Smithsonian Environmental Research Center

Lurid Ecologies: Drawing Oysters Reefs with San Francisco Mud

What do you see in these mud-streaked paintings? Oakland-based artist Tanja Geis created them for her new #sciart exhibit, “Lurid Ecologies: Ways of Seeing the Bay.” She used mud from San Francisco Bay to draw reefs of the Olympia oyster, Ostrea lurida. But some viewers see eyes or skulls. There’s even one on the bottom right called “layer cake.” Olympia oysters are the only native oysters on the West Coast of North America, and their populations in San Francisco Bay have plummeted as developers filled in large swaths of the Bay. Through this new exhibit, Geis hopes to shed light on efforts to restore the oysters, and the research biologists at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center and other California organizations are doing to uncover ways to help bring them back.

In San Francisco this week? This exhibit is open to the public through Saturday, Aug. 19! You’ll find it at the Embark Gallery in Fort Mason’s Center for Arts & Culture. Read more about the exhibit Meet the Artist: Q&A with Tanja Geis

Wildlife Wednesday: Tug-of-War, Snake Style

Just another day in the field...Smithsonian Environmental Research Center intern Nicholas Morin spotted these two water snakes battling it out over an American eel in Canning House Bay, while doing a survey with our Fish & Invertebrate Ecology Lab. Water snakes are common throughout Maryland and aren't venomous. But beware of approaching or handling: They're known for being "ill humored" and may bite or emit a foul-smelling musk when they feel threatened. Neither of these snakes was quick to back down when lunch was at stake!

Here’s A Sampling of How the Ocean Sounds at Night

Ever wondered what life underwater sounds like? This Bocon toadfish is hardly ever seen by day, since it spends most its time hiding in burrows in the sand near coral reefs or seagrass beds. But after sunset, its humming calls are so loud, they can drown out everything else on tropical reefs. Male toadfish do most of the singing, after they’ve staked out their burrows and are seeking to win over a mate. More than half the fish species on coral reefs are rarely spotted, because they’re small, hidden or nocturnal (sometimes all three). To tap into the “hidden half,” biologists from the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center and the Smithsonian’s MarineGEO network put recorders on the ocean floor around corals, mangroves and seagrass beds. Some of the loudest species they picked up, like toadfish and snapping shrimp, didn’t appear once to divers! (Photo: Erica Staaterman/SERC) Read more on our blog: https://sercblog.si.edu/?p=8439

Some people would freak if they found a black rat snake occupying their workspace. Our scientists love it.

Happy World Snake Day.

Why snakes are the unsung heroes of our experiments

Long-term monitoring "doesn’t look sexy until something like this happens,” says SERC ecologist Andy Chang. Check out the first story in “Tidings of the Sunset Coast,” our new summer series about SERC-West, our marine biology outpost at Romberg Tiburon Center, San Francisco State University. Our first post dives into California's wet winter and the impacts it’s had on the plants and animals living in San Francisco Bay. http://s.si.edu/2sMpzaZ

Marine Biologists in Action: Sea Wall Sampling

Today, SERC researcher Gail Ashton collected experimental panels from the sea wall at SERC-West for the World Harbour Project​. As part of this project, scientists at sites around the globe are testing ways to boost the biodiversity of artificial structures. For more info, check out the WHP website: http://www.worldharbourproject.org/  Photos: Ryan Greene/SERC

Yesterday’s mystery sound was the sound of HUNDREDS of European green crabs (Carcinus maenas) fidgeting in a bucket before being measured and marked. Since 2009, SERC scientists have worked with collaborators from University of California Davis and Portland State University to study how to reduce the invasive green crab population in Seadrift Lagoon, a lagoon just north of San Francisco. These crabs have dramatically disrupted the lagoon’s ecosystem, and that’s why SERC scientists are researching ways to keep them in check. Though our current focus is on population reduction, to learn more about our past interest in studying strategies for full eradication, check out this article from 2011.

UC Davis lab assistant Ian Pritchard measures European Green Crabs with two volunteers. This past week, SERC researchers, collaborators, and volunteers measured and marked thousands of European green crabs in Seadrift Lagoon near Stinson Beach, California. Credit: Ryan Greene/SERC

Seadrift Lagoon has one of the highest densities of European green crabs on the West Coast. Credit: Ryan Greene/SERC

Here's what SERC scientists and volunteers heard in the field last week on California’s coast—can you guess the source of this mystery sound? Check back for the answer Friday at 9pm Eastern/6pm Pacific!

