by Amanda Kahn
In 30 minutes, the town of Bamfield will be featured on CBC’s comedy show Still Standing. Jonny Harris visited Bamfield and met its wonderful residents, plus got a tour of the marine station. You can watch the show online here.
by Anna Smith and Amanda Kahn
We are used to seeing crabs scuttling across the seafloor or scrambling under rocks in the intertidal zone, but before they settle on the seabed they have larval stages that live in the water column as plankton. Zoeae (pronounced zoe-EE-uh) and megalopae (MEG-uh-lope-ee) drift through the water, eating food and eventually metamorphosing into bottom-dwelling crabs.
For her class project in Crustacean Biology (a summer course taught in 2012), Anna Smith worked with instructor Greg Jensen to study how swimming is accomplished by the zoeae of a porcelain crab, Petrolisthes cinctipes. Most crab larvae swim vertically in the water column and are fairly poor swimmers. These zoeae are swept along with the currents and are often taken out to sea with no hope of returning to the shore to settle. Check out the video below to see how zoeae of most crab species move in the water.
Most crab zoeae have sharply pointed spines projecting from their carapace, as pictured below. Previous studies have found these spines to be connected with predator avoidance by making the larvae harder to swallow. The zoeae of porcelain crabs, however, have unusually long spines sticking out the front and back of the carapace. They are also much stronger swimmers than zoeae of many crab species, enabling them to stay close to shore and avoid being swept away from settling grounds. These zoeae swim horizontally through the water column and exhibit much more directional control than most crab zoeae. Anna studied whether the elongated spines of porcelain crabs were connected to their unique swimming by studying their swimming ability with both spines intact, then removed the front, back, or all spines to see how their swimming changed.
The spines were in fact very important to the swimming ability of the zoeae. Zoeae who had their front (anterior) spine removed could not maintain constant depth in the water. Zoeae who had their posterior spines removed could not swim backwards or change directions easily and with both front and back spines removed the zoeae could not swim at all. This led Anna and Greg to conclude that the spines contribute to the superior swimming ability of porcelain crab zoeae.
Why is this important? This suggests that the carapace spines are not only used as physical protection from predators, as previously suggested, but also contribute to their survival in other ways. Anna and Greg also hypothesize that the ability to better control direction and water column depth helps the zoeae navigate currents and stay close to shore and may explain their limited dispersal offshore.
Smith, AE, and GC Jensen (2015). The role of carapace spines in the swimming behavior of porcelain crab zoeae (Crustacea: Decapoda: Porcellanidae). Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 471:175-179.
If you want to learn more about the crabs and shrimps along our coast, check out Greg Jensen’s new crustacean guide Crabs and Shrimps of the Pacific Northwest.
To learn more about this course and others offered at BMSC, check out the University Programs website.
By Amanda Kahn
This summer’s Marine Protected Areas class stumbled upon a rare sight: while using the BMSC remotely operated vehicle they encountered a massive aggregation of box crabs. Also seen in the video is a flatfish and several crinoids.
by Amanda Kahn
In 1969, Dr. Elizabeth Kübler-Ross outlined 5 stages of grief in her book On Death and Dying to help people cope with grief from the loss of a loved one or news of their own terminal illness. Psychologists later noted “that this emotional cycle was not exclusive just to the terminally ill, but also other people who were affected by bad news, such as losing their jobs or otherwise being negatively affected by change” (changingminds.org).
So how does this tie in to climate change or other new, major ideas and why might it be helpful to keep these 5 stages in mind? Well, when I thought about my own thought progression, the changing perspectives of the scientific community at the Currents Symposium, and then how the media and public see climate change, I realized that we’ve been walking through the 5 stages of grief, also called the Kübler-Ross Grief cycle. Quotations below all come from a great summary of the Kübler-Ross Grief Cycle from changingminds.org.
There are 5 major stages that vary between being active or passive (with a few extras sometimes thrown in, as seen in the diagram below). During active stages, a person is likely to do something/be pushed into action (whether correct or misdirected). During passive stages, a person usually is stuck/unable to act as needed. The five stages are: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.
The first stage is a transitional stage of shock followed quickly by denial, where people pretend that no news has been given. “They effectively close their eyes to any evidence and pretend that nothing has happened.” When I first read about climate change, I thought the projections must be overestimates, and that we wouldn’t allow ourselves to stay on a dangerous trajectory. Some of the general public and news media seem stuck in this denial phase, preferring to stir up controversy or conflict where there is none in the scientific community. Take note: this is a brilliant strategy since denial is one of the passive phases–no one acts if they can find a nugget of doubt that says that they do not have to.
Denial eventually transitions to anger and frustration. A person might try to blame anyone or anything for the change, except for him/herself. I was frustrated and blamed everything that emitted greenhouse gases–industries, cows, cars, volcanoes–but couldn’t think clearly about how I fit into things. Interestingly, the anger and denial stages can cycle back and forth, getting stuck in a loop.
After getting over anger, a person begins to realize that the inevitable is happening. They begin “seeking ways to avoid having the bad thing happen. Bargaining is thus a vain expression of hope that the bad news is reversible.”
This phase is easy to get stuck into. “The inevitability of the news eventually…sinks in and the person reluctantly accepts that it is going to happen…In this deep depression, they see only a horrible end with nothing beyond it. In turning in towards themselves, they turn away from any solution and any help that others can give them.” “In this phase, the person may now be blaming themselves as they take responsibility for their action where something has gone wrong.” In 2008, I attended the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary Currents Symposium. At that time, climate change was just coalescing into a well accepted theory in the scientific community, and the conference was filled with depressing reports and projections of what was to come. Looking back, I felt that the scientific community was in that state of depression.
“Acceptance is typically visible by people taking ownership both for themselves and their actions. They start to do things and take note of the results, and then changing their actions in response. They will appear increasingly happier and more content as they find their way forward.” By 2010, the research presented at the same symposium was different. The focus of the research changed, even though the projections and ideas about climate change had not. Instead of doom-and-gloom predictions, there were people presenting research on carbon-neutral energy, technology to sequester carbon into building materials, and adaptive ways to lessen our contributions to, and the impacts of, climate change. It was a call to action–research was being done to figure out how to live on our changing planet and to temper human impacts. This is the most effective, active phase of the grief cycle and is where everyone needs to be: willing to change, find creative ways to lessen our impact, and accept responsibility in a human role in the situation.
My acceptance phase was similar to the views at the symposium. I was depressed about it until I accepted that it’s inevitable given what we’ve already emitted, but it doesn’t have to be something I can do nothing about. The climate is changing and carbon emissions from humans are responsible, but it’s possible to change what emissions are being put out. the way we emit, and the research and technological energy we put into dealing with it. When media and the general public move from the passive phases of denial and depression into the active phase of acceptance, we’ll become the responsive, adaptable, innovative problem-solvers we need to be to live in a changing world.
Where do you fall in this cycle? Have you experienced this same progression of thoughts, either relating to climate change or some other concept or idea? Write them in the comments below.
Please remember that this was a thought exercise based on my personal observations and experiences. As stated at the beginning of the post, this isn’t the post or the place to argue the validity of climate science–it is about the thought progression of people accepting a new idea that was at one time controversial.
by Amanda Kahn
The Ucluelet Aquarium, across Barkley Sound from Bamfield, is re-opening its doors for another summer season on Saturday, March 15 at 12 noon. The aquarium displays local marine life of the Pacific Northwest with the distinction of being one of the few “catch-and-release” aquaria in the world. Admission on opening day is by donation.
The aquarium will be open on Saturday from 12 PM until 5 PM, then will begin regular hours of 10 AM to 5 PM until the summer (when they will stay open until 6 PM). Check their website for current hours and rates.
From all of us writers at The Madreporite, thank you for reading, contributing, and asking questions throughout the year! Here’s looking forward to another wonderful year of beautiful west coast sunsets.
by Amanda Kahn
What I got from my undergraduate degree was a lot of knowledge about biology but not a lot of hands-on skills. I got those from taking field courses and working as a research assistant. BMSC has just opened registration for a field skills training course, which will run from February 8-11 and 15-18, 2014. You’ll learn field skills that will make you more competitive when hunting for jobs as a summer field assistant plus you’ll meet some folks at BMSC who can help you find those opportunities. Check out the flyer below and visit the BMSC web page for the course for registration information.