The 10th cohort of marine scientists write their IB exam

I just realized that once this group of 40 students have completed Paper 2 of their IB exam (one hour from now!), there will be 10 year groups of marine scientists educated at Pearson College! All part of my master plan to spread the word far and wide about the importance of understanding and protecting the ocean. Congratulations year 44 Marine Science students and remember that what you have learned will always be in your hearts!

Year 44 marine scientists

Pre-exam yoga (the sea lion pose!)

Lara, Elisabeth, Theo

Lining up to write Paper 1

Biodiversity and diverse footwear

This morning first year marine scientists ventured out to collect data that they used to compare the biodiversity of two areas that they selected.

Ela (in the yellow boots above) compared the diversity of organisms in two areas of the rocky intertidal – one that is regularly exposed to freshwater from a drain pipe and one that is not near the drain pipe outlet (in the very upper left of the photo above).

Angela and Jessica (both close to the water level in the photo above) each investigated the effect of height in the intertidal on diversity.

Angela (above) again identifying and counting organisms in the low intertidal.

Miguel (blue fins) and Mariana (yellow fins) chose to focus only on sea star diversity.  They got into their wetsuits at 7 am! and jumped into the water to compare the diversity of sea stars near the Pearson College docks and a short distance away from the docks.

Jon elected to sample plankton at the mouth of Pedder Bay and near the Pearson College docks. While there is no photographic evidence of his work he learned that there is a great deal of diversity in the plankton sampled at both locations!

Tide challenge 2012

On 17 February, first year marine scientists were challenged to: “Design a method to measure the change in tidal height at the PC docks over 48 hours.”  They were required to have at least 20 data points within the 48 hour period.  Students came up with various methods, some of which are described below.

Thea & Amanda measured the change in the distance to the water level from the bridge going to the lower level of the floating building.

Ben & Mariana used a similar technique from the bridge going to the upper level of the floating building.

Angela & Felicia measured the change in the height of the ramp going to the docks.

  

Karam & Helen had a variety of clever ideas…

.

Mohamed & Chris did eventually manage to untangle the measuring tape above then nailed it to a piling and recorded the change in water level relative to the tape.

Many creative methods resulted in data that were then graphed and compared to the prediction of tide heights for Pedder Bay over 48 hours from 17 to 19 February 2012.  (from http://tbone.biol.sc.edu/tide/tideshow.cgi?site=Pedder+Bay%2C+British+Columbia).

Beach clean-up part 2

A second group of first year marine scientists braved the rain on Thursday 9 February and cleaned approximately 1 km of beach at Esquimalt Lagoon. While we didn’t take any photos of the drippy students, the data collected are summarized below as well as a photo of some of the garbage collected.

Type of garbage	Number
Styrofoam bits	238
Plastic pieces	221
Straws / stirrers	20
Caps, lids	61
Coffee cups	9
Coffee cup lids	10
Plastic utensils	3
Lollipop sticks	6
Food wrappers	25
Plastic beverage bottles	2
Glass beverage bottles	5
Bags	13
Rope	7
Nets	2
Cigarettes / filters	8
Tobacco packs / wrappers	3
Lighters	21
Syringes	8
Tampons / applicators	2
Condoms	1
Clothing	1
Shoes	5
Shotgun shells	44
Toys	6
Bags of dog poo	5
Dog collar	1
Gum	1
Band-aid	1
Film canister	1
Tin / metal pieces	7
Fabric	2
Rubber bands	4
Cardboard	2
Pieces of paper	5
Toilet paper	2
Comb	2
Prawn tag (1998)	1
Crab tag (04)	1
Ear plug	2
Fishing tools	4
Tire	1
Glowing green bead	1

Beach clean-up part 1

On Tuesday 7 February, first year A block marine scientists went to Esquimalt Lagoon and did a beach clean-up.  It was a beautiful sunny day, but a bit windy.

Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves though, and we performed a valuable service.  The table below contains the list of items we removed from the beach.

Type of garbage	Number
Styrofoam bits	435
Plastic pieces	348
Straws / stirrers	26
Caps, lids	65
Six-pack holders	2
Coffee cups	19
Coffee cup lids	28
Plastic utensils	13
Lollipop sticks	6
Food wrappers	30
Plastic beverage bottles	18
Glass beverage bottles	8
Bags	19
Balloons	4
Rope	21
Nets	1
Cigarettes / filters	10
Tobacco packs / wrappers	9
Lighters	12
Syringes	6
Tampons / applicators	14
Condoms	3
Clothing	5
Shoes	4
Shotgun shells	18
Toys	5
Shoe liners	2
Gas bottle	1
Pair of glasses	1
Bags of dog poop	9
Dog leash	1
Rubber tube	1
Bait can	1
Big iron stick	1
Beer cans	4
Fabric	2
Pen	1
Ketchup package	6
Pop can tab	1
Ribbon	1
Fireworks	1

Deep sea costume party

The creatures that live in the deep sea are unusual, as are the students that study Marine Science at Pearson College. Today and on Monday second year marine scientists each dressed up as a fish or an invertebrate that lives in the deep sea. This is the result: