By: Hunter Ramo
The Wrigley Institute’s NSF Research Experiences for Undergrads (REU) projects have really picked up in the past few weeks. From collecting water samples, to pressurizing kelp, everyone can be found working hard on their research throughout the day. The dock has become a center for people moving in and out with samples and leaving to perform field research. It has been incredible seeing the progression as we began as novices just learning to use the equipment but now look like experts running our own experiments.
For my research, I’m studying the impacts of predation on growth and sex ratios of a small hermaphroditic fish species, the bluebanded goby. My research has entered its second trial, an exciting step that will provide me with a lot of new data. With my grad student mentor, George Jarvis, I have traveled around Catalina examining different reefs and collecting bluebanded gobies, that are tagged to track their growth. Then, we release the gobies onto artificial reefs with differing amounts of mesh to control for the presence of predators. At the end of the trial, the gobies will be recollected and analyzed for sex, length, and biomass to provide us with information about how the presence of predators impacted the fish.
Seeing as this is the second trial, I have already performed the process once before and am still analyzing the data from trial one. While the experiment is in process, I’m diving on the reefs almost every day observing fish behavior and predator presence.
No dive is ever boring, as you never know what you are going to see. Recently we have been visited by soupfin sharks, sculpins, eels, octopi, harbor seals, and on an extremely lucky occasion, a giant black seabass. Recently I have brought my camera on dives to try and capture and share the amazing sights I see every day. The waters around Catalina vary greatly in temperature and visibility, but over the past few weeks, the area around Wrigley has taken a turn for the better as the water has warmed up, allowing for more oceanfront fun.
Even with all the work we have, the REUs still find the time to have fun together. Our nightly beach volleyball games are becoming more intense as all the players have been improving. When we are not on the court, you can find us hanging out in the dining hall watching a movie or improving our ping pong skills. Every day feels like a summer camp and I am so happy that I made the decision to apply to this program. We have become a close knit group and I am already dreading the end of the summer and having to leave all my new friends.
