Tis the season

Ever wonder how those artificial Christmas tress are made?

Here is your answer.  Happy holidays.

Biodiversity update

click on the link for full details from Nature.com

Student Theses

Did you know that all of the students at the Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College are required to write a senior thesis?

The Library has made this handy guide for searching and exploring these works. Take a look to discover the many science topics; and other disciplines. Many are available electronically and the links are provided.
Visit this link

Behind the scenes of Dolphin Research

The field work has ended this season and now the Taras Oceanographic Foundation (and the Palm Beach Dolphin Project), assisted by the library outreach science team, are spending time catching up on the photo ID work; that is cataloged after every survey. Trips will resume regularly around April, so for now here is a look at  some of our Photo ID work and a few steps involved. Please follow the links and support wild dolphin research. Locals who want to get involved be sure to watch for updates on the link above for when the monthly dolphin club meetings will resume. Come by the library and meet the team and learn about dolphins.

all dolphin images Taras Oceanographic
NMFS (GA LOC) No. 13386




Don't forget the library has several online resources for students. You can always visit searchwise from the library home page and look up topics on cetacean biology OR any other topics that interest you!

All about that bat

Research Field Notes: No 14

Notes from the field No. 14:

10/22/2014. Dolphin Boat Survey

Today’s survey extended from the Jupiter Inlet (N 260 56.624' W 800 03.805') down to the MacArthur State Park (N 26.83083 W-80.04556)

Water conditions: 0-2  Wind: n 0-5

Duration: 8:30 am-1:00 pm

Encounters: Today we experienced one long encounter (3 hours) that  involved an estimated 18 tursiops; which included 2 juveniles and one baby. Yes the same baby from last survey! 

The big group was split into three groups that mingled in and out of formation as we followed them. They initially were feeding and making us follow them in circles for an hour, but then settled down to rest and were milling about and traveling south; then north, then east, then west!! but at a very slow speeds. We witnessed several behaviors, chuffing, tails slaps, and breaching from a few feisty animals! Oh, and baby cuteness!

Crew notes: The wind and seas picked up to about 2 feet rolling swells. The boat could handle the sea state, however this particular boat today was very noisy and wouldn't go into gear easily, so Dr. Brunnick kept being thrown about when the captain (me) kept trying to change speeds! She is carrying large camera equipment and in combo with rough seas, we made the decision to go off the fins and head back home. The dolphins did not like the noise either and kept moving away form us. We got great ID shots though despite all the little issues.

Taras Oceanographic, the Palm Beach Dolphin Project and FAU Libraries welcomed a new intern to the crew today, Sarah LeMaire. She is coming to us from France and just received her master's degree from the U.K.

Other: we saw zero turtles and zero trash today, but we did see two sharks (species unknown)

Bonus: Here are some pictures of the intracoastal waterways boat ride on the way to the ocean survey.

Research Field Notes: No 13

Notes from the field No. 13:

10/1/2014. Dolphin Boat Survey

Today’s survey extended from the Jupiter Inlet (N 260 56.624' W 800 03.805') down to the Lake Worth Inlet [aka the Palm Beach Inlet] (N 260 46.300' W 800 03.500').

Water conditions: 0-2  Wind: W 0-5

Duration: 8:00 am-1:30 pm

Encounters: We had three encounters with an estimated 20-25 animals in total. The first group were feeding and giving us a run around. The second group was quick with an up and out of sight! No ID images were obtained for the second encounter. The third encounter (pictured above)....BABY!!! there was a group of 10-12 animals with newborn cutie. This group seemed to like us and allowed us to be a part of their group for a couple hours. They were traveling at a slow speed, crossing around and under us the entire time. Half way through the encounter, the adults, including mom were resting and stopped and milled around. Baby was being taken care of by a juvenile. They were very lively, the babysitter was having fun tossing the baby around a bit. But soon after mom did several large tail slaps. Everyone woke up and got back in line and started traveling south again. We didn't want to leave them, but we got 100s of photos and the rain started chasing us back to the docks.

