Field work
Today I have been at Lizard Island for
little over a week. I needed a bit of time, but I think this field
work business is growing on me. I had a bit of a tough start with
stranding myself on an island. On top of that I badly bruised on of
my ribs, got sea sick on my boat when the waves where high and I have
a hard time diving deeper than 3 meters since in one of my ears the
pressure doesn't equalise well.
However, with good dose of
determination and patience things are looking up now. I know my way
around the reefs now. My troublesome ear clears more frequently now.
Furthermore, people come and help me. The other scientist look out
for starfish for me. Additionally, one of the volunteers has been
with me on two occasions. Anchoring the boat is easy with two people,
it feels safer to be with two people in the water and it is more fun.
Next trip I need to take somebody with me. Volunteers?
Science
This morning I managed to do a key
experiment. I blocked the view to the reef with a 1x3 meter white
screen. With the screen the animals move away from the reef, without
the screen they go straight for it. Again, I got some help from a
diving colleague with setting up the screen so that was great.
I also managed to measure how dark, or
bright, coral reefs would appear to crown-of-thorns starfish. I
bought a special colour filter that allows me to measure this with my
gopro camera and I made pictures at increasing distance to the reef
to see when they would still be able to see the reefs.
Social
I live in a house which can house 9
people. Now I live there with an American PhD student, but in the
beginning of the week we shared the house with two girls. They met
each other on this project but appeared as if they had been friends
for ages. One of the girls did yoga and was interested in
permaculture, so we had a lot to talk about.
Next week a whole bunch of people will
be arriving that work on vision. I know one of them really well! His
name is Yakir and he did his PhD project in the same lab as me in
Sweden. I am looking forward to seeing him again. It's a small world.
Next time I'll write a post on living on an island. Lots of things need to be done more sustainably here and some resources can be scarce. More later!
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| Driving back from a sampling trip. The resort in the background. |
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| Transporting starfish under water, using a net |
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| Spiny monster on the move |
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| View from my house |
1 comment:
Så glädjande att höra att det går framåt för dig och att du har sällskap under dina försök!
Häftigt att få se det taggiga "monstret" på bild :)
Igår visade Eefje mig några av fotona från er strand och utflykterna till bl.a. Billabong sanctuary: ser alldeles underbart ut!
Kram från oss i Lund
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