tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-48181244348176859972024-03-23T10:13:51.642+00:00The Girl with the Lobster TattooAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13191127290064670594noreply@blogger.comBlogger28125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4818124434817685997.post-29703408448189182362018-02-02T17:04:00.000+00:002018-02-02T18:46:39.596+00:00Is lobster blood blue?<div style="text-align: justify;">
An interesting side-product of some of my experiments have been the varying colours of the lobster haemolymph. I remember once watching QI and there was a question about lobster (or was it crab?) blood - and the 'correct' answer was that it was blue. But is this correct? I remember shouting at the TV at the time that it was wrong (I was a misunderstood lobsterologist, after all...)<br />
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When I was doing my PhD, I uploaded a photo to twitter which people went a little <a href="https://twitter.com/_CharlotteEve_/status/523598386449358848" target="_blank">crazy for</a>. It was from the experiments I talked about in my previous<a href="http://cedavies72.blogspot.mx/2016/02/lobster-blood-chemistry-and-gruesome.html" target="_blank"> blogpost</a> and it even surprised me. Each blood sample was a different colour! All the lobsters were from a similar location (Ilfracombe, Devon), similar size (92 - 100cm in <a href="http://www.sussex-ifca.gov.uk/images/stories/measurement/lobster.jpg" target="_blank">carapace length</a>) and mostly female. So, why, then, is there such a discrepancy... and most important of all... why aren't any blue?!!<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyUgUNs0xj744J-Rgk_t0KAcPfW8pWl_-7hDmbrFYPJhyphenhyphen3jRPYTtU9j9QJ9KG6SklSrsqOp6c_DgYqXoXQG7rsdkYamK4V7hMy3Fx6m94QnXgVL5lmGaKx_pkA8AxHrznQM-e0XinT9yFD/s1600/IMG_5284.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="297" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyUgUNs0xj744J-Rgk_t0KAcPfW8pWl_-7hDmbrFYPJhyphenhyphen3jRPYTtU9j9QJ9KG6SklSrsqOp6c_DgYqXoXQG7rsdkYamK4V7hMy3Fx6m94QnXgVL5lmGaKx_pkA8AxHrznQM-e0XinT9yFD/s400/IMG_5284.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;">Lobster blood samples for protein and metabolite quantification - the white bits are haemocyte pellets. Photo taken by Charlotte Eve Davies. </td></tr>
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First of all, let's get something straight. Lobsters don't have blood. I know I say it above and I will say it again, but as <a href="http://cedavies72.blogspot.mx/2016/02/lobster-blood-chemistry-and-gruesome.html" target="_blank">previously explained</a>, lobsters don't really have blood. In fact, lobsters don't even have a 'closed' circulatory system like us (or mammals). Although they have a heart, which beats, and arteries, through which haemolymph (lobster 'blood') is passed through to bathe the organs, there are no veins to pass the haemolymph back to the heart. Instead, it returns to the heart via interconnecting spaces known as venous sinuses. For this reason, you will sometimes hear that the lobster's circulatory system known as an "open" circulatory system.<br />
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Okay, now that's out of the way, back to blue blood business. Some of us may have seen the (in)famous video or <a href="http://cdn.iflscience.com/images/e9e87e42-2e8d-5a96-b5a2-e6e1f0427c2e/extra_large-1464356939-1968-how-horseshoe-crab-blood-saves-millions-of-lives.jpg" target="_blank">photos</a> of bottles of horseshoe crab blood being decanted in a factory, for use in <a href="http://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/how-horseshoe-crab-blood-saves-millions-lives/" target="_blank">medical research</a>... and we are wondering why my photo above doesn't show a similar brilliant blue hue? This is because, firstly, my samples were taken directly from a syringe, into a tube, which was closed, centrifuged and put in the freezer almost right away to stop the blood from clotting (the little white pellets you see are blood cells, or haemocytes, from the centrifugation). So the samples weren't exposed to much 'air' or namely, oxygen. </div>
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As mentioned in one of my <a href="http://cedavies72.blogspot.mx/2016/02/lobster-blood-chemistry-and-gruesome.html" target="_blank">previous blog</a>s, haemocyanins are the crustacean version of our haemoglobin; they are proteins that bind and transport oxygen throughout the body. Haemocyanins contain two copper atoms that bind a single oxygen molecule (remember it's O<b>2... not O1</b>) rather than Iron, which is what binds to oxygen in human and most mammalian bodies. Now, it's o<a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0145305X14000226" target="_blank">xygenation that causes a colour change between the colourless Cu(I) deoxygenated form and the blue Cu(II) oxygenated form</a> which is why in some cases, a nice blue colour can occur, especially when exposed to the open air - air contains oxygen which reacts with the copper present in the blood, giving us the blue colour.</div>
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However, this is not always the case. Protein levels in the blood, or haemolymph, of lobsters, and all crustaceans, are constantly changing. This can depend on the stage in the moult cycle (i.e. is it about to shed it's shell to grow?), the reproductive status (whether it is about to try and find a mate, or lay eggs) or even whether a lobster is diseased or not. It was interesting that in my photo, one sample was very dark green (bottom row, 4th from the right) - we think that this may have been due to reabsorption of eggs. There is a protein, vitellogenin which is synthesized by the ovarian tissues in lobsters. During female maturation, extra-ovarian vitellogenin is transported through the hemolymph to the ovary and is taken up into the cytoplasm oocytes, or eggs. Egg reabsorption can happen for a umber of reasons, be it adverse conditions (if the lobster is stressed), or if the egg were released too early and the lobster then needs to moult. </div>
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More recerntly, during my first postdoc, I have been working on a virus in the Caribbean spiny lobster <i>Panulirus argus. </i>The virus, Panulirus argus Virus 1 (PaV1) has some interesting effects on the haemolymph of infected hosts. It turns it a very white, milky colour, rather than the usual amber colour, due to the degradation of hemocytes (blood cells). This is how we diagnose clinically infected individuals, pulling the tail away from the body a little and looking at the almost clear membrane covering the abdomen, it can clearly be seen whether or not an animal is infected.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.pav1.org/" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="http://www.behringerlab.com/resources/disease/db_disease4.jpg" data-original-height="462" data-original-width="616" height="239" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Diseased vs. Healthy Comparison: The lobster on the left in this shot is healthy while the one on the right is in the last stages of PaV1. During this time the hemolymph turns from clear/amber to white, as you can see in the middle syringes. Photo from http://www.pav1.org/</td></tr>
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So that's how we know... lobster blood isn't always blue.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13191127290064670594noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4818124434817685997.post-56554175411824405702016-04-05T21:35:00.002+01:002016-04-05T21:41:06.993+01:00Is global warming causing marine diseases to spread?<div style="text-align: justify;">
I recently attended the Oceans Sciences Meeting 2016 in New Orleans, USA (blog to come!) to present in a session called 'Scaling Up: Marine Infectious Diseases from the Molecule to the Ecosystem'. I met a group of really cool disease-y people who recently contributed to a special issue in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B; <a href="http://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/371/1689" target="_blank">‘Marine disease’</a>. I decided to pitch an idea to The Conversation, a news website with 'academic rigour' with the hope of gaining more attention for the important subject of marine disease.</div>
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The article, below, was a huge success, with over 6000 hits so far and was picked up by <a href="http://www.iflscience.com/environment/global-warming-causing-marine-diseases-spread" target="_blank">IFLScience</a>, <a href="http://www.sciencerocksmyworld.com/is-global-warming-causing-marine-diseases-to-spread/" target="_blank">Science Rocks my World</a> and the <a href="http://www.pressherald.com/2016/03/28/global-warming-causing-marine-diseases-spread/" target="_blank">Portland Press Herald</a> amongst other news outlets. <a href="https://theconversation.com/is-global-warming-causing-marine-diseases-to-spread-55751" target="_blank">The Conversation</a> believe in the free flow of information and use a Creative Commons Attribution No Derivatives licence, so you can republish our articles for free, online or in print!</div>
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Is global warming causing marine diseases to spread?</h1>
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by <a href="http://theconversation.com/profiles/charlotte-eve-davies-149404">Charlotte Eve Davies</a>, <em><a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/universidad-nacional-autonoma-de-mexico">Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM)</a></em>
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Global climate change is altering the world’s oceans in many ways. Some impacts have received wide coverage, such as shrinking Arctic sea ice, rising sea levels and ocean warming. However, as the oceans warm, marine scientists are observing other forms of damage.</div>
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My research focuses on diseases in marine ecosystems. Humans, animals and plants are all susceptible to diseases caused by bacteria, viruses, parasites and fungi. Marine diseases, however, are an <a href="http://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/371/1689">emerging field</a>.</div>
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Infectious agents have the potential to alter ocean life in many ways. Some threaten our food security by attacking important commercial species, such as <a href="http://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/371/1689/20150203">salmon</a>. Others, such as <a href="http://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/371/1689/20150209">bacteria in oysters</a>, may directly harm human health. Still others damage valuable marine ecosystems – most notably <a href="http://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/371/1689/20150205">coral reefs</a>. To anticipate these potential problems, we need a better understanding of marine diseases and how climate change affects their emergence and spread.</div>
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Warming waters promote marine diseases</h2>
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Recent studies show that for some marine species <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.0020120">diseases are spreading and increasing</a>. <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23808894">Climate change</a> may also promote the spread of infectious agents in oceans. Notably, warming water temperatures can expand these agents' ranges and introduce diseases to areas where they were previously unknown.</div>
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Many diseases of marine species are secondary opportunist infections that take advantage when a host organism is stressed by other conditions, such as changes in pH, salinity or temperature. A bacterium that is dormant (and therefore noninfective) at a certain temperature may thrive at a slightly higher temperature.</div>
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One well-documented example is the emergence of epizootic shell disease (ESD) in American lobsters. This disease, thought to be caused by <a href="http://www.vims.edu/research/departments/eaah/programs/crustacean/research/lobster_shell_disease/Lobster-Project-Resources/Publications/Lobster-pdf-files/2005%20Proceedings%20of%20the%20Shell%20Disease%20Workshop.pdf">bacteria</a>, is characterized by lesions that penetrate inward from a lobster’s shell surface towards the inner flesh, making infected lobsters unmarketable. ESD can also kill lobsters by making it difficult for them to shed their shells in order to grow.</div>
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<span class="caption">An American lobster with epizootic shell disease (ESD).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">para_sight/flickr</span></span>
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In the 1990s, following almost a decade of above-normal summer temperatures, ESD affected so many lobsters that the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission declared that the Southern New England fishery (Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York and Rhode Island) was in <a href="http://www.crustaceancrl.eu/publications/2012_DAO%20Lobster%20overview.pdf">collapse</a> and recommended <a href="http://www.asmfc.org/uploads/file/2009LobsterStockAssessmentReport.pdf">closing it</a>.
<a href="http://www.int-res.com/articles/meps2008/376/m376p185.pdf">Fishery models</a> that incorporated shell disease offered convincing evidence that ESD was a major factor in the decline of the stock. This episode underscores the importance of considering marine diseases in stock assessments and fishery management.</div>
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Now there are concerns that ESD will continue to <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/11/lobster-shell-disease_n_3739676.html">spread north</a> to Maine’s US$465.9 million lobster fishery. In <a href="http://www.asmfc.org/species/american-lobster">2015</a> the Gulf of Maine showed record high abundances of lobster, making it one of the most productive fisheries in the world.</div>
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However, sea surface temperatures in the Gulf of Maine have increased faster than <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/wol1/doi/10.1002/2015JC011346/abstract">99 percent of the global ocean</a> over the past decade, warming three times faster than the global average. Since temperature is a <a href="http://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/371/1689/20150208">primary factor</a> in the spread of <a href="http://www.mass.gov/eea/docs/dfg/dmf/publications/glenn-et-al-2006.pdf">this disease</a>, observers fear that it could have devastating effects on Maine’s lobster fishery.</div>
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There is also a risk that ESD could spread from American lobsters to other fisheries. Seafood wholesalers have imported live American lobsters into Europe for decades, which can result in their <a href="http://www.reabic.net/journals/bir/2012/1/bir_2012_1_stebbing_etal.pdf">escape into the wild</a>. Last summer the United Kingdom’s Marine Management Organization <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/non-native-crabs-and-lobsters-along-sussex-coast">warned</a> U.K. fishermen that because the European lobster shares similar habitats, food sources and diseases with the American lobster, ESD could spread between the species.</div>
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As a doctoral student at Swansea University, U.K., I collaborated with the New England Aquarium in Boston, Massachusetts to investigate this possibility. While we found that European lobsters were <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/mbo3.174/full">more likely</a> to develop shell disease when reared in the presence of American lobsters, on the positive side, they don’t seem to get the same shell disease as American lobsters.</div>
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This means that European lobsters may be <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022201114000032">better equipped</a> to deal with outbreaks of ESD. But with sea surface temperatures in U.K. coastal waters rising since the 1980s by around 0.2-0.9 degrees Celsius <a href="http://www.mccip.org.uk/annual-report-card/">per decade</a>, it is important to monitor U.K. waters for this disease.</div>
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<span class="caption">European lobsters with mild, none and severe shell disease.</span>
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Tropical disease</h2>
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Now I am now studying the <em>Panuliris argus_1</em> virus (PaV1) in the Caribbean spiny lobster, where the picture is more dire. Discovered around 2000, this virus is present from the Florida Keys to Venezuela. It can infect up to <a href="http://www.pav1.org/">60 percent</a> of lobsters in some areas. Laboratory studies <a href="http://www.vims.edu/~jeff/biology/2011%20Behringer%20et%20al%20PaV1%20review.pdf">indicate</a> that lobsters held in high-temperature seawater and exposed to PaV1 develop active and more intense infections much more quickly than those held at <a href="http://flseagrant.ifas.ufl.edu/newsletter/2011/05/protecting-floridas-spiny-lobster-fishery/">lower temperatures</a>.</div>
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Studies from 1982 to 2012 show that <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2015GL065002/full">waters in the Caribbean are warming</a>, with the most significant temperature increase occurring over the past 15 years – approximately the period when PaV1 appeared. If PaV1 continues to spread, it could have significant effects on the health of Caribbean reefs as a whole, as well as on the valuable Caribbean lobster fishery.</div>
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Monitoring more diseases</h2>
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Many other species are also showing increasing effects from marine diseases. The frequency of coral diseases has increased significantly over the last 10 years, causing widespread mortality among reef-building coral, which are home to more than 25 percent of all marine fish species.</div>
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In the Pacific, more than 20 species of sea stars were devastated by a wasting disease that ranged from Mexico all the way up to Alaska in 2013 and 2014. <a href="http://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/371/1689/20150212">Research</a> suggests that 90 percent of some populations were wiped out, and some adult populations have been reduced to a quarter of pre-outbreak numbers.</div>
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Scientists believe the cause is a virus which becomes more active in warmer conditions. In both <a href="http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/2016/02/epidemics-warming-oceans-rock-lobster-sea-star-populations">field surveys and laboratory experiments</a>, starfish were found to react faster to the disease in warmer water than in cooler temperatures.</div>
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<img alt="" height="300" src="https://62e528761d0685343e1c-f3d1b99a743ffa4142d9d7f1978d9686.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com/files/116071/width754/image-20160322-32323-m8eaa8.jpg" width="400" /></div>
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<span class="caption">Starfish on the shore at Umpqua Lighthouse State Park - Winchester Bay, Oregon.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">skipplitt/flickr</span></span>
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As the oceans continue to warm, it is crucial to understand how our actions are affecting marine life. Some species will not be able to withstand the increase in temperature. The most recent <a href="http://nca2014.globalchange.gov/report/regions/oceans#narrative-page-16751">U.S. National Climate Change Assessment</a> projects that outbreaks of marine diseases are likely to increase in frequency and severity as waters warm under climate change. Researchers are working around the world to determine whether and how species will survive disease events in our <a href="http://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/371/1689">increasingly altered oceans</a>.</div>
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<img alt="The Conversation" height="1" src="https://counter.theconversation.edu.au/content/55751/count.gif" width="1" />
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<a href="http://theconversation.com/profiles/charlotte-eve-davies-149404">Charlotte Eve Davies</a>, Postdoctoral Researcher at the Institute of Marine Sciences and Limnology, <em><a href="http://theconversation.com/institutions/universidad-nacional-autonoma-de-mexico">Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM)</a></em></div>
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This article was originally published on <a href="http://theconversation.com/">The Conversation</a>. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/is-global-warming-causing-marine-diseases-to-spread-55751">original article</a>.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13191127290064670594noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4818124434817685997.post-12848077631779236532016-03-01T23:05:00.001+00:002016-03-01T23:08:13.487+00:00Mojito.... I mean... Puerto Rico!<div class="MsoNormal">
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">I seem to
have gone on a rampage about lobster blood over my last few posts. I will
relieve you of the science with a tale of some <s>exciting</s> sunny marine
biology!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">As some of
you know, as well as my research, I work at Swansea University as a part-time
teaching assistant, and last year the university started it’s new <a href="http://www.swansea.ac.uk/biosci/undergraduate/tropicalmarinebiologyfieldtrip/" target="_blank">Tropical Ecology Field Course</a>, in Puerto Rico. Now, as most of you will not know, over
the past year I have been in talks with a university in Mexico about applying
(and indeed applying for) a postdoc. I found out in October that I got the
funding for the project and I have been planning my departure from Swansea.
However, I decided to go out with a bang and volunteered as a member of staff
for the field course in Puerto Rico (hard life, I know). My Caribbean Sea-life
knowledge wasn’t really up to scratch so I thought this would be an excellent
chance to get to grips with what will probably be the next two years of my
life. The trip was lead by Dr. Richard Unsworth (seagrass lover extraordinaire)
and Nicole Esteban (sea turtle expert) in addition to Dr. Ed Pope (of PhD viva
fame), Dr. Ian Horsfall (sea cucumber hugger) and Dr. Penny Neyland (plant
fondler…. hang on, what’s she doing there?! Tehe)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">So, in the
early hours of a cold January morning we set off from Swansea, armed with
foldable quadrats, dissection trays and bikinis (all the essentials... ya
know). After a 4-hour coach to Heathrow, a flight to Houston Texas (where we
may or may not have left the bags on the luggage carousel and Ed may or may not
have tried to exit the airport without the students).. another flight to San
Juan, and another 3-hour coach we arrived in the little town of La Parguera and
our home for the two weeks; Isla Magueyes Field Station. Which by the way, was
just a field station, on an island. I was picturing a larger island, with roads
and stuff (as were some of the officers at the American immigration apparently,
when they tried to get some students to write a street address.. another
story!)… it was paradise.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Luckily,
Rich and Nicole had been there for a few days already getting everything ready
for our grand arrival (oh yeah, did I mention we were bringing 22 students as
well?). We had a briefing in the classroom followed by an introductory snorkel.
Although at the time not everybody was up for it, this was probably the best
idea - we had been travelling all night and most of us were zombies but if left
to our own devices we would have just slept and jet-lag would have ruled! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">The first ‘official’
day was snorkelling practise from the various wharfs and docks around the
island, with a fish measurement and biomass estimation activity, whereby we set
out a line of wooden fish (lovingly transported by students last year) which we
knew the size of, and the students had up to 3 tries to improve their guesses.
