Beam Reach solidified and focused my goals as a scientist. During the 10-week program I learned a lot about myself as someone who can work in a team, or individually, as well as gained valuable insight into the world of marine mammal science. I made wonderful professional contacts and amazing friends. In addition, it was one of the highlights of my life. It isn’t too often you get to be so close to such intelligent and unique animals, surrounded by people who are interested in the same things you are. I went home with a new drive and completed a marine biology degree with the intention to some day continue in a graduate program.
After graduating with my BS, I continued working on a project for the National Marine Fisheries Service, where I learned something about working for a federal agency who is there to protect mammals using the environmental laws. I was later hired at an environmental consulting firm, where I worked for a few months because I also got accepted into a graduate program. I began at San Diego State University in 2008 working under Ted Cranford, whose work was the subject of part of a lecture Dave Bain gave today. I initially was uncertain how I felt about switching from a strictly ecology background with an interest in bioacoustics to anatomy. But, as it turned out, I really enjoyed it. There was blood, sweat, and tears shed in between the many good times. And I do mean, literally, blood, sweat and tears. I definitely injured myself enough times to learn my lesson around most tools, the porpoises carried onto CT scanner beds were heavy to prepare and maneuver, and sometimes I just sat down to cry out of frustration. I learned that most often things did not go according to plan, but at least the preparations made adjustments much easier.
My thesis project was focused on the mandibles of toothed whales because they are an important component not only in feeding, but also sound reception. Using newer methods of analyzing morphology and shape (excluding size), we were hoping to get some insights into the evolution and function of the mandibles. We saw that the posterior region, the region implicated in sound reception appears relatively conserved suggesting that stabilizing selection is acting on that part of the mandibles. Whereas in the anterior portion, thought to be primarily for feeding, there was much more variability among all Odontocetes, or the 53% of described species I used in my study. Using some comparative phylogenetic methods, we were able to confirm that, in fact, stabilizing selection was likely occurring. The results suggested that there is an optimum shape for the posterior region of the mandibles, perhaps an optimum shape required to adequately hear underwater?
Grad. school was a pain but well worth it. I learned so much about myself: my strengths, my weaknesses and how to overcome those weaknesses. I worked with Dr. Ted Cranford, who is brilliant and while he expects a lot out of a student, he taught me to become a much better scientist. If anyone is interested in mechanisms of sound reception and production, he is someone with whom to talk. Although I truly enjoy marine mammal work, I am now looking toward a career in environmental consulting. I would love to apply that to marine mammals, but look forward to expanding my knowledge and skills to terrestrial ecosystems. I recently was hired as an on-call biologist for a firm which will provide me with the opportunity to do just that. I look forward to applying the lessons learned during Beam Reach and my other experiences, to which Beam Reach helped open the doors.
On Sunday Robin took us on a kayaking excursion along the coastline. We got up bright and early to meet her and then we all drove to the San Juan County Park to launch our kayaks into Smallpox Bay. We got a brief introduction to kayaking and then put on our “spray skirts” and headed out. We were in tandem kayaks, Mandy and I were in one, and Emalie and Kelsey in the other. Mandy, sitting in the back, was in charge of steering and did a great job in steering us close (but not too close) to the rocks to see the interesting organisms. We saw many purple pisaster starfish. Robin even found a gumboot chiton and gently plucked it from the rocks to show us. It looked like a giant red slug with a hard shell. As we made our way along the coast the wind began to pick up. We also saw some juvenile bald eagles fighting over the remains of a crab. Being from San Diego, I haven’t seen many bald eagles, and boy, are they huge. After seeing an eagle, Â I was inspired to learn a bit more about these majestic birds.
Pisaster
Eagle
Robin also arranged for us to go help her friend, Doug Mcutchen of the San Juan County Land Bank, restore the Beaverton Valley Marsh. Presently, the wetland is overrun by non-native reed canarygrass which outcompetes the natural plant species. Earlier volunteers planted native plants such as gooseberry, willow, and black hawthorn along the margins of the wetlands. By planting natural species, they hoped to improve the wetlands diversity and enhance its habitat value for birds and other animals. Our goal was to aid the pre-planted natural species, black hawthorn, gooseberry, and willow, in hopes that they would grow to be healthy and shade out the invasive grass. It was a beautiful sunny day so we were all thrilled to be outside helping the environment.