Humans are short and trees can’t talk—that’s why SERC postdoc Uzay Sezen brings a crossbow and liquid nitrogen into the forest with him. Read about how Uzay and the Quantitative Ecology Lab are unraveling the genetics of tree growth in our new blog post! http://s.si.edu/2sQ5ns9

SERC technician Ruth DiMaria just finished a round of zooplankton sampling here on California’s coast. She spent last week leading SERC’s annual zooplankton survey in San Francisco Bay, and then early this week spent a couple days collecting these teeny marine critters in Bodega Bay and Tomales Bay. Monitoring like this helps SERC scientists keep an eye on the spread of invasive species in our coastal waters! 

“Young researchers, especially women and those from ethnic minorities, are already forced to challenge the existing culture if they are to advance professionally….To bring about change, senior scientists should couple their insight, experience and enthusiasm to that of younger colleagues. This would highlight problem areas, implement policy solutions and lead cultural reform.”

-excerpt from letter in Nature Correspondence, by SERC marine biologist Christina Simkanin (left) and SERC citizen science coordinator Alison Cawood (right)

How do we thank our citizen science volunteers for analyzing 1 year’s worth of crabs for our Chesapeake Bay Parasite Project? With parasitized crab cookies, of course.

The Chesapeake Bay Parasite Project is tracking the invasion of a parasite that can turn mud crabs into “zombie nursemaids.” The parasite is an invasive species called Loxo (short for Loxothylacus panopaei). When it infects a tiny mud crab, it hijacks the crab’s reproductive system, making it unable to produce its own young. Instead, Loxo forms an orange sac of parasite larvae on the crab’s abdomen (see the orange blobs on the crab cookies) and forces the mud crab to nurse those larvae. Even if the crab is male, the parasite makes it act like a mother crab, caring for, protecting, and eventually giving birth to the young Loxos!

Want to help us search for the parasite this year? Visit https://serc.si.edu/citizen-science/projects/chesapeake-bay-parasite-project to see how you can sign up!

(Photo by Maria Sharova. Cookies by Monaca Noble)

Wildlife Wednesday

We know it’s finally spring when we start spotting baby turtles in our wetlands. This juvenile mud turtle appeared in the wetland outside our Mathias Lab yesterday. Mud turtles like shallow, slow-moving water with plenty of aquatic plants, so it's common to find them on the edges of marshes or offshore islands. But during egg-laying season in May and June, they've been known to wander to dryer areas as well. (Photo: Kristen Minogue) 

Learn more about mud turtles here: http://dnr2.maryland.gov/wildlife/Pages/plants_wildlife/herps/Testudines.aspx?TurtlesName=Eastern%20Mud%20Turtle

Wildlife Wednesday: Robins are Returning!

Spring is officially here, and that means American robins will soon begin building their nests! American robins are some of the first birds to build their nests in spring. They can produce two or three broods per year, creating a new nest for each one. It takes eggs about two weeks to hatch, and another two weeks for the young birds to leave the nest. The American robin is sometimes called the "suburban bird" because it frequently makes its nests near houses, rather than in forests or grasslands. Robins are especially fond of short, well-manicured suburban lawns, where it's easy for them to forage for worms. Learn more about these suburban birds from our friends at the National Zoo's Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (https://nationalzoo.si.edu/migratory-birds/news/suburban-bird) and the University of Michigan (http://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Turdus_migratorius/) (Photo: Kimberly Briggs)

Wildlife Wednesday: It’s Salamander Season!

Spring is almost here, and that means amphibians like these spotted salamanders are coming out to migrate to their vernal pools! During breeding season, a female spotted salamander can lay 200 eggs a year. The vast majority don't survive to leave the pond as adults. But those that do manage to climb out can live 20 years in the wild. Besides the cuteness factor, there's at least one more reason to love salamanders: They also eat mosquitoes. (Photo: Karen McDonald)

The Microscopic Creature That Lives in a Glass House

Ever wonder what it's like to live in a glass house? Striatella unipunctata, a tropical diatom often found on coral reefs, spends its entire life like this. Because their cell walls are made of silica, the main component of glass, diatoms are often called "algae that live in glass houses." Though since the silica also contains water, "algae that live in opal houses" might be closer to the truth! (Photo: SERC Phytoplankton Lab) 

Wildlife Wednesday:  This Is How Mud Snails Do Girl Power

Celebrating female empowerment on International Women’s Day? Female New Zealand mud snails have proven they can function perfectly well independently, thank you very much. In addition to normal male/female reproduction, their populations also include triploid females that can reproduce on their own via cloning—producing only female offspring. In the U.S., where they're an invasive species, populations typically are entirely made up of these triploid females. Just think of them like the Amazons of the snail world. (Photo: Monaca Noble)