Other: we saw two spinner sharks off in the distance and one shark (species unknown) swimming by the boat on the way back to the dock. We saw 4 turtles. Turtle season is slowing down. I am happy to report we saw zero trash this trip.

Crew notes: We had a new crew member joining us this week. Mandi. She is "on loan" from the neuroscience lab of Ken Dawson-Scully, here at FAU. Hopefully she will be joining us for many future trips.

Science communication and the media

This is a funny and great look out how the public gets and understands environmental news.

Research Field notes No. 12

9/17/2014. Dolphin Boat Survey

Today’s survey remained in the vicinity of the Jupiter Inlet (N 260 56.624' W 800 03.805') 

Research Organization: Taras Oceanographic Foundation

Wind/Water conditions: W 5. Seas 0 (aka the perfect conditions for a great survey)

 

Duration: 8 am-12:00 pm

Dolphin encounters: Today's survey was one very long encounter that remained very close to the Jupiter inlet. We were surrounded by bottlenose dolphin (tursiops truncatus). In our immediate view we counted an estimated 36 animals, including two cow/calf pairs. We were able to view several other groups further out during the entire encounter.

The behaviors today mostly included feeding. It was a seafood festival of sorts for the dolphin today! The bait were abundant and running parallel to the coast all morning. We watched them chase, roll over on their bellies while chasing, feeding, tail slapping , and encircling the bait. We also observed one small group traveling north past the inlet and were able to obtain a nice set of photo ID shots.

We had a special guest on board today. Greg Leatherman from Eco Magazine was assisting with the survey counts.

OTHER: Turtle counts:  6  Trash count: 4

Cryobanking for species conservation.

An Introduction

Cryobanking (i.e. the preservation of biological materials at very low temperatures for use in reproductive technology [YD, 2012]), was first introduced for use in the livestock industry as early as 1949 in France. Technological advances continued to develop throughout the 1950s and 60s. The first commercial human semen cryobank was established in the 1970s in the United States (CBS, 2012). Cryopreservation for non-domestic animal species is still considered to be emerging due to the fact that they are not widely practiced; there is limited knowledge of the reproductive biology of many species, and few have been tested (Pukazhenthi, et. al., 2006).

Preserving tissue requires blocking intracellular functions, while maintaining the physiochemical structure of the cell (CBS, 2012). Decreasing temperature slows down cellular activity and eventually stops it entirely (CBS, 2012). All types of life forms have various sensitivity and resistance to cold. Freezing biological material can be very arduous. Sudden cooling can damage cells due to ice crystallization both inside and outside of the cell membrane; causing changes in the overall physical environment of the cell (CBS, 2012). In addition, dehydration can occur due to increased salt levels that rise when water freezes (CBS, 2012). Another impediment that can occur by lowering temperatures too quickly is thermal shock. Thermal shock can occur even with the absence of crystals [i.e. at +15°C] (CBS, 2012). These effects can be alleviated through the use of cryoprotective agents, slower cooling methods and preconditioning the cells in a high salt medium (CBS, 2012). All cells have a dehydration threshold and cannot tolerate losing their baseline water content (CBS, 2012).

Learn More

To learn more about cryobanking, artificial reproduction and in-situ species conservation be sure to go to our online database search here.  Search keywords such as cryobanking, species conservation, artificial reproduction in animals and see what results you can find!

References:

CBS (Cryo Bio Systems), 2012. Online. Available at: http://www.cryobiosystem-imv.com/Portals/3/PDF/Monograph.pdf 

Pukazhenthi, B., Cinuzzoli, P., Travis, A., and Wildt, D., 2006. Applications of emerging technologies to the study of conservation of threatened and endangered species. Reproduction, Fertility and Development. V. 18. Pp.77-90. Online. Available from Science Direct. 

 YD (Your Dictionary), 2012. Online. Available at: http://medical.yourdictionary.com/cryobank 

Recent outreach event

The library often participates in outreach events, gives talks and attends various other community efforts. One of our librarian's, Leah Plocharczyk recently travelled to a library Innovation Conference at  Florida State University's Panama City Campus. The conference was held on Aug 14-15, 2014.  Many topics were covered such as professional development, charting a new course for libraries, and bringing special collections to wikipedia.