Shoveling mulch
We began our restoration by putting white plastic tubes around the important native plants to shelter and protect them from foraging deer and voles. We then put cardboard around the base and mulch on top to give the plants nutrients and a stable start. I thoroughly enjoyed being outside in the sun all day. We even saw some spring peepers, which are cute little green frogs.
There is an abundance of wildlife living in this area. I have seen black and red foxes running all over, and they are adorable. Mandy was quick enough to get some photos of the black one.
Neighborhood fox
On Saturday before we went on the boat, we made a trip out to Lopez Island for the day. Since downtown Lopez is small, we had time to go into every store . While Kelsey  interviewed for a summer job, we got ice-cream and ate it on the beach.
A popular theme of people living in the San Juans is a passion to conserve the whale population, specifically the Southern Residents. Beam Reach aims to give students a real world experience of what it is like to be a researcher or a graduate student. This is done by giving them tools and information to pick a topic and research it in a sustainable way. It also aims to have students think about how to present their findings both in papers, presentations, and now video.
We will use sailing and an electric motor to travel through the Salish Sea gathering data on killer whale behavior and their calls with the use of hydrophones. This opens up a wide realm of questions to be asked by students for their personal research topics. A full week has gone by in my adventure with Beam Reach. By full, I mean a whole week and a very busy one.
We first explored San Juan Island by visiting Lime Kiln State Park. It just so happened that transients were in the area.  Luckily, Kelsey spotted them from a window in the lighthouse. Talk about the stars being aligned.  (You can check out this blog by an avid whale watcher, Jeanne, who was able to track down the whales we saw.  Of course, that means her pictures are much better than ours.)  Hopefully, this trend continues in the coming months. We have also gone out on a hike, a kayak trip, and a visit to The Whale Museum.
Our brains were also very active throughout the week. We have explored many topics from Bathymetry to Bioacoustics through lectures given to us by friends of Beam Reach in the field. As you may have guessed, a slide presentation was usually displayed. If you have ever used PowerPoint, you know that it is difficult to zoom in without distorting the image. During his lecture on the Environment of the Salish Sea, Scott used Prezi to create his presentation. Prezi is a free way to make a presentation online that gives you the ability to zoom in! It also allows you to visually map your ideas to better show how they relate. I was experimenting and made my very own Prezi. You can check it out here.
I attempted to point out some neat features unique to this newly discovered tool. The path through the Prezi is also representative of how all of us feel after the first week. It has been a little overwhelming with all the newly acquired information, but it is beginning to come together for us all. I had a lot of fun making it, and I will definitely use Prezi in the future. I hope that it will help you make more powerful presentations in your future as well.  Go to http://prezi.com/ to get started on your own Prezi.
I will leave you with some food for thought. Â Here are the preserved brains of a Spotted Dolphin, Human, and a Fin Whale that are displayed in The Whale Museum. Â It is interesting to see that the brain size in these mammals are so similar.
Happy Learning and Teaching,
~Emalie
Special thanks to all of our teachers throughout the week!
Ok so it’s only been a week but a lot has happened so far! First we ventured to the most popular whale watching park on San Juan Island known as Lime Kiln State Park. Over 100,000 people gather at this park in the summer months to observe the Southern Resident killer whales that come right up next to the shore line! Supposedly they like to play in the kelp and corral salmon against the rocky shore. The lighthouse serves as a research station recording killer whale calls from a hydrophone in the water a couple meters from shore. I was  discussing my initial curiosities and questions about the whales in the lighthouse when I spotted a tall dorsal fin followed by a spurt of air from the water! Supposedly my eyes widened and jaw dropped. Immediately we ran outside with our cameras to see if what I thought I saw through the small section of the window in the lighthouse was true. At first I was worried that I was just seeing things and people wouldn’t believe me from that day on if I ever saw anything exciting, but about 4 minutes later we saw 3 transient killer whales heading north around San Juan Island! Supposedly this is a 1 in 1000 chance!  These type of whales feed primarily on marine mammals and are rarely seen this far south especially this time of the year! Am I a whale whisperer? Only time will tell…
Transients heading north from Lime Kiln State Park
Continuing on in the week, no more whales were seen but we learned heaps of background information relevant to our research. After only 4 days of lectures I can confidently say I have acquired knowledge behind pretty much all aspects of the Salish Sea and Washington state. Here are some the main topics we covered:
Physics of Sound
Lecture presented by Val Veirs; PhD in Physics from Illinois Institute of Technology
Bathymetry, Oceanographic and Geologic Background of the Salish Sea and Washington State
Lecture was presented by Scott Veirs; PhD in Oceanography from University of Washington
Ecological Perspectives on the Southern Resident killer whales
Lecture by Robin Kodner; PhD in Biology from Harvard University
After being here for only a week it is apparent that the San Juan Islands are a tight knit community full of passionate people dedicating their lives to these killer whales. They don’t only refer to individuals within pods as J1 or K8 but have chosen names such as Capuccino, Blackberry, and Doublestuf that allow any individual to feel more connected to the whales. What I am most fascinated by is the Indian art that floods the island. This art seems to illustrate the underlying history of the mystery behind these whales. At our instructor Val Veirs’ house there was one peice of Indian art that particularly caught my eye.
It was a huge wood carving of a killer whale overlain with a beautiful painting. I’ve been intrigued by native designs and woodwork especially of salmon and killer whales since I was little, so naturally I was curious to know the story behind it.This Tlingit story focuses on the boy in the dorsal fin of the painting and how he endures an adventure that eventually leads him to seek revenge on his two brothers in law. The boy does this by creating the killer whale from a wood carving and bringing the whale to life by throwing it in the water. Once the killer whale kills his two brothers in law in revenge, the whale asks if there is anything else he can do for the boy. The boy asks for one more favor. He asks the whale to never harm a human being ever again. This establishment represents the peaceful relationship between humans and these killer whales. People in the past have referred to these whales as “Devils of the Sea” but there has actually never been an instance where a killer whale in the wild has ever harmed a human being. The artist responsible for this artwork is named Odin Lonning. You can check out his beautiful artwork at http://www.odinlonning.com/.
Overall this trip has been quite the adventure so far but there are many more to come! In the next few blogs I will mention my classmates more often so you get to know them as well! The picture below is of us four girls about to go sea kayaking. In order from left to right is Ally, Mandy, me then Emalie. Updates will be available in the next few weeks!
Hello all! My name is Mandy, and I am a 3rd year Wildlife Ecology major from the University of Maine. We are already a week into the Spring ’11 Beam Reach program, and it would be an understatement to say that it’s been an eventful week so far.
We started our week off with a trip to Lime Kiln State Park (also known, appropriately so, as Whale Watch State Park). The State Park was absolutely GORGEOUS. It was a beautiful, sunny day, and you could see the Olympic Mountains towering over the water (above). Just as some background information about the park, it was mined for limestone to make into concrete back in the late 18 to 1900s. Kilns were built at the park to produce lime. This resulted in a lot of deforestation on the island, as trees needed to be cut down to keep the fires in the kiln going. Now, however, the forests are coming back, especially in the park area. We got to walk back and see one of the kilns that’s still standing, which was very cool.
So at any rate, we went to the park to brainstorm and discuss questions. We got to sit out on the rocks, in this beautiful setting, and come up with questions, then moved inside to the warmer lighthouse to discuss our questions with everyone. It was as we were discussing our questions that it happened. Kelsey was talking to Scott about one of her questions, when all of a sudden she stopped talking, left her mouth hanging open, and just kind of stared off out the window over Scott’s shoulder. Then her eyes got huge. It was most definitely the face of someone who had seen something. Turns out, she hadn’t just seen something, she had seen ORCAS! We all promptly grabbed binoculars and ran outside. There was a group of what turned out to be about 9 whales. We watched them a bit from the Light House, then ran and hopped into the car and journeyed up to Val’s house. We got there just in time, as they were passing right by. They were a ways out, but they were lunging and were definitely visible.
It was awesome because, not only were they killer whales, but they were transients! Apparently there was about a 1 in a 1,000 chance that we would ever see them. The hydrophone never picked up any calls, so we were very lucky that Kelsey happened to be looking in the right place at the right time. We were also mentioned (although not by name) in a blog by Jeanne (check it out), who we all hope to meet soon!