This is really important for things like <a href="http://www.agrra.org/" target="_blank">AGRRA</a> surveys where you can use the
length of a specific species to estimate it’s biomass using info freely
available on <a href="http://www.fishbase.org/" target="_blank">FishBase</a>. Other activities were fish ID (self explanatory), fish
behaviour (trying to follow a fish for a few minutes is HARD), fish species and
fish abundance, where students experienced the difficulty in estimating fish
abundance underwater. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Day three
involved boat based snorkelling… now here let me introduce you to something
essential that we all loved to hate. An SMB, or surface marker buoy... is, as
the name suggests.. a buoy which marks the surface where a diver/snorkeller is
underneath the water. In a tourist hotspot like Isla Magueyes and around, these
were essential for safety.. but sometimes.. they got in the way. Now, not
naming any names… but I’m pretty sure that we didn’t end the week with all the
SMBs we started with (I’m looking at you, Jack.. Elizabeth…). Having an SMB
entangle itself around your neck/snorkel/weight-belt, let me tell you, is not a
nice experience... but neither is Richards face when you have to tell him you tried
to tie one to a rock then lost it! Anyway, SMBs aside.. today we used the
carefully re-assembled quadrats to look at percentage cover of corals, sponges,
algae, seagrass (because nope, they are not the <a href="http://www.seagrasswatch.org/seagrass.html" target="_blank">same thing</a>) plus the
invertebrates on the seabed.. in both the day and the night (spooky!!). This
activity essentially taught me how bad my coral ID skills were but hey! I had
another week to improve. And to play with the territorial damselfish... <o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">The next
couple of days were based on teaching and learning AGRRA. AGRRA, or to use it’s
full name; Atlantic and Gulf Rapid Reef Assessment is a technique used to assess
coral reef benthos. This includes understanding how to assess coral reef health,
and for our students, to assess coral reef health of reefs in Puerto Rico by examining
how the biota of healthy reefs changes as they become degraded. There is also a
technique for assessing coral reef fish assemblages, which applies the
knowledge of reef fish we developed on day 1 to assess coral reef fish
communities in Puerto Rico. Again, we used it to examine how the fish
communities of healthy reefs change as they become degraded. Now obviously, our
surveys were small, but when used for research projects, these techniques are
widely comparable and are used by scientists in Universities, Government and
NGO’s for assessing coral reef health in Caribbean and Pacific.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Early morning commute to the sampling sites. Life is hard.</td></tr>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Even though
it was a marine ecology field course, a super important part of tropical marine
ecosystems are mangroves. So, under the supervision of our resident plant lover
Penny, we headed out to Laguna Monsio José to learn about these fascinating
ecosystems.. because yes, although a mangrove tree is a plant, the forests
mangroves form are among the most productive and biologically complex
ecosystems on Earth. As described in this great NatGeo article.. “<i><a href="http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2007/02/mangroves/warne-text" target="_blank">birds roost in the canopy, shellfish attach themselves to the roots, and snakes and crocodiles come to hunt. Mangroves provide nursery grounds for fish; a food source for monkeys, deer, tree-climbing crabs, and a nectar source for bats and honeybees</a></i>”. </span>As well as squelching through the mangrove mud, we snorkelled through the roots to check out diversity of fish that live there... maybe plants are pretty cool after all.</div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">The
students also learnt how to seine net.. and this was an interesting one. As
marine biologists, they are lucky in the fact that they have already taken part
in a field course in the UK (at the <a href="http://www.field-studies-council.org/centres/orielton.aspx" target="_blank">Field Centre in Orielton</a>) so are familiar with netted species back home.. so here we did it at night and in the morning. Both of which I missed as I was <strike>asleep</strike> very busy science-ing. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Now.. we also did a lionfish dissection. In the Caribbean, the lionfish (<i>Pterois volitans</i>) is invasive. That means, it's not supposed to be there. Native to the Indian Ocean, Southern and Western Pacific Ocean and the Red Sea, i</span>t is speculated that they were introduced to the Atlantic when released by "retired" aquarium enthusiasts. Luckily, cold water temperatures are keeping numbers at bay in the north, but this is not the case in the south where lionfish are spreading rapidly through the South Florida coast, the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. But so what? They are just fish right? Wrong. Lionfish are are voracious predators and non-selective feeders, with virtually no natural enemies due to their toxic spines. Studies have shown that a single lionfish can reduce juvenile fish populations <a href="http://waittinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Lionfish-Waitt-Institute-Fact-Sheet-19Dec2014.pdf" target="_blank">by 79% in just 5 weeks</a>. Wow.</div>
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We found some pretty cool stuff in our lion fish stomachs... including a mantis shrimp!!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mantis shrimp! Fresh from a lionfish tummy</td></tr>
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My favourite day by far had to be the seagrass sampling. <a href="http://www.seagrasswatch.org/home.html" target="_blank">SeagrassWatch</a> is the internationally recognised method for assessing seagrass meadows. It allows scientists to examine the differences between healthy and degraded seagrass meadows and our students were able to help establish a long-term seagrass monitoring site in Puerto Rico! If you are a marine scientist that is interested in taking part.. check out the manual <a href="http://www.seagrasswatch.org/Methods/Manuals/SeagrassWatch_monitoring_guidelines_2ndEdition.pdf" target="_blank">here</a>. </div>
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Seagrass are important; like mangroves, they support whole ecosystems. The habitat complexity within seagrass meadows enhances the diversity and abundance of animals. Seagrasses on reef flats and near estuaries are also nutrient sinks, buffering or filtering nutrient and chemical inputs to the marine environment.... <a href="http://www.seagrasswatch.org/seagrass.html" target="_blank">They also stabilise coastal sediments</a>. Most important of all, they are a nursery for all sorts of reef critters... including my buddy, the spiny lobster. Below is a video of me doing what I do best, harassing a couple.</div>
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The last few days were reserved for the students to undertake their very own 'mini research projects'. These 5 projects ranged from tarpon behaviour... to abiotic driver of benthic composition, the latter of which I was lucky enough to take part in! </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A-team. </td></tr>
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Overall, a great week was had by all. I can say that although I went as a member of staff, I was constantly learning and I feel safe in the knowledge that I now know my squirrelfish from my angelfish. A must, if you plan on undertaking a postdoc in the Caribbean... (but more of that in my next post!)</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13191127290064670594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4818124434817685997.post-44607653400737705572016-02-16T22:08:00.002+00:002016-03-01T20:34:01.442+00:00Lobster blood chemistry, and gruesome infestations.<div style="text-align: justify;">
I started talking about a little parasite in my previous blog, <i>Nicothö</i><i>e astaci.</i> I realised it was getting a bit long so decided to split it into two - the first about histology of infected animals, and another, this, about physiological effects of the parasite on my lobster hosts!<br />
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So, after hearing more about this fascinating creature I wanted to know what it did and whether the parasite load, like the French scientist had mentioned, had an effect on the physiology or even the life, of the host...<br />
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I set off to Ilfracombe and Lundy, a place we had sampled before and knew for sure that there were pretty high levels of <i>Nicothö</i><i>e</i>. It was here that the fishermen had pointed out the parasites to our research group in the first place! I joined forces with our favourite lobster fisherman Geoff and came back to Swansea with 18 lobsters (about 10 kilos) from various points around the Ilfracombe and Lundy coast. I let them acclimate for a few weeks in the aquarium to get used to the conditions before starting any experiments. Lots of things can stress a lobster out, including being caught in a lobster pot, handling and transportation so it's always good to do this when working with live animals from the wild.<br />
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As you can see from below, we had quite a range of parasite loads on our lobsters. It ranged from just a few to alot - infestation!!!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Photographs showing examples of (A,B) low and (C,D) high levels of <i>Nicothoë astaci</i> (arrows) in the gills of European lobster before (A,C) and after (B,D) excision. Inset shows the structure of the parasites. Note the high numbers of parasites at the base of the gills in the lobster with high parasite load (arrows). The excised gills show the arrangement of gills into outer, middle and inner sets. Photo taken from <a href="http://www.int-res.com/abstracts/dao/v113/n2/p169-175/" target="_blank">Davies et al. (2015)</a></span></td></tr>
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A good way to test levels of stress or changes in a lobster (or any crustacean) physiology is by testing for changes in the composition of blood, or haemolymph. This was especially true in our case, since <i>Nicothö</i><i>e astaci </i>is haematophagous, or blood sucking! I decided to test our lobster blood for 4 key components; haemocyanin, ammonia, glucose and total protein. Haemocyanins (sometimes spelled hemocyanin) are the crustacean version of our haemoglobin; proteins that transport oxygen throughout the body. Haemocyanins contain two copper atoms that bind a single oxygen molecule (remember it's O<span style="font-size: xx-small;">2</span>) and the reason that you hear many people saying that lobster/crab blood is blue (this is not strictly true - more of this later!). Unlike the haemoglobin in red blood cells found in vertebrates, haemocyanins are not bound to blood cells but are instead suspended directly in the haemolymph. </div>
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We also tested for total haemolymph protein - this is because haemocyanins are not just oxygen carriers. They make up approximate 80-90% of total haemolymph protein (although this changes depending on whose papers you read!) and are an important component in some invertebrate immune systems. In arthropods (crabs, lobsters etc.) the haemocyanin family includes phenoloxidases, hexamerins, pseudohemocyanins or cryptocyanins and (dipteran) hexamerin receptors. Phenoloxidase are copper containing tyrosinases, proteins involved in the process of sclerotization of arthropod cuticle, wound healing, and humoral immune defenses. For me, testing for haemocyanin is a win-win, not only are our parasites located on the gills, where key oxygen exchange occurs, but then suck the blood, so we hoped that testing for this would give us some answers. Questions here were:</div>
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1. Does the presence of the parasite hinder oxygen transfer across the gills?</div>
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2. Does the blood sucking activity of the parasite deplete oxygen levels in the haemolymph?</div>
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3. Does the presence of the parasite deplete haemocyanin (i.e. is the % of haemocyanin in total protein higher or lower than averages)</div>
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Aquatic crustaceans excrete the nitrogen derived from protein and amino acid catabolism primarily through the gills, the gut and the antennal/green glands. Nitrogenous waste in lobsters is made up of urea, ammonia and amino acid compounds; the major excretory product is ammonia. The concentration of this waste in the haemolymph changes in response to stress and ecdysis wherefore we tested for changes in ammonia levels.</div>
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Questions included:<br />
1. Does the presence of the parasite hinder ammonia excretion?</div>
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2. Is the presence of the parasite increasing stress-induced ammonia levels?</div>
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Finally, we tested for glucose. Glucose levels have been shown to <a href="http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/abs/10.1139/z68-116#.VqEfMFOLSRv" target="_blank">change in line with lobster stress levels </a>and we thought it might be affected by the parasites attaching to the gills.<br />
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So, what did we find? Safe so say, as expected, there was a positive correlation with the amount of parasites and total protein. This means that as the number of parasites on a lobster increases, so does the amount of protein in the blood. Sounds weird, until you see that the haemocyanin also increases, and it makes up 84% of the total protein in the haemolymph we tested. So, the real story here is an increase in haemocyanin as parasite load increases. We think this is the lobster most likely compensating for reduced respiratory function due to gill damage caused by the parasite. Increased haemocyanin, may therefore be advantageous for infected lobsters.<br />
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There was also a slight, but not significant, correlation with ammonia and glucose (see figure below). It could be that ammonia and glucose are not really affected by the parasites, or, as in another study, parasites can absorb glucose from the haemolymph, thereby forcing the host to resupply tissues with this sugar from glycogen reserves in the hepatopancreas in order to <a href="http://europepmc.org/abstract/MED/11161766" target="_blank">maintain carbohydrate homeostasis</a>. As for the ammonia, some studies have shown a switch in nitrogenous wastes to products such as urate or urea... which we didn't test for.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">This figure, taken from my paper <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/273326311_Effect_of_the_copepod_parasite_Nicothoe_astaci_on_haemolymph_chemistry_of_the_European_lobster_Homarus_gammarus?ev=prf_pub" target="_blank">Davies et al. (2015)</a> shows the results of a Spearman’s correlation coefficient analysis. You can see correlations between parasite numbers and haemolymph concentrations of (A) total protein (p = 0.02), (B) haemocyanin (p = 0.0065), (C) glucose (p = 0.2112) and (D) ammonia (p = 0.1290). Asterisks denote significance. </span></td></tr>
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As always, you can email me, tweet me, or add me on LinkedIn. I am happy to send over copies of my papers or answer questions! </div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13191127290064670594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4818124434817685997.post-19249294770875303222016-01-10T19:04:00.001+00:002016-01-10T20:00:27.748+00:00Lobster blood suckers and the wonders of histology<div style="text-align: justify;">
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So I promised a <a href="http://www.cedavies72.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/crabs-parasites-and-other-wonderful.html" target="_blank">couple of blogs</a> back to write a post about some of my lesser known work on parasites. If you have read some of my <a href="http://www.cedavies72.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/an-afterthought.html" target="_blank">oldest</a> blogposts, you will know that I entered into the world of lobster-loving through my undergraduate dissertation (or final year project, as some universities call it).</div>
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My dissertation focussed on a little known parasite <i>Nicothö</i><i>e astaci</i>, otherwise known as the lobster louse. A parasite which lives on, and feeds on blood from, the gills of the European lobster. Now, this little critter has been documented for well over 100 years as it was first noted in 1826 by Audoin & Milne-Edwards. It has been found only on European lobsters but ranges from those inhabiting locations including Scotland, Lundy Island in the Bristol Channel and as far south as Portugal. It has since only been written about a handful of times, and before my dissertation, the last work was over 50 years previous in <a href="http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=4280784&fileId=S0025315400015538" target="_blank">1959</a>!</div>
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I was tasked with finding out exactly how the parasite attaches to the host, using a technique called histology. Now, histology, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Histology" target="_blank">the study of the microscopic anatomy of cells and tissues of plants and animals</a>, is a useful technique and one of my favourites. It is used in a science called histopathology, the microscopic study of diseased tissue, and is an important tool in pathology, since accurate diagnosis of diseases usually requires histopathological examination of samples. Histology first requires the samples (be it tissues, or whole parasites) to be embedded in a paraffin wax block, which is then sectioned into very thin slices (up to 10 microns thick!) using a machine called a microtome. Theses slices are then fixed onto microscope slides (I use albumin-glycerol) and left to dry before being stained.<br />
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I use Hemotoxylin- Eosin staining (sometimes called H&E stain) a common stain used in medical diagnosis. Hematoxylin is dark blue/violet which is basic/positive which binds to basophilic substances like DNA/RNA (which are acidic and negatively charged). Therefore things like the nucleus, ribosomes in the rough endoplasmic reticulum, and sperm cells are stained violet/blue. Eosin is a red/pink stain that is Acidic / Negative and so binds to acidophilic substances such as positively charged amino acid chains which make up proteins. Therefore, things like cytoplasm, muscle cells, intracellular membranes, and extracellular fibers are stained pink. </div>
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Finally, a coverslip is glued on using a mountant called <a href="http://www.sigmaaldrich.com/catalog/product/sigma/44581?lang=en&region=GB" target="_blank">DPX</a> so that the scientist can look at the slide using a microscope. Cool hey!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photograph showing an example of histological preparation. The paraffin wax block containing the sample (<b>P</b>) is being cut using a microtome. The thin slices (<b>S</b>) are then placed on a slide before staining and mounting. Photograph edited from <a href="http://www.dfhcc.harvard.edu/research/core-facilities/rodent-histopathology/" target="_blank">original</a>.</td></tr>
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Before I could look down my microscope for this all important point of attachment... we had a few problems. The <i>Nicothö</i><i>e </i>parasite is a copepod, and copepods are a group of around 12000 planktonic species of the phylum Crustacea (that's the same as a lobster... i.e. it has a hard shell!). This meant that when we were embedding the little critters for histology.. we had to come up with a whole range of trial and error techniques, to stop them popping out of the wax, and ruining the blades on the microtome! We tried decalcification, cutting open the egg sacs the get the wax to infiltrate quicker, mixing <a href="http://www.americanmastertech.com/histology_grade_xylene.htm" target="_blank">Xylene</a> into the ethanol during processing and even soaking the finished wax blocks in <a href="https://us.vwr.com/store/catalog/product.jsp?catalog_number=34172-108" target="_blank">Mollifex</a>™. After a few weeks and LOTS of histology, we got the cut just right, and were amazed to find the point of attachment. I was exhilarated by the science, by finding something new, that nobody had ever seen and by working hard to get to that point (a scientist was born!). My <a href="http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=8358457&fileId=S003118201100093X" target="_blank">first publication</a> came from this work and even though I was only fifth author.. it was the best feeling.<br />
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhabnNt1ZABvV8iAWja7guO-mFDvkDT-kAN4hkCszBpkX7jO1fN7TNmm7DAAJ54xnY7RG76AybkKMXKLILojEXcgLFxFjlV-AwwLYG-okyDtq5jeM3BcI93yHOXLQKw9iByFdYNUVYTj-wa/s1600/Fig-5-Attachment-and-invasion-of-gill-fi-laments-by-Nicothoe-astaci-A-Attachment.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhabnNt1ZABvV8iAWja7guO-mFDvkDT-kAN4hkCszBpkX7jO1fN7TNmm7DAAJ54xnY7RG76AybkKMXKLILojEXcgLFxFjlV-AwwLYG-okyDtq5jeM3BcI93yHOXLQKw9iByFdYNUVYTj-wa/s320/Fig-5-Attachment-and-invasion-of-gill-fi-laments-by-Nicothoe-astaci-A-Attachment.png" width="207" /></a></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Histological sections showing attachment and invasion of gill filaments by <i>Nicothoë astaci</i>. (<b>A</b>) shows attachment of <i>N. astaci</i> to a gill filament (G) showing the invasive feeding channel (*) through the gill cuticle.</span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;"> (<b>B</b>) shows Funnel-shaped feeding channel through thickened gill filament cuticle (GC) with dashed arrow indicating direction of blood flow from gill filament into the parasite. </span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8px;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">(<b>C</b>) shows the imprint of <i>N. astaci </i>suctorial disc on the surface of a gill filament. Imprint of setule-like fringe (*) is also visible. Scale bars=50 μm (A, B) and 10 μm (C).<br />This photo is taken from my first paper available <a href="http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=8358457&fileId=S003118201100093X" target="_blank">here</a>.</span></td></tr>
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Fast forward a few years to when I was a PhD student, and this little critter kept popping up in every wild lobster we sampled. Most scientists I talked to didn't think they were anything to worry about. - just harmless guys hitching a ride. I disagreed. One day, one of my laboratory lobsters moulted and I happened to catch it before it could feast on the shell. I took a fragment of the moulted gills with parasites still attached and put it under a dissecting microscope. You could see the movement of the parasites stomach, almost like the peristaltic movement of the intestines you learn about in school. It got me thinking - we knew these parasites were hematophagous (they feast on lobster blood, hence their prime position on the haemolymph-rich lobster gills) so there must be something they are doing to the host... be it good or bad.</div>
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I had read papers and news articles in the past about sea lice found in the <a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18834-zoologger-the-most-bizarre-life-story-on-earth/" target="_blank">mouths of lobsters</a>, <a href="http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=4445356" target="_blank">gills of fish</a> and in turtles that often end in death which in turn can affect whole fisheries. It is thought that approximately 50% of copepod species live in symbiotic associations (including parasitism) with a broad spectrum of aquatic animals, ranging from sponges to marine mammals. I wanted to know exactly what these parasites were doing to the lobster. I got an email from a <a href="http://annuaire.ifremer.fr/cv/16988/en/" target="_blank">guy</a> at the <a href="http://wwz.ifremer.fr/institut_eng/The-Institute" target="_blank">Ifremer Institut </a>in Brest, France, who was in charge of stock assessment of large crustaceans such as the European lobster. He told me that he had read the paper from 2011 and thought that mortalities in the holding facility were due to high levels of <i>Nicothö</i><i>e </i>infestation. He said that as mortality steadily increased, the prevalence of the parasite and the infestation level seemed to increase too. Interesting. Check out my next blog to find out how we went about exploring the effects of these fascinating parasites on their lobster hosts!</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13191127290064670594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4818124434817685997.post-23093379312505443402015-09-11T14:58:00.002+01:002015-09-11T15:33:01.643+01:00Team lobster! A meeting at the National Lobster Hatchery<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The National Lobster Hatchery, Padstow</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;">Last Friday, I was asked to attend a meeting at the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="mso-field-code: " HYPERLINK \0022http\:\/\/www\.nationallobsterhatchery\.co\.uk\/?gclid=CMz_95mr28cCFVdsGwodrnoLsw\0022 \\t \0022_blank\0022 ";"><span class="MsoHyperlink"><a href="http://www.nationallobsterhatchery.co.uk/?gclid=CMz_95mr28cCFVdsGwodrnoLsw" target="_blank">National Lobster Hatchery</a></span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">in Padstow, Cornwall. I know </span><span style="mso-field-code: " HYPERLINK \0022http\:\/\/cedavies72\.blogspot\.co\.uk\/2014\/02\/fisheries-management-and-guest-blogging\.html\0022 \\t \0022_blank\0022 ";"><span class="MsoHyperlink">I've <a href="http://cedavies72.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/fisheries-management-and-guest-blogging.html" target="_blank">blogged about it in the
past</a>,</span></span><span style="color: black;"> but collaboration with other research groups is, to
me, one of the most important factors when conducting a project. As well
as a hub for lobster science in the UK, the national lobster hatchery has great ties
with the local fishermen, the Padstow community and restaurants in the area, with their very successful<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="mso-field-code: " HYPERLINK \0022http\:\/\/www\.nationallobsterhatchery\.co\.uk\/support-us\/buyonesetonefree\/\0022 \\t \0022_blank\0022 ";"><span class="MsoHyperlink">'<a href="http://www.nationallobsterhatchery.co.uk/support-us/buyonesetonefree/" target="_blank">buy one set one free</a>'
campaign</span></span><span style="color: black;">.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;">I've liaised with Padstow in the past - when I had visiting
researchers in my laboratory from the New England Aquarium, Boston, this was on
our list of places to visit; and when I needed juvenile lobsters for exposure
studies, I would contact the hatchery. It was only at the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="mso-field-code: " HYPERLINK \0022http\:\/\/cedavies72\.blogspot\.co\.uk\/2014\/06\/10th-international-conference-and\.html\0022 \\t \0022_blank\0022 ";"><span class="MsoHyperlink">1<a href="http://cedavies72.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/10th-international-conference-and.html" target="_blank">0th International Conferenceon Lobster Biology and Management</a></span></span><span style="color: black;">, that I really got to know the 'hatchery lot' and we
became great friends, and colleagues. We vowed that we would stay in touch and
try to meet as often as possible in order to discuss the future of European
lobster research in the UK.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;">In attendance at the meeting on Friday were hatchery staff </span><span style="mso-field-code: " HYPERLINK \0022http\:\/\/www\.nationallobsterhatchery\.co\.uk\/whats-it-all-about\/the-team\/\0022 \\t \0022_blank\0022 ";"><span class="MsoHyperlink"><a href="http://www.nationallobsterhatchery.co.uk/whats-it-all-about/the-team/" target="_blank">Dom Boothroyd</a></span></span><span style="color: black;">, the general manager; Research &
Development Officer Dr Carly Daniels; Business Development Officer, Clare
Stanley and PhD student<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="mso-field-code: " HYPERLINK \0022http\:\/\/www\.exeter\.ac\.uk\/esi\/people\/phd_students\/ellis\/\0022 \\t \0022_blank\0022 ";"><span class="MsoHyperlink"><a href="http://www.exeter.ac.uk/esi/people/phd_students/ellis/" target="_blank">Charlie Ellis</a></span></span><span style="color: black;">, who is part of the University of
Exeter's Falmouth Campus, but works closely with the hatchery on his research project. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;">First up to talk was Dr. Daniel Skerritt, who completed his PhD at
Newcastle University last year, investigating <a href="http://www.ncl.ac.uk/marine/research/project/4445" target="_blank">l</a></span><span style="mso-field-code: " HYPERLINK \0022http\:\/\/www\.ncl\.ac\.uk\/marine\/research\/project\/4445\0022 \\t \0022_blank\0022 ";"><span class="MsoHyperlink"><a href="http://www.ncl.ac.uk/marine/research/project/4445" target="_blank">obster abundance and movements in Northumberland</a></span></span><span style="color: black;">. Dan now works as a consultant for </span><span style="mso-field-code: " HYPERLINK \0022http\:\/\/www\.mrag\.co\.uk\/team\0022 \\t \0022_blank\0022 ";"><span class="MsoHyperlink"><a href="http://www.mrag.co.uk/team" target="_blank">MRAG</a></span></span><span style="color: black;"> in London and gave us a talk about his
