As we wrap up out time here in Panama, I wanted to post some photos from one of our labs in our Coral Reef Ecology class. The lab was one that I think we all had fun with, and we have some totally awesome pictures to demonstrate exactly why.
Our Professor for this section of the class, Joshua Idjadi, allowed us to design our own experiment as a class to look at herbivory on coral reefs. We decided to set up scenarios to see if fish are more likely to feed on algae that is among structure/habitat or on algae that is out in the open.
We split up into groups to accomplish all we needed to do to set up our experiment. One group weighed and separated the algae (and, at this point in the year, this is something we have all gotten very good at):
Meanwhile, the rest of us were trying to build artificial structure for the algae to go in, and cages for our control algae:
The mesh material we were using for the structures, of course, had to be tested for strength:
and flexibility:
Once we had everything constructed, we were able to go out into the field (a beautiful reef nearby that our trusty TA, Chris, has dubbed Rhino Reef thanks to a large piece of coral on it that bears a striking resemblance to a rhinoceros).
This part of the process took some serious logistical prowess, but we accomplished what we needed to, and I think everyone had fun being a part of the slight chaos under water.
While we didn't have terribly conclusive evidence from this experiment, we all had a blast in the process and learned a ton!
(Photos courtesy of Ryan)
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