So, for those of you who don’t know, there are three different ecotypes of killer whales found in these waters. The first is residents (such as the beloved Southern Resident killer whales (SRKW) that we will be focusing our research efforts on, as well as the Northern Residents). The resident pods are fish-eating pods. They eat primarily Chinook salmon. Our SRKWs are found in three pods: J, K, and L. They are known for being quite vocal (which makes them prime candidates for bioacoustic research). In contrast, transients are mammal-eating. They are usually found in smaller pods, and are usually much quieter then residents are.  Then there are the offshore killer whales. Although believed to be genetically closest to residents, very little is known about offshores. They are usually found in large groups out in more open water, and it is believed that they feed on sharks and other fish. Offshores are also typically smaller than the other two ecotypes, and they make strange and haunting calls (Offshore calls were recently picked up on hydrophones in our area, and were recorded by Jan Twillert from Holland, an active listener of the hydrophone network maintained by Paul and Helena Spong at the north end of Vancouver Island).
Seeing the transients has definitely been the highlight of the program for me so far. However, it has all been awesome. I can’t get over how fantastically gorgeous it is out here. The islands are beautiful, and everyone is so friendly. We’ve learned a ton too. Probably my favorite talk was by Monika Wieland, who told us a little about the natural history of the SRKWs. She told us a lot of interesting stuff about the whales, and also a lot about acoustics. Jason Wood talked about bioacoustics, which was very interesting for me, as I’ve done a bit of acoustical work with bats in New York. Kari Koski came in and talked to us about the Soundwatch Program, which helps educate boaters on ‘being whale-wise.’ Because there has been evidence that the whales are affected by the constant vessel traffic around them, this is extremely important. Finally Anna Kagley talked to us about salmon in the area, which I thought was really interesting as well. Obviously, as the SRKWs primary prey, the fate of the salmon is tied with the fate of the whales. Furthermore, I read about a study done by Drs. Eric Ward and Eli Holmes, whose preliminary results suggest that the birth rate of the whales is most affected by Chinook salmon abundance than any of the other threats analyzed (vessel interactions and exposure to toxins). Therefore, it’s very good that efforts are being made to help understand the Chinook salmon population!
Vessels and resident whales... Helps highlight one of the threats to the whales (Photo credit to Kari Koski)
It’s our first week on San Juan Island and it’s been great. It never ceases to amaze me how beautiful it is out here. Even the ferry ride out was abundant with beauty, passing Lopez Island and seeing all the trees and sparkling water, it’s lovely. Also the Friday Harbor Labs where we’re staying are awesome. There’s hiking trails through the campus that lead to secluded beaches and a dock where we can rent boats to row into town whenever we please. I’ve been here one week and I love it, even if we have only had little bits of sun. I can’t wait till it starts getting warmer, then we can really take advantage of what the island has to offer!
For our first Beam Reach activity we headed out to Lime Kiln State Park. Lim Kiln Park is a day park located on the west side of San Juan Island that’s known for its whale watching. Since the park is on a point where the rocks abruptly drop off into the Haro Strait, it makes for fantastic whale watching because the whales can come so close. Upon arrival, we went for a small hike to see the famous Lime Kiln. On our way there we admired the scenery and learned the history behind limestone that was mined in the park. In the 1900’s people began to mine the island for limestone and built giant kilns to fire it to lime, which can be used to make concrete. The amount of wood needed to supply the kilns was tremendous and resulted in severe deforestation of the island.
After we walked back to the light house, we were given the assignment to think of 21 questions about killer whales and anything related to them. Scott sent us out to go be in nature and reflect on our questions. It was nice to be able to just sit outside and ponder, much nicer than sitting inside a classroom. We then gathered in the warm light house to go over our questions as a group. Little did we know we were about to get lucky. While in the light house going over her questions Kelsey spotted some transient killer whales out of a tiny light house window! We will later learn that the odds of this are extremely rare, about 1 in 1000.  It looked like they were headed north around the island so we decided to hang the lesson plan and follow them. We ran to our cars, literally ran, and went to Val’s house to get a better look. From Val’s house we saw what we thought to be about 6 orcas! We were all pretty excited. Jeanie’s blog on March 28 has more info and pictures because she was out on a boat. Then we saw some bald eagles. It was a good day for wildlife.