research findings both during and post- PhD. For his project, Dan monitored lobster behaviour in
and around baited pots (used to catch lobsters), and their interactions with habitat using <a href="http://www.htisonar.com/what_are_acoustic_tags.htm" target="_blank">acoustic telemetry</a>. Perhaps his most significant findings which may have the greatest
implication to management, concern differences between the sexes. From
mark-recapture studies (where a lobster is tagged, released, and caught again)
he found that males have a much higher catchability than females. This means
that a lot more male lobsters were recaptured – but why? The acoustic telemetry
work revealed further differences between the sexes; males use a much larger
area of seafloor than females, which could account for this increased
catchability due to greater probability of pot-interaction. However, overall this
work focused on the utilisation and behavioural changes over substrate. Dan has
a publication in press for Marine Ecology Progress Series; “<span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Fine-scale movement, activity patterns and
home-ranges of European lobster <i>Homarus gammarus</i><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">”</span> </span>the prepress abstract can be
viewed </span><a href="http://www.int-res.com/prepress/m11374.html">here</a><span style="color: black;">.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;">Aside from his science, Dan has also been involved in some
outreach work. He struck up an interesting collaboration with a </span><a href="http://www.appliedcomicsetc.com/portfolio/spineless-the-newcastle-science-comic-with-great-north-museum-hancock/">graphic designer</a><span style="color: black;"> and the Great North Museum. They put on an exhibition with
input from Natural History Museum called </span><a href="https://greatnorthmuseum.org.uk/whats-on/spineless">‘Spineless’</a><span style="color: black;">, with Dan’s work being the subject of one of the exhibits. The
aim of the collaboration was to make the kids of the northeast aware of the importance
of the lobster fishery; you can see more about the exhibit </span><a href="http://newcastlesciencecomic.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Dan%20Skerritt">here</a><span style="color: black;">.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Check out this great little video of Dan, talking about his research.</span></div>
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</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><o:p>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="281" mozallowfullscreen="" src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/135738165" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="500"></iframe> </o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://vimeo.com/135738165">Lobsters</a> from <a href="https://vimeo.com/rootsnwings">Roots and Wings</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.</span></div>
</div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">
</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIoaElKMCOfwftFnKFFsmXhFpd5ILacGnxgOq10YX2au6UgSXuEI4F-YOpIXYRjQrS-WFSUc2CnfC485LsOkZIsVBW-HfKsQhZMPLG68EEYZFuyFGWJUZnO4qomiIlUerPY8JyOVXMppzw/s1600/IMG_0168.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIoaElKMCOfwftFnKFFsmXhFpd5ILacGnxgOq10YX2au6UgSXuEI4F-YOpIXYRjQrS-WFSUc2CnfC485LsOkZIsVBW-HfKsQhZMPLG68EEYZFuyFGWJUZnO4qomiIlUerPY8JyOVXMppzw/s320/IMG_0168.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A snippet from my lecture </span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;">Up next, I gave a talk about the main findings from my PhD; I have
talked mainly at conferences about my<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="mso-field-code: " HYPERLINK \0022http\:\/\/cedavies72\.blogspot\.co\.uk\/2014\/02\/are-european-lobsters-under-threat\.html\0022 \\t \0022_blank\0022 ";"><span class="MsoHyperlink"><a href="http://cedavies72.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/are-european-lobsters-under-threat.html" target="_blank">shell disease susceptibility</a>
work</span></span><span class="apple-converted-space"><span style="color: black;"> </span></span><span style="color: black;">but my lesser known research concerning
parasites (</span><span style="mso-field-code: " HYPERLINK \0022http\:\/\/cedavies72\.blogspot\.co\.uk\/2015\/08\/crabs-parasites-and-other-wonderful\.html\0022 \\t \0022_blank\0022 ";"><span class="MsoHyperlink">see <a href="http://cedavies72.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/crabs-parasites-and-other-wonderful.html" target="_blank">last weeks blog post</a>... and more in next weeks!</span></span><span style="color: black;">) and<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><span style="mso-field-code: " HYPERLINK \0022http\:\/\/cedavies72\.blogspot\.co\.uk\/2015\/01\/the-importance-of-understanding-impacts\.html\0022 \\t \0022_blank\0022 ";"><span class="MsoHyperlink"><a href="http://cedavies72.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/the-importance-of-understanding-impacts.html" target="_blank">MPAs</a></span></span><span style="color: black;">, were very interesting to share. It's
great to talk informally about this, and to get some ideas together for future
work. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Charlie is currently writing up his PhD and gave us a short
overview of his findings so far. The National Lobster Hatchery's main mission
is to create a sustainable lobster fishery in Cornwall and in order to do this,
the number one research priority is to monitor the success of it's primary
charitable objective (i.e. the stock enhancement program). In order to do this,
they must be able to estimate survival rates for hatchery reared lobsters in
the wild, as well as their contribution to catches of landing-sized European
lobster. To do this, genetic analysis of Cornish lobster stocks is essential,
and something that Charlie has been working on. He has also been examining
tagging systems that will enable stakeholders to easily identify hatchery
reared animals. So far, Charlie has found that the lobsters around the Cornish
coast all seem to come from one gene pool, which is good for the release
programme which relies on volunteers to bring in berried hens (expectant lobster mums) from various locations. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXcMeIf3SHz2LLqplEQLRRi420dVLzEOVNat22BF-l-XGlSO30rsu9Q09YKPTJG682RfZ0wV0xeLbIk5FdhootI54UipT_SHtQR5aldukTZKareJJ0kfh7ADsuNd4EfG8koZsly2Euu94P/s1600/IMG_0147.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXcMeIf3SHz2LLqplEQLRRi420dVLzEOVNat22BF-l-XGlSO30rsu9Q09YKPTJG682RfZ0wV0xeLbIk5FdhootI54UipT_SHtQR5aldukTZKareJJ0kfh7ADsuNd4EfG8koZsly2Euu94P/s320/IMG_0147.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Spot the baby lobsters!</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I think we are a very talkative lot so we didn't have much time
for poor Carly to talk to us about her new and exciting project which focuses
on developing sea based
culture of lobsters in containers, a rearing technique that exhibits the
potential for a low carbon form of rearing with no feed costs. This is a
consortium project, led by the National Lobster Hatchery, which follows on from
an <a href="http://www.nationallobsterhatchery.co.uk/could-lobster-farming-become-a-new-industry-for-coastal-areas/">earlier
project</a> also funnded by <a href="http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk/news/food-security/2014/140328-pr-4m-for-agricultural-innovation/">Innovate
UK/BBSRC</a>. Carly completed
both her BSc and PhD projects at the hatchery, concentrating on the optimisation
of the rearing diets for early life stages of the European lobster, in order to
enhance growth, survival and health using biotic dietary supplements.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The hatchery also hosts students who work on small but important
projects and so we also heard interesting presentations from Dan Sankey, who is
working on lobster behaviour and is soon to begin an MRes at Swansea
University; and Grace Dugdale, a BSc student at Cardiff University who is
working on a placement year alongside Carly at the hatchery. Grace is looking
into the effects of probiotics on lobster juveniles. Also in attendance were Adam Bates, who is working towards an MPhil in European lobster genomics
and Joe Augier who previously completed his undergraduate project at the
hatchery and is going on to do an MRes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;">In all, it was a great way to reconnect with the lobster team,
over a year after meeting at the ICWL in Mexico. </span>I would like to acknowledge all in #<a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23teamlobster&src=typd" target="_blank">Teamlobster</a> for helping me to
write this blog post… lobster scientists, unite!</span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13191127290064670594noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4818124434817685997.post-8452350782430411362015-08-31T01:53:00.002+01:002015-09-03T17:49:53.223+01:00Crabs, parasites and other wonderful afflictions <div style="text-align: justify;">
So it's been a while since my last blog post... I know! Since finishing my PhD in January it's been a hectic 6 months. I have been busy writing up some bits and bobs from my thesis which weren't quite published.. and you will all be excited to hear that my research has moved a little towards the crabby side... (groan!).</div>
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For one of my PhD chapters, I looked at a disease called Hematodinium. Well, more of a parasite than a disease, this <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinoflagellate" target="_blank">dinoflagellate</a> infects over 40 species of decapod crustaceans worldwide. But not lobsters of the clawed kind, apparently.... I set out to test this theory.</div>
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So a bit of background. What is a parasite? According to the dictionary; "<i>noun </i>an organism which lives in or on another organism (its host) and benefits by deriving nutrients at the other's expense." There are different types of parasites, endo (those that live within an organism) and ecto (those which live outside of one). An example of an ectoparasite, is the 'lobster louse'; endoparasitic copepod <i>Nicothoe astaci</i>, another critter I have worked extensively on and may have mentioned in the past. In my lab, we have worked on it's <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/51492288_Morphology_and_pathology_of_the_ectoparasitic_copepod_Nicotho_astaci_%28lobster_louse%29_in_the_European_lobster_Homarus_gammarus?ev=prf_pub" target="_blank">histological morphology</a>, revealing the point of attachment to the lobster, <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265387740_Detailed_surface_morphology_of_the_lobster_louse_copepod_Nicotho_astaci_a_haematophagous_gill_parasite_of_the_European_lobster_Homarus_gammarus" target="_blank">surface morphology</a> revealing the attachment mechanism and the <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/273326311_Effect_of_the_copepod_parasite_Nicotho_astaci_on_haemolymph_chemistry_of_the_European_lobster_Homarus_gammarus" target="_blank">effects of the parasite upon the host</a>.</div>
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Anyway, back to the parasite at hand. As an endoparasite, Hematodinium live <i>inside</i> the host, specifically in the haemolymph (blood)... pretty grim I know. A couple of French scientists <a href="http://www.vims.edu/research/departments/eaah/programs/crustacean/research/hematodinium/literature/pdf%20files/Chatton%20%20Poisson%201930.pdf" target="_blank">Chatton and Poisson</a> first reported the disease in France in both harbour <i>Liocarcinus depurator</i> and shore crabs <i>Carcinus maenas</i> in the 1930s. It has since been found to infect over 40 species of decapod crustaceans worldwide, and because infected animals become unmarketable due to poor muscle quality, <i>Hematodinium</i> spp. infections have had huge economic impacts on commercial fisheries. For example, in France, the velvet swimming crab <i>Necora puber</i> fishery suffered a catastrophic collapse (>96 %) due to <i>Hematodinium</i> spp. in <a href="http://www.int-res.com/articles/dao/26/d026p213.pdf" target="_blank">1985</a>. In the US, outbreaks of <i>Hematodinium</i> spp. have infected up to a third of the Tanner crab <i>Chionoecetes bairdi </i>and snow crab <i>Chionoecetes</i><i> opilio </i>stocks in southeast <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15997824" target="_blank">Alaska and Newfoundland respectively</a> and in Virginia, loss to the blue crab <i>Callinectes sapidus</i> fishery is estimated to be <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16175968" target="_blank">between 0.5 and 1 million USD per year</a>. In the UK, the Scottish <i>Nephrops</i> fishery also <a href="http://icesjms.oxfordjournals.org/content/58/4/814" target="_blank">loses approximately £2-4 GBP million annually</a> due to <i>Hematodinium</i> spp. infection.</div>
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There are only two species of Hematodinium that have been described so far. This is due to their lack of distinct characteristics and poorly understood life cycles. The type species, <i>Hematodinium perezi</i>, was first described from the crabs on the Normandy and Mediterranean coast of France by our friends<a href="http://www.vims.edu/research/departments/eaah/programs/crustacean/research/hematodinium/literature/pdf%20files/Chatton%20%20Poisson%201930.pdf" target="_blank"> Chatton & Poisson in 1931</a>. <i>H. perezi</i>, or a closely related species, has since been reported in epidemics from edible/brown crabs <i><a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12133707" target="_blank">Cancer pagurus</a></i> and velvet swimming crabs off Brittany, France, and from the English Channel. A second species, <i>H. australis</i>, was described <a href="http://www.int-res.com/articles/dao/19/d019p109.pdf" target="_blank">from Australia</a> and was separated from <i>H. perezi</i> on the basis of size of the vegetative stage (called a trophont), the presence of rounded plasmodial stages and the austral location.</div>
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So, why do I want to see if my beloved European lobsters are susceptible to infection? Judging by the above effects upon fisheries worldwide, it's an important critter to keep an eye on, and since it infects our native <i>Cancer pagurus</i> (edible, or brown crab), for me, that's a little too close for comfort! Edible crabs share habitats with European lobsters and are often found together in parlour pots (fishing traps) - often injured from some aggressive run ins. We know from my past research that <a href="http://icesjms.oxfordjournals.org/content/72/suppl_1/i128" target="_blank">injury can lead to disease</a> and although <i>Hematodinium </i>infections have been found more in juvenile crabs, it is still an important issue. We don't know where the parasite resides before it enters the host, and so it is interesting to investigate the susceptibility of different species in order to further understand the infectivity.</div>
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In order to do this, we did two experiments, or 'exposure studies'. First, we collected some edible crabs from the South Wales coast, from spots known to harbour <i>Hematodinium</i> infected crabs in the past, and inspected the blood for the parasite. Just to be sure, we kept them for a few weeks, checking every week for infective stage parasites. Once we were happy we had some crabs sufficiently 'infested' enough, we took live samples of <i>Hematodinium</i> by drawing the blood (haemolymph) and separating out the parasites into a clean saline solution. This solution was to be injected into our disease-free, juvenile European lobsters.</div>
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We first did a preliminary, or pilot, study, which was run side-by-side with a similar study artificially infecting edible crabs <i>Cancer pagurus </i>(just to be sure that the <i>Hematodinium </i>species we were injecting was viable). In the pilot, the crabs injected became infected after a matter of weeks, but the lobsters did not... However, the number of lobsters we used was small and we wanted to run a longer study with more sampling points, so we decided to try again. On the second attempt we took blood samples from the experimental (and control!) lobsters before injection, just after, 24h after, 1 week and then every month thereafter. The results were as expected... all negative (even the 24h post injection one!). To look for the parasites, we used microscopy (blood smears), <a href="http://bitesizebio.com/19132/pcr-basics-what-is-pcr/" target="_blank">polymerase chain reaction (PCR)</a> with primers specific for <i>Hematodinium</i> spp. (yes, that's spec<b>ies</b>, just in case!) and also histology from the final time point.</div>
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What is it that a lobster has and a crab doesn't? There have been some pretty cool molecular studies of late at a <a href="http://people.upei.ca/sgreenwood/html/research.html" target="_blank">collaborators lab in Canada</a>, looking at gene expression (i.e. what genes are expressed in disease animals vs. those which aren't diseased...) I think it would be really interesting to find out exactly what it is in the lobster immune response which renders it unable to maintain this infection.</div>
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Although we weren't surprised at our results, it is still an interesting study. It does seem that the EU lobster has something that other decapods don't. Another example is my earlier disease work where we looked at <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/mbo3.174/full" target="_blank">transmission of epizootic shell disease (ESD) from American lobsters into European ones</a>... to no avail. It seems EU lobsters are the strong men of the lobster kingdom?</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYN1E0SjZEW0qd3iWC1gcu7WA3HCx_y4ayu2AOo65fcdHVfmM-AjiqnupSx8MrsDcqVt5iZAZP-N_14Y7mREpQ786GftZ8ny84yQ_7y6ScrKXHAm89hH7DUrsvrRyK98hyphenhyphengKg9Gryg1uRc/s1600/giphy.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYN1E0SjZEW0qd3iWC1gcu7WA3HCx_y4ayu2AOo65fcdHVfmM-AjiqnupSx8MrsDcqVt5iZAZP-N_14Y7mREpQ786GftZ8ny84yQ_7y6ScrKXHAm89hH7DUrsvrRyK98hyphenhyphengKg9Gryg1uRc/s320/giphy.gif" width="320" /></a></div>
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To read the full study, see the citation below (if you click the DOI, it will take you to a download page). If you can't access the papers, feel free to comment or email me and I can send you a copy.</div>
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Davies, C.E. and Rowley, A.F. (2015) Are European lobsters (<i>Homarus gammarus</i>) susceptible to infection by a temperate <i>Hematodinium</i> sp.?. <i>Journal of Invertebrate Pathology </i><b>127</b>, 6-10 doi: <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022201115000336" target="_blank">10.1016/j.jip.2015.02.004</a></div>
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For further reading, my supervisor recently wrote a mini review on this interesting parasite...</div>
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Rowley, A.F., Smith, A.L. and Davies, C.E. (2015) How does the dinoflagellate parasite, Hematodinium outsmart the immune system of its crustacean hosts? <i>PLOS Pathogens</i> <b>11</b> (5), e1004724 doi: <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article?id=10.1371/journal.ppat.1004724" target="_blank">10.1371/journal.ppat.1004724</a></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13191127290064670594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4818124434817685997.post-42056021730988210552015-01-07T15:05:00.000+00:002015-01-07T15:39:07.454+00:00The importance of understanding impacts of MPAs on population health and disease<div style="text-align: justify;">
I recently had a paper published in ICES Journal of Marine Science. It is going to be a part of a special issue for the 10th International Conference and Workshop on Lobster Biology and Management (10th ICWL) - this is the conference <a href="http://cedavies72.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/10th-international-conference-and.html" target="_blank">I attended in Mexico earlier this year</a>.</div>
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The paper is entitled "<a href="http://icesjms.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2014/12/29/icesjms.fsu237.abstract?keytype=ref&ijkey=dDa8lY93ZSiidtt" target="_blank">Effects of population density and body size on disease ecology of the European lobster in a temperate marine conservation zone</a>" and I am very excited about it! </div>
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I wrote an article for the news website<a href="https://theconversation.com/competitive-lobsters-are-fighting-it-out-in-uks-first-marine-park-35830" target="_blank"> The Conversation </a>which I have included below for your viewing pleasure!</div>
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<b>"It has long been news that overfishing persists in many of the world’s oceans. Fish and invertebrate stocks have been <a href="https://theconversation.com/frequent-trawling-leads-to-skinnier-fish-35356" target="_blank">over-exploited for our ever-hungry, growing human population</a>, leaving some species in dangerous decline.</b></div>
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<b>The establishment of marine protected areas (MPAs) across the globe has been hailed as the silver bullet for conservation, with reports of increased catch, and <a href="http://www.int-res.com/abstracts/meps/v400/p233-243" target="_blank">spillover of recovered populations into adjacent fisheries,</a> helping to <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0023601" target="_blank">replenish</a> overfished stocks. But there may be unintended consequences if these areas are left unchecked. As populations of certain species are restored, disease can increase too.</b></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: justify;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://62e528761d0685343e1c-f3d1b99a743ffa4142d9d7f1978d9686.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com/files/68113/area14mp/image-20150101-8221-b2y185.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><b><img border="0" height="320" src="https://62e528761d0685343e1c-f3d1b99a743ffa4142d9d7f1978d9686.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com/files/68113/area14mp/image-20150101-8221-b2y185.jpg" width="245" /></b></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span class="caption" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: start; vertical-align: baseline;">The Lundy Island Marine Conservation Zone <br />(</span><span class="attribution" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border: 0px; color: #cccccc; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 18px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: start; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="source" style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Lundy Field Society)</span></span></b></td></tr>
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<b>Lundy Island, off the coast of Devon, was the <a href="http://www.lundymcz.org.uk/conserve/history-of-marine-protection" target="_blank">UK’s first MPA</a>. It was established as a marine nature reserve in 1986, incorporated a <a href="http://www.ukmpas.org/faq.html#whatisaNTZ" target="_blank">no take zone</a> in 2003 and was designated a marine conservation zone in 2010.</b></div>
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<b><a href="http://www.lundymcz.org.uk/docs/Public/Research/2011%20Variable%20population%20Responses%20by%20crustaceans%20in%20the%20NTZ%20Hoskin%20et%20al.pdf" target="_blank">Four years of monitoring</a> from 2003 to 2007 saw a marked increase in commonly fished species, such as lobster, inside the no take zone when compared to fished areas.</b></div>
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<b>But in 2010, a study of Lundy called for a <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0051615" target="_blank">cost-benefits review of marine reserves</a>, after it was found that shell disease in European lobsters may be increasing inside the protected area, supposedly caused by the high density of certain species.</b></div>
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<b><a href="http://icesjms.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2014/12/29/icesjms.fsu237.abstract?keytype=ref&ijkey=dDa8lY93ZSiidtt" target="_blank">We returned to Lundy the following year </a>to monitor the populations of European lobster. When we compared a fished area to the eight-year-old, unfished, no take zone, we found more abundant, and larger lobsters inside the no take zone</b></div>
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<b>This phenomenon is a well known upshot of establishing MPAs and one of the reasons they are celebrated. Local fishermen agreed that since the no take zone was implemented, there has been an increase in catch around the area.</b></div>
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<b>But in the same survey, we found that there was a higher probability of lobsters being injured inside the Lundy no take zone. Injury is thought to be induced by the European lobsters' aggressive and solitary nature, so naturally in areas of high density such as the no take zone we expected to find a lot. Still, injury is known to be a precursor to disease. The shell of a lobster is its first line of defence and once breached, this may give rise to entry of pathogens.</b></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://62e528761d0685343e1c-f3d1b99a743ffa4142d9d7f1978d9686.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com/files/68114/width668/image-20150101-8226-12vd6i3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><b><img border="0" height="240" src="https://62e528761d0685343e1c-f3d1b99a743ffa4142d9d7f1978d9686.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com/files/68114/width668/image-20150101-8226-12vd6i3.jpg" width="320" /></b></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; line-height: 18px; text-align: start;"><b>A lobster from Lundy Island with shell diseased claws.</b></span></td></tr>
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<b>This is crucial to understand because other studies have shown that pathogens in marine ecosystems are <a href="http://www.esajournals.org/doi/abs/10.1890/1540-9295(2004)002%5B0375:TRTOOD%5D2.0.CO%3B2" target="_blank">on the rise</a>, a phenomenon which may be <a href="http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-marine-010213-135029" target="_blank">exacerbated by climate change</a>.</b></div>
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<b>In the past, disease in American lobsters is thought to have <a href="http://www.vims.edu/research/departments/eaah/programs/crustacean/research/lobster_shell_disease/Lobster-Project-Resources/Publications/Lobster-pdf-files/2009%20Wahle%20et%20al%20estimating%20impacts%20of%20disease%20in%20clawed%20lobster.pdf" target="_blank">contributed to the collapse</a> of a lobster fishery in southern Massachusetts. It is important to monitor disease and understand the effects on populations elsewhere in the world, especially those species which are <a href="http://www.uri.edu/news/releases/?id=6756" target="_blank">commercially exploited</a>.</b></div>
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<b>Our study is interesting in that it introduces the idea that un-fished populations in marine parks may eventually reach a threshold at which conditions become unhealthy. This may even introduce the possibility of controlled fishing in long-standing no take zones.</b></div>
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<b>This may be a controversial move but studies have shown high abundance in marine reserves may render animals vulnerable to disease particularly because infections can no longer be <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2664.2005.01043.x/full" target="_blank">“fished out”</a>. A total ban on fishing is certainly positive in allowing recovery of populations back to unexploited densities, but they may have a finite time span of success.</b></div>
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<b>There is no doubt that fishery closures and marine protected areas do help contribute to the conservation of species, but the important message here is that we must monitor them closely. In November 2013, the <a href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukmo/2013" target="_blank">UK designated 27 new MPA sites</a>. Monitoring species richness, abundance and disease in these areas will be crucial to avoid any unwanted byproducts such as disease increase."</b></div>
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Unfortunately, <a href="http://icesjms.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2014/12/29/icesjms.fsu237.abstract?keytype=ref&ijkey=dDa8lY93ZSiidtt" target="_blank">the paper</a> isn't open access - but if you would like a copy, please get in touch with me at <a href="mailto:CEDavies72@gmail.com">CEDavies72@gmail.com</a> and I can send you a copy!</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13191127290064670594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4818124434817685997.post-58500480318018641582014-12-22T21:02:00.001+00:002015-01-07T14:42:55.474+00:00I did it (but not without this lot!)<div style="text-align: justify;">
First and foremost I would like to thank <a href="http://www.swansea.ac.uk/staff/medicine/research/walkerm/" target="_blank">Dr. Miranda Whitten,</a> for introducing me to the joys of molecular biology, being an extremely patient mentor, and for the continued support throughout my PhD; someone whose enthusiasm for all things tiny and ‘yuck’, never ceases to amaze me. <a href="https://twitter.com/EmmaCWootton" target="_blank">Dr. Emma Wootton</a>, thank you for the extensive lobster knowledge and encouragement, even long after leaving the laboratory, and for more than anything, being a friend. </div>
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Special thanks to Anita Kim and Dr. Michael Tlusty at the <a href="http://www.neaq.org/conservation_and_research/projects/fisheries_bycatch_aquaculture/aquaculture_research/american_lobster_aquaculture_research/projects/index.php" target="_blank">New England Aquarium, Boston, USA</a>, for being both meticulous collaborators and gracious hosts. Professor Spencer Greenwood, Dr. Fraser Clark and Adam Acorn at the <a href="http://people.upei.ca/sgreenwood/" target="_blank">Lobster Science Centre, Charlottetown, Canada</a> for making qPCR sound so easy, and to Spencer’s wife for my first taste of pumpkin pie, thank you. </div>
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To my collaborators in the engineering department, Drs Thierry Maffeis and Mark Penny, for getting excited about ‘little bugs’ and letting me loose on some very expensive equipment. To Keith Naylor, thanks (and apologies) from both me and the forever-leaking/escaping/generally disastrous lobsters and to Ian, Hilary and Sarah for the endless favours and questions. </div>
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Thanks to Devon and Severn Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority and Natural England for letting me sample in the No-Take Zone of Lundy Island, and <a href="http://www.walrusfisheries.co.uk/" target="_blank">Geoff </a>and his crew aboard ‘Our Jenny’ for keeping us afloat during the sometimes-choppy sampling periods. I would also like to thank Dr. Paul Stebbing at Cefas for the positive controls of bacteria.</div>
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Thanks to Professor Rory Wilson, for showing me that not only can you travel the world and be head of department; you can do the moon-walk too! Carolyn for the lab use and PCR advice, Ed Dudley for the spectrophotometer, <a href="http://caspianjohnson.weebly.com/" target="_blank">Caspian</a> for the coffee and complaining, and the rest of the <a href="https://twitter.com/MovingAnimals" target="_blank">Animal Movement Lab </a>for the lunchtime Pictionary and Frisbee. </div>
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I would like to thank the Society of Biology, Marine Biological Association of Great Britain, Climate Change Consortium of Wales, John Mathews Educational Charity, Society of Experimental Biology through the Company of Biologists, British Ecological Society and Challenger Society for Marine Science for the travel grants and bursaries, without which I would not have been able to complete this adventure. In addition, to Penny, Laura, Gethin, Ed, Ian and anyone else who succumbed to my pestering for teaching hours – a huge thank-you. </div>
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I would like to thank my mum, dad, nanna and sister for the grounding, support, chocolate deliveries, and for always being there when I needed an ear (or a holiday)! I would also like to thank Dr. Andrew Johnson for sharing the dreams, reminding me that life extends beyond the PhD and for educating me in the art of patience (and R)! </div>
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Last, but not least, I would like to thank my supervisor, Professor Andrew Rowley, for the support, tolerance, advice and the home-grown vegetables! Without him I would not have begun this strange journey into the secret life of lobsters; I have learned a great deal from working in his laboratory.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13191127290064670594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4818124434817685997.post-60172468117548228312014-10-28T15:39:00.003+00:002015-01-07T15:15:19.378+00:00Ultimo pez<div style="text-align: justify;">
I know, I know, I have been slacking in the blogging department. Although, I do have a good excuse! This weekend I finished my thesis. Yup, you read that right. FINISHED. THESIS. It feels good to say that. The last few months have been a bit of a whirlwind, I'm not quite sure where all the time has gone (or whether I have a social life anymore?) but all I know is that I am done. I'm not quite sure if I can feel the relief yet.</div>
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Another reason for me being so busy these past few weeks has been because it's the start of term again, and you know what that means? Yup, the start of the teaching semester! As you will know if you have read my blog in the past, I am a 'self-funded' PhD student, so teaching has been a major part of my PhD. This year I have been helping out my supervisor with Cell and Immunobiology again, and started assisting with a new module; Molecular Ecology! We are teaching the second years how to do DNA extractions and PCR - wahoo - wish they did that when I was doing my undergraduate degree! I have also been helping out teaching an R module to the new cohort of Masters Students and a plant module to the first years.</div>
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I have also been guest lecturing again for the third year Diseases of Aquatic Organisms module, my favourite! Luckily, I already had a talk prepared, because in September I was invited to speak at a very cool conference. The Annual Meeting of the National Reference Laboratories for Crustacean Diseases takes place, as the name suggests, annually. This year was the 6th meeting, which took place at Cefas, Weymouth. The Weymouth lab is the <a href="http://crustaceancrl.eu/" target="_blank">European Union Reference Laboratory for Crustacean Diseases</a> and I was invited by the director, Dr. Grant Stentiford, who will also be the external examiner for my PhD. I was asked to give an overview talk on shell disease, as part of the 'eDNA and invertebrate pathogens' session, which was really exciting. I was able to meet a bunch of international researchers interested in the same subject area as me. I was also able to get a tour of the department from part-time PhD student and EURL Coordinator, Kelly Bateman. Weymouth is a lovely little town and I had a little time to explore before catching my train home on the Friday evening.</div>
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So what next?! Well that's the big question. Obviously I have to wait until December for my viva (or 'defender', as the rest of the world calls it) and I have a few ideas up my sleeve and a couple more papers to send off. I have already applied for funding for some work abroad next year, will keep everyone posted. I will also be applying for some more in the coming weeks so it's just a case of waiting on decisions... I did get a little over excited the other night and treated myself to a new tripod and aperture timer so watch this space for some cool time-lapse videos (spare time... what are you!?) Before I go, here are some photos of a contented PhD student in her natural habitat:</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13191127290064670594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4818124434817685997.post-63971461670673160322014-08-04T22:27:00.000+01:002014-08-04T22:45:46.544+01:00North Wales is beautiful - let's keep it that way.<div class="p1">
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So, in the midst of the big write up, I'm allowed to have some fun, right?! Last week I took some time out to visit my 'home country' of North Wales - and boy, do I miss it.</div>
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Growing up on a staple of Snowdon and the surrounds, I was surprised to find I have never climbed Tryfan, a rocky mountain in the in the Ogwen Valley of Snowdonia. The breathtaking views were worth the rocky, scrambling ascent of the North Ridge and we were only second to the peak thanks to being early birds. I was told that at the top there are two famous rocks; Adam and Eve, and it is tradition to jump between the two once the peak is reached. Safe to say that I did it... just (the sheer drop on the left side is rather off-putting). Following this we decided to cool off with a swim in the nearby Llyn Padarn (Padarn lake), in Llanberis. It was here that I first started to take note of the litter.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Adam to Eve - a tradition apparently </td></tr>
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Litter? What? I need to backtrack. The week before my mini-holiday, I was sent a <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-28367198" target="_blank">link to a news article</a> about lego being washed up on beaches up to 17 years since it was lost at sea in a container - it just serves to highlight the fact that plastic discards are there for a very long time, and not just plastic - any sort of litter that is lost at sea, or dumped on a beach. It was a video that accompanied the article that I found the most interesting, about a man, Martin Dorey of Bude, Cornwall who has started a project called the <a href="http://beachclean.net/" target="_blank">two minute beach clean</a>. I say project - it has become somewhat of a revolution. Forget #nomakeupselfie, forget #necknominate - all the cool kids are hashtagging #2minutebeachclean! If you're wondering what on earth I am talking about - take a look at the short video <a href="http://beachclean.net/whats-new/" target="_blank">here</a>.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A seasoned explorer on Malltraeth Marsh </td></tr>
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That night we camped on Malltraeth marsh near Abermenai Point and as usual picking up any plastics and litter we found along the way.. but it was only the next day whilst snorkelling in Church bay near Aberffraw that it started to become real - not only on the beaches, but at the bottom of the sea; abandoned lobster pots (or parts of them), fishing line, rope - it's very sad really. We saw some rather large dogfish (I guess I should call them catsharks now...), who I'm sure don't appreciate the rubbish! One beach loving animal who I am sure would get ill from trying to eat stuff like that is the greedy seagull who stole my ice cream in Beaumaris.. but that is a different story altogether. </div>
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The following day we explored Porth Wen brick works, an abandoned site near Amlwch which overlooks a beautiful bay and is only accessible by a very brambly path, but the views and hidden beach are totally worth it. We did try some snorkelling but the vis was too bad, and considering the 'hidden and abandoned' nature of the area, we still managed to find some abandoned rubbish - beer bottles, plastic bags... you get the picture. I think the only place we didn't find any of this stuff was during our visit to Aber falls in Abergwyngregyn.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Porth Wen brickworks</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Freezing, but happy at Aber falls!</td></tr>
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Next time you're at the beach, or if you are lucky enough to live near the sea - I would encourage you all to try your own #2minutebeachclean and help spread the word on <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/2minutebeachclean" target="_blank">twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/2minutebeachclean?ref=ts&fref=ts" target="_blank">facebook</a> or <a href="http://instagram.com/2minutebeachclean" target="_blank">instagram</a> - it only takes 2 minutes and imagine how much we could get done if everyone in the world gave it a try. I for one, will be encouraging students to do this next time we hold a beach practical. Dream big!</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13191127290064670594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4818124434817685997.post-26863747299513661542014-07-06T16:35:00.000+01:002015-01-07T15:18:32.281+00:00The hardest 6 months of my life?<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Casual diatomic nitrogen molecules.</td></tr>
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So, I guess I could call it 'the beginning of the end'.. or, in the words of Winston Churchill,<span style="background-color: white;"> '</span><span style="background-color: white;">perhaps, the end of the beginning'. Yes I am being dramatic. A couple of months ago, a friend and colleague told me that I was about to begin the hardest 6 months of my life - the write up! </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; text-align: center;">As I near the 3 year mark (October marks the end of my third and final year as a PhD student), I have been met with looks of sympathy from friends and colleagues, one even going so far as to tell me I had the 'thousand yard stare'. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;">Tuesday this week will be the last time I bleed a lobster, and from there on in, I guess it will be tying up loose ends and writing, which will, come September, form the chapters of my thesis (if all goes to plan...)</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Zoology ambassador, Caspian</td></tr>
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<span style="background-color: white;">However, it's not only the science that's been keeping me occupied- summer time means summer work, and the last week or so I've been back to my old tricks helping out </span><a href="http://www.swansea.ac.uk/science/businessandcommunityengagement/s4/" target="_blank">Swansea Science Summer School (S4)</a>. S4 is a project funded by the Welsh Assembly Government and Higher Education Funding Council for Wales, which offers a five-day science programme to Year 12 school/college pupils, at the College of Science in Swansea University. The students are just about to start applying for universities so this gives those interested in science the chance to have 'tasters' of what it might be like. </div>
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Each of the five days is spent in a subject area: physics, maths, computer science, geography and finally (saving the best till last?) bioscience! As an ambassador I am on hand to advise and help the students, often just a friendly face, who's 'been there, done that', plus, they seem to love my lobsters, so that gave me extra 'cool' points!</div>
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Students have been able to help<a href="http://www.swansea.ac.uk/staff/science/geography/m.h.gagen/" target="_blank"> Dr. Mary Gagen</a> bore trees in order to age them as a part of the geography workshop, create computer games with <a href="http://www.technocamps.com/16-19-years" target="_blank">Technocamps</a> for computer science and work with exoplanet modelling in the physics department with <a href="http://www.swansea.ac.uk/staff/science/physics/w.a.bryan/" target="_blank">Dr. Will Bryan</a>. For the bioscience day we looked at adaptations of fish and rockpool species with <a href="http://www.swansea.ac.uk/staff/science/biosciences/e.c.pope/" target="_blank">Dr. Ed Pope</a>, and had a surprise visit from Welsh Assembly Member and prospective MP <a href="http://www.byrondavies.org.uk/" target="_blank">Byron Davies</a> - really nice for the students to be able to see how science is widely appreciated.</div>
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As part of the Bioscience day, ambassador Ross also created a time-lapse of us feeding a tank full of mussels with algae. We had a spectrometer and lamp at one end so that we knew exactly when the water was clear enough to be classed as 'back to normal'. The students took guesses on how long it would take the mussels to clear the tank, and I think the winning answer was 4 hours! My favourite part of the video has to be the little snail moving around as the evening gets darker. Invertebrates are now officially cool (you were always cool to me, guys!)</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Checking out some mussels feeding on algae!</td></tr>
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In addition to the subject specific programmes, the students also attended a UCAS workshop, which gives tips on how best to prepare a good application for any university, not just Swansea.</div>
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Personally, I love these weeks, it gives us a chance to share my passion for science with younger generations, and I think it's really important to inspire future scientists! In the evenings, it's back to the thesis, but that's okay. We have another S4 week coming up at the end of this month which is residential, so students from farther afield can benefit from the programme - I can't wait!</div>
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Hardest 6 months of my life? I'm having a pretty good time, thanks very much (NB... don't tell my supervisor that)!</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13191127290064670594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4818124434817685997.post-75552915220193853302014-06-02T16:46:00.003+01:002015-01-07T15:14:43.151+00:0010th International Conference and Workshop on Lobster Biology and Management<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5MYidzG3-q3RTcBAnmDaca_2MlL-aVnZve4O0sMX_V0TVRhppq3A4qqqS5ZpUsixajQA4ZH8CxFfh7rqj_9mDZU3lByc_IenxH5W_wqCD9wOWYZpXAyyTUI7Y4PxHF7Z2tfDW44KifC56/s1600/IMG_6773.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5MYidzG3-q3RTcBAnmDaca_2MlL-aVnZve4O0sMX_V0TVRhppq3A4qqqS5ZpUsixajQA4ZH8CxFfh7rqj_9mDZU3lByc_IenxH5W_wqCD9wOWYZpXAyyTUI7Y4PxHF7Z2tfDW44KifC56/s1600/IMG_6773.JPG" height="239" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jan Factor, author of the 'lobster bible' and me <br />
being utterly starstruck.</td></tr>
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So, I'm home...! For those of you I haven't already bored half to death about it... On the 18th May 2014, I travelled to Cancun, Mexico
for the <a href="http://www.dmc-cancun.com/icwl2014/" target="_blank">10th International Conference and Workshop on Lobster Biology and Management</a>, hosted by the Institute of Marine Sciences and Limnology of the
National Autonomous University of Mexico.</div>
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<span lang="EN-US">This was my first international conference,
which only happens once every 2 to 3 years, so it was therefore a very important opportunity
for me to attend in terms of career development and networking. I gave an oral
presentation on some of my PhD research findings under the title 'Does the importation of live American lobster (<i>Homarus americanus</i>) pose a threat to native European (<i>H. gammarus</i>) populations? Shell disease susceptibility', which consisted of a culmination of my findings, published recently in two papers; <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/mbo3.174/full" target="_blank">MicrobiologyOpen</a> and <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022201114000032" target="_blank">Journal of Invertebrate Pathology</a>. As you can read in my <a href="http://cedavies72.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/are-european-lobsters-under-threat.html" target="_blank">previous blog</a>, they investigate the disease
susceptibility of the European lobster in relation to the American lobster as
an ‘invasive’ species. </span>Lobster catch in the UK is a multimillion pound industry so my work is important for fisheries and future research – there is currently a team in Norway looking into Euro-American hybrid lobsters being found in Europe!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Team lobster PhD UK at the Tulum Ruins</td></tr>
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<span lang="EN-US">Being able to present my work and receiving feedback the
experts in my field, was, although nerve-wracking, a fantastic experience. I had questions from researchers such as Kathy Castro and Jan Factor, who, in the lobster world, are big scientists! In my opinion, the talk went well, and I remembered pretty much everything I wanted to say. I also had a little extra on the end of my talk, about my current studies looking into lobster health in the UK Marine Conservation Zone around Lundy Island - just so people know what else I am working on.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">In addition to being able to attend
presentations on areas such as fisheries, management, stocks, genetics,
behavioural ecology and diseases and parasites, there was also a poster
session. I must add here actually, that the 'diseases and parasites' session, had the biggest number of talks (23)! Pathology is cool guys! This event also enabled me to catch up with past collaborators (Anita from NEAQ was in attendance) and share
ideas with possible future ones, some of whom have been a great inspiration to
me since I began my PhD – is it possible to be ‘starstruck’ by lobster
scientists?!</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The clear blue waters of Puerto Morelos.. <br />
(and some lobster scientists!)</td></tr>
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The conference dinner was accompanied by traditional music, dancing and an abundance of tequila, standard in Mexico! We were also able to enjoy a mid-week free afternoon activity of snorkelling on the coral reefs followed by a lobster sunset barbecue meal! This was a nice informal way to get to know a lot of the delegates.</div>
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<span lang="EN-US">The conference proceedings are to be
published in the ICES Journal of Marine Science, for which I
am aiming to submit an abstract involving my current work surveying a UK Marine
Conservation Zone... the deadline is 31st July, so I'd better get a wiggle on!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Apart from attending the conference in Mexico, I was able to do a little exploration, I met a few like-minded lobster lovers from the UK, with whom I rented a car and we explored the ruins at Tulum, where we were also lucky enough to see some recently inhabited turtle nests (complete with turtle footprints... awwwww), we also snorkelled in a 60m deep cénote;</span>' Kim Ha', which amazingly we managed to get all to ourselves - it was a little scary as since it was in reality, an underground cave, it was full of bats, and the uneasy feeling of not knowing what is beneath you whilst swimming made it slightly eery for me! We also enjoyed an afternoon in Puerto Morelos and I dragged the boys to a flea market (which, I know they enjoyed really!). I would really like to explore more of Mexico in the future, maybe away from the hub of the 'Zona Hotelera', where the conference was based - it is a great country full of culture and colour!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Turtle nests...!</td></tr>
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I think for me, reflecting on this conference I can say that it was one of the most useful events I have attended since beginning my PhD, and it came at the perfect time. Being able to meet and talk with so many scientists whose work I have read and cited in my own, was a great experience - even just meeting students from all over the UK, who are working in a similar area to me, was great. I would like to thank the Challenger
Society for Marine Science, the British Ecological Society and the Society for Experimental Biology through the Company of Biologists for the <a href="http://cedavies72.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/conferences-phd-routes-and-funding-for.html" target="_blank">travel grants</a>, without which I would not have
been able to take part in this event. I would also like to thank the coordinators for not only organising a conference where I was able to learn so
much, but an event which was amazing fun – there are not many conferences where you would be able to spend a free afternoon snorkelling on a coral reef!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Definitely at a conference... </td></tr>
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<!--EndFragment-->Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13191127290064670594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4818124434817685997.post-77980360498705856262014-04-05T21:49:00.000+01:002015-01-07T15:19:11.066+00:00Conferences, PhD routes and funding for postgrad students!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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So, I've been at it again... I'm sure all lobsterologists out there (and my close friends!) will have heard that the 10th International Conference and Workshop on Lobster Biology and Management (10th ICWL) is coming up, and this year it is in Cancun, Mexico. Aside from the amazing location, this is a 'must attend' conference for me, since it only happens every two years and as I am in the final year of my PhD I feel like it is a very important opportunity to make contacts, talk about my current work and even future collaborations. So, in true 'Charlotte' style, I have been on the hunt for travel grants..</div>
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'More grants?!' I hear you all ask... but yes, really, this is how I get by. I have mentioned this before, but I am a self-funded PhD student. Whilst most of my research is funded, as I have mentioned in previous blogs, I personally do not receive a 'stipend' like most PhD students would do traditionally. This means that I have had to work part time throughout my PhD in order to pay for food, rent and personal items. Before you ask, the bank of mum and dad closed a long time ago, for which I am extremely grateful - I have learnt to be careful, self sufficient and at the same time, developing my grant - application skills!</div>
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Why start a PhD that isn't fully funded? The answer to that is slightly complicated... I started my PhD in a rather unusual manner; after graduating in 2011, I knew that I wanted to continue studying, preferably in a research environment, after having such a great time doing the work for my undergraduate dissertation. I applied for a fully funded <a href="http://www.swansea.ac.uk/postgraduate/research/science/mres-aquatic-ecology-and-conservation/" target="_blank">MRes in Aquatic Ecology and Conservation</a>, but found out on the day of my graduation that I didn't get the funding and I knew that doing it with none and paying my own fees would be excruciating. I know Professor Rowley, my supervisor, had a really cool project lined up, so I quickly applied for an MSc by Research in Aquatic Ecology, which was a new course that came with a £3000 bursary if you were successful, in order to help pay the fees. Luckily, I was successful and my masters began technically in August 2011, a month after graduation, when I volunteered with Dr. Emma Wootton, a post doc from my lab, on a research trip to Lundy Island, which was funded by <a href="http://www.seafish.org/" target="_blank">Seafish</a>.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcj2hRG5u1PeWbaBWBZKRjIFRKMP_ucf0LxN1jYwAsOOEVts8NjbHnlTffN7SBjaMHckBsAhJlNXOnJMZsgw_IjFqHQYwnzJCr6A3ifRRMmXg9KXxQIN1Y1pIVHo6Cw1xEmaTZbgBGpYST/s1600/P1000662.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcj2hRG5u1PeWbaBWBZKRjIFRKMP_ucf0LxN1jYwAsOOEVts8NjbHnlTffN7SBjaMHckBsAhJlNXOnJMZsgw_IjFqHQYwnzJCr6A3ifRRMmXg9KXxQIN1Y1pIVHo6Cw1xEmaTZbgBGpYST/s1600/P1000662.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fresh from graduation, sampling on a fishing boat!</td></tr>
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I'll take a minute here to explain the differences in 'Masters' courses. All masters, unlike undergraduate, are a full year, as opposed to the usual academic year of September - June. An MSc is a 'taught' masters, which means that it is very similar to your third year of undergraduate, in the sense that it is 2/3's taught (ie. lectures and exams), and 1/3 research (a dissertation, or thesis), which usually begins around June/July. MSc's are 'graded', much like an undergraduate degree but rather as a pass, merit or distinction. An MRes is the opposite, it is a 'pass or fail' masters, 1/3 taught, usually with exams in January, after which you begin your research project, which continues until the summer. An MSc by Research is a relatively new idea, it is much like the first year of a PhD (see where I'm going with this...?), in the sense that you start your research from day one, and it continues throughout the year. You don't usually have lectures or exams, however in my case I had to sit a 'skills and stats' module, for which there was a short exam in January. The outcome of this exam does not go towards the final grade, you merely have to pass it (50% or more) in order to continue with the masters.</div>
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For me, by May, I was thoroughly enjoying my research, and finding out some really cool stuff, but I couldn't help but notice that it didn't seem to be ending. The original project was going well, but there was also some unanswered questions, and some really cool follow up work which I wanted to do. Luckily, I was able to convert my masters to the first year of my PhD, which I wouldn't have been able to do if I was doing an MSc or an MRes, so that day when I didn't get the funding to do my original choice was a blessing in disguise! Andrew, my supervisor, did warn me that it would be difficult and to think carefully before I made a decision, but that he was able to pay my tuition fees, shared with my second supervisor in the school of medicine. I took the plunge.</div>
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This is where my journey into obtaining funding began. I found out that you can get funding from Grant Giving Trusts, which are organisations who help others, be it charities, institutions, NGOs or individuals, in the form of grants. I popped down to the local library and took out a copy of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charities_Aid_Foundation" title="Charities Aid Foundation">the Charities Aid Foundation</a> 'Directory of Grant Making Trusts' to make some notes. What I found was unreal - there are thousands - and while some ask for a formal application, others just request a letter. I drafted around 20 letters and sent them out, I heard back from a few, but not all and some took months, so you need to be patient. I was eventually rewarded when I received a letter from the <a href="http://www.johnmathewscharity.co.uk/" target="_blank">John Mathews Educational Charity</a> with an offer of £1500 - it was more than I could have hoped for and really helped me get through the second year of my PhD.</div>
