Marine Ecology Research

Author: Marjolijn

  • Is it seagrass? oh it has eyes

    If I’m with my nose between the seagrass I sometimes encounter camouflaged creatures which I would have missed if I wasn’t studying the seagrass. These encounters are most rewarding and will “make my day” If you have more examples of fauna mimicking seagrass, please send me your pics/movies. Click here to see some more seagrass associated fauna

    The Robust ghostpipefish comes in several colours but the seagrass-green one is my favourite of course :).

    Some more fauna in the seagrass bed, it hides between leaves, roots, in the sediment. Do you also want to see this? than join the project as an intern.

  • New Year : New URL

    Like you must have noticed, I’ve moved the Blog of my Phd project to Penyu.nl! “Penyu” is off course ‘Sea Turtle’ in Bahasa Indonesia and I’m more flexible to do things with the weblog. Please change it in your Favourites or RSS subscriptions.

    So what happened after my last blogs where I showed you pictures of my fieldwork in Kalimantan? For 3 months I was hiding behind high piles of samples in the laboratory of my University back in the Nijmegen, together with Laura. We analyzed soil and surface water for Ammonium, Phospate, Potassium, Sodium, Cloride, in the autoanalyser. And also we analysed Nitrate, which required a specific set-up with a Cadmium column as a reductor, which we first had to build ourselves. Furthermore we analysed Carbon:Nitrate ratios including stabile isotope ratio’s of dryed seagrass plants, to do this we had to shred the seperate plant parts into fine powder and fold 1500 samples into thin cups to balls of 1-1mm. We weighed biomass of all samples and made extracted elements from the dryed seagrass material by threating them with acid in the microwaveoven. Later we analyzed in the ICP spectometer what elements (including phosphate) were present in this extraction to check what the plants (-parts) took up from the water and soil. So combining this analysis we can now also compare C:N:P ratio’s. Many thank to Jelle Eygensteyn (Technician on the G.I.) for all the help with the analysis! Besides this, Madelon and I are also trying to calculate how many Green turtles the seagrass field could feed. First results look very promissing!

    The last week of December I also followed a course in Basic Statistics (highly recommended) in Wageningen. So this year I can start with the analysis of all the data that I gathered in 2008 during my first fieldperiod. And now it is time to test the hypothesis, see if my experiments worked, and to make new plans for next fieldvisit coming August.

    20081211mc

  • Research projects available 2009-2010

    *Next fieldwork period from Augustus 2009*

    Are you looking for a research project for your MSc specialisation? AND:

    • Interested in Marine Ecology and Ecosystem wide processes?
    • Would like to participate in fieldwork in the Derawan Archipelago, East Kalimantan, Indonesia
    • Would like to gain experience in fieldwork in an experimental setting and in chemical laboratory technique
    • Highly motivated & enjoys working in field and lab?
    • Interested in being a co-author on a scientific paper?

    Then please send a 1-2 page CV and a letter with your motivation to me: m.christianen@science.ru.nl

    Background
    The objective of our project:

    • We wish to address the possible shifting states of seagrass in relation to eutrophication and turtle grazing, using field experiments in the Derawan Archipelago, Kalimantan, Indonesia.
    • In parallel, we wish to obtain insight in the variation in production and community composition of seagrass assemblages between sites at diffent distance to the river and relate this variation to spatial and environmental variables.

    Most field experiments will be carried out in the coastal zones of the Berau and Mahakam rivers, East-Kalimantan, Indonesia. Ecosystems states (e.g. eutrofication, turtle grazing) and possible shifts between them will be provoked in a series of experiments involving turtle exclosures, turtle grazing mimicking and nutrient enrichments, both in the field and in the lab. The research will be carried by Radboud University Nijmegen (The Netherlands) in close cooperation with the Indonesian Institute of Science (LIPI, Indonesia) and the Netherlands Institute of Ecology in Yerseke.

    What you will do:
    Participate in fieldwork and exclosure-experiments. Participate in lab-work, collecting toxicity and biogeochemical data. We can discuss the details of the internship to create an exciting project that encompasses both your research interests and the goals of our project.
    Your project could start in the middle of 2009, with fieldwork (3-6 months) starting from beginning of August 2009. Due to application deadlines of funding (and visa preparations) It is advised to start early < 6 month before the start of your project with the preparations.

    In Dutch:
    Studenten gezocht: Stage Mariene Ecologie Indonesie,
    Als je op zoek bent naar een buitenlandse stage voor je master in Mariene Ecologie / Biologie lees dan bovenstaande beschrijving even door. Ik ben op zoek naar studenten die bereid zijn om voor hun master project ook veldwerk uit te voeren in het buitenland. Indonesie op het eiland Kalimantan voor verschillende maanden. Heb je interesse, neem dan contact met me op.