Transient orcas!
A side note to those who aren’t as familiar with orcas, there are actually 3 different types; resident orcas, transient orcas, and offshore orcas. In this program we will be studying resident orcas, more specifically the Souther Resident killer whales (SRKW). To learn more about the 3 different types and brush up on your killer whale knowledge go here and scroll down to “3 Distinct Populations”.
We were all excited when our transient spotting came up in Orca Network the following day. We felt pretty special. That was one fabulous way to start the week. The following days we had guest lectures from Jason Wood about animal communication and Monika Weiland about SRKW natural history. We were also fortunate enough to hear from Kari Koshi about boating and being whale wise and Anna Kagely about tagging fish and salmon issues. We also scratched the surface of working with the hydrophones and learned to tie 3 new knots, the bowline, double half hitch, and the clover hitch.
In the afternoons we managed to have some fun this week and go on a small hike to a beach and enjoy the glorious sunshine.
On Saturday we got to utilize our newly refined rowing skills and row into town to check out the whale museum. It was sunny with no wind which made for a rather lovely row and not capsizing made it even better.
The museum was really cool and had big skeletons of whales and needless to say, we had a lot of fun.
Me and the giant Orca skeleton
The first week has been great and I can’t wait for the adventures that next week will bring!
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Wow, just a few minutes into the first discussion on Monday morning, Kelsey saw killer whales out the window at Lime Kiln State Park. This was a very, very unlikely observation. With such a good omen, I know that we will see and learn much from orcas this spring.
On Tuesday, I ‘lectured’ on an introduction to acoustics — waves, amplitudes, frequencies, decibels and all that jazz. Take a look at the white board —
Looks colorful at least, wouldn't you agree?
After nearly finishing this fun little discussion and demo, I noticed that I had a HUGE ERROR. I had defined decibels directly in terms of signal power but that is WRONG. Decibels are defined in terms of energy or power, and energy and power are proportional to the square of the pressure (true for all linear waves). Take a look at my ugly fix —
Here,in the center, I got the correct definition. Check it out.
It looks a bit like a blue outlined blobby orca, don’t you think? In any case it is right!
This year a new professor has joined the Beam Reach crew. Dr. Robin Kodner is an accomplished teacher, scientist, and sailor who we enthusiastically welcome aboard.
This spring, Robin is a lead instructor during the land and sea components of Beam Reach. In addition to working as a teaching fellow at Harvard for 5 years, Robin has taught two field research courses at Friday Harbor Labs (the Beam Reach land campus), and guided boat-based Outward Bound courses for 7 summers.
Robin has a PhD in Biology from Harvard University and specializes in geobiology and biological oceanography. Her post-doctoral fellowship (University of Washington, 2008-2011) focused on using comparative genomics and metagenomics to understand phytoplankton diversity and bloom dynamics in changing environments, like the San Juan Islands. She has also studied how we may harvest energy from algae, obtaining fuels like the biodiesel that powers our research vessel, the Gato Verde.
Robin enjoys helping students explore the Salish Sea ecosystem — from plankton to whales. When she’s not teaching science on sail boats, Robin can be found kayaking in the San Juans, skiing or climbing in the North Cascades, riding her bike, practicing yoga, or dreaming about sailing around the world looking for her favorite phytoplankton.
Dave Cade recently finished editing a great highlight video with footage he, his classmates, and Beam Reach staff acquired last fall while studying endangered southern resident killer whales and their environment. We hope you enjoy the new footage! He even mixed some underwater recordings into the musical sound track.
Soundtrack credits:
(Please support these artists by visiting their sites, going to a show, or buying their music and merch!)
Martha Baskin of Green Acre Radio (on KBCS) put together a story about “Orcafest 2010,” an event welcoming the southern resident killer whales back to Puget Sound this winter, organized by The Whale Trail and Killer Whale Tales. The piece features music and explanations from Duwamish tribal members, and quotes about the orcas from Donna Sandstrom, Darcie Larson, Scott Veirs, and Brad Hanson.
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