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Obviously part-time work helps, and during the second year of my PhD I worked part time in a pub in Swansea - however, this was only for about a year as I was tired all the time and when I couldn't get time off to go to an important <a href="http://www.shellfish.org.uk/" target="_blank">Shellfish Association of Great Britain </a>conference, I had to quit. I demonstrate within my department, which means helping out in undergraduate practicals, on field trips and sometimes even guest-lecturing. I also mark work, which includes practical and field trip write ups, essays and CVs. This work is dependent upon when I am needed by lecturers, so can fluctuate; as can my work as a student Ambassador, which involves helping out on open days talking to prospective students and their parents. Work is often seasonal at the university; in the past I have helped out on the clearing helplines for admissions and worked as an ambassador at a summer school. There is always work around if you can be motivated enough to find it - I know that there will always be something around the corner, even when times are tough.</div>
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I often get asked how I obtain my funding, or how I am 'so lucky'... really there is no luck involved, just a motivation to succeed and a passion for my research. You may or may not have noticed, but I LOVE my PhD and really care about my subject, which I hope comes through in my applications. I know exactly why it is important, maybe not to everyone, but to fishermen, pathologists and seafood lovers, it is!</div>
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For those I keep promising to write a list for, here it is! To date, a list and sources of all funding I have applied for and received (and some that I am ineligible for - but definitely recommend).</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV6KHB27NF-tKN2Z3OwuUvEC8BlHuRhTzU6H8SyBRf4dIktIxx9YnjiW4BUWtL5Fv9e6_QXXblTuRohhyArGOABxJ-kDqD5Tr_fiNvaXvj5KlOfqUwJuWqM3sohYsVyRNjBeF32nj876F4/s1600/mba.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV6KHB27NF-tKN2Z3OwuUvEC8BlHuRhTzU6H8SyBRf4dIktIxx9YnjiW4BUWtL5Fv9e6_QXXblTuRohhyArGOABxJ-kDqD5Tr_fiNvaXvj5KlOfqUwJuWqM3sohYsVyRNjBeF32nj876F4/s1600/mba.jpg" height="200" width="200" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.mba.ac.uk/awards-grants/" target="_blank">Marine Biological Association of Great Britain Travel Bursary</a> to attend their 2013 10th Postgraduate Conference at Aberystwyth University. I was given £200 to attend, which paid for travel costs and accommodation for the week. This conference was invaluable and I also attended the 9th one at University College Cork in Ireland the previous year. Loads of postgrads from all over the UK attend, there is a really informal atmosphere, definitely worth it for Masters or PhD students - a great practice for larger conferences and great to meet people in similar fields. This year it was held at the Centre for Environmental and Marine Sciences on the Scarborough Campus of the University of Hull, definitely <a href="http://www.11thmba.org/" target="_blank">worth a look</a> if you are a Masters or PhD student in marine biology.</div>
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<a href="http://www.johnmathewscharity.co.uk/" target="_blank">The Educational Charity of John Mathews</a> - An award of £1500 to assist in the costs of my PhD, The Educational Charity of John Mathews encourages applications from young people seeking to build upon their talents and improve their educational and career prospects.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh78DxAVQFd8nY-zCTDP7_D9_97LwPVZiabIjiWrrgJb820USXqK5J3R_ITwiTT8hpq1gyNFOu6RxAmvZySt_EDm4cMjnky3p4r_fN9yBlXB8-vjRWTZwHoGhKcSLW2kCSAvNTDI-JFgegC/s1600/SOB.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh78DxAVQFd8nY-zCTDP7_D9_97LwPVZiabIjiWrrgJb820USXqK5J3R_ITwiTT8hpq1gyNFOu6RxAmvZySt_EDm4cMjnky3p4r_fN9yBlXB8-vjRWTZwHoGhKcSLW2kCSAvNTDI-JFgegC/s1600/SOB.png" height="170" width="200" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://www.societyofbiology.org/get-involved/grants/travel-grants/travel-grants-affiliate-amsb" target="_blank">Society of Biology Travel Grant </a>- A £500 travel grant towards the start up of a new collaboration between University of Prince Edward Island Lobster Science Centre and Swansea University, which is the reason I started this blog!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7OkRYZ1jq4xdA29iqC6DjwSKHrMZ1UzZPnEMKHaHI7xxPN9j9WIccdsCHfAaIeXZMAHGviO9JUpTtJd_xZZto06_UGL6wqyELKjf_xCBu4hG2z4MiuageL7xrv48rQzaskZsJA0DsTtsM/s1600/c3w.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7OkRYZ1jq4xdA29iqC6DjwSKHrMZ1UzZPnEMKHaHI7xxPN9j9WIccdsCHfAaIeXZMAHGviO9JUpTtJd_xZZto06_UGL6wqyELKjf_xCBu4hG2z4MiuageL7xrv48rQzaskZsJA0DsTtsM/s1600/c3w.png" height="45" width="200" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://c3wales.org/" target="_blank">Climate Change Consortium of Wales Travel Bursary</a> - A £500 travel bursary toward the start up of a collaboration between the University of Prince Edward Island, Canada, and Swansea University, looking into shellfish disease affecting both European and American lobsters and how climate change may be displacing lobster populations (more about this in my next blog!)</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie7hyphenhyphengDeOriCHq9zzIeXRnJYgHcBTbfwDbfooApGUZRZKLOUO1UyJn-j2y96k7keOJeXH786OMAw-SptKlBLCPTbzShOUXoyawAzeFwY-WkcsvMT8d1P4PQGNaID3uwZ1Hc-1aikVAL7lj/s1600/COB.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie7hyphenhyphengDeOriCHq9zzIeXRnJYgHcBTbfwDbfooApGUZRZKLOUO1UyJn-j2y96k7keOJeXH786OMAw-SptKlBLCPTbzShOUXoyawAzeFwY-WkcsvMT8d1P4PQGNaID3uwZ1Hc-1aikVAL7lj/s1600/COB.jpg" height="51" width="200" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.sebiology.org/membership/Grants.html" target="_blank">Society of Experimental Biology via the Company of Biologists</a> - A £500 travel grant in order to present at the 10th International Conference and Workshop on Lobster Biology and Management in Cancun, Mexico.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVyMqgGXr3hkFXiwkKoMpnbtS3dYz-ElSmbNJfU1wN04D5EgeoQnXoEiCFGiaIr94vfpRpPMjC6l9AXDCLT60VjnWIVFUzkVNKO6CQzBbz6Hc8s3b2jzdEvEH6pPihwRLVpc8NhaeHgl6O/s1600/ChallengerSocLogo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVyMqgGXr3hkFXiwkKoMpnbtS3dYz-ElSmbNJfU1wN04D5EgeoQnXoEiCFGiaIr94vfpRpPMjC6l9AXDCLT60VjnWIVFUzkVNKO6CQzBbz6Hc8s3b2jzdEvEH6pPihwRLVpc8NhaeHgl6O/s1600/ChallengerSocLogo.png" height="173" width="200" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.challenger-society.org.uk/node/15" target="_blank">Challenger Society for Marine Science</a> - A travel grant of £250, again, to assist towards costs of presenting at the 10th ICWL in Mexico.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXz9UUga_EpscOfMT2-oWVcEtHur7F-PHCs7Z95M5iPznygKN_VYVzItae33LBnCYWCudokDKDKy1bGhrsMfBo1d3Yye9JBj-uag-kywbZl4J5JuWwK2rzc66nL3YyemBD7sj5KsMx91UG/s1600/BES+Logo.GIF" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXz9UUga_EpscOfMT2-oWVcEtHur7F-PHCs7Z95M5iPznygKN_VYVzItae33LBnCYWCudokDKDKy1bGhrsMfBo1d3Yye9JBj-uag-kywbZl4J5JuWwK2rzc66nL3YyemBD7sj5KsMx91UG/s1600/BES+Logo.GIF" height="153" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.britishecologicalsociety.org/grants-awards/training-and-travel-grants/" target="_blank">The British Ecological Society Training and Travel Grant</a> - I was awarded £465.92 again, to assist towards the cost of presenting at the 10th ICWL - Mexico, especially when the conference is right in the centre of the 'Hotel Zone', is an expensive place!</div>
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I also applied for, but was unsuccessful:</div>
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<a href="http://www.dmc-cancun.com/icwl2014/index.php/student-travel-award-for-icwl" target="_blank">The Paul Kanciruk Student Travel Award</a> for the International Lobster Conferences and Workshops - this is specifically for the ICWL conference, but if you are looking for conference funding, always get in touch with the organisers - they sometimes have money for poor students like us!</div>
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Plus, here are some which I have come across but I was ineligible for...</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtbq3D3oXJ1BJ28Tf9SJtwgQOqvXVt_3XjitnnfQOB_AXjwH9UTNpRKAdFQEKh7f3_9P_Z6rVoeP8NToYkTnnqcCpnOpLFAXLr2vQYhMlswtGU6__fKSbHuTBAwfxXgeKNt1aOzKIXLcP1/s1600/fsbi_logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtbq3D3oXJ1BJ28Tf9SJtwgQOqvXVt_3XjitnnfQOB_AXjwH9UTNpRKAdFQEKh7f3_9P_Z6rVoeP8NToYkTnnqcCpnOpLFAXLr2vQYhMlswtGU6__fKSbHuTBAwfxXgeKNt1aOzKIXLcP1/s1600/fsbi_logo.png" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.fsbi.org.uk/grants/travel-grants/" target="_blank">The Fisheries Society of the British Isles (FSBI) </a>Travel Grants, primarily aimed at early-career scientists studying fish biology or fisheries science. Grants are to enable researchers to present their work at international scientific meetings other than the FSBI annual conference.</div>
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With most of these awards, you need to be a member of the society itself, so it's worth checking before you apply - some even request that you have been a member for a certain amount of time before you may apply. Personally, I like to have memberships with a lot of societies as it opens doors and helps you make contacts in similar fields, as well as discounts when submitting papers to certain journals (again, a big plus if you are self-funded). On top of the blog post for the <a href="http://cedavies72.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/fisheries-management-and-guest-blogging.html" target="_blank">Society of Biology</a>, I have recently been asked to give a talk at the Cheltenham Science Festival - the day I arrive home from Mexico!</div>
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So there we are, another monster post - but one I've been meaning to write for a while... How is it May already? Someone told me this week that I was on 'the home straight'... I'm not sure what that meant, but it did remind me that I have huge amount to do (and write!)... to the lab!</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13191127290064670594noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4818124434817685997.post-821146379279322802014-02-22T10:41:00.002+00:002014-05-14T23:28:45.829+01:00Fisheries, management and guest-blogging!Just a quick one today really... If you are a close friend or follow me on twitter you will have seen me harping on about a guest-blog I have recently written for the <a href="https://www.societyofbiology.org/" target="_blank">Society of Biology</a>. The SOB were one of the funders for my trip to Canada and the USA back in October - they gave me £500 and for this, I had to write a report on what I got up to whilst there, which you can read <a href="https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/sbwebsite/pdf/Charlotte_Eve_Davies_AMSB.pdf" target="_blank">here</a>. Whilst I was there, they noticed that I got some press coverage and saw that I had a blog, so I was asked me to write a guest-blog on my experience. I've been so busy that it took me months, so finally it was published last week. I'd like to thank Dr. Andy Woolmer for his help with the article. <br />
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Obviously, the main reason I went to Canada was to learn new techniques and more information about lobster diseases such as gaffkaemia (see my <a href="http://cedavies72.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/the-life-and-times-of-lobster-girl.html" target="_blank">first blog</a>), but since I am still working on the analysis and results for that, I decided to take a different approach when writing my article. I am fascinated by fisheries, sustainability and conservation and hope to one day work in fisheries management of some sort.<br />
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Currently, there is a <a href="http://wales.gov.uk/consultations/environmentandcountryside/crustaceans-legislation-review-phase-1/?lang=en" target="_blank">review of all fisheries legislation in Wales</a>, which commenced in January 2012 and whilst over in Charlottetown and Boston, I had some discussions regarding local laws and fisheries management, some of which were really different to ours, so I decided to talk a little about how we manage things over here, compared to how things are done over there, where awards have been won. If you'd like to go for a read and learn a little more about Welsh vs. North American lobster fisheries (and see some pictures!) click <a href="http://societyofbiologyblog.org/what-we-can-learn-from-our-peers-around-the-globe/" target="_blank">here</a>, or.... I have copied and pasted the whole article here:<br />
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<b>'What we can learn from our peers around the globe?</b><br />
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<b>Guest blogger Charlotte Eve Davies, a PhD student at Swansea University, talks about receiving a Society of Biology Travel Grant to go to the AVC Lobster Science Centre, Canada.</b><br />
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<b>‘So what do you do?’ is the question I get asked rather often. People look at me and assume, at the age of 24, I should be settled down with a ‘grown up’ job. Alas, I am still studying, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.</b><br />
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<b>In truth, there isn’t a single word to summarise my work. Underpinned by a degree in biology, I have since branched out into various areas. Pathologist? Maybe. Marine biologist? I like to think so. Lobsterologist? If only that was a word! I like to keep my options open.</b><br />
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<b>Last autumn, with the help of a Society of Biology Travel Grant, plus one from the Climate Change Consortium for Wales, I was able to take my love of all things lobster to the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island.</b><br />
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<b>During my time ‘across the pond’, I learnt a lot about lobster fisheries!</b><br />
<b><br /></b><b>When you’re looking at my area of research – assessing lobster disease, fisheries are the target. I think that Welsh fisheries management could learn some valuable lessons from the systems implemented in the US / Canada. Over there, v-notching, a system where females with eggs have their tails cut to indicate their ability to produce offspring, thus enhancing future stocks, is mandatory. Both scientists and fishermen alike there recoiled in horror when I told them that in Wales you can still catch and land berried hens (egg carrying females).</b><br />
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<b>In <a href="http://umaine.edu/lobsterinstitute/education/lobstering-basics/history/" target="_blank">Maine, USA, 1872,</a> the first law was implemented banning the capture of berried lobsters, but it was a measure already practiced by many Maine lobstermen. Last year the Maine lobster fishery was awarded Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification as a sustainable and well-managed fishery. The Prince Edward Island lobster fishery entered into the process of being assessed for the same award whilst I was there.</b><br />
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<b>Why are we so behind the times?</b><br />
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<b>Unlike the co-managed Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authorities in England, fisheries in Wales are managed by various sectors of the Welsh Fishermen’s Association, who decide upon Sea Fisheries Legislation, or ‘by-laws’, which are then implemented by the Welsh Assembly Government.</b><br />
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<b>Last year (2013), the Llŷn Fishermen’s Association bravely decided to vote in favour of implementing their own voluntary ‘berried ban,’ – disallowing landing of females with eggs. This unilateral move may have influenced the recent decision by the Welsh Government to propose a berried ban. Amongst a raft of new crustacean management regulations being proposed, they are consulting on a berried ban in Wales for the long term benefit of Welsh fisheries.</b><br />
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<b>The current <a href="http://wales.gov.uk/consultations/environmentandcountryside/crustaceans-legislation-review-phase-1/?lang=en" target="_blank">Welsh crustacean consultation</a> includes an evidence report outlining the case for a ban and other potential best practice management measures aimed at securing the long-term sustainability and profitability of the Welsh fishery. In Wales, unlike the rest of the UK, fisheries regulations are able to extend out to the 12 mile limit which really makes these effective management measures.</b><br />
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<b>Opposition to these proposed by-laws comes from some fishermen, who worry about a depleted catch if the berried hens are off limits. However, it has been found that putting berried hens back does not cost the fishermen anything after the first season and the lobsters put back today can be recaptured once the eggs are shed.</b><br />
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<b>Each 90mm lobster returned produces 7 lobsters for the fishery – based upon documented egg production at that size and assuming only a 0.1% of eggs result in lobsters entering the fishery. It’s a lobster win-win!</b><br />
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<b>American and Canadian lobster fisheries are a lot larger than ours, but considering their success, we can afford to take some tips from them. The UK landed more than <a href="http://www.marinemanagement.org.uk/fisheries/statistics/documents/ukseafish/2011/landings.pdf" target="_blank">£32m worth of lobster in 2011</a>, but unfortunately there are also imports of American lobsters into the UK (mainly for the restaurant industry), introducing an ‘invasive species’, leading to hybrid Euro-American lobsters and the possibility of disease transfer… but that’s a whole different kettle of fish!</b><br />
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<b>Before I leave, a few words of advice on the collaboration front. Never give up. If you don’t ask, you don’t get, and if you have an idea, make it heard! You never know, you could wind up halfway across the world kissing seals (yuck), feeding turtles, and learning an awful lot more than you bargained for…</b><br />
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<b>For more of my ramblings, check out my blog and find out more about the proposals for the inshore crustacean fishery.'</b><br />
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Whilst I know for many PhD students that writing their thesis and getting papers published is the main priority, I believe that writing small things like this, that are interesting to the public when written in an informal manner, are also a really good way of raising the profile of your research as well as getting those who wouldn't usually be interested in science, interested!<br />
<br />
I should also mention that the Society of Biology offer £500 Travel Grants to student affiliate/AMSB and Early career/MSB members, and the deadline for the next round of grants is 31st March 2014. I get lots of people ask me about how I self-fund my PhD, so I will be writing a blog soon about funding opportunities, and my experience applying for them, so stay tuned!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13191127290064670594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4818124434817685997.post-28684193844518276402014-02-09T18:00:00.000+00:002014-02-14T12:18:02.655+00:00Are European lobsters under threat? <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyMpeDmPMu5u7CKH7zSl8jxT_nmARrFl73ghiWtg18gH_vdR7llOeqH6PsUnfgGCqp4J7nswMRM-zBJmC-IIsTpG6jCwTwUBnCjEqcJT6x6ohWmCTmEJuiYIsCX7eYj2t2LPNSj4yc6E9f/s1600/ae1.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyMpeDmPMu5u7CKH7zSl8jxT_nmARrFl73ghiWtg18gH_vdR7llOeqH6PsUnfgGCqp4J7nswMRM-zBJmC-IIsTpG6jCwTwUBnCjEqcJT6x6ohWmCTmEJuiYIsCX7eYj2t2LPNSj4yc6E9f/s1600/ae1.png" height="320" width="253" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An American (top) and European (bottom) lobster. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span lang="EN-US">So, in my last blog post, I talked about how I recently published a paper, which I am obviously very excited about! It is in the Journal of
Invertebrate Pathology and is a result of my recent collaboration with the team
of Dr. Michael Tlusty at the New England Aquarium in Boston, one of the papers
we were looking over whilst I visited back in October. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">The study was funded by the Marine Management Organization’s <a href="http://www.marinemanagement.org.uk/fisheries/funding/fcf.htm" target="_blank">Fisheries Challenge Fund</a> with the stakeholder support of the <a href="http://www.shellfish.org.uk/" target="_blank">Shellfish Association of Great Britain</a>, plus some funding from another grant; the <a href="http://www.irelandwales.ie/projects/priority_2_theme_1/susfish" target="_blank">European Regional Development Fund (Interreg 4A, Ireland–Wales, 2007–2013, SUSFISH</a>).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">The aim was to assess the importation of live lobsters into the UK,
in terms of disease transfer to European lobsters (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Homarus gammarus</i>). More and more, American lobsters (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">H. americanus</i>) are being found in
European waters, which have been documented by fishermen, most actively around
Norweigan waters (Stebbing et al., 2003; Jørstad et al., 2011).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">When I was out in Charlottetown, PEI, Adam told me that lobster
would sell for around Canadian $3 per lb. There is significant competition
between lobstermen in the Maritimes and across the Eastern coast of North
America, so the prices are driven down. However, here in the UK, the price for
European lobster from a local fisherman is around £14 per Kg, that’s £6.35 or Canadian
$10.48 per lb, nearly 4 times more expensive than Canadian lobster! It
therefore makes ‘sense’ for restaurants to import their lobster from the US –
as even with shipping, it still works out to be more economical for them to
import American lobsters. I put sense in apostrophes here due to the fact that
I don’t think it is very sensible at all – I am all for supporting local
fishermen and think that the carbon footprint of importing lobster when we have
perfectly good lobster off of our own doorstop is totally nonsensical… but
that’s just me I guess! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSmtiFO-5DTWtFFrdbTNV7lL_fhS5rvSGbqWHnbjH-H-QQHQxy2KredY1t6nMnTQpQtDdcQLuSqPUaD9qK9veN36nMMI6pPTzYBNK-zDCWvYB_YZ0_yX2WOq_qsF42Tjjzm1OnNuu1q-yV/s1600/P1000628.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSmtiFO-5DTWtFFrdbTNV7lL_fhS5rvSGbqWHnbjH-H-QQHQxy2KredY1t6nMnTQpQtDdcQLuSqPUaD9qK9veN36nMMI6pPTzYBNK-zDCWvYB_YZ0_yX2WOq_qsF42Tjjzm1OnNuu1q-yV/s1600/P1000628.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sampling aboard a commercial fishing vessel in 2011. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span lang="EN-US">And this is where our problem begins. Accidental escapees and
carelessness means that American lobsters are often released into our waters. On
top of this, ‘conservationists’ who think they are doing the lobsters a
favour when they see them in a restaurant and buy them with the view of setting
them free, don't realise the real damage they are doing to the natural <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">H. gammarus</i> gene pool. </span>Now, to the
untrained eye, American and European lobsters can look extremely similar,
especially when they haven’t moulted for a while and are covered with slimy
biofilm, tube-worms and barnacles, however there are significant differences and
beady eyed fishermen in Norway have been reporting hybrid Euro-American
lobsters (yes, really!). The lobsters are being collected by <a href="http://www.imr.no/nyhetsarkiv/2010/mai/sensasjonell_hybrid_i_hummarverda/en" target="_blank">Dr. Ann-Lisbeth Agnalt</a> at the Institute of Marine Research in Bergen, where they have
discovered that unlike other interspecies cross-breeds, these lobsters are not
sterile! </div>
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<span lang="EN-US">American lobsters are host to some devastating diseases which have
not yet been detected, or tested for in European lobsters. One of these diseases
is Bumper Car Disease, caused by <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;">Anophryoides haemophila, </span></i><span style="color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;">a ciliate parasite</span> and another
is Epizootic Shell Disease (ESD), a form of shell disease thought to be caused
by bacteria, amongst other stressors. Shell disease syndrome, or in crabs,
Black Spot, is endemic to the European crustacean populations (see Vogan et
al., 2008), but it is not as severe or as devastating to the shellfish industry
as ESD is in the US. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIJAV3z8N3SmnYohXpQepLXHQfYS9k3sNmnkS-dwcJ7BfNji8xsg9TuhFwKHxBrl5phGsjkbEQK84rNgbuEkprM-FC59LP13NMcQlmqO2vBQfmL-E3tFkEaKXVLgKr3O1IqfflXhBYnqAp/s1600/ESD1.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIJAV3z8N3SmnYohXpQepLXHQfYS9k3sNmnkS-dwcJ7BfNji8xsg9TuhFwKHxBrl5phGsjkbEQK84rNgbuEkprM-FC59LP13NMcQlmqO2vBQfmL-E3tFkEaKXVLgKr3O1IqfflXhBYnqAp/s1600/ESD1.png" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An American lobster with Epizootic Shell Disease. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span lang="EN-US">After that long-winded introduction, this is where I come in! Is it
possible for my beloved European lobsters to get ESD? How will the 'invasion' of
these pesky Americans affect our native lobbies? We devised an exposure
experiment to test if when they are damaged in the same way, sharing the same
tank and water, would European lobsters display the same shell disease as
American lobsters? When I say damaged, we imitated natural damage by puncturing
the claws as they would when fighting, as well as abrading the shell with
sandpaper to mimic the natural damage from shuffling around under rocks and in
‘caves’, where they would usually reside. On top of the European and American lobbies
in Boston, we had a like for like experiment running at the same time in
Swansea, with just European lobsters (from the same stock as the ones we sent
to Boston), to see how the disease (if any) would develop alone. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">We did all sorts of analysis, including swabbing and photographing
the induced damage development weekly over the entire experiment (about 10-12
weeks), which were then extracted of DNA, and tested using PCR (polymerase
chain reaction) for the bacteria thought to cause ESD, a gram positive critter
called <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Aquimarina homari </i>(Quinn et
al., 2012), photographing the time final shells or moults under Scanning
Election Microscopy (SEM) and placing the final tissues into histology (which I
am still in the process of examining).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2i2b2K6GRLordq-6l3aAVM2y1JzgIcVUSgXb_ECXH7bkq9r24M5mKvSZ8UuLp2-6-OPaPqdDi9pZ5FVWAhdZFlgvZNxCMcef0O9I88zhQPae6TP-YgA8gwdlF6_OFVqQEGrawHCCAsa_Q/s1600/thickness.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2i2b2K6GRLordq-6l3aAVM2y1JzgIcVUSgXb_ECXH7bkq9r24M5mKvSZ8UuLp2-6-OPaPqdDi9pZ5FVWAhdZFlgvZNxCMcef0O9I88zhQPae6TP-YgA8gwdlF6_OFVqQEGrawHCCAsa_Q/s1600/thickness.png" height="320" width="231" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Top (A): European, and bottom (B): American <br />
cuticle, check out that difference in thickness!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
When looking at the bacteria, we noticed that most of it resided
around the pore canals and setal pits (hairs) on the lobster shell. Pores are
little indentations for the transport of ions and minerals such as melanin to
the surface of the lobster and the hairs are for chemo and mechano-reception
(tasting and feeling the water). We aren’t the first people to notice the
bacteria hanging around these areas (Smolowitz et al., 2005) and this
observation along with the hypothesis that bacteria may cause shell disease (Rosen, 1970; Sindermann, 1991) means that these are probably the aperture allowing the
entry of pathogens – therefore the reason why the damage we induced gives entry
to the disease.<br />
<br />
<span lang="EN-US">The American lobsters had a different array of bacterial flora than the European counterpart, but we found <i>A. homari </i>in both species - I won’t give too much away, as that paper is still being reviewed. My most exciting finds were of that under the SEM – European lobsters have a thicker cuticle (shell) and less pores on their claws than American lobsters. This is pretty exciting for European lobsters for a number of reasons… namely because it may mean that they are less susceptible to disease. <o:p></o:p></span>Hurrah!</div>
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<br />
So, that is a simplified version of my work so far and to me, like I
said earlier, it is very exciting. I like to think that it’s good news for the
European lobster, but our study was just a small in vitro fraction of the whole
population, so plenty more work so be done. For more of the science, see my paper: Davies, C.E., et al. A
comparison of the structure of American (<i>Homarus americanus</i>) and European
(<i>Homarus gammarus</i>) lobster cuticle with particular reference to shell disease susceptibility.
