Introduction
Hi everyone! My name is Tahlia Trevino, and this is the first week of my 6-week internship at the Marine Science Institute in Santa Barbara California. At this institute, I am researching and observing several studies, specifically about Santa Barbara’s coastal ecology. This week I have had an introduction to the various species that thrive in Santa Barbras coastal region. From plankton, and plants to predators at the top of the food chain, so many species are not very well known and with the expertise of the Marine Institute, we have been able to start a deeper dive into understanding all these important parts of the coastal ecology of Santa Barbra. As I have barely started this internship, I have earned so much within my first week and would like to say thank you to PinHead for this experience so far and for the future.
Monday, June 19th
Today was not my first day at the Marine Research Institute. It was a holiday, so instead I went touring more of where I specifically live in Isla Vista. There was a lot to see, so I was grateful to have another day to explore and become more comfortable with my new surroundings.
Tuesday, June 20th
Today was finally my first day at the Institute. I was first met by the man in charge of my new lab Bob Miller and introduced to my Mentor Kristen Michaud, a PhD Candidate in the Miller Lab. Then I was given the grand tour of the Maine Science Research Building and all its different labs and offices, and it is expansive, so I am still finding my way around. Next was learning about the new program I would be using as part of my research, called ViQi. ViQi is an image analysis software intended to provide data based on images in the software. Continuing my day I experimented with the program and learned more about it with my mentor. Then I got to experience a lab meeting where people from different areas in the lab present and talk about what they are doing with their specific projects. It was an amazing group discussion as I learned more about the people I would be working with throughout my internship. It also gave me time to ask and learn about the species of Santa Barbara.
After my first day at the lab, I went back to my apartment to go eat dinner with my new roommates, who have been very nice and understanding since I arrived at the apartment. We spent the night getting to know each other better before it was time to go to bed.
Marine Science Institute
Wednesday, June 21st
Today I went to the lab not knowing what I would be starting on. Today was a day that my lab calls TRAITS, which is where we go and collect kelp from different areas in Santa Barbra to see what little sea life grows on the kelp. It was a long process as the boat left at 7 in the morning, and we didn’t come back till 2 pm. We were sitting out in the sun all day, and I was able to watch the intricate process of collecting specific pieces of kelp. Once we arrived back at the lab we had to stay another 4 hours finding the life on the kelp, such as little tiny shrimp, eggs, and small organisms. The last steps of the process scanning the kelp, and sending it to another lab to have its DNA tested. It was a long day today, but it was an awesome experience.
Thursday, June 22nd
Today was a lab day, which meant I spent my time inside working on the program ViQi to locate and calculate the percent by mass of species in specific images. There are thousands of images that we look through. Once we have identified the species we log it into the ID sheet. There was a lot to be seen in these pictures, and it impressed me so much with how well the cameras were able to capture the different organisms. Later on in the day, one of the researchers, Billy, brought in two clams that he had just speared in the coral yesterday. They were very weird-looking clams called Burrowing clams. Meaning they dig themselves into a rock and breath through tiny holes which are siphons. Clams have an incurrent siphon, which takes in water, and an excurrent siphon, which expels the water. I never thought clams were interesting until I saw these clams that people, including Billy, do not understand yet.
Burrowing Clams captured
Friday, June 23rd
Today I started early, meeting at Ellison Hall. I was meeting here today instead of the Institute because I was going to fly drones to take surveys of the nearby coast. So I met up with Kyle Emery, and his geography friends to head out to a lookout point that they use to take drone surveys. We first arrived and started setting up the first drone we would be using. This drone from UCLA had a pre-planned route, so it was able to leave and return with very little human guidance. While the first drone went out we stared out into the ocean, and to our surprise, there was a huge pod of dolphins and a group of birds feeding! Once the drone came back we noticed a problem with the cameras, so we had to do some troubleshooting to find out what was wrong, turns out it was the SIM cards, but we were able to fix them and send it up again for a successful run. Next, we used another drone from UCSB that did the same as the drone from UCLA but had better images, and that was successful. Lastly, we used another UCSB drone. The UCLA drone from the first survey is the same type as the UCSB drone. However, a couple of months earlier the UCSB drone had crashed into the ocean and required serious repair. So we took out the newly repaired UCSB drone, and it worked! It was a great achievement and a great experience to watch these drones in action. I did not return to the lab today because flying the drones had taken several hours, so it was time for me to go back to the apartment.
Drones at look out point
Saturday and Sunday, June 24th
Saturday I went right across the street to the biggest thrift store sale I had ever seen. It was so much fun to go there with my roommates and look at what they were selling. Then we went shopping at the nearby Target and Trader Joe’s for a few necessities before lunch at Chipotle. After lunch, we headed to the beach, at Coal Oil Point. We went snorkeling and swimming for a couple of hours. Right now is breeding season for leopard sharks, and Coal Oil Point is filled with these babies, so it was so amazing to see the abundance of wildlife. On Sunday I just chilled at the apartment till we decided to go to the Coal Oil Point again just to relax and watch the
Coal Oil Point
There are no comments published yet.