Sea Turtle Nest. Image Credit: Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge
Knitting sea turtles at sea on the E/V Nautilus. Image Credit: Jenny Woodman
Sea Turtle Nest. Image Credit: Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge
A turtle trail along a scarf. Image Credit: Jenny Woodman
A blanket for Dr. Amber Hale. Image Credit: Amber Hale
There’s always one moment when a factoid emerges that endears me to a critter in some silly, but permanent way, propelling me forward on a quest to know more. Discovering otters juggle rocks fueled an ongoing obsession. Learning octopuses are notorious escape artists came with a permanent membership in the cephalopod fan club. An albatross’s roundtrip thousand-plus mile flights to feed their babies, made me a student of seabirds.
When a mamma sea turtle works her way up a beach to lay her eggs, her fins leave this wonderful squiggly pattern in the sand. It’s a straight line from the salty sea to a future where hundreds of little squirming baby sea turtles hatch and return to the ocean about 60 days after mom’s labor is done.
The fact that this squiggly pattern can be recreated with a simple series of repetitive twists and turns in some super-soft yarn is, perhaps, the ultimate bonus for science-loving knitting nerd such as myself. But, before casting on, let’s talk turtle.
Although sea turtles spend most of their lives at sea, female sea turtles come on land to lay their eggs. Image Credit: NOAA
There are seven species of sea turtles in our world ocean; six of them can be found in U.S. waters (green, hawksbill, Kemp’s ridley, leatherback, loggerhead, and olive ridley).
All six species are listed as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act. According to US Fish and Wildlife, a species is listed as endangered if it is at risk of extinction, and it is listed as threatened if it is likely to become endangered.
Like many marine mammals and seabirds, sea turtles are at risk from ship strikes, entanglement, plastic pollution, and climate change.
These air-breathing reptiles have roamed the Earth for over 150 million years. Some species, such as leatherback sea turtles, weigh anywhere from 500 to 2000 pounds and can dive up to 4000 feet deep. Leatherbacks have been known to migrate thousands of miles for jellyfish, their preferred prey, but nibbling on squid, sea urchins, and floating seaweed will serve as a tasty meal too.
We haven’t always known much about their lives because we can only observe what we see on land. As technologies like satellite trackers and accelerometers get smaller and more cost effective, scientists are on a path to learn much more about the mammals and seabirds who spend much of their time out in and over the open ocean waters. In 2016, researchers at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI) used specially engineered cameras to capture rare images and oceanographic data of leatherback sea turtles in the wild. This information will help scientists learn what the critters are eating, where they travel, and what hazards they encounter along the way.
If you’re interested in casting on and knitting some sea turtles, I really enjoyed Heather Anderson’s designs. I made her shawl and then modified the pattern to make a baby blanket for a dear friend and a scarf for my mom. She generously offered a coupon to our readers for her Turtle’s Journey Scarf, which you can find here; use PROTEUSTURTLE promo code on Ravelry (a well-known knitting site) and download the pattern for free. The coupon is valid through January 31, 2019.
Jenny Woodman is a writer and educator; she knits a lot. Follow her on Twitter @JennyWoodman
Heather Anderson is an avid knitter who lives not too far from the ocean in New Hampshire. She teaches knitting classes and designs knitting patterns that keep her learning new things all of the time; you can view her pattern collections here.
Deep sea coral in Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary. Image Credit: OET/Nautilus Live
Nicknamed the Dragon’s Cave, this hydrothermal vent site on the Lōihi Seamount was covered in microbial mats. Using remotely operated vehicles, scientists on board the E/V Nautilus collected eDNA samples near these mats for NOAA scientists working to develop technologies to better know our ocean. Image Credit: OET/Nautilus Live
All organisms shed cells. Just as you constantly slough skin cells, creatures in the ocean also leave traces behind, from enormous blue whales to deep sea corals to tiny microbes living at hydrothermal vents. These cells contain DNA, the molecule responsible for carrying genetic information for all living things.
Remains of an organism’s genetic material can tell scientists about the overall health of the ecosystem and the inhabitants. Environmental DNA or eDNA is an emerging area of study that may help researchers to better know the ocean and its inhabitants. eDNA is a DNA sample collected via an environmental medium such as soil or water; by examining the genetic traces left behind in that medium, scientists can study creatures without direct contact. This has been extremely useful for studying species that are particularly difficult to collect samples from such as Orcas and deep sea corals.
In the ocean, eDNA collection relies on water sampling in close proximity to specimens of interest. The sloughed cells from a species like a deep sea coral are pulled in with water samples, and those cells contain small amounts of DNA from the corals nearby. By amplifying sets of specific DNA sequences, coral biologists can use the small amount of eDNA captured in the water sample to identify the coral by its genetic fingerprint. This non-invasive technique could replace physical sampling for any species for which this technique is validated.
Coral sclerites imaged with a scanning electron microscope. Image Credit: NOAA NW Fisheries Science Center
Deep sea coral biologists have long been limited by the fact that physical specimens must be collected to make a species-level identification and taking coral samples, even prudently, is somewhat invasive. To make a species-level identification, the ultrastructure of the coral skeleton, specifically the sclerites, must be visualized by a scanning electron microscope. To minimize sampling, coral biologists have been searching for a new way to accurately identify corals to the species level.
Carol Stepien on board the Reseach Vessel Tatoosh deploying a device for sampling water for eDNA in the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary. Image Credit: NOAA/Kim Andrews
Today, eDNA sampling is changing the way corals and other sea life are identified, and this technology may prove invaluable in future research. With only five percent of the world’s ocean explored, to some it is a race against time to learn as much as we can before some biodiversity is lost forever.
Carol Stepien is the Ocean Environment Research Division leader at NOAA’s Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory in Seattle. Her Genetics and Genome Group is working to develop technologies that will help researchers in the future to assess oceanic communities and how, or if, they are being impacted by changes in the ocean using eDNA.
“We know almost nothing about creatures in the ocean,” said Stepien, adding that whole groups of species are being discovered, sometimes daily. “What we know is a drop in the bucket about who is in the ocean, especially when you get into the deep sea.”
To help expand that limited knowledge, she envisions building large DNA databases for species identification.
Stepien’s lab is collecting eDNA samples from Axial Seamount, an active underwater volcano in the NE Pacific Ocean, and from methane seeps along the Oregon and Washington Coast. They are focused on invertebrate communities such as clams and chemosynthetic organisms; her team is collaborating with other researchers who are looking at microbes. Ultimately Stepien hopes to develop genetic markers for DNA sequences that would aid identification through a massive collaboration between government, academia, and scientific institutions.
“We’re in the beginning of a scientific revolution of how to do this,” said Stepien. “It’s going to take a lot of different researchers working together — communicating, publishing, and developing these applications. We’re looking at developing highly diagnostic, fast and inexpensive tools for the future.”
Stepien thinks within ten years we will see something similar to Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute’s environmental sample processor (ESP), but with the capacity for eDNA monitoring, using drones and satellite transmission. The ESP instrument is basically a high-tech lab in a can that can be loaded onto an autonomous vehicle and deployed to collect and process samples without returning to land.
We need better records of creatures and organisms in the ocean and eDNA is an exciting tool because you don’t need to disturb the habitats or the sea life, according to Stepien. She sees a future where technology and scientific ingenuity are going to allow us to understand what is happening in the ocean in real time — problems like ocean acidification and hypoxia could be studied in situ without disturbing the ecosystem.
Her enthusiasm for the subject is contagious when she starts to talk about what is possible today and what we’ll be able to to in the future. “You’re able to start to focus and solve problems I never even dreamed of when I was in grad school,” Stepien said. “It is very fun and exciting as a scientist — I’m having such a good time working on this.”
Jenny Woodman, Proteus founder and executive director, is a science writer and educator living in the Pacific Northwest; she is a 2018 lead science communication fellow for the Exploration Vessel Nautilus. Follow her on Twitter @JennyWoodman.
Dr. Amber Hale is an assistant professor of biology at McNeese State University in Lake Charles, Louisiana. She uses molecular biology techniques in non-traditional model organisms. She is passionate about STEM education and science communication in her community.
Deep sea corals are colonial organisms made up of many individual organisms called polyps, working in concert to survive. Each individual has a job to perform in order for the entire colony to grow and thrive. While most people are familiar with colorful warm water corals found in shallow, tropical waters, these only represent about 15 percent of the world’s corals, according to the California Academy of Sciences’ Curator of Invertebrate Zoology and Geology, Gary Williams.
California Academy of Sciences’ Curator of Invertebrate Zoology and Geology Gary Williams, holding a coral sample in the E/V Nautilus wet lab. Image Credit: OET/Nautilus Live
The other 85 percent of corals are deep sea or cold water corals, which are hard to study because it isn’t easy to get to the deep ocean with any frequency. Cold water corals differ from their shallow water counterparts in many ways, but one major distinction is that they do not rely on a symbiotic relationship with the photosynthetic algae, zooxanthellae (pronounced zoo-uh-zan-thella), that live inside warm water corals.
In the upper layers of the water column where the sun’s rays penetrate, most organisms like zooxanthellae rely on photosynthesis for food production. The algae barters food for rent in the relationship with their coral homes.
The sun’s light cannot reach the deep waters where cold water corals live, so these corals must eat nutrients found in debris that falls from the shallower layers of the ocean – this mixed debris is often called marine snow. Due to the limited amount of marine snow reaching the seafloor and the harsh environment of the deep sea, these corals are slow growing, but can be extremely long-lived. Bamboo corals have been aged to be more than 450 years old!
ROV Hercules hovers over a deep sea coral in Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary. Image Credit: OET/Nautilus Live Deep sea coral in Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary. Image Credit: OET/Nautilus Live ROV Hercules collecting coral sample. Image Credit: OET/Nautilus Live Deep sea coral in Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary. Image Credit: OET/Nautilus Live
Environmental or eDNA is a DNA sample collected via an environmental medium such as soil or water; by examining the genetic traces left behind in that medium, scientists can study creatures without direct contact. During the 2016 and 2017 E/V Nautilus expedition seasons, water samples were taken in close proximity to deep sea coral species of interest in Cordell Bank and Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuaries. Corresponding physical samples were taken as well. With both the eDNA sample and the physical specimen, coral biologists worked to validate coral-specific eDNA protocols.
Biologists first amplify and sequence a set of DNA regions of interest from the eDNA sample, then these sequences are compared to corresponding sequences from the physical specimen. This creates a species-specific “DNA fingerprint.” Repeating this process for many species allows scientists to build a library of coral DNA fingerprints, enabling future biologists to confidently use eDNA samples to identify corals without the need for physical sampling.
A rare Nazca Booby sighting brought joy to the team of wildlife observers on the NOAA Ship Bell M. Shimada. Image Credit: Julie Chase/ACCESS/NOAA/Point Blue
Precious moments are abundant at sea, but, like most things, there are challenges. Gorgeous sunsets and getting close to wild creatures most people will never witness also comes with long hours, bouts of seasickness, and being away from loved ones.
California Group Director for Point Blue Conservation Science Jaime Jahncke went on his first science expedition in 1994; it was a cruise to assess anchovy stocks off the coast of Peru where he grew up. “Being at sea is fantastic. You can see things that no one else can see like a breaching whale or a rare bird,” said Jahncke. “But if you are sick it is pretty awful because there’s nothing you can do to escape the thing that’s making you sick.”
We’re off the north-central coast of California on the NOAA Ship Bell M. Shimada for a marine mammal and seabird survey. A team of scientists has spent the last week logging wildlife sightings and collecting water and biological samples as part of a long-term effort to monitor National Marine Sanctuary ecosystems.
A humpback whale with the North Farallon Islands. Image Credit: Julie Chase/ACCESS/NOAA/Point Blue
Brown Pelican off the coast of north-central California. Image Credit: Julie Chase/ACCESS/NOAA/Point Blue
Three Mola mola, or ocean sunfish, spotted near the Farallon Islands. Image Credit: Julie Chase/ACCESS/NOAA/Point Blue
On the last day of this cruise, members of the wildlife observation team spoke a little bit about this work and why they think protected places like our National Marine Sanctuaries are important. The following is written in their own words, which have been lightly edited for length and clarity.
Jan Roletto
She is chief scientist and research coordinator for Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary; Roletto has been going out to sea regularly since the late 90s.
I miss my husband, dog, and cats, but I live near where I work so you’re never really that far from home. That is one of benefits of place-based monitoring; with species-based monitoring, you have to go to where the animals are.
My job is really diverse. I like being able to put the pieces of the puzzle together for an unknown question. As research coordinator, my job is to find researchers who are doing work relevant to the sanctuary – people like Carina Fish who are studying the impact of ocean acidification on deep sea corals.
Long-term monitoring data isn’t exciting – it’s doesn’t get the “oohs and aahs” but it is really important. You can’t identify what’s really special or different without long-term monitoring data. For example, we can do rapid damage assessments because we have this data. Long-term monitoring is like a savings account. You put the data aside – you put a little away and when the need arises you have it. We wouldn’t be able to talk about climate change, about long-term change, if we didn’t have that long-term monitoring data.
It’s satisfying to have all this data when there’s an event like an oil spill incident – a leaky vessel or an accident – and be well prepared to respond. We’ve used ACCESS and Sanctuary data so it’s satisfying to be able to say, “This is what it looked like before; this is what it looks like now; and, this is what it will take to make to restore it to that previous state.”
Sanctuaries are important because U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service protects populations; sanctuaries protect habitats. You can’t have good populations of whatever is out there without homes – can’t have one without the other. We take care of the grocery store and the apartment building and fisheries takes care of the things that live there.
Kirsten Lindquist
Lindquist is the ecosystem monitoring manager for the Greater Farallones Association (GFA); she’s the birder for this cruise and has been going out to sea for 18 years.
I think the long days with no breaks (in terms of working 10 or 30 days straight) are hard. You get some intermittent weather breaks, but nothing you can plan for. You do get tired.
I love being in the ocean wilderness and the extreme environment — seeing all the different faces of it. On shore, people go to national parks and they can be there and experience them in a way that people don’t have the chance with oceans 40-plus miles off shore. I think if people did, they would understand why [National Marine Sanctuaries] are so special and why they should be protected.
Dru Devlin
Devlin is a research associate for Greater Farallones Association and wildlife observer on this cruise; she has been working on programs at sea like ACCESS since 2005.
The break in the normal routine is challenging. I love to come out here and then it’s great to get back home, but when I’m home, I can’t wait to be back out here.
It’s physically hard standing in weather and sun for the long hours – the change in diet and exercise too, but I love it. I miss my family, but I think it’s important for my son to see his mom do something that’s important to her and something that is important to others.
I like being part of a team and part of something that contributes to the knowledge base. Being out on the ocean is a touchstone of who I am – it inspires me to keep doing this work. It’s gratifying over the years to see what we’ve contributed to the knowledge base and how much more there remains to do.
Marine sanctuaries protect valuable resources like the biodiversity of life we see here – from the rich basis of life, the phytoplanktonic stuff all the way up to the largest mammals on Earth. If we don’t study it, we won’t know what we have – hopefully others see the value in that.
Taylor Nairn
She is the data manager for Greater Farallones Association and the data logger in this expedition; this is Nairn’s fourth year at sea.
Every cruise is different. The weather is pretty hard, but you can get through it and that feels good. The lack of privacy is hard too – after a while I need to turn inward, but it’s also good to be forced to get out of it.
I love the sense of adventure and independence. The sea is one of the last wildernesses and getting to experience that is really magical. Wild spaces have intrinsic value. True wild spaces and ecosystems are valuable in and of themselves.
ACCESS Cruise Science Team, July 2018. Image Credit: Julie Chase/ACCESS/NOAA/Point Blue
Jenny Woodman, Proteus founder and executive director, is a science writer and educator living in the Pacific Northwest. Follower her on Twitter @JennyWoodman.
Black-Footed Albatross. Image Credit: Sophie Webb/ACCESS/NOAA/Point Blue
The sun is shining, but strong winds and high seas keep conversation to a minimum on the flying bridge of the NOAA Ship Bell M. Shimada. Perched three decks above, the bow of the boat seems at times to bounce on the water below as she comes up over the crest of the whitecaps. Waves regularly explode over the bow, some freckling the glass windshield with droplets of icy cold water.
The wind roars.
Wildlife surveys such as this one are dependent on visibility, sea state, wind, and light. Yesterday afternoon’s transect from east to west pointed the observers into the sun, so glare and high seas made sightings challenging. Their goal is to sample as much wildlife as possible, but it isn’t realistic to count everything, so they collect subsamples.
It’s Sunday on day seven of a cruise monitoring seabirds and marine mammals off the coast of North-Central California National Marine Sanctuaries (Cordell Bank, Greater Farallons, and Monterey Bay). These Applied California Current Ecosystem Studies (ACCESS) cruises take place three to five times each year.
There are two methods used for surveying wildlife on this cruise: line-transect and strip-transect. Jan Roletto, chief scientist and research coordinator for the Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary, explains that the marine mammal observers use a line-transect method.
Wildlife observers Taylor Nairn(right) and Dru Devlin (left). Image Credit: Julie Chase/ACCESS/NOAA/Point Blue
Chief Scientist Jan Roletto on the flying bridge of the NOAA Ship Bell M. Shimada with Kirsten Lindquist. Image Credit: Julie Chase/ACCESS/NOAA/Point Blue
The location of the wildlife in the ocean is determined with relative precision using: height, which is based on eye-level from atop the flying bridge; distance, which is measured using the reticle markings on the binoculars; and, the seabird or mammal’s bearing relative to the bow of the ship.
“It’s all just basic geometry,” Roletto said.
The ship maintains a consistent speed during transect lines, and the computer logs GPS coordinates frequently. Wildlife are logged by Taylor Nairn, data manager for Greater Farallones Association (GFA) and data logger on this cruise. Then, the calculations are automated using software developed by NOAA Fisheries.
Roletto monitors the 90-degree quadrant from the bow to the port side of the vessel and Dru Devlin, research associate for GFA, observes from the bow 90 degrees to the starboard side.
While Roletto and Devlin count the mammals, Kirsten Lindquist uses a strip-transect method and counts 100 percent of the seabirds in a 200-meter strip in front of her. “We use strip-transect lines for things that are numerous and line-transects for things that are more scarce,” said Roletto.
By monitoring population densities, prey availability, and their locations, the team can help identify trends over time and look for locations where human activities might be harmful to the wildlife.
Black-Footed Albatross. Image Credit: Sophie Webb/ACCESS/NOAA/Point Blue
Earlier in the week, Lindquist has counted thousands of seabirds during one transect line. Several of the species observed, such as Common Murres and Sooty Shearwaters, tend to float out in the open water together in very large numbers.
Today and yesterday, the weather is keeping sighting numbers low. They’ve spotted a few Northern Fulmars and Rhinoceros Auklets alongside a small number of unidentified whales, Risso’s dolphins, Dall’s and harbor porpoises.
Black-Footed Albatross. Image Credit: Sophie Webb/ACCESS/NOAA/Point Blue
Black-Footed Albatross are more abundant than previous days. They are built for this weather. It is mesmerizing to watch them float and soar on winds that make it challenging for humans (at least for this human) to walk the distance from the top of the stairs to the shelter of the windshield on the upper observation deck.
Albatross are very large, with wingspans up to 85 inches. They are classified as tubenoses, because they have very large tubes above their beak; these tubes are connected to salt glands over their eyes which enables them (and all other seabirds) to drink saltwater. These seabirds have an incredible sense of smell, aiding in the detection of prey at great distances.
Wildlife often travel great distances to feast in nutrient-rich waters along the California Coast. Image Credit: Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary
The albatross we are seeing here off the coast of California have traveled from their nesting colony in the atolls of Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. The almost 6000-mile roundtrip journey will take up to two weeks by the time that they fly here, gorge, and then return home to feed their chicks.
Albatross ride these powerful winds in a process called dynamic soaring, flying up to 80 miles an hour without flapping their wings, therefore conserving energy for their long journeys. Engineers have studied these birds in order to design better aircrafts.
These constantly changing waters—smooth and glassy one day, powerful and fierce the next—seem to offer something for all who come here.
Jenny Woodman, Proteus founder and executive director, is a science writer and educator living in the Pacific Northwest. Follower her on Twitter @JennyWoodman.
Pigeon Guillemots are a coastal species that are locally common, meaning they are common in areas suited to their needs. You won’t spot them on sandy beaches, but in places with rocky outcrops and where they like to nest in inaccessible rocky crevices. To Lindquist, this speaks to the different survival strategies adopted out here: Common Murres nest in large colonies, seeking protection as group; Cassin’s Auklet's are nocturnal and nest in burrows; and, Pigeon Guillemots use the rocky crevices for protection while breeding. Image Credit: Julie Chase/ACCESS/NOAA/Point Blue
Pigeon Guillemots are a coastal species that are locally common, meaning they are common in areas suited to their needs. You won’t spot them on sandy beaches, but in places with rocky outcrops and where they like to nest in inaccessible rocky crevices. To Lindquist, this speaks to the different survival strategies adopted out here: Common Murres nest in large colonies, seeking protection as group; Cassin’s Auklet’s are nocturnal and nest in burrows; and, Pigeon Guillemots use the rocky crevices for protection while breeding. Image Credit: Julie Chase/ACCESS/NOAA/Point Blue
The Western Gulls are residents of Farallon Islands and they’re quite abundant. Unlike the other birds out here, they forage in the wild, but they also come very close to human activities and interact with people. Western Gulls are much less isolated than the other species studied on the islands. Image Credit: Julie Chase/ACCESS/NOAA/Point Blue
Kirsten Lindquist is the ecosystem monitoring manager for the Greater Farallones Association (GFA); she is also the birder for this ACCESS cruise. She’s awestruck by ocean creatures that live in such extreme environments. Image Credit: Julie Chase/ACCESS/NOAA/Point Blue
Common Murre are ubiquitous here, nesting by the thousands. While cruising through the area, we’ve encountered large rafts of them floating out in the open and the cry of a father Common Murre searching for his baby chick can be heard frequently. Image Credit: Jenny Woodman/ACCESS/NOAA/Point Blue
The Cassin’s Auklet live offshore, you won’t see them as they are not a coastal or near-shore species. They come on land at night to breed and nest in burrows underground. The rest of the year they live out in the open ocean. They are fans of krill, the small shrimp-like crustacean that lures so many critters to the region. “Since Auklets are a lot more abundant than Blue Whales, we can use Cassin’s as indicators,” says Kirsten Lindquist, birder on this ACCESS cruise. They are underwater flyers; some birds swim with their feet and keep their wings retracted underwater. Using their wings, Cassin’s and Common Murres fly underwater. Image Credit: Point Blue Conservation Science
Rhinoceros Auklet are similar to Cassin’s Auklet in foraging and nesting, but they are less abundant in the area. They eat fish, not krill, primarily what’s available. Juvenile rockfish are the preferred food choice, but they will eat larger anchovies, which can be problematic because they may be too large for chicks to consume. Image Credit: Farallon Islands Foundation
Click on the captions to expand and read more.
The sound is deafening — a symphony composed of 350,000 seabirds screeching and calling to each other. Ask a table full of scientists in the mess hall what it sounds like when you first set foot on the Farallon Islands and they answer in unison: cacophony.
The islands are home to the largest nesting colonies of seabirds south of Alaska.
Competition for real estate on the Farallons is minimal because each species has different needs. Pigeon Guillemots nest in rocky crevices and talus slopes, while the Common Murres find safety in numbers, perched atop steep cliffs and outcrops by the thousands. Rhinoceros and Cassin’s Auklets come on land at night and burrow underground to lay their eggs.
After decades of observations, scientists have learned a great deal about these creatures, but much of the research only occurs when the birds come ashore to breed in the summer. How do we know about birds that spend the vast majority of their lives out in the open ocean where few humans visit?
Some information is gleaned by sending teams on scientific expeditions like this ACCESS cruise, undertaken via a partnership between North-Central National Marine Sanctuaries and Point Blue Conservation Science. Wildlife observers spend most of each day conducting visual surveys, counting seabirds and marine mammals with a level of precision that is impressive to a non-scientist watching from the sidelines.
At various points each day, the ship stops to collect water and biological samples to understand food distribution in the region. By comparing the visual counts of animals with the samples collected, scientists can help determine predictable locations where food in the ocean lead to birds and mammals aggregating. Identifying where these hotspots overlap with human activity may help reduce negative impacts such as ship strikes and entanglements.
Adding tagging technology to these data sets enriches the picture even more.
A short sample of a time-depth recorder (TDR) dive profile of a single Cassin’s auklet. The different depths and durations of dives can tell scientists about prey availability and dive success. Image Credit: Point Blue Conservation Science
Researchers can combine tracking and dive patterns to show when birds are going to forage and where they’re finding food. The types of dives and how deep they’re going can tell you how deep the prey is, according to Kirsten Lindquist.
Lindquist is the ecosystem monitoring manager for the Greater Farallones Association (GFA); she is also the birder for this cruise and has conducted field work on the islands. “We only know food conditions when they are breeding,” she said.
According to Lindquist, data gathered over the years has revealed details such as clutch size, diet, nesting timing and success, but this information only reflects what is happening during the summer.
In Far from Land: The Mysterious Lives of Seabirds, Michael Brooke writes, “It can be quite rare for observers to see the birds actually feeding. Is this because the birds manage to catch enough food to last, say, a couple of days during infrequent bouts of gorging, or is it because much feeding happens at night when they cannot be seen?”
“How do you tell the story of fledging on into the next spring? Where are these birds going?” Lindquist asks. Breeding season is one window – it’s just a snapshot in time, she explains.
In other words, the lives of seabirds remain a bit of a mystery.
Geolocator (GLS) position estimates of a single Cassin’s auklet over an 8-month period, which made a movement south to Southern California in the winter of 2017-18. Image Credit: Point Blue Conservation Science
Jaime Jahncke, California Current Group director for Point Blue Conservation Science, points out that data from GLS tags on Cassin’s Auklets during the non-breeding season has shown that birds from the Farallon Islands disperse much farther than the scientists on the Point Blue team originally thought.
“A single bird can go as far south as Baja, California and others have gone as far north as Oregon,” said Jahncke. “This makes conservation efforts a real challenge.”
While breeding on the islands the birds are protected by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Refuge. When foraging, they’re protected within the Sanctuaries. Discovering the birds range is extended after the breeding season puts these conservation scientists in uncharted territories, because they don’t know what threats these birds face beyond the protected boundaries previously studied, said Jahncke.
Elsewhere, observations are also captured in the field by scientists like George Divoky. Each summer, he lives alone on a barrier island in the Arctic with a small colony of breeding Mandt’s Black Guillemots. He visits all the nests daily, weighing chicks and collecting data. In spite of the longevity of his 44-year study, each season seems to bring new insights, especially as the technology aiding this work gets smaller, faster, and smarter.
When unexpected snow and cold in Alaska delayed the arrival of Divoky’s Black Guillemots in June, he looked at previous year’s data from geolocators and determined that they were most likely waiting in nearby Nuvuk and would arrive as soon as their nesting boxes were clear of snow, which they eventually did.
Every spring when the guillemots return, he removes the geolocators to download data about where the birds have been spending time over the winter. In addition to aiding his own research, this data is being used by several graduate students and organizations such as SENSEI (a French research group funded by BNP Paribas) seeking to better understand the impacts of climate change in the Arctic.
GPS track of a single Rhinoceros Auklet over a 4-day period, part of a collaborative project with Scott Shaffer from San Jose State. Image Credit: Point Blue Conservation Science
Using GPS or Geolocator (GLS) tags reveal different information. The GPS used on a Rhinoceros Auklet from the Farallon Islands offered a very detailed map of where the seabird traveled during one four-day period, whereas a GLS tag helped researchers map the places seabirds traveled from month to month during the non-breeding season. “One is more fine scale movements in a foraging area and one is less fine scale trying to get data over winter,” said Lindquist.
To scientists like Divoky, Jahncke, and Lindquist, technology may hold the key to a deeper understanding of the lives of seabirds where they spend most of their time — at sea.
Lindquist said, “I’m drawn to deep, untouched wilderness and the wild things that make their home there. The ocean has a lot of that close to shore.” She explained that they can leverage the number of years of seabird data and new information from technology to tell the story of the species and the pressures they are facing in a rapidly changing world.
Jenny Woodman, Proteus founder and executive director, is a science writer and educator living in the Pacific Northwest. Follower her on Twitter @JennyWoodman.
Common Murres on Farallon Islands. Image Credit: Point Blue Conservation Science
Common Murres in flight, some with fish. Image Credit: Julie Chase/ACCESS/NOAA/Point Blue
Common Murre are abundant here; many can be seen carrying fish on a return flight to the Farallon Islands, where hungry babies eagerly wait for their next meal. The islands — uninhabited by humans except for a small group of scientists — are nesting grounds for thirteen species of seabirds and six species of marine mammals that breed or haul out on the islands each year.
According to U.S. Fish & Wildlife service, the Farallons host the largest seabird nesting colony south of Alaska with numbers greater than 350,000 in the summer, including nesting Common Murres, Tufted Puffins, Pigeon Guillemots, and Western Gulls.
Just 27 miles west of San Francisco, these rocky islands weren’t always an ideal habitat for seabirds. During the California Gold Rush, a lack of agricultural infrastructure led hungry prospectors and entrepreneurial foragers to the Farallons for eggs, which pushed the Common Murre to the brink of extinction.
Over the years, a combination of exploitation from hunting and foraging to military uses left the island in a state of disarray. Feral cats and nonnative rabbits introduced by previous inhabitants obliterated many seabirds. Oil spills and pollution also took a toll on the habitat, which was established as a national wildlife refuge in 1909 by Theodore Roosevelt. Since the late 1960s, partnerships between U.S. Fish & Wildlife, NOAA, and Point Blue Conservation Science have helped to restore and maintain the Farallons for wildlife and research.
Computer imagery shows the topography of the seafloor of Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary and the steep drop-off of the continental slope west of the Farallon Islands. Image Credit: USGS/Woods Hole
We’re here on the second day of an Applied California Current Ecosystem Studies, or ACCESS, cruise. It is part of a long-term effort, now in its 15th year, to monitor and understand the oceanographic conditions, prey availability, and abundance and distribution of seabirds and whales in the region.
The data collected on these cruises, which take place three to five times per year, are used to help inform decision-making and research priorities in Northern and Central California National Marine Sanctuaries. ACCESS is a partnership between NOAA National Marine Sanctuaries and Point Blue Conservation Science.
Seabirds and marine mammals are drawn to the region by a process called upwelling. In the spring, strong winds move across the surface of the ocean circulating and drawing cold, nutrient-rich water from the deep ocean areas that lie below the edge of the Continental Shelf and Slope. This process is part of what makes these waters, according to NASA, “some of the most biologically productive in the world.”
When these nutrients reach the sunlight at the surface, the perfect environment is created for marine plant life — from phytoplankton to kelp forests. The plants, in turn, feed the wildlife.
Krill thrive in these nutrient-rich waters. “Its size is tiny, but its significance is colossal,” Mary Jane Schramm writes. “Krill – a shrimp-like crustacean – forms the basis of the marine food web for whales, seabirds, fish, squid, seals, and sharks throughout the world’s oceans.”
As we zigzag along the coast via predetermined transect lines, this productivity is evident in both the variety and quantity of life seen here.
The expert wildlife observers are armed with details to make each sighting even more exciting. When prompted, Dru Devlin, research associate for Greater Farallones Association, offers up a litany of fascinating details about the Common Murres, which nest on steep, rocky cliffs.
Common Murres on Farallon Islands. Image Credit: Point Blue Conservation Science
The female lays one large blue egg, which she sits on for the duration without nourishment. When the egg finally hatches, she takes off to replenish her strength for whatever lies ahead and the father steps in to take care of the baby chick. (In Far from Land: The Mysterious Life of Seabirds, Michael Brooke points out that seabirds generally only produce one to two eggs per year, which he adds is smart evolutionary strategy, because otherwise the ocean would be full of birds with nothing to eat!)
Murre chicks leave the nest, before they’ve fledged, meaning they haven’t grown flight feathers. When the time comes, the father and chick leap off the steep cliff and into the water below where the little one floats for up to two months, waiting for its flight feathers to come in.
Yesterday, we heard a cacophony of bird calls throughout the day; Devlin explained that we were hearing the father birds calling out to their chicks as they returned from fishing for food. Devlin concludes her explanation by asking me to imagine what it must be like to look for your baby in the midst of rough seas and large swells and I find myself, once again, awestruck by the tenacity of seabirds.
Black-footed albatross in flight. Image Credit: Julie Chase/ACCESS/NOAA/Point Blue
Pacific White-Sided Dolphins. Image Credit: Jenny Woodman/ACCESS/NOAA/Point Blue
In a very short period of time, I’ve seen so much. As a city kid from Philadelphia, my encounters with animals outside of zoos were limited to squirrels and pigeons, so much of these sightings are pretty big firsts for me. While everyone was busy deploying equipment on a side deck after breakfast, I ducked around a corner for a quiet moment and found myself alone with a pod of Pacific white-sided dolphins, playfully lingering alongside our vessel.
Observing these creatures is a rare treat made even better when accompanied by a team of biologists and wildlife experts to explain what I see and fill me with a sense of wonder for new favorites like the uncommon Common Murres.
Spotted Wednesday, July 4:
Common Murres
Sooty Shearwaters
Sabine’s Gulls
Herring Gulls
Brown Pelicans
Cassin’s Auklets
Blue Whales
Humpback Whales
Unidentified Whales
California Sea Lions
Jenny Woodman, Proteus founder and executive director, is a science writer and educator living in the Pacific Northwest. Follower her on Twitter @JennyWoodman.
Jenny Woodman in Gumby suit after an abandon ship drill. Image Credit: Jenny Woodman/ACCESS/NOAA/Point Blue
Pelicans flying near Gate Bridge in San Francisco. Image Credit: Jenny Woodman/ACCESS/NOAA/Point Blue
We sailed under the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco just before 11 a.m. on July 3. Anyone without immediate tasks to perform worked on finding their sea legs while we transited to our first location.
For me, this included several hours becoming one with my berth as this was the only place where I didn’t feel as if my stomach was planning on making our cabin’s head a permanent home. The bunks are incredibly comfortable with curtains for privacy and a mattress that envelops – something I genuinely appreciated when the ship really started rolling. We are zigzagging along predetermined paths from east to west, and then west to east. When traveling west, the going can get pretty rough because we’re moving against the swells.
I heard the waves slapping the side of the ship with a ferocity that made the vessel seem much smaller than she is. The seas were actually quite calm, but there were still moments when it felt as if we were perched on a cork, bobbing in a boiling caldron of water.
Jenny Woodman in a “Gumby” suit after an abandon ship drill. Image Credit: Jenny Woodman/ACCESS/NOAA/Point Blue
My queasy, but cozy respite was interrupted by an abandon ship drill before lunch. This required mustering in predetermined locations with our life vests and immersion survival suits. Each of us donned our own unwieldy orange neoprene “Gumby suit,” which is designed to keep the wearer floating and dry in cold water while awaiting rescue. The NOAA officer in charge of my assigned life boat, Lieutenant Jesse Milton, was kind and didn’t laugh at my ineptitude. Nonetheless, after attempting to stand and zip the suit on the back deck of the ship, I suspect I wouldn’t fare too well if anything were to actually go wrong.
The expedition is part of a project, now in its 15th year, to better understand and monitor the marine ecosystems off the coast of Northern and Central California. The Applied California Current Ecosystem Studies (ACCESS) cruises happen three to five times each year.
The transect lines on the map show the locations visited multiple times each year by scientists studying how oceanography and prey distribution impacts wildlife in the region. Image Credit: ACCESS/NOAA/Point Blue
Each cruise returns to specific locations and travels along what are called transect lines; there are a total of 21 lines in the area being studied, which stretches from Northern to Central California. Jaime Jahncke is the California Current Director for Point Blue Conservation Science, the organization collaborating with NOAA to conduct the ACCESS work. He explains that repeat visits to the same locations help scientists assess change over time, from season to season and year to year.
With the data collected on these cruises, the team is able to compare warm years like 2014-2015 to previous warm periods and see that there were fewer krill, the preferred food source for many of the wildlife feeding here, and more gelatinous zooplankton, which are less nutritious. When appropriate food sources are less abundant, observers see wildlife feeding closer to shore and subsequently, closer to shipping lanes, which increases the chances of ship strikes and entanglement.
We completed our first transect by mid-afternoon. While traveling along these lines, a group of scientists stay on the upper deck of the ship, which is called the flying bridge. Each person has a specific job.
Wildlife observers on the flying bridge from right to left: Taylor Narin, Dru Devlin, and Kirsten Lindquist. Image Credit: Julie Chase/ACCESS/NOAA/Point Blue
Kirsten Lindquist is the birder on this cruise and the ecosystem monitoring manager for the Greater Farallones Association (GFA). (You can read more about GFA’s efforts to support NOAA and the Sanctuaries here.)
Lindquist says, “Common murre, six, at three-two-zero, flying, zone two, with fish.” Then, Taylor Nairn, the data manager for GFA, logs the observations in a laptop.
Then, the Research Coordinator for Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary and Chief Scientist for this cruise Jan Roletto calls out mammal sightings, “Blow . . . unknown whale, traveling.” She is working alongside Dru Devlin, a wildlife observer with a long history conducting surveys for ACCESS and GFA’s citizen science program, Beach Watch.
The highlight for me was seeing my first Tufted Puffin, which was beautiful.
Mola mola in Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary. Image Credit: Julie Chase/ACCESS/NOAA/Point Blue
Spotted on July 3:
Common Murres
Western Gulls
Red-necked Phalaropes
Sooty Shearwaters
Pink-Footed Shearwaters
Black-Footed Albatross
Northern Fulmar
Rhinoceros Auklets
Cassin’s Auklets
South Polar Skua
Tufted puffin
California Sea Lions
Fin Whales
Blue Whales
Humpback Whales
Unidentified Whales
Mola molas
Jenny Woodman, Proteus founder and executive director, is a science writer and educator living in the Pacific Northwest. She writes about ocean health, technology, and climate change; she is a 2018 lead science communication fellow for the Exploration Vessel (E/V) Nautilus. Her work can be found in Atlantic Monthly, IEEE Earthzine, and Ensia Magazine.
NOAA Ship Bell M. Shimada is a state-of-the-art fisheries survey vessel that studies a wide range of marine life, sea birds and ocean conditions along the U.S. West Coast. Image Credit: NOAA
NOAA Ship Bell M. Shimada is a state-of-the-art fisheries survey vessel that studies a wide range of marine life, sea birds and ocean conditions along the U.S. West Coast. Image Credit: NOAA
I’m preparing to mobilize with a team of scientists on board the NOAA Ship Bell M. Shimada on July 2. We’ll spend the next nine days cruising from San Francisco through three National Marine Sanctuaries — Cordell Bank, Greater Farallones, and Monterey Bay — collecting water samples and looking for seabirds and marine mammals.
National Marine Sanctuaries along the California Coast. Image Credit: Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary
The expedition is part of a 15-year project called Applied California Current Ecosystem Studies (ACCESS), which aims to study linkages between weather, oceanographic conditions, and climate change within the sanctuary system. One of the main things they will observe and monitor is prey distribution in order to help identify areas where seabirds and whales might be heading for their next meal.
By locating places where foraging might overlap with human activity, sanctuary managers can help reduce the risk of harm to wildlife — ship strikes and entanglement in fishing gear is a major problem scientists are working to address.
Each year, three to five ACCESS cruises are conducted; over time, the data collected on these expeditions may reveal trends, which might help shed light on how climate change impacts the ocean, and subsequently all of us. Extreme warm water events are a particularly important area for study, because the temperature fluctuations disrupt the food web and can lead to major die-offs.
ACCESS is a partnership between NOAA National Marine Sanctuaries and Point Blue, a nonprofit conservation science organization founded in 1965. Collaborations with at least 10 public and private organizations also aids in processing and analyzing samples and data collected during expeditions.
For a series we’ve titled Sea Sentries, I’ll be posting regular updates with photos, interviews, and stories to help deliver our readers out into our National Marine Sanctuaries, so check back regularly and join me at sea!
Jenny Woodman, Proteus founder and executive director, is a science writer and educator living in the Pacific Northwest. She has spent the last four years writing about ocean health, technology and she is a 2018 lead science communication fellow for the Exploration Vessel (E/V) Nautilus. Her work can be found in Atlantic Monthly, IEEE Earthzine, and Ensia Magazine.
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