J. Invertebr. Pathol. (2014), <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jip.2014.01.001">http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jip.2014.01.001</a>,
and if you can’t access it, just leave me a comment or send me an email to get
a copy – if anything, the pictures are pretty awesome. It’s currently only
online <br />
but should be in print within a couple of months!<br />
<br />
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<span lang="EN-US"><b><u>References</u></b> (I tried to link them all, but not sure who will be able to access them if you're not on a subscribers network)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
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Jørstad, K.E., Agnalt, A., Farestveit, E., 2011. The introduced American lobster, <i>Homarus americanus</i> in Scandinavian waters. In: Galil, B.S., Clark, P.F., Carlton, J.T. (Eds.), In the Wrong Place – Alien Marine Crustaceans: Distribution, Biology and Impacts. Invading Nature – Springer Series in Invasion Ecology, vol. 6. pp. 625–638.</div>
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<a href="http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.2983/035.031.0208" target="_blank">Quinn, R.A., Metzler, A., Smolowitz, R.M., Tlusty, M., Chistoserdov, A.Y., 2012. Exposures of <i>Homarus americanus</i> shell to three bacteria isolated from naturally occurring epizootic shell disease lesions. J. Shellfish Res. 31, 485–493.</a></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/iroh.19720570618/abstract" target="_blank">Rosen, B. 1970. Shell disease of aquatic crustaceans In: Snieszko, S.F. (ed) A symposium on diseases of fishes and shellfishes. Special Publication No 5. American Fisheries Society, Washington, DC, pp 409–415.</a></div>
<div class="p1">
<br /></div>
<div class="p1">
Sindermann, C.J. 1991. Shell disease in marine crustaceans—a conceptual approach. J. Shellfish Res. 10, 491−494</div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.2983/0730-8000(2005)24%5B749:ADOTPO%5D2.0.CO%3B2" target="_blank">Smolowitz, R., Chistoserdov, A.Y., Hsu, A., 2005. A description ofthe pathology of epizootic shell disease in the American lobster, Homarus americanus,H. Milne Edwards 1837. J. Shellfish Res. 24, 749–756.</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.reabic.net/journals/bir/2012/1/bir_2012_1_stebbing_etal.pdf" target="_blank">Stebbing, P., Johnson, P., Delahunty, A., Clark, P.F., McCollin, T., Hale, C., Clark, S., 2012. Reports of American lobsters, <i>Homarus americanus</i> (H. Milne Edwards, 1837), in British waters. Bioinvasions Rec. 1, 17–23.</a></div>
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<a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18177374" target="_blank">Vogan, C.L., Powell, A., Rowley, A.F., 2008. Shell disease in crustaceans – just chitin recycling gone wrong? Environ. Microbiol. 10, 826–835.</a></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13191127290064670594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4818124434817685997.post-53528406321420395732014-02-06T22:56:00.000+00:002014-02-14T12:18:46.882+00:00Changing homes (not just the lobsters.. )<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9bM6Mi-4Y_7PQ5LXtm1W1E3CRwkXQH4Bedzaa3tSKkEq0aTMbVoqXZQWkSxqW2sl5vpWRt1vWkkecGYzVZcR2ghAQEsfkjsN6ozc5IZAaO3TL1gNXW5_R1iBLBhqAC7KltSwht_wEhaDr/s1600/IMG_6052.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9bM6Mi-4Y_7PQ5LXtm1W1E3CRwkXQH4Bedzaa3tSKkEq0aTMbVoqXZQWkSxqW2sl5vpWRt1vWkkecGYzVZcR2ghAQEsfkjsN6ozc5IZAaO3TL1gNXW5_R1iBLBhqAC7KltSwht_wEhaDr/s1600/IMG_6052.JPG" height="239" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Home sweet home. My favourite sand dunes at Oxwich.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
So, as ever, here I was promising to keep up with my blog but failing miserably! I've been back well over a month now, and it's been hectic to say the least.<br />
<br />
To give you all a bit of a whirldwind tour of my life over the past few weeks, it has consisted of a job interview 2 days after landing in Heathrow, getting said job (wahoo!) and moving house to the Student Village. This is because the job was a live-in dealio (Welfare Warden with the university), which is perfect timing as a job-less self funded PhD student returning from an expensive trip.<br />
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I've been doing a lot of demonstrating and marking (Level 1 Cell Biology, Animal diversity, Bioethics and Plant Physiology) and have even given lectures to third year students (Level 3 Diseases of Aquatic Animals), a presentation called 'The diseases of the large-clawed lobsters, Homaridae.' -if you want a copy, just get in touch! Aside from all the extra curricular stuff I have sent off 2 papers for publication (shell disease work which I did during the first/second year of my PhD), one of which was published last week, and am currently writing one from some work I did just before Canada on lobster blood physiology. Phew!<br />
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Christmas came and went at a rate of knots (slow down, time!), and as I am now officially a third year PhD student, the panic has set in slightly. After the guys in Canada sent the samples which I had been working on over there, I have been trying to optimise a DNA extraction method in order to get total DNA of pathogens from lobster blood (bacterial, viral and eukaryotic), and spiking control blood with different concentrations of pathogens to work out how sensitive my extraction is. After 4 weeks of tweaking different things - it worked. I rephrase that... IT REALLY ACTUALLY WORKED, YES!! (This is how I felt, but there was nobody in the lab to share my excitement with, so the world will have to do!) I felt like I wanted to move Christmas back a week, and finish all of my extractions (all 611 of them) before I went home... what a scrooge!<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbqsp4nBkEH6qX_n2Y8rSHggP9bRHYiBuUrAFFJTCja8uys4y-vAPamLI3j7Om5axby3yGG0p9tc1XJlR3Lb9Q_xArvbi8RRaoaTLEMeUpY_4dTVEu0PvrUtMLDBXr0nqDauDdZPFPjgie/s1600/hoy.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbqsp4nBkEH6qX_n2Y8rSHggP9bRHYiBuUrAFFJTCja8uys4y-vAPamLI3j7Om5axby3yGG0p9tc1XJlR3Lb9Q_xArvbi8RRaoaTLEMeUpY_4dTVEu0PvrUtMLDBXr0nqDauDdZPFPjgie/s1600/hoy.png" height="209" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hotpod Yoga Pod much like Ana's... </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In other news - if you know me then you'll know I've been a fan of yoga since I started a class in my first year, but when I travelled to India in 2010 and discovered the joys of Ashtanga, it really started. Whilst in Canada I discovered the Charlottetown <a href="http://charlottetown.mokshayoga.ca/">Moksha yoga school</a>, which is 'hot yoga' - a sort of vinyasa flow yoga in 39 degree (celcius!) heat - a lot of traditional 'yogis' see this franchise as a bit of a commercial rip off, but considering I hadn't had a solid practise in a few months, I thought it would be nice to get into a routine again, and the heat really helped with relaxing and my flexibility. Back here in Swansea, my yoga teacher at the YMCA in Swansea, Ana Chidzoy, recently bought a giant pop up hot yoga tent and has started offering <a href="http://www.hotpodyoga.com/popups/swansea/">Hotpod Yoga</a> - similar to the yoga I did in Canada, but the studio is not heated, just the tent is - this gives it a cosier, relaxed atmosphere and it's pretty dark, so you don't feel like you're being watched by anyone. The yoga is a mixture of Ashtanga, vinyasa flow and some Yin, Ana likes to mix it up with each session, and each week there is a different essential oil in the aroma diffusers in the pod - this week, it was Eucalyptus, with all the colds flying around it was nice to be able to breathe. Obviously as I am now in the last year of my PhD, things can get a little intense sometimes, so it's nice to take an hour or so out of each day, relax, let go of any stress or worries.<br />
<br />
I have also been doing a lot of walking and exploring - I recently walked from Mumbles to Oxwich with a new PhD student in our department who has come from doing an MRes at the Exeter University's Falmouth campus to study vulture behaviour.<br />
<br />
I have also been having some fun with my baby lobsters. Since getting them in June last year they are ever-growing, and I am trying to speed up the process in order to get them to experimental size. I modified some pipette tip boxes and filled them with gravel, which gave the lobsters something to occupy themselves with. It has been stated in literature that they will not develop their classic 'cutter' and 'crusher' claws without things to manipulate - so I decided to observe them over a few weeks. What I saw was really fun and interesting, they love moving their piles of gravel, and even though they are so small, the difference weekly was striking. Check out the following pictures where you can see their handiwork - much like little interior decorators!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipZEVe0IkdyHNltzJOv6ZuTODONmuVTTrVR_wCKsQGvdJJd8UwrZVY7LWuw7P8G1LViNwFkynmcLzd_yqdYDHLpiq5CiS30kE9lM8I9s-CphjhcSBnJRPC2SDbuio8DtMV7QvZNhRjNmJA/s1600/IMG_5439.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipZEVe0IkdyHNltzJOv6ZuTODONmuVTTrVR_wCKsQGvdJJd8UwrZVY7LWuw7P8G1LViNwFkynmcLzd_yqdYDHLpiq5CiS30kE9lM8I9s-CphjhcSBnJRPC2SDbuio8DtMV7QvZNhRjNmJA/s1600/IMG_5439.jpg" height="320" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">DIY lobster homes..</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Immediately after re-housing the lobsters into their new tip-box homes.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifh7BXIGWmLo6QdQTAp9QQWYcwG_U125ime_jovgzJxMyGyo2oppA5DtEHtbRtiNQzg-bUGH2YlcZKlzTGNT4esuGDXMchVv4xOSiP08ry3qUClv7XZBDD4fMl-QRn7wPkBMhcaocYNnZF/s1600/IMG_5475.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifh7BXIGWmLo6QdQTAp9QQWYcwG_U125ime_jovgzJxMyGyo2oppA5DtEHtbRtiNQzg-bUGH2YlcZKlzTGNT4esuGDXMchVv4xOSiP08ry3qUClv7XZBDD4fMl-QRn7wPkBMhcaocYNnZF/s1600/IMG_5475.jpg" height="320" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">After 1 week.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMtAzjw9O3I1Q4cscCTFTcy40FYvBpgVh5HaraVuYEeDjBv_7JIg7bkezUk4h1OkZm2Gngr9aUHpoGBnwNUO0Jxwo6crxOLcahw-GyS4TlhZmDzVlUZ77nSO-TohN8s7t29mAMr9SYDVyg/s1600/IMG_5548.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMtAzjw9O3I1Q4cscCTFTcy40FYvBpgVh5HaraVuYEeDjBv_7JIg7bkezUk4h1OkZm2Gngr9aUHpoGBnwNUO0Jxwo6crxOLcahw-GyS4TlhZmDzVlUZ77nSO-TohN8s7t29mAMr9SYDVyg/s1600/IMG_5548.jpg" height="320" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">After 2 weeks.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3Zb31cES-qbznOplUUtpICcVRz1ftQyLSWQgsclv754IAsjkq5OgRKP63YenV_jGlxDI42QMW90vmvzxZ0TuAHPxap6NTeRdWKMLiFDmzunsHKgXN5q8tfDVAWyV_lKRzClnNjm4Ft748/s1600/IMG_5648.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3Zb31cES-qbznOplUUtpICcVRz1ftQyLSWQgsclv754IAsjkq5OgRKP63YenV_jGlxDI42QMW90vmvzxZ0TuAHPxap6NTeRdWKMLiFDmzunsHKgXN5q8tfDVAWyV_lKRzClnNjm4Ft748/s1600/IMG_5648.jpg" height="320" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">After 3 weeks.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw7xOfnzpN4DWVX3bnQhNfvFMd6qPKqNeRUDzs3KJGUyDukvlbuemWcxCAmoMtq1ABW5TVN0UB2iqN_I44BqqA60-Ld-H574P_uRyxSN3j2JvRyUG0BdMagGemyh0UvAjHLXdoAVCVivum/s1600/IMG_5710.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw7xOfnzpN4DWVX3bnQhNfvFMd6qPKqNeRUDzs3KJGUyDukvlbuemWcxCAmoMtq1ABW5TVN0UB2iqN_I44BqqA60-Ld-H574P_uRyxSN3j2JvRyUG0BdMagGemyh0UvAjHLXdoAVCVivum/s1600/IMG_5710.JPG" height="320" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">After 4 weeks. </td></tr>
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Cool how it changes week by week, hey?! Since I took these photos over a month long period, the lobsters have grown significantly, started developing their claw differentiations, so they've had to be re-housed yet again.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqDsyqZg8MjrA1kO5ck4k00SZIAqQxDohybaW7lEr7at8qVz5Ex8LnG5K_jxbL1DjuvVeg9SacMhjzBVflFRUN0KtBLo4J4blaSTY-Fw9rikMHuNGEXHzN2WNQ1BZPhyzBJ_8rsG103oDL/s1600/IMG_6378.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqDsyqZg8MjrA1kO5ck4k00SZIAqQxDohybaW7lEr7at8qVz5Ex8LnG5K_jxbL1DjuvVeg9SacMhjzBVflFRUN0KtBLo4J4blaSTY-Fw9rikMHuNGEXHzN2WNQ1BZPhyzBJ_8rsG103oDL/s1600/IMG_6378.JPG" height="239" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">So much room for activities!!</td></tr>
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Anyhow, that's 4 months in a nutshell... stay tuned for another blog about my most recent paper, lobster invasive species and disease susceptibility... Exciting!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13191127290064670594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4818124434817685997.post-30614122840870845812013-11-25T14:04:00.000+00:002014-02-14T12:19:11.712+00:00Next chapter... Virginia!<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhru1PysvZQ-C07OTPs481sRefp4ULuQfBYWSp9uyW5SMK7J4br0zexSPOVufmzE-Pjlw2WLf7nCd6GEXLpA2k2ti02bK74KeSoom0jA35bnkc9EpNpJCEoUl98VUlIv1f7CWyiHwNvzTzm/s1600/IMG_5979.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhru1PysvZQ-C07OTPs481sRefp4ULuQfBYWSp9uyW5SMK7J4br0zexSPOVufmzE-Pjlw2WLf7nCd6GEXLpA2k2ti02bK74KeSoom0jA35bnkc9EpNpJCEoUl98VUlIv1f7CWyiHwNvzTzm/s320/IMG_5979.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Capitol.</td></tr>
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I know I've been back over 3 weeks now, and I just KNEW when I started this blog that I would be totally rubbish at keeping it updated... but I am a trier! Here's the part about Virginia... the final chapter of my travels across the pond (for now!)...<br />
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So I was picked up at Richmond airport by the one and only Tessa Diehl and her beau Frank, who kindly drove me all the way to Williamsburg! I was staying with Tessa for two nights, and then a hotel for the rest of my stay, as I didn't want to get in her hair too much and her room-mate has exams.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1Mx0eFdH45scN0f00NF7PgNd9CiISzfua3XmYe60oe0B7FHOd95jE4UYCFLMI9JZaNwu7tXAK8jRbAm7JicLxiHVpddV5YaIpEsfD0uwbgTHlGqfhjrNKzu0kZRxT5AWiOsdp444Sx_kz/s1600/IMG_5995.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1Mx0eFdH45scN0f00NF7PgNd9CiISzfua3XmYe60oe0B7FHOd95jE4UYCFLMI9JZaNwu7tXAK8jRbAm7JicLxiHVpddV5YaIpEsfD0uwbgTHlGqfhjrNKzu0kZRxT5AWiOsdp444Sx_kz/s320/IMG_5995.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The White House.</td></tr>
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Tessa goes to the College of William and Mary, in Williamsburg, which is one of the oldest universities in the US so has many traditions, and old architecture. The campus is very green and beautiful, Tessa gave me a tour on my first day. She lives in Monroe Hall, a special accomodation reserved for the 'Monroe Scholars'. The James Monroe Scholars Program is offered each year to the top 10-15% of all admitted students to the College of William and Mary, and gives them a special stipend to pursue research, which is amazing for a freshman, as you wouldn't normally get to take part in research until your final year, like you do here in the UK. So in the USA, unlike back home in the UK, the freshmen share dorm rooms. It is much like our first year accommodation - shared flat with shared bathrooms and kitchen, except here, the boys are one wing of the corridor and the girls are the opposite end - and they all share rooms! Williamsburg is quite small and walkable, so Tessa also showed me around the town before we headed for dinner to the <a href="http://bluetalonbistro.com/front.html" target="_blank">Blue Talon Bistro</a> because it was Tessa's roommate, Mary's, birthday.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKS_g4sAvjU48f1QMEshKg_TDiPrN_DQ8Y6KdLZdO5apMxV5ygIaRzHOGthXT0w1cyGM0db4o3wnSmu0H-mQIa9LEVYcjRgUNVaj1vPd-Rpye0ZzVbyJVLexdwXoLaUrE39QhWnKhz1BeV/s1600/IMG_6028.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKS_g4sAvjU48f1QMEshKg_TDiPrN_DQ8Y6KdLZdO5apMxV5ygIaRzHOGthXT0w1cyGM0db4o3wnSmu0H-mQIa9LEVYcjRgUNVaj1vPd-Rpye0ZzVbyJVLexdwXoLaUrE39QhWnKhz1BeV/s320/IMG_6028.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Lincoln Memorial. </td></tr>
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The next day, Tessa and I set off on a road trip to Washington DC! It took a couple of hours, but it was a lovely day and when we got there, walked the National Mall to The Capitol and then all the way down to the Reflecting Pond and the Lincoln Memorial. We even had time to explore the Natural History Museum on the way! We stayed until evening as Tessa insisted that this was the best part of the day to see the mall, and it was breathtaking! Unfortunately the Washington Monument (the giant obelisk) was having some repairs done due to damage caused by the 5.8-magnitude earthquake that struck the region in August 2011.<br />
Since he attends George Mason University near Washington, Frank came to meet us for the evening and took us for dinner in a real American diner (very exciting for me)!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDVrfQ4qsvl1I0NwLqFLu8BCHCmYfui6xA8roNVCKt2xWQeNooCz_WoWlhXgvkyYxqf9SLG16SVCG1bghxrX8Zso92v4QO_NMcI62waSrG6GvfkV5PXPhwiaK-9v_uJddJPkbbtzl6Mj7s/s1600/IMG_6048.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDVrfQ4qsvl1I0NwLqFLu8BCHCmYfui6xA8roNVCKt2xWQeNooCz_WoWlhXgvkyYxqf9SLG16SVCG1bghxrX8Zso92v4QO_NMcI62waSrG6GvfkV5PXPhwiaK-9v_uJddJPkbbtzl6Mj7s/s320/IMG_6048.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Real American cheerleaders!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJL4vgcCLRHSHSqtRN-cfCHfyyKEqYSklz_xPHt98SRfuh6E1CVmHPbicmckx0b-ga9dLE1SBttS6A2vdMmZj3tqRCxWp_Xr1xIzTzsgb5JCpyWOfbh_i4KVgUiwE54F5tD8LzlEJl9NQ0/s1600/IMG_6057.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJL4vgcCLRHSHSqtRN-cfCHfyyKEqYSklz_xPHt98SRfuh6E1CVmHPbicmckx0b-ga9dLE1SBttS6A2vdMmZj3tqRCxWp_Xr1xIzTzsgb5JCpyWOfbh_i4KVgUiwE54F5tD8LzlEJl9NQ0/s320/IMG_6057.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The pep band.</td></tr>
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On the Saturday, it was the William and Mary Homecoming Weekend. It's an event that most schools have over in the US once a year, where alumni return to the university for a reunion. There was a parade on the Friday, which we missed because we were in DC, but on the Saturday there was a big American football game - obviously from my cheerleading days I have seen them before, but in America, it is a TOTAL amazing experience. The games and stadiums in schools are HUGE - beforehand, everyone meets in the parking lot to have a pre game meal and drinks out of the back of their cars, this American tradition is called tailgating, which I had never heard of, but it was a must. We went to meet for a BBQ with Tessa's friends, Alpha Phi Omega, a co-ed fraternity - everyone was lovely. William and Mary is a relatively small school, but the atmosphere was electric, we watched the pep band, the national anthem, the cheerleaders and dance troupes before the game started, and we WON! Go Tribe!<br />
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On the Sunday we went to Busch Gardens in Williamsburg for the annual Howl O Scream night - it was terrifying! Haunted houses, scary monsters dressed up chasing us around with chainsaws... the rides were awesome, but I spent most of the night awake thinking someone was coming to get me in my hotel room!<br />
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The next day Tessa drove me all the way to Gloucester Point, to visit a professor at the <a href="http://www.vims.edu/" target="_blank">Virginia Institute of Marine Science</a> (more widely known as VIMS). The man in question is <a href="http://www.vims.edu/~jeff/" target="_blank">Professor Jeffrey D. Shields</a>, who has an array of crustacean disease research under his belt, and is a bit of an idol for me, so it was great to meet him! His work includes the <a href="http://www.vims.edu/~jeff/biology/2012%20Shields%20et%20al.%20100%20lobsters%20overview.pdf" target="_blank">100 Lobsters Project</a>, and various <i>Hematodinium</i> (Bitter Crab) projects. It was nice to have some impartial advice, share ideas and get perspective on my work - No doubt it will be Jeff who reviews some of the papers I hope to publish from my PhD thesis! It was a great afternoon - and Tessa had a chance to talk to him about a possible lab internship, so it was win-win. Later that day, Jeff gave me a lift back to Williamsburg - much to my amusement, his license plate read 'KrabDr'... amazing.</div>
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As it was my final night, we went for dinner and then watched a halloween show put on by the Chemistry department at William and Mary - pretty cool - and hilarious, their professors and postgrads were great - I don't think we'd get away with half of it here in Swansea though - health and safety nightmare! After this, we went to a haunted house that the students were setting up - one of their halls of residence used to be a hostel, and is aptly named Hospitality House - nicknamed the Ho House. For one night, some students vacate their rooms and they decorate the halls to hold ghost tours - it was amazing, and I would love to see something like that here in Swansea - there it such a community spirit and they are all having an amazing time without having to go out and drink themselves senseless. </div>
