Earl of March and West Carleton – Day 1

A group of 40 high school students and four teachers from Earl of March and West Carleton High schools in the Ottawa area boarded their bus early Sunday morning and headed east for New Brunswick.  They arrived on the Huntsman campus around 9:30pm Sunday night and got settled into Needler Hall Residence, their home for most of the next week. 
 
On Monday the students began their week of immersion into marine biology by taking part in the plankton lab, going out on the Huntsman research vessel the Fundy Spray, and touring the Fundy Discovery Aquarium.
 
While on the research vessel the students gathered the organisms they would be studying in the lab the rest of the week.  Plankton tows were conducted to gather phytoplankton and zooplankton and bottom tows were performed to gather invertebrates, such as scallops, sea urchins, sea cucumbers, hermit crabs, and sea stars.  Timid at first the students quickly started to dig through the rocks and animals that were dumped on the sorting table from the bottom drag.  They were amazed to see all of the animals that were collected and excited to be able to touch them!  Also while on the boat the students used equipment such as a secchi disk and a salinometer to gather data about the saltwater, such as the light penetration, temperature and salinity.  
 
During the plankton lab the students used the microscopes to view the small plants, phytoplankton, and animals, zooplankton that make up the base of the food chain.  The students drew and identified two diatoms, one dinoflagellate, one copepod, and two zooplankton that were not a copepod.  They also got to see and touch the Right Whale and Minke Whale baleen samples that are in the lab.  The students were surprised to find that something as big as a Right Whale eats something as small as a copepod.  Amazing!
 
While touring the aquarium the students were able to see Snorkel and Loki, the harbour seals, the new seahorse exhibit, the array of colourful lobsters, and touch all the animals in the skate and invertebrate touch tanks.  Also, the students watched a short video to help them understand why the tides of the Bay of Fundy are so high.
 
It was a great first day!        

Studying a plankton sample.

Drawing a copepod.

Moon snail in the touch pool.  Slimy!

Sand dollar in the touch pool.

Collecting plankton on the research vessel.

Zooplankton and phytoplankton samples.

What did we bring up from the bottom?

Students searching through the bottom sample.

One of the groups collected a rock crab.

Using the salinometer to gather temperature and salinity data.