot believe how much this trip, this experience has done for me. I am really excited for Australia, but that also means my journey is over for now. ahhhh!! Don't make me go home!

okay now time for some actual work.

love,
bri.

Birthday fun

So as many of you know it was my birthday on Thursday, yay for finally being 21!!!! That night and this weekend have been amazing and are continually getting better. Thank you to everyone who gave me happy birthday wishes, I am very appreciative. I missed you guys on my night, but not going to lie celebrating it in such a beautiful place with such amazing people and in such a unique country was fantastic.

Oh, and last night randomly we all got invited to a Tahitian wedding! It was sooooo fun, free food, free drinks, and dancing the night away...my kind of night!

Here are a couple pictures from my birthday, thanks again everyone!

love,
bri.

My partners in crime, Sarah and Hayley

The crew at the Sheraton

Sarah and myself.

Heather and Hayley being adorable.

Well into the night, playing kings cup because we are just that classy.

life...

So last night all the grad students at the station came and talked to us about what they did after graduating and before they went to grad school. It is sooooo comforting to hear how none of them really had a plan! Being here has made me incredibly motivated to just do and experience everything. It's like the cords have been cut and eyes opened, very surreal feeling. Being here and in this amazing environment just makes me want to do more and travel more and gain more of a worldly perspective. The current idea consists of going to Argentina in August for a three month intensive language class and just not coming back. I want to travel South America and work everywhere I can. Armed with my hopefully much improved Spanish speaking skills I just want to network and work field jobs no matter what they are. Just see and live everywhere I can. Throw my sentimental things into a storage shed, or my mom's house if she hasn't moved yet and sell the rest and move, go, never look back, just have what is in my bags and nothing more. Trade tit for tat when necessary, but just keep rollin' with the tides.

It is shaping up to be an exciting couple of years, I cannot wait.

Rays!

Here is a very very very very very rough cut of some of my ray footage. Maybe it will make you guys fall in love with them like I did. They are fast! I was also just getting a feel for the video taping, so forgive my lack of skills. Oh, and turn the sound down, there is an obnoxious humming sound!

Enjoy!




love,
bri.

old photos and updates

This weekend was awesome. We had a competition called Ms. Moorea, which was amazing. We are not allowed to post the pictures out of respect of the MEN who dressed up as women for the sake of our enjoyment, but it was quite literally the most fun I have had in some time. And true to form we had a wild after party at the Fare Pote (grass hut out on the shore). It was a nice way to unwind after a hard week of field work and such. Also Brent and George, the two professors that have been here for the past couple weeks left, so the next morning we had a big brunch and send off. The group is getting really close and having even more fun every week. Caitie and I did one of my lagoon observations yesterday. The two of us together are a walking or should I say kayaking disaster. It was amusing and I got good shots and amazing video. Our kayak literally defied physics. It refused to go to shore where we needed to be no straight, just left and right. We were laughing so hard at our dilemma that we couldn't paddle at certain points. The right as we round the pier I yell we made it, and then SLAM into the pier we go. We walked the kayak the 50 ft or so...such a walk of shame. It was awesome though. My other roommate Ellarae taught yoga last night, which was a nice way to unwind.

Now for some pictures!!!

Here is one picture I requested permission to post!

Papa Al for a one night engagement as mama Al. No words.

Brandon and Ben husking coconuts...being men and all (grunt)

Now for some Dock Skimming...

This is Brent, one of our professors...so cool that he did this!

This is from Hayley's birthday. Part of the olympics was dock skimming. I think Ben was the only to get two tens, one for style and one for distance.

This was the beer olympic portion...boat racing for team L and S (I am in both colleges, l+s and cnr so I went between the teams). From left to right Liz, Me, Hayley, Olivier, Jen Hoey

Enjoy!

now for some SCIENCE

hey kids,

So I figured this time around I would write more about what I am doing here, what I have learned, etc. So for all of you that laugh at me when I bio-geek out, brace yourselves!

About Mo'orea:

Mo'orea is a small island close to Tahiti Nui and is a part of the Society Islands in French Polynesia. There are 6 collections of islands, but the society islands are the most populated and also the largest tourist destination. Mo'orea has some hotels and activities for tourists, but far less than Tahiti and Bora Bora (also in the society islands).

The islands are a chain of islands and one of Darwin's many discoveries (fyi Darwin never called himself a biologist/naturalist, but mostly geologist). They were formed by the pacific plate moving over a soft spot in the earths crust. All of the islands were volcanic at one time but now are mostly cauldaras, ie blown out volcanoes. There is a new island forming near Tahiti.

Mo'orea is surrounded by a barrier reef with the two bays, Cook's/Paopao and Oponohu, having fringing reefs. There are 5 motus around the island. Mo'orea means yellow lizard in Tahitian.

The languages spoken here are french, Tahitian, and English. I am currently trying to learn Tahitian and french, both are very difficult since I tend to speak with a Spanish accent.

The Richard B Gump station:

here is the link if you're curious where I am living: http://moorea.berkeley.edu/

The station is owned by UC Berkeley and houses researchers from many institution. Currently he largest source of funding is a program called Biocode. Biocode sets to sequence and identify every nonmicrobial species on Mo'orea into a database. Most are sequencing one gene locus but some sects are doing three or more as the COI gene in the mitochondria tends to be conservative in plants. Many organizations are affiliated with this project including the Smithsonian, Florida U, and many more.

We stay in large dorms and there are also bungalows. It's amazing and beautiful. I am incredibly lucky.

Biology:

The island has a wide range of biodiversity. There have been many plants that have been introduced but the majority of species are still native. There is a flower which men and women alike wear behind the ear, or for women in their hair. It is Tiare, the Tahitian Gardenia. It smells absolutely amazing and is incredibly beautiful. There are no snakes on the islands only skinks and geckos. There are tons of birds, most of which are from adaptive radiation, think Darwin's finches, and also spiders, which tend to be large colonizers.

The beautiful Tiare.

A skink...I do not know the scientific name.

As for the aquatic life, which I know a lot more about, the coral reefs here are not doing so well. There is a lot of bleaching going on and also a corallavoire starfish named the crown of thorns. The last outbreak of this echinoderm was in the early 80's but it is back in full force now. We have plenty of Sea cucumbers, sea slugs, and sea hares. The cucs will slime you!! It is the stickiest and most difficult slime to get off of you, trust it has happened to me! There is a multitude of fish and and many eels here. Also other echinoderms (means spiny skin) are wide ranging, with many star fish, brittle stars, and urchins, Diadema and Echinometra. Diadema is the most dangerous urchin as they have huge serrated spines that are about a foot long on adults. They are creepy. We of course have crustaceans too!!! Lots of crabs but we found a slipper lobster! Also there are HUGE puffer fish here, they are awesome. We also have some very cool octopi/cephalopods (for pics look at the octopus post).

Sea Cucumber sliming yet another unsuspecting victim

Crown of Thorns Starfish, Acanthaster planci



Slipper lobster, Pariibacus japonicus

Now onto to the more charismatic marine vertebrates. If you have read my blog, you know we have sea turtles. We also have many sharks and rays. We have black tip reef sharks, grey tip reef sharks, Nurse sharks, Lemon sharks, and Tiger sharks. For rays there are eagle rays, manta rays and then my species, the pink whiptail ray. There are also mammals, humpback whales and spinner dolphins are two we have seen while here. On another note, I get to give a presentation on marine mammals for a school here. I am really excited!

And for a fun little anecdote...I took most of the pictures but all were taken by people in the class! Of the two below I can only take credit for one, the black tips, but I was there for the Nurse shark! The black tips I see all the time and am quite close to constantly because they are associated with the rays due to tourism. The nurse sharks though, such a treat!!! There are two British researchers here, Alice and Jenny, and they came back all excited, I threw my suit on in a matter of seconds and was out on the boat in a flash. We cross the bay and started free diving and then I saw what the excitement was about. A cave with not one, not two, but THREE sleeping nurse sharks. one sticking out of his cave. We were max a foot away when we got to the bottom and held onto some coral to keep us down (I did not have time to grab fins, which make free diving so much easier!). Took a lot of amazing shots, sorry I am only showing you guys one!!! Then this one with its head poking out jutted out and Alica got this shot. Seriously this place is surreal. I cannot believe I am seeing and experiencing all of these amazing things. Just wow, there really are no words some days!

Nurse Shark, Ginglymostoma cirratum

Black Tip Reef Sharks, Carcharhinus melanopterus

My project:

Now down to the nitty gritty...my research project. I will be studying the pink whiptail stingray, Himantura fai. This species of stingray has not been studied before. Unfortunately I do not have the time or the resources to do a complete natural history study; however this may be a foot in the door if I want to study rays here later, or in general. So the the gist is that I will compare frequencies between numbers and types of injuries/scars on rays in two ecotourism impacted populations. One has deeper water, the other more shallow. I expect the deep water rays to have more boat injuries etc. Next I will compile that data into spread sheets and run statistical tests, most likely simple regressions to compare various factors. Furthermore, I will idenitfy individuals based on distinctive scars and tail breaks and use that information to look at site fidelity as well as get a population estimate by doing a modified mark and recapture study.

This is seriously the best experience and one of the greatest opportunities I will ever have. I have said many times before, but I am lucky and so incredibly thankful to everyone who helped me get here.

Himantura fai with what I think are scars from anchor chains.

love you all,

bri.

SEA TURTLE.

I went SCUBA diving today...it was amazing. A sea turtle landed on my head. I thought someone managed to get above me, but as I looked up I noticed that familiar pattern and was in complete awe. SEA TURTLE. It was swimming with us for a while and bumping into us...life changing. It is so amazing to be 80 ft down invading this other world and have a creature be so welcoming and playful and just...wow. No words can describe. There were a ton of black tip reef sharks, a lion fish, and I saw an octopus surging because it was bothered and then shoot out and swim to another rock...it was amazing.

In other news, we turned in our revamped proposals. Here we go.

The Project:
I will be studying the pink whiptail sting ray, Himantura fai. I am looking at the frequency of scars and injuries in two ecotourism/feeding areas and the two paired sites. I will use the distinctive scars and markings with an underwater video camera to do a version of a mark recapture study and estimate population size as well as site fidelity...

I am on top of the world right now. I am living the life I have dreamed about for so long and it is better than I ever imagined.

My people rock and I miss you alllllll. I wish you could see it here for yourselves or through my eyes. Pictures do not do it justice.

love,
who else.

on a boat to the motu

before my dive with one of my roommates, KD

Kd, mmeeee, ben, kari, and molly on the dive boat

SEA TURTLE