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The next day, I had to say my goodbyes before getting a taxi to the airport... I have alot to think about, digest, read and reflect upon, but I will save that for another blog post... Goodbye North America... hello London (and, if you hadn't guessed already, it was raining when I landed!).</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13191127290064670594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4818124434817685997.post-39811679743151851112013-10-29T20:15:00.001+00:002014-06-07T01:32:55.465+01:00Beautiful Boston.. and around!<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsEDiUU55V6edc3i-P_E4-QzqKhXvrsGmgozmOHbdzq3ZQtiqg8zXhFcOzruD5NIsWpG5ie5LWlrcopXXgq7Ih2R3d_4z-e0jDRo8TrwAEwvbZ4aCcKf_yBbLbDj_DdgEkVkEvmN15wv_M/s1600/IMG_5771.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsEDiUU55V6edc3i-P_E4-QzqKhXvrsGmgozmOHbdzq3ZQtiqg8zXhFcOzruD5NIsWpG5ie5LWlrcopXXgq7Ih2R3d_4z-e0jDRo8TrwAEwvbZ4aCcKf_yBbLbDj_DdgEkVkEvmN15wv_M/s320/IMG_5771.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Boston skyline from the harbour. </td></tr>
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So after last weeks antics I didn't think that Boston could get any better. It did!<br />
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So the nice man in my hotel who saw me looking entirely clueless on my first day, took pity on me and drew out a map of things he thought I would be interested in.<br />
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First things first - whale watching in Massachusetts Bay - in particular, Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary. The boat left Boston Harbour and took just over an hour to reach the sanctuary, and we were lucky enough to see 5 humpback whales, which included one baby, which was less than one year old (they leave their parents at around 11 months). However, as I had chosen to go on a Saturday, it was extremely busy and I'm surprised the boat didn't tip over with the amount of people hanging over the side! It was amazing to see these beautiful creatures in their natural habitat, but they got so close to the boats that it worried me - is this how whales get killed by boat propellors and fishing nets? The guide on the boat told us 'not to worry' that the boat was going to hit the whales, and that scientific research shows that they actually come closer to boats each year... Are they becoming habituated to people following them around on boats? We weren't the only boat there, as you can see from my pictures.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyx9NglyWc42CkknHdIeRKt7DNNcZKSPmcaxg2xvOIl69RMoCtm7wadYntp_4iUkAkRwRiDv-vbgVnOi85S1kVWAyQG8m16xNBWwj20OVbCcH0o-fiBu8Xy9MBs1zl5zr2RtLl4cPN9lmJ/s1600/IMG_5783.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyx9NglyWc42CkknHdIeRKt7DNNcZKSPmcaxg2xvOIl69RMoCtm7wadYntp_4iUkAkRwRiDv-vbgVnOi85S1kVWAyQG8m16xNBWwj20OVbCcH0o-fiBu8Xy9MBs1zl5zr2RtLl4cPN9lmJ/s320/IMG_5783.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The lesser spotted tourist boat.. I mean, humpback!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFVeHS2J6meiqH5RrUBeqmJHGw0L0yy6rQ_yimYNS-9qfLJyGuFicM0FqtundCuAySyTU4UWUDECHf5q7OsR2anZFxiOoe6EPLWYAeglQZ_aYs8FOLSQuytVTO5H-Qo-Chsk4EZa7Oq6Ol/s1600/IMG_5782.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFVeHS2J6meiqH5RrUBeqmJHGw0L0yy6rQ_yimYNS-9qfLJyGuFicM0FqtundCuAySyTU4UWUDECHf5q7OsR2anZFxiOoe6EPLWYAeglQZ_aYs8FOLSQuytVTO5H-Qo-Chsk4EZa7Oq6Ol/s320/IMG_5782.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Two humpback whales.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih4XrkoB1Xi6_I5yplAAx787EKh3dCr1Uu7_JYfGaMF9KSYTMg5ID6wU9AD89k_L2tgSlCjDLYF7QZLvIIRzrvWbW526g9A4m2fyEDQHr-5V0FzzHF7qlGu2fmUNf-HtAGKcpRiGXBKAWY/s1600/IMG_5814.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih4XrkoB1Xi6_I5yplAAx787EKh3dCr1Uu7_JYfGaMF9KSYTMg5ID6wU9AD89k_L2tgSlCjDLYF7QZLvIIRzrvWbW526g9A4m2fyEDQHr-5V0FzzHF7qlGu2fmUNf-HtAGKcpRiGXBKAWY/s320/IMG_5814.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Harvard campus.</td></tr>
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Since I had the rest of the day free I decided to take a trip to Harvard. I took a walk around the beautiful campus, which was nice to see because of the 'fall' colours, and the Natural History Museum, which is also on the grounds. The campus was beautiful and Dr. Tlusty had told me that I needed to see the glass flower exhibit - a collection of over 3,000 model flowers created by glass artisans Leopold Blaschka and his son, Rudolph. The commission began in 1886, continued for five decades (1887-1936), and the collection represents 847 plant species.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaJ_7X_CiMiO4b5yfQtW6gerOwxtgmDP6XSPltmaFyLs-7lmqLNkhGiJQD5f8j0wn44976qYq1QcB6yts9ka3bO5OkfvS19zdW7Q_4JmrpN6Z-tDOmRGGpW5unU3VihaBlQTTBSYniqdrd/s1600/IMG_5869.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaJ_7X_CiMiO4b5yfQtW6gerOwxtgmDP6XSPltmaFyLs-7lmqLNkhGiJQD5f8j0wn44976qYq1QcB6yts9ka3bO5OkfvS19zdW7Q_4JmrpN6Z-tDOmRGGpW5unU3VihaBlQTTBSYniqdrd/s320/IMG_5869.jpg" height="320" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Salem Witch 'Museum'.</td></tr>
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Since it's October, and the Americans (and Canadians!) go mental for Halloween, I thought it would only be appropriate to head to Salem for the day on Sunday. Strangely, aboard the 45 minute ferry I saw a familiar face, and ended up talking to a lady who works at Swansea University, in my building! Small world. 'Haunted Happenings' is a month long festival around Salem which, in a way, profits from it's famous 'Witch Trails', in 1692 when 20 people, 14 women and 6 men, were executed. Salem is older than Boston by 4 years, and is home to the Burying Point Cemetery, the second oldest burying ground in the United States. It has lots of cool history, but at this time of year the witch museum is the most popular. I was able to see Salem Maritime National Park, a National Historic Site, which is home to 'Friendship of Salem', a replica of an East India Trading Co. cargo vessel built in Salem in 1797. I ate lunch on Salem Common, where some of the 'Hocus Pocus' movie was filmed, and was also able to take a 'tram' tour of the city. On the ferry home I met a lovely family from Edinburgh!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUuYqBCcKpdTGVLHmpqZ0im9cyw-UVown01UeUq-8ykEF7EuDPqR2VvKaD7V9ILZ0WjDPW9i8rJhcq6RvUbfyEUMXFvSjbvcEYZXw7_CdyPmACNKqp2b7ekTCsV7wgqG0X1j4koSv8IQqY/s1600/IMG_5876.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUuYqBCcKpdTGVLHmpqZ0im9cyw-UVown01UeUq-8ykEF7EuDPqR2VvKaD7V9ILZ0WjDPW9i8rJhcq6RvUbfyEUMXFvSjbvcEYZXw7_CdyPmACNKqp2b7ekTCsV7wgqG0X1j4koSv8IQqY/s320/IMG_5876.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Salem harbour by night.</td></tr>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGPxLXkZTB5hnxnPl0PSKVQ9RHmLYXS_ZVhaW7sty0OF-Q7yA1DIA5wl0Tdbhbd3-0awzJ6t9-D3myaPfWzkxlYTfjaCfKrA4r3K-URYerCEJC4oJDI4__Z-AYlNrEr0ZTn0NtfPz33Ue9/s1600/IMG_5888.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGPxLXkZTB5hnxnPl0PSKVQ9RHmLYXS_ZVhaW7sty0OF-Q7yA1DIA5wl0Tdbhbd3-0awzJ6t9-D3myaPfWzkxlYTfjaCfKrA4r3K-URYerCEJC4oJDI4__Z-AYlNrEr0ZTn0NtfPz33Ue9/s320/IMG_5888.jpg" height="320" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bunker Hill Monument. </td></tr>
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On Monday I explored Boston some more, finally finishing the Freedom Trail. It took me to Bunker Hill Monument, built to commemorate the first major battle of the American Revolution when American colonists faced British forces during the famous 'Battle of Bunker Hill' in 1775. I also stumbled across the Boston Navy Shipyard (formerly known as Charlestown Navy Yard). It closed in 1974, but is now a part of Boston National Historical Park. There is a museum and visitors centre, and you can see where they used to build and repair the boats in the dry docks. The USS Constitution and USS Cassin Young are also displayed, representing the types of vessels built there.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9euAhl9BOp9a0nAAwfCrGbTvIlZID410ZVAXZlrDrwmxF16EE8PV7vL1sOhP0ckStQeN6V76Dkcisy5wJjGQ4M4DRQx9qa8ZnhWZSlcZfRNDrUtPSeY07b7CgZ5ehaoSouaoWRgO4kBK9/s1600/IMG_5932.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9euAhl9BOp9a0nAAwfCrGbTvIlZID410ZVAXZlrDrwmxF16EE8PV7vL1sOhP0ckStQeN6V76Dkcisy5wJjGQ4M4DRQx9qa8ZnhWZSlcZfRNDrUtPSeY07b7CgZ5ehaoSouaoWRgO4kBK9/s320/IMG_5932.jpg" height="320" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Behind the scenes at WH aquarium. </td></tr>
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On Tuesday I took a bus down to Woods Hole, a small town south of Cape Cod, as I was really interested in seeing the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). It is one of the leaders in marine research and they have an Ocean Science Exhibit Center, where you can learn about their research, including the discovery of the Titanic wreck with their submersibles. I really wanted to visit the Marine Biological Laboratory, another private, nonprofit institution, but the public areas were closed for the season. I did get to visit the The Woods Hole Science Aquarium which was established in 1885, making it the USA's oldest marine aquarium. It is owned by the government and operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Marine Fisheries Service, in partnership with the Marine Biological Laboratory. It was rather small, but the public were able to go behind the scenes and see how it is run. They also had a couple of seals.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYJHcN5dExFyp___4R9xFqE1MO4a-pyq2F5KP85KXkhyphenhyphenSN_D_Ne6RHsjUT382Bn49ucrCH5x0veM13rhrs_If7iRGXot6sG9OrNSMkI4Jx58rjVmpex4af1gRAa_KXDKFs1rHN7mJOYhtz/s1600/IMG_5938.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYJHcN5dExFyp___4R9xFqE1MO4a-pyq2F5KP85KXkhyphenhyphenSN_D_Ne6RHsjUT382Bn49ucrCH5x0veM13rhrs_If7iRGXot6sG9OrNSMkI4Jx58rjVmpex4af1gRAa_KXDKFs1rHN7mJOYhtz/s320/IMG_5938.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The jetty at Martha's Vineyard. </td></tr>
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Because alot of places were closed due to the off-season, I had a few spare hours before my bus back to Boston and decided to take a ferry across to Martha's Vineyard. I actually had no idea what Martha's Vineyard was until I got on the ferry, but I figured that there were alot of people heading there so there must be alot to do! It's an island south of Cape Cod, mainly a summering haven, as the temperature is higher so people go there for their summer vacation, it has lots of nice beaches and the famous gingerbread houses in Edgartown. It also has a bunch of nice shops, and it was nice for me to just walk around and take some pictures of the beautiful harbour.<br />
<br />
Wednesday was my last day at the aquarium, so I met with Michael and Anita <span style="text-align: center;">for last minute checks on some work we are finishing up together.. and I had one last walk around Boston before leaving for Virginia!</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMhehe5KMOnzaGSuKGGkx_6PBN6RXX0qYjmtCqmzUDNzbLvSup4ouxHfm3GhP5jk6G4Jsn0bxJJIbCvtItB62hthvj4FQY1b3Itj4oy2L_Gb0Lbo7njHou4gZ-XGuVyvWmF4D6qeovPFZk/s1600/IMG_5828.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMhehe5KMOnzaGSuKGGkx_6PBN6RXX0qYjmtCqmzUDNzbLvSup4ouxHfm3GhP5jk6G4Jsn0bxJJIbCvtItB62hthvj4FQY1b3Itj4oy2L_Gb0Lbo7njHou4gZ-XGuVyvWmF4D6qeovPFZk/s320/IMG_5828.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Charles River Reservation.</td></tr>
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<span style="text-align: center;"></span>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvoBKMbz8x1EjEQ168hkyrfOo5_kTncpFxDP5gHd1kZZzZyqvvzWU3YgQX6nXZqiMvAKn6xancHFcfDuu6zH3Zfrj28DUIpPfo-1ijVZTVBwMkH_ZMWZnZdp_yUMeNmD3hXmSFtZS5upN-/s1600/IMG_5962.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvoBKMbz8x1EjEQ168hkyrfOo5_kTncpFxDP5gHd1kZZzZyqvvzWU3YgQX6nXZqiMvAKn6xancHFcfDuu6zH3Zfrj28DUIpPfo-1ijVZTVBwMkH_ZMWZnZdp_yUMeNmD3hXmSFtZS5upN-/s320/IMG_5962.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dr. Michael Tlusty, myself and Anita Kim. </td></tr>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheC1SLnTaSoJMX2o26jeaF5THoj7eMr_3FyML6S8JH8dMIqYBcLx4TlwZVbGS59-v3pNXBbKZlCWbC9J20bEycpylEvLjXM9Rwf4crUrq-gM0WrCfujekV6Gg4ubSA2nZVbjMhXQSYQPvV/s1600/IMG_5963.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheC1SLnTaSoJMX2o26jeaF5THoj7eMr_3FyML6S8JH8dMIqYBcLx4TlwZVbGS59-v3pNXBbKZlCWbC9J20bEycpylEvLjXM9Rwf4crUrq-gM0WrCfujekV6Gg4ubSA2nZVbjMhXQSYQPvV/s320/IMG_5963.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dr. Tlusty had enough of me by the end of the week...</td></tr>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13191127290064670594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4818124434817685997.post-65359403602430043912013-10-19T05:09:00.001+01:002014-02-14T12:22:58.131+00:00I kissed a seal and I liked it.<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlflbn9Zigy-BSKdrHDOvA9jzw339f31tuWh7cp6H23TgojS2-kywbufPu4KpZJrcLlzkpOxQ_mQKGy1PtmOXPEkQN8NX1E2Ve5-YxJ_Xtgr9ta1309rCr97qkyH3Ye53CvJuM_Nv_fflU/s1600/IMG_5606.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlflbn9Zigy-BSKdrHDOvA9jzw339f31tuWh7cp6H23TgojS2-kywbufPu4KpZJrcLlzkpOxQ_mQKGy1PtmOXPEkQN8NX1E2Ve5-YxJ_Xtgr9ta1309rCr97qkyH3Ye53CvJuM_Nv_fflU/s320/IMG_5606.jpg" height="320" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Benjamin Franklins grave & memorial.</td></tr>
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So I arrived in Boston on Tuesday evening, and Anita, one of my collaborators at the New England Aquarium (NEAQ), picked me up from the airport. It seems like visits in October are to become a 'thing' for us - Miranda from my lab visited to begin the collaboration back in October 2011, and Anita visited Swansea in October 2012, so it's only right that I am here in October 2013! The <a href="http://bostonhostel.org/" target="_blank">hostel</a> is amazing, and I am sharing a room with 5 other girls.<br />
<br />
Anita teaches a lab at a local college on Tuesdays and Wednesdays so I had Wednesday to myself to get to know the city before visiting the aquarium on the Thursday. Armed with a map I set off on the '<a href="http://www.thefreedomtrail.org/maps/pdfs/boston-nps-map.pdf" target="_blank">Freedom Trail</a>', a walking trail around the city which takes you to historic sites around the city, telling the story of the American Revolution. Boston is a great walking city, and I got to see lots along the way, including 'Little Italy' and Boston Common!<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg54agrpqVqCnqegViqaSkAFAhWkKUt5JQR3HUJvGox4hxFTOHK6ez97RueNp549nvkN3AByk4koVMZLnlMHMuEp-bvTRlfogIJtSLG4ZForGnMaF2_QwAMX2Bnyn5qT95-_tWfwimUs1Ys/s1600/IMG_5622.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg54agrpqVqCnqegViqaSkAFAhWkKUt5JQR3HUJvGox4hxFTOHK6ez97RueNp549nvkN3AByk4koVMZLnlMHMuEp-bvTRlfogIJtSLG4ZForGnMaF2_QwAMX2Bnyn5qT95-_tWfwimUs1Ys/s320/IMG_5622.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Baby lobsters in medicine cups!</td></tr>
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On Thursday I headed to the aquarium for the first time, and was given a 'Visiting Researcher' pass - which, as it turns out has come in quite useful! Anita introduced me to her intern Rebecca, who is taking a gap year before university. She showed me the lobsters (they have ALOT), which were all stage 4 postlarva (basically, miniature lobsters which have survived the larval stage). They also have the European lobsters which we sent over 2 years ago - which have grown really big now - one of them is even on display in the aquarium! First, we censused the lobsters, checking any that had died/moulted/lost their name tags, and then fed them (mazuri, a sort of gel mixture, or mysis or brine shrimp). It's a really big job, and the interns also count the eggs on the large adult females. Later, I saw some of the experiments they are currently running, which involve colouration induced by diet, and some more shell disease work.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3JuDhRDzUAas-1QGpYJEV-PB3XR7P3V9ol0eJdqa4CqowD19mKc9OTeTc6_2ytZShNJopQ9_lZIPEaDkA_3z9dOH80ihLzpxW9bZYGTHyPtdq7J9rZ4-vg1XeOoaqM6gUqaeVpAnRscsj/s1600/IMG_5641.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3JuDhRDzUAas-1QGpYJEV-PB3XR7P3V9ol0eJdqa4CqowD19mKc9OTeTc6_2ytZShNJopQ9_lZIPEaDkA_3z9dOH80ihLzpxW9bZYGTHyPtdq7J9rZ4-vg1XeOoaqM6gUqaeVpAnRscsj/s320/IMG_5641.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Beautiful blubber jellies.</td></tr>
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I was also shown around some other research areas, where they culture coral and jellyfish, they were really beautiful, and it was difficult to get a nice photograph that did them justice. An interesting thing about the jellies is that all the tanks they are kept in have to have round bottoms, as in square cornered tanks can tear them as they are so delicate - some areas are just one cell thick!<br />
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Anita took me behind the scenes in the marine gallery, where I was able to see all the exhibits from the side that visitors never see, and also some of the conservation work that goes on at the aquarium. An example of this is the Red-Bellied Turtles, or Northern Red-Bellied Cooters, which are endangered in Massachusetts as in the wild, turtle eggs are eaten by animals such as raccoons and skunks. To prevent this, scientists are putting wire cages over turtle nests so that the eggs don't get eaten. When the turtles hatch in the Autumn, some of them are brought to institutions like NEAQ, and they are raised over the winter, so that they are big enough to resist these predators. These turtles don't go on display, as they are released back into the wild.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7Nga2xHc2L7V3N6oG4I7tPPxO7Z2jjaMOVgjZmK6XH1eXxRNnDpqRsqBalP5DpIb6C7ca81qx8TGEBr-DQxgsBlKl5oC6h6khcSy8rp52t7OH6J-meX-Ij0Zmr7B1XjzhrqmCA9vphRDP/s1600/IMG_5657.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7Nga2xHc2L7V3N6oG4I7tPPxO7Z2jjaMOVgjZmK6XH1eXxRNnDpqRsqBalP5DpIb6C7ca81qx8TGEBr-DQxgsBlKl5oC6h6khcSy8rp52t7OH6J-meX-Ij0Zmr7B1XjzhrqmCA9vphRDP/s320/IMG_5657.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Haloween lobster!</td></tr>
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I also got to meet the famous '<a href="http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2012/11/01/halloween-lobster-sports-orange-and-black/" target="_blank">Halloween' lobster</a>, a genetically coloured lobster caught by fishermen in October 2012 off the shores of Massachusetts. I suspect that it will make an appearance in the public gallery on 31st October. They also had horseshoe crabs, which I have never seen up close before, and an octopus, who are amazing escape artists, and I learnt that they only live for about 2 years, which shocked me as I thought they would live alot longer than that.. In the freshwater gallery they had an anaconda, some salmon and more turtles, amongst other things.<br />
<br />
After lunch I was given a tour of the basement, where all of the water gets pumped in from the harbour, much like at Swansea University, but on a MUCH bigger scale. The giant ocean tank alone holds 200,000 gallons of water, which needs to be filtered (usually with sand), and heated to 22°- 24° C (yes, I had to convert that from Fahrenheit) - this gives you an idea of the size of the basement and filter tanks!<br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvnshaZXeI7bdvzDdTqFyoHQq9_89TjN7vK_22r9lxj3bNayYqH-tRAPm64gv6KEq5lwVAh8bTQyindsHN5D1jI2OfmSbYZ2KFJHLrQ0v7VKNO4j-rYRMW7cUZgPIfqCq_EOXhqthmbhSF/s1600/IMG_5670.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvnshaZXeI7bdvzDdTqFyoHQq9_89TjN7vK_22r9lxj3bNayYqH-tRAPm64gv6KEq5lwVAh8bTQyindsHN5D1jI2OfmSbYZ2KFJHLrQ0v7VKNO4j-rYRMW7cUZgPIfqCq_EOXhqthmbhSF/s1600/IMG_5670.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvnshaZXeI7bdvzDdTqFyoHQq9_89TjN7vK_22r9lxj3bNayYqH-tRAPm64gv6KEq5lwVAh8bTQyindsHN5D1jI2OfmSbYZ2KFJHLrQ0v7VKNO4j-rYRMW7cUZgPIfqCq_EOXhqthmbhSF/s320/IMG_5670.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Feeding Myrtle some lettuce.</td></tr>
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Last, but not least, I was given the opportunity to feed Myrtle, the green sea turtle who rules the Giant Ocean Tank, and has lived at the Aquarium since June of 1970! She is HUGE, and weighs over 500 lbs (227Kg!), which is surprising as she eats lettuce, cabbage, squid and brussels sprouts. There are other turtles in the tank, Kemp’s ridley and loggerhead, and there are divers who go down and feed animals individually with squirters and boxes of food, but Myrtle has to be fed separately at the top of the tank to be distracted, since she is so big and heavy, if you are a diver with food you don't want a 500 lb turtle pushing over your shoulder!<br />
