Shannon Dixon
After being front-loaded with large amounts of information on biogeochemistry, magical benthic chambers, and more, our second half of Lizard Island focused on running individual research projects. Colleen and I were very inspired by Morgan Pratchett and his talk on crown-of-thorns starfish that we decided to pursue a project where we too could kill CoTs. We combined the information from Morgan’s seminar with Tyler’s riveting talk on magical benthic chambers to develop a project centered on investigating CoT metabolic rate following ox bile injection. We first monitored the starfish’s baseline metabolic rate, along with the pH and metabolic rate of their internal fluid cavity. After sampling their baseline measurements for a few days, we then injected the starfish with ox bile and took measurements every two hours over a 24-hour period. This experiment was the highlight of the course for me, as it was a research topic I have never once considered pursuing. In such a short period of time I learned an extensive amount of literature on crown-of-thorns starfish, and I gained experience in running benthic chambers for respiration rates. Although Colleen and I may have been delirious by the end of the 24-hour experiment, it was extremely rewarding to run an experiment in such a short time using only the materials we could find on island at the research station.
After eating copious amounts of Tim-Tams and a few too many beers at Marlin Bar, we ended our trip with a short stop in Townsville. In Townsville, we got to visit the Billabong Sanctuary where we were able to pet PADEMELONS!!!!!! Let me assure you that these are the cutest creatures to ever exist, and if reformed crown-of-thorns murderers can love them then you should too! Townsville was also the first city we visited that had kangaroos and wallabies roaming in the wild! Beyond the adorable wildlife that we saw in Townsville, we also visited the SeaSim at the Australian Institute of Marine Science. As someone who has run tank experiments for their dissertation work, I will now only be doing my tank experiments at SeaSim where full time staff monitor your tank chemistry and parameters (no more experiments with faulty heaters!!). We also visited James Cook University in Townsville and participated in a workshop on social science which was super interesting and useful.
To conclude our trip there were a few souvenirs I could not leave without: 1) a tattoo like the previous cohorts for the course got, 2) vegemite to curse upon family and friends, and 3) stacks upon stacks of Tim-Tams. I am truly grateful to Tyler for this opportunity. I have loved every moment of the course, from the content to the fellow graduate students enrolled with me.