Marena Maupin - Gerace Research Station San Salvador Bahamas
Week 2

Lionfish, Eels, Long-spined Sea Urchins and the Shifting Baseline Syndrome

Week Two Report- June 12th – June 18th

By Marena Maupin

June 12th, 2007- Tuesday

            Another week begins my Pinhead Internship and this morning I inventoried a collection of fish for the Gerace Research Center (GRC), on the island of San Salvador in the Bahamas. The director of the GRC, Dr. Thomas Rothfus, has hopes of opening a museum, to allow young school children and people of the island to visit and examine the many collections of fish, shells, and corals gathered by the hundreds of researchers and scientists who have visited the GRC. Thus the purpose of my inventory, Dr. Rothfus wants to know how many fish and what species the center currently contains.

In the afternoon, I took a pleasant walk on the beach and pondered life. I also collected shells while walking. I walked for nearly a half hour before it started to rain. I got soaked, but the rain in the tropics is warm unlike our cold Colorado rains.

In the evening, I attended a talk given by the founder of the GRC, Dr. Gerace. He spoke about Christopher Columbus. It is believed that San Salvador is the land that Columbus and his crew first arrived at in the New World in 1492. Four separate monuments claim to mark the spot where Columbus first came ashore, though most regard Long Bay on San Salvador as the correct spot. There is a famous quote by Christopher Columbus that nicely sums up the Bahamas, "The beauty of these islands surpasses that of any other and as much as the day surpasses the night in splendour."

June 13th, 2007- Wednesday

            I continued to take inventory of the fish collection this morning, working diligently to get the job completed. I was then free to join the two college students, Amanda and Renee, at Rice Bay. Amanda is working on her college thesis paper and Renee is her understudy. Her thesis is based on the topic of the lionfish invasion in the Bahamas. The Indo-Pacific Lionfish (Pterois volitans), a venomous predatory fish with few natural enemies is established (reproducing and dispersing) along the southeast shelf of the United States and within the last six years lionfish have spread from Florida and to Bermuda. Further, lionfish are now found throughout the Bahamas and as far south as the islands of Turks and Caicos. Amanda is researching this invasive of lionfish and the results of her work will help to predict the impact that lionfish may have to native communities.

For the last few weeks Amanda and Renee have been surveying three different reefs (Lindsey Reef, Rocky Point, and Rice Bay) that were surveyed six years ago, before the invasion of the lionfish. After all the data is collected, they will compare the data of the past to the present data to see how much the reefs have changed and how severe the lionfish invasion is. Today Amanda and Renee were taking fish surveys, so they asked that I stay out of the water. Instead of going in the water, I collected shells. Dr. Rothfus has me gathering shells so I can compare my collection with a collection of the GRC’s and observe the differences. I did not find any new species when I compared the two collections.

When the girls came out of the water we went to the marina to see if some divers had caught any lionfish. If the daily divers have any lionfish at the end of the day, Amanda will bring it back to the GRC and dissect its stomach to see what the lionfish are eating. For the most part, the lionfish are eating gobys (small fish) and various species of shrimp, including candy cane shrimp.

June 14th, 2007- Thursday

            I successfully completed taking inventory of fish this morning and once again I went snorkeling with Amanda and Renee. First we went to Rice Bay. Here I saw a huge long-spined sea urchin (Diadema paucispinum). The Long-Spined Sea Urchin is a ball of needles up to 16 inches across. A mature adult urchin is about the size of a basketball. Sea Urchins eat algae, so it is important to have enough Sea Urchins on the reef to keep the algae from taking over everything else. Too much algae threatens corals. If the conditions are right for algae to grow, then the algae can grow over the reef if there aren't enough algae eaters like this Long-Spined Sea Urchin to eat them. There needs to be a healthy abundance of algae eaters to keep the corals healthy. The needles on these elaborately evolved creatures are very sharp, so it is important to avoid these animals when swimming or wading in the ocean and when you see them you really can understand their danger!

The reef at Rice Bay is pretty, however, not as pretty as it once was. Many parts of the Rice Bay reef have died. Reefs die when snorkelers and divers stand, sit, and lay on the reef; and they die when oil spills or any other pollution contaminates them.  Corals also die due to bleaching events where the coral is affected by ocean temperatures. Some of the researchers were discussing that the corals of the Bahamas are recovering from bleaching events.  After visiting Rice Bay, we went to Lindsey Reef. The water at Lindsey Reef was very choppy, so it was a bit of a task to swim to the reef. Once out there though, I saw a spotted eel. The eel was intriguing to observe. It swam along the reef, using the same slithering motions as a snake on land. Shortly after seeing the eel, I swam back towards shore and hunted around in the shallows for shells. We concluded our day, by stopping at the marina to see if the divers had caught any lionfish. Unfortunately, there weren’t any caught.

June 15th, 2007- Friday

            Today I assisted the Facilities Manager, Mike. Mike is also the Director’s Assistant.  I started by helping him finish work on a truck. The water pump was replaced and the belts were being put back on. Then I learned how to fill scuba tanks and helped fill a few of them. After that, Mike and I put in two air conditioners. Every other month or so, the GRC gets a huge semi-truck container delivered by ship, full of needed supplies. I helped unload items from the container and put them away. Mike rewarded my hard day of work with a phone call home, which was the first call home since I have been out of the country.

June 16th, 2007- Saturday

            Today began with replacing a muffler on a car. Later, my late morning and afternoon specialty became housekeeping.  GRC is going to hold a big annual biological this week. Therefore, every bit of space is needed. Scientists from all over the world come to speak and listen. Room 24 was being utilized for storage, so that is where I began to help. It was my job to organize the room and make it livable. I spent several hours putting items away. I swept the room and helped move in another bed. To completely declare the room livable, the toilet needed to be repaired. I helped Mike with this job and got it done.

June 17th, 2007- Sunday

             This morning I went with Mike to the airport and greeted two women. They are going to speak about the archeology and historic sites of San Salvador at next week’s conference. When I got back I installed some air conditioners. Then I helped move more boxes out of the container. This afternoon I read about the Shifting Baseline Syndrome. In the editorial, written by Charles Sheppard, I came to understand the Shifting Baseline Syndrome as a problem that’s starting to occur more often. The problem is that many researchers are misinformed about the baselines of their studies, so the information they’re collecting is not being compared to the correct base or starting point. When this is happening, the changes that take place within their field of study, are going unnoticed in science. I found this editorial and the other papers on the syndrome very interesting. I wouldn’t normally think about how baselines could change and I would agree that it is becoming a problem in many cases.

June 18th, 2007- Monday

            I began the day by greeting four people at the airport. Replacing light bulbs in the dorms was the next task I conquered when I returned to the GRC. Then I helped install a couple air conditioners. I also helped to count the money from the pop machine.

Once the small stuff was completed, I went to work on taking inventory of the GRC’s shell collection. This too, is in preparation for the museum.

Later, Mike helped me to fix my room fan. No luck, the fan was finished. Thoughtfully, Mike got another fan for my room. Without a fan, the conditions in the room are like a sauna. I was thrilled to have a new fan.

I then joined a group to go catch crabs. Crabs are everywhere on San Salvador; they are like deer or rabbits in Colorado. As we were leaving, I got an offer to go night snorkeling. Making a decision between catching crabs or going night snorkeling was difficult. Finally, I decided that I would go night snorkeling. I hurried back to my room and gathered my snorkel gear. Then I went where I was told to meet the group. Once I arrived, I was informed that we were waiting for one more person. I was cordial and waited patiently. After waiting for about 45 minutes, the young man arrived with news that he wasn’t allowed to go. I was bummed! Not only did I miss crabbing, I also didn’t get to go night snorkeling.

My week has been long, but nice. I enjoyed the variety of activities I participated in this week. My favorite day was Thursday because I saw the gorgeous spotted eel for the first time.

Once again, thank you sponsors! Your generosity is being greatly appreciated!

THANKYOU

*Ellen B. - Donating a quilt top for my quilt raffle.

*Lynda A. - Sewing the quilt top and bottom together and aiding in tying the quilt.

*Jean H. - Helping tie the quilt and donating two loafs of homemade bread to my bake sale.

*Rob H. - Buying $100.00 in raffle tickets for the quilt. (He won the quilt raffle.)

*Lori and Bob H. - Donating brownies for my bake sale. HUGE THANKS for buying me a brand new digital camera for my trip.

*Ruth P. - Donating about $40.00 worth of her wonderful toffee to my bakesale.

*Pinhead Institute of Telluride- Allotting me $1,500.00 scholarship based on merit.

*Everyone that bought raffle tickets in March.

(NOTE: My internship was switched to a research station in San Salvador, Bahamas because airfare to New Zealand became too expensive, too fast. I will hopefully get another internship, either next summer or the summer following my graduation, in New Zealand.)