<br />
I had a chance after this to walk around the aquarium a little - and see the 'Lobster Nursery' exhibit, which contains one of my babies! It's also interesting seeing the displays which I have already seen from behind the scenes - I need to dedicate a few hours when I'm free to exploring the whole aquarium!<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm8xlpPwjd2hrmiG6FIoavH5iMQo7aTABJAVyp0n4Yoa1_2boYdBGo8iOo8lfTRk-v4oDdY7P_ybsJXitZQ2PHlLPyeJwXvN2hOjlSxAG2mDo5OZtj72dqpI64vITobRPUVNVDY5qCbQBL/s1600/IMG_5731.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm8xlpPwjd2hrmiG6FIoavH5iMQo7aTABJAVyp0n4Yoa1_2boYdBGo8iOo8lfTRk-v4oDdY7P_ybsJXitZQ2PHlLPyeJwXvN2hOjlSxAG2mDo5OZtj72dqpI64vITobRPUVNVDY5qCbQBL/s320/IMG_5731.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dr. Innis checking over Trumpet.</td></tr>
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After work I went for dinner and drinks at <a href="http://littlestbar.com/" target="_blank">The Littlest Bar</a> with Anita and a couple of her friends, before dessert at the renowned <a href="http://www.mikespastry.com/" target="_blank">Mikes Pastry</a> in Little Italy, where I tried their famed Cannoli, which is a sort of fried pastry dough rolled up and filled with a sweetened ricotta - I had amaretto flavour and it was DELICIOUS! After this, we walked through the city, which is really beautiful at night, and nice that I was able to explore it with some friends, who were also nice enough to walk me back to my hostel so I didn't get lost! </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Making seal friends.</td></tr>
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This morning (Friday) I started at 8am for work in the Mammals Department, with Paul Bradley, the Senior Marine Mammal Trainer. I met some volunteers, Meg, Tricia and Kim who I helped with food prep (sorting and chopping the fish, the seals get fed 4 times a day - some 5!), before going to watch the feeding and training of the Atlantic Harbour Seal. I was able to sit with the head vet, Dr. Charlie Innis, who was checking over a seal called Trumpet.<br />
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They also have California Sea Lions, and Northern Fur Seals in a separate exhibit, and Paul let me sit and watch him train Leu, their 2nd youngest fur seal, who was rescued off California last year, he is blind in one eye so wasn't able to be rehabilitated back into the wild. I was lucky enough to be able to feed him, and get some kisses!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Amelia gets her teeth cleaned.</td></tr>
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After this I went back to the harbour seals again, this time I was allowed to observe Amelia, who let me rub her belly - the fluffy marine biologist in me was DYING of excitement! I should probably mention that in the picture of the trainer cleaning her teeth, she isn't holding open her mouth, she just holds her hand in that position and the seal will willingly open his/her mouth for teeth cleaning.<br />
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This afternoon, we went for a 'lab lunch' to a nice Italian restaurant called Bertucci's before it was back to work, and this time I mean real work! I met with Dr. Michael Tlusty, Anita's boss, who is also working on the shell disease project with us, and went through a couple of papers we are writing together.<br />
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I realise that this has been an extremely long blog post - I'm just excited, okay?! Last of all, on the way home I decided to book a place on one of the whale watching <a href="http://www.bostonharborcruises.com/whale-watch/" target="_blank">boat trips</a>, and after seeing that I had my 'Visiting Researcher' badge, the woman at the kiosk gave me a free ticket! Told you it came in handy.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13191127290064670594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4818124434817685997.post-78504176287638350382013-10-15T01:23:00.000+01:002014-02-14T12:23:33.673+00:00Charlottetown, it's been a blast!<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcWcH4Md3w4vGh5mCc9Psqu_88YW2QKhfXejO_8wskhM35MUafJG7hmMoWm147NKmEYCPVSR7u8aCGVqxGH0sSVJFrvbIxtMuQBqOO2-VEhHYZsfJlzBTyORRi-5n0IeRjVLijtK6kwF9P/s1600/IMG_5561.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcWcH4Md3w4vGh5mCc9Psqu_88YW2QKhfXejO_8wskhM35MUafJG7hmMoWm147NKmEYCPVSR7u8aCGVqxGH0sSVJFrvbIxtMuQBqOO2-VEhHYZsfJlzBTyORRi-5n0IeRjVLijtK6kwF9P/s320/IMG_5561.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The lighthouse at Rocky Point, in front of Fort Amherst.</td></tr>
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So the time has come for me to leave Charlottetown.. and what a great time I've had. I have learnt so much, and I am excited to take my new found skills back to the UK to start testing my samples.<br />
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I wish I had longer, there is still a lot of stuff that needs optimising when I'm back in Swansea, but it will be better to do it in my own lab with my own facilities - I have a nice big shopping list so I'm not sure how Andrew, my supervisor, is going to feel once I'm back, heheee.<br />
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Renee has 'mid-terms' (exams) starting this week, so she took me on a few adventures last weekend so that I could explore the island a bit more, and we had a fantastic time. First of all we visited the 'Argyle Shore', which is part of Prince Edward Islands Provincial Park (sort of like the UK's National Parks... I think), and then Port-la-Joye—Fort Amherst, a National Historic Site of Canada, at a place called Rocky Point, which overlooks Charlottetown Harbour. I learnt about the colonisation of the Island, from the Mi'kmaq natives, to the French settlers from Fortress Louisbourg in Nova Scotia, who called the point Port-la-Joye until the invasion of the British, when it was renamed Fort Amherst. It's a pretty sad story, and there is a memorial there for everyone who died during the battles. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;">Being a tourist at the Argyle Shore.</td></tr>
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I made a massive mistake when booking my flights - turns out that today (Monday) is Canadian Thanksgiving, so nobody was in work, and I fly to Boston tomorrow evening, which means, I've had an extra long weekend just to wait for a flight out of here, doh!<br />
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Either way, it's quite cool that I've been able to experience thanksgiving here, and on Saturday night I was invited over to Spencer's house for dinner and met his family - his wife, Diane, their two dogs, and two cats. The cats were huge tabby british shorthairs, my FAVOURITE, and anyone who knows me, knows I am definitely a cat lover. They were so cute I just wanted to take them home! Turns out that Spencer is also a very accomplished artist, and I got to see some of his wonderful creations - my favourite had to be the pop art lobsters in his living room, you can see some of his work <a href="http://people.upei.ca/sgreenwood/html/art_life.html" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Saying goodbye to my mate John.</td></tr>
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We had lobster (yay!) and cilantro (coriander) salsa, along with all sort of yummy things topped off with pumpkin pie, which is amazing and apparently what everyone has at thanksgiving over here - I need to learn to cook it once I'm home!<br />
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I have spent the remainder of the weekend doing a little bit more walking, and getting some pictures of my favourite landmarks... including a statue downtown of Canada's first prime minister, Sir. John A. Macdonald, which is on the corner of Victoria Row (walking street) and Queen Street in 'downtown' Charlottetown - my favourite area here (and yes, Dr. AFJ, if you're reading this, that side profile is for you).<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gahan ale. No funny faces.</td></tr>
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This past week has been a bit crazy, rushing to get things finished and set ready for when I leave tomorrow. I realise I am doing this post in no particular order, starting with the weekend and working backwards?! On Friday, I was lucky enough to have a tour of the Charlottetown Aquatic Animal Pathogen and Biocontainment Laboratory, a level 3 government run facility (much like Cefas in the UK), which is able to work with hi-risk aquatic animal pathogens involving in vivo (live animal) and in vitro research and testing. The lab is part of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency laboratory, which mainly looks at potato crop diseases (PEI is famous for it's potatoes). Dr. Phil Byrne, who is section head at CAAPBL, showed me their facilities where recent research involves diagnostic test development for a crustacean viral disease (WSSV). There were lots of doors and lots of clothes changes, and definitely no photos. Sorry!</div>
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Lyndsay, my host, has gone home to Toronto for thanksgiving so Reneé and I went out to dinner last night. She has told me that I NEED to try the local Gahan ales before I leave, which are brewed on the island, below a restaurant, '<a href="http://www.gahan.ca/" target="_blank">The Gahan House'</a>. Beer makes me do a funny face, so I wasn't sure how well it was going to go, but I had a fantastic meal, a pint of beer, and thoroughly enjoyed it!<br />
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I am sat here procrastinating. My suitcase is half packed but I am still in my yoga pants, and need to make dinner. This time tomorrow I'll be in Boston... but first I need to go to the lab and say goodbye to my collaborators. Charlottetown, I'm gonna miss you!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Goodbye Charlottetown!</td></tr>
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UPDATE: So it's my last day here at the university, and it wouldn't be the same without having a couple of photos with Spencer in the lab! Thanks for everything guys!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Professor Greenwood and I.</td></tr>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13191127290064670594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4818124434817685997.post-59955683500519960362013-10-05T19:33:00.000+01:002014-02-14T12:24:16.300+00:00Losing my (lobster eating) virginity, and other adventures...<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Look who's going in the pot!</td></tr>
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<span style="text-align: start;">So, I did it.. I came to Canada and I ate a lobster.. a real (almost) live, whole lobster and.. I liked it. I think.</span><span style="text-align: start;"> With the help of my house mate Renee, we cooked and ate the lobsters I had taken home from the lab the day before (no, they weren't 'contaminated' or 'sick', before anyone decides to publish a newspaper article on it!). Apparently the best way to eat lobster is with a little bread, and a lot of butter, so we popped up the road to Sobeys (Canada's answer to Sainsburys) and stocked up on supplies for the big cook.</span><span style="text-align: start;"> Renee's dad had also supplied us with some amazing pumpkin cider which he had brought all the way from New Hampshire - it was delicious, and as I put it, 'tasted like Christmas'. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sorry lobbies.</td></tr>
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<span style="text-align: start;">The lobster itself didn't really taste 'fishy', as I'd expected it to, it was slightly salty (although we're not sure if this is because we put too much salt in the boiling water), and tender. Lobster taste varies according to area, so if you were eating it in Maine, you would get a very 'sweet' tasting meat. We were a little worried as the lobsters had been frozen the day before, but they turned out pretty good, according to in house lobster expert of the evening, Renee. I think the cats have a taste for lobster too, as they were trying to climb all over the table whilst we were eating, and proceeded to try and lick the shell bowl after we had finished eating! Maybe, in the days before my host, Lyndsay, had taken them in, they had developed expensive tastes! </span><span style="text-align: start;">Naturally, being this side of the pond, our lobster dinner was followed by a shared tub of Ben and Jerry's 'If I had 1000000 flavours' ice cream - the perfect end to a wonderful evening. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A dinner fit for kings!</td></tr>
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</span><span style="text-align: start;">Now, I know I've always said I don't like the idea of eating lobster - mainly because with the amount of lobster dissections I've had to do for my PhD over the years - it has put me right off. It also has something to do with the idea of diseases - obviously, as a pathologist, diseases are 'my thing', and it surprises me what can be inside a seemingly healthy looking lobster. All of the diseases I have looked at so far do not affect humans, and affected lobsters can still be eaten - shell disease is more an aesthetic thing, most shell diseased lobsters are forced to be sold into the lower value canned meat industry, as nobody wants a scabby looking lobster on their plate! I have heard that shell diseased crab causes a 'metallic' taste, but I've not read it about lobsters. Other pathogens, such as </span><i style="text-align: start;">nicothoe</i><span style="text-align: start;"> parasites, live on the gills.. which wouldn't be eaten anyway, and they are only interested in sucking lobster blood, so nothing to be scared of there! </span><br />
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<span style="text-align: start;">My work so far has actually been funded by a project called '<a href="http://www.susfish.com/" target="_blank">SUSFISH</a>: </span>Shellfish Productivity in the Irish Sea: working towards a sustainable future', and another grant from the <a href="http://www.marinemanagement.org.uk/fisheries/funding/fcf.htm" target="_blank">Fisheries Challenge Fund </a>- 'Importation of live lobsters into the U.K. - An assessment of disease transfer to European lobsters'. Both of these projects are concerned with fisheries, and sustainability, so I support lobster fishing - if it is done sustainably... I feel a whole new blog post coming on regarding this, but there is a time and a place!</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPiXQUjhnsGfvvmfG-vrd_AMryRBtWxOUl-F0NH477D3vtVYazbkEPdsvSFBCwdp6i451C3b7DNY_BVB6E1ZEnNr9rwldAe5hB13SEKydlT_7s0OdLfdas3Yw5HTIt1fB87kNNTAOYifUo/s1600/IMG_5503.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPiXQUjhnsGfvvmfG-vrd_AMryRBtWxOUl-F0NH477D3vtVYazbkEPdsvSFBCwdp6i451C3b7DNY_BVB6E1ZEnNr9rwldAe5hB13SEKydlT_7s0OdLfdas3Yw5HTIt1fB87kNNTAOYifUo/s320/IMG_5503.jpg" height="320" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Foxy.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirfHgD35iFsqMUFykBP4T2Mv2cdY3s6Dp1sXjUeub3FwtB3mQzPikohKI0DDrlCbwt0PLr118_TwscAMSGSUrRQw9KWOFR5kbHS6uYG-QRT8iEx9in1vtZfiNqiDQPFtr9ZbVlbp1K_jm2/s1600/IMG_5511.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirfHgD35iFsqMUFykBP4T2Mv2cdY3s6Dp1sXjUeub3FwtB3mQzPikohKI0DDrlCbwt0PLr118_TwscAMSGSUrRQw9KWOFR5kbHS6uYG-QRT8iEx9in1vtZfiNqiDQPFtr9ZbVlbp1K_jm2/s320/IMG_5511.jpg" height="320" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">All of the trees!</td></tr>
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Okay, so before the epic lobster feast on Friday, I failed to mention that en route to 'school' (I love that they call it that here!), I managed to capture a picture of some of the elusive foxes! Unfortunately, it wasn't the rare black one with a white tail, as mentioned in blog post <a href="http://cedavies72.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/back-to-school.html" target="_blank">28/09/13</a>, but a couple of regular red foxes (<i>Vulpes vulpes</i>, for all the Caspians out there). I see them daily, walking to, and from school. They don't seem perturbed by humans, so I'm pretty sure that someone out there is feeding them, as they really do come quite close. However, after whipping out my camera they all scarpered pretty sharpish, so it makes me wonder whether they thought it was a gun? Do people shoot foxes out here? My camera was slung over my shoulder, so quite possibly... Either way, I managed to get a couple of snaps, not so great, but you can see how close they don't mind getting.<br />
Friday was full of awesome-ness, as that afternoon, Renee had invited me out with some of her course-mates (1st year veterinarian students) to go apple picking at Wintermoor Orchard, in York (about a 10 minute drive out of Charlottetown). I waited for Renee after class, and it was a little scary because AVC is a relatively small 'school', and I was clearly an outsider, so I did get some funny looks in the corridor by the lockers... however, there was nothing to worry about after Renee arrived and I had been introduced to everyone. Her friend Liz took us to the orchard to save us taking too many cars, and we managed to get there without getting lost! The orchard was huge! There were several different types of apple in season, and we were given a map which we quickly forgot whilst exploring. The woman had told us we were allowed to sample and eat the apples as we went, which was a bad idea, as we all ended up eating our way through the orchard (never give students a free lunch.. we will take advantage!). I chose a few different types, and the boys came in handy for the shiny big apples which were higher up.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWrXGiOP6YfyG3Wzx7K7IuPFJ3TaXekF1-egOSiWMLLQKC2Cqiy12cysQ5ffxrf4uWfKKK_3Vew2hCrqT4XKfD02Yzh6A2iVMYzsit-6VvfqPp3-Vlc6KoJu51UAYSO6LMoOm0ClQXfw5r/s1600/plaidurday.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWrXGiOP6YfyG3Wzx7K7IuPFJ3TaXekF1-egOSiWMLLQKC2Cqiy12cysQ5ffxrf4uWfKKK_3Vew2hCrqT4XKfD02Yzh6A2iVMYzsit-6VvfqPp3-Vlc6KoJu51UAYSO6LMoOm0ClQXfw5r/s320/plaidurday.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Plaidurday!</td></tr>
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Now, just by chance, on Friday, I happened to be wearing a 'plaid' (checkered) shirt, and I noticed that a few of the girls were too wearing them. It turned out that Friday was actually 'Plaidurday' - a worldwide celebration of plaid which occurs annually on the first Friday of October. Who'd have known?! Naturally, we had to have a plaidurday photo.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiaYdMCx_cQ_XD4VJ8I0IEC7kJO0h2UE7_9Ce8wjTo5-A9uShXBgZNyITDe67VqpasQapL3XEkQuzedokezXgI8yzK7MRvQed02Gks2JA82esYW6PQPis0SNmKV4d6I8W_xJzQW4S4KMSj/s1600/IMG_5513.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiaYdMCx_cQ_XD4VJ8I0IEC7kJO0h2UE7_9Ce8wjTo5-A9uShXBgZNyITDe67VqpasQapL3XEkQuzedokezXgI8yzK7MRvQed02Gks2JA82esYW6PQPis0SNmKV4d6I8W_xJzQW4S4KMSj/s320/IMG_5513.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Giant pumpkin.</td></tr>
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At the orchard, they also have a cider press, and we were invited to a cider pressing event on Sunday, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to make it out there. I already have so many other plans, this weekend has been exciting! They also sold pumpkins, and I know halloween is a HUGE deal over here, so I just assumed that they were all out for the upcoming event. Since the day I arrived in Charlottetown I have seen houses decorated for halloween, and even specialist halloween shops dotted around the place - it really is crazy, like Christmas! Anyway, at the orchard they had the biggest pumpkin I have ever seen, and Renees friend Wilson was pretty tall, but as you can see, it still looked pretty impressive! Giant pumpkins?! I hear you ask... Yes, my blog really is that exciting. You're welcome.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13191127290064670594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4818124434817685997.post-31799749482261450852013-10-03T23:41:00.001+01:002014-02-14T12:24:47.987+00:00No foxes... but lobsters!<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkC7kTQ6a1E29SQGsKjDTTe122f4nhfXhlwk65C6IZ2ou-uR_yGMcAaFkjS1-EPcKTFMbZAJmnXxWx8aM7cWcbkFHx6EO7st6Jc1O4FAf5IVSj5GXw789FQCWOGPhj38MieF9YhCDGG609/s1600/IMG_5456.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkC7kTQ6a1E29SQGsKjDTTe122f4nhfXhlwk65C6IZ2ou-uR_yGMcAaFkjS1-EPcKTFMbZAJmnXxWx8aM7cWcbkFHx6EO7st6Jc1O4FAf5IVSj5GXw789FQCWOGPhj38MieF9YhCDGG609/s320/IMG_5456.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Squirrel. I think.</td></tr>
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This week has been a bit crazy, and I'm feