Friday, August 31, 2012

Introducing the TDRF Interns, Fall 2012

Student interns are integral to our ability to carry out research. After training, these students’ help us collect data in the field each day and to help us enter data, organize and even analyze data. The work they do is not easy. For example, today we left the house at 6:00 and were on the water at 7:00. Getting home after 16:00. Interns have to work in the heat all day with no cover or relief in the direct sun (with temps sometimes over 100 F in the summer). And help with a lot of heavy labor when not on the water (like today where we spent about an hour scrubbing the boat down after our survey). After we are back at the house, interns then have to work entering and processing data. So hours per day can easily be 12 +.

While the work is hard, the experience can be invaluable. Student interns are usually recent graduates or are in the last two years of their degree program. These students usually choose to work with us to gain experience they can use towards either getting into a graduate program or obtaining a job after they have finished their undergraduate degree.

Many of our interns have continued to work with us after their official internship was complete. For example, the TDRF Treasurer (Danielle Jones) and Secretary (Jordan Blair) started as TDRF interns.

TDRF interns come from all over the globe. The farthest away so far was from Japan , but students have also come from the UK, Trinidad, Austria, France, Portugal, Holland, Canada and the United States.

Interns this year come from Holland (Ingrid) and the US (Georgia and Miami, Jacqueline and Bridgette).

Bridgette
Ingrid
Jacqueline

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Dolphins!

Today was our first day on the water! We found 3 groups of dolphins in different parts of our study area. The region we are focusing on for this month includes the near shore waters close to the island of Key West.

We lost the first group within minutes of sighting them. Dolphins are actually fairly easy to lose sight of, especially when the group size is small and our first group included only two animals. Bottlenose dolphins can stay under the water between surfacing to breath for a pretty long time (up to 10 min) and they surface maybe twice per minute on average. So if you happen to be looking for them in the wrong place, you can miss seeing them surface and before you know it, they have moved beyond your sight.

Group two was far easier to keep track of, with 6 adults and 1 calf. This group moved right past a snorkeler diving for lobster.


One of the adults in this group had been in some recent scuffles. You can see the evidence of bites on the side of this animal. While we followed this group, fighting between some of them was occurring. Bottlenose dolphins fight by either ramming one another, hitting one another with the fluke (tail) or by biting. Evidence of recent fighting can be noted by the presence of tooth rakes, which are parallel lines on the skin that appear white since the top layer of skin has been removed by the teeth.  This is also how dolphins get notches on the trailing edge of the dorsal fin (bites). 


Group three had 5 adults traveling over very shallow sea grass bed. For this group we collected behavior data, including leadership. When we collect leadership data, we monitor the position of group members, who initiates direction change and whether they are successful. In group three, only one animal contributed to group leadership while the group traveled. This is usual for what we see in groups off Key West. Between 1 and 3 dolphins will contribute to >20% of the leadership when traveling. Usually only one or two animals lead (~90% of all groups, no matter what the group size), and never more than three. 









Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Boat in the water!


It took a full day of prep to get ready for our first field day. At the start of each season, all gear and equipment must be checked to determine if maintenance is required, and if anything needs to be replaced. Data sheets need to be printed, supplies purchased (like batteries that run the GPS and VHF radio or new line for the boat).

We are finally ready for our first day on the water tomorrow. 

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Weather happens






While we had scheduled to head to the field on Monday, mother nature had a different plan. Thanks to Tropical Storm Issac we were delayed, but just one day. And the rest of the week is forecast to have great weather. All TDRF interns have arrived and are ready to get out and see some dolphins!


Tomorrow is prep day, getting the gear and boat ready for action.

Sunday, August 26, 2012

Fall Research

Stay Tuned! The Tropical Dolphin Research Foundation will be providing posts from the field off Key West starting the final week of August.