This morning, the Marine Science Interns demonstrated their commitment to science as they rocked through a thick blanket of rain and waves to Natural Arches. Upon arrival the sun slipped out from under the low-lying, laden clouds to spotlight the surrounding reefs where the interns would be conducting their surveys. The interns recorded the number and species of fish (primarily blue head wrasses, green tangs and queen parrot fishes) present along three 25 meter transect lines laid out across the reef. Andreas Ratteray observed that, “despite the current which made attaining buoyancy difficult, the fish survey ran very smoothly,” and Taylor Schendel remarked similarly that she, “was impressed with how well we all managed to get our surveys done in the weather and small window of time allotted... and singing on the way home made us all forget how cold and rainy it was.”
Currently, the interns are putting together leaf litter traps to deploy tomorrow at various locations in order to study and compare decomposition rates across ecosystems.
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