Leah's participation included a poster presentation describing the library's collaborative projects with the Taras Oceanographic Foundation. [This blog has been highlighting field research with the Palm Beach Dolphin Project, a signature program of Taras]. Below is the poster that was presented at the conference.

NOTE* Since presenting this poster, the stranding portion of the collaboration has changed, but the dolphin research continues and is expanding by  initiating a monthly club for citizen awareness and science literacy.

Outreach outcomes for the conference presentation include interest by a librarian (from Florida State Univ.) in trying to initiate a similar program at their university; a connection to one of our Harriet Wilkes Honors College students, who is interested in a possible internship with Taras; and a librarian at another Florida university asking for collaborative help with science research. The conference was very successful and fulfilled our goals of outreach, information and science literacy.

Research Field Notes: No. 11

8/13/2014. Dolphin Boat Survey

Today’s survey extended from the Jupiter Inlet (N 260 56.624' W 800 03.805') down to the Boynton Beach Inlet (N 260 32.400' W 800 02.350' ).

Research Organization: Taras Oceanographic Foundation

Wind/Water conditions: N,NW 5-10. Seas 0-2’ (winds and seas always change halfway through)

Duration: 8 am-3:30 pm

Dolphin encounters: Today’s survey is also known as “They didn’t get the memo” [about Wed surveys] because we completed four full surveys and did not encounter a single cetacean. We have been very fortunate this year so far to have so many encounters. The turtle count was also low.

OTHER: Turtle counts:  4  Trash count:    12

                 Balloons: 2 [one in the water and one in the air…see below!]

Here are some images from the survey (Dr. Brunnick recovering trash).

       

Research Field Notes: No. 10

8/6/2014. Dolphin Boat Survey

Today’s survey extended from the Jupiter Inlet (N 260 56.624' W 800 03.805') down to the Lake Worth Inlet [aka the Palm Beach Inlet] (N 260 46.300' W 800 03.500').

Research Organization: Taras Oceanographic Foundation

Wind/Water conditions: N,NW 5. Seas 0-2’

Duration: 8 am-3 pm

Dolphin encounters: Today we had several encounters with approximately 30 tursiops that we could ID. In total there were roughly 56 total animals. We observed many behaviors and there was quite a bit of mating going on this day. We have pictures to prove it!! We experienced long encounters in which several groups joined together. They kept us busy deciding who to follow for ID shots.

OTHER: Turtle counts:  26      Trash count:    7

Here is more information about dolphin mating.

 Image: http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-Bio20Tuat01-t1-body-d2.html

NOTE: The research vessels for  our surveys are provided by Jupiter Pointe Marina.

Research Field Notes: No. 9

7/30/2014. Dolphin Boat Survey

Today’s survey extended from the Jupiter Inlet (N 260 56.624' W 800 03.805') down to the Lake Worth Inlet [aka the Palm Beach Inlet] (N 260 46.300' W 800 03.500').

Research Organization: Taras Oceanographic Foundation

Wind/Water conditions: S,SW 5. Seas 0-2’

Duration: 8am-3: pm

Dolphin encounters: Today we had several encounters during survey one. We saw a total of 25 tursiops; maybe 2 spotted. The first few encounters were brief. We had a very long encounter that lasted 1.5-2 hours. There were three cow/calf pairs and one matriarch with them; plus one lone male following them on the outside. We observed many behaviors. Tail slaps, belly up; rolls; long dives, short dives, travelling; acrobats and even some squeeks. The babies were playful, but the gatekeeper kept trying to distract us by crossing in front of the bow so we had to stop-- allowing the group to move away from us. Interesting. The (assumed) male just kept up off to the side following the entire time.

During Survey two: zero encounters. The wind and seas picked up, and as usual the rain was chasing us home early.

OTHER: Turtle counts:  6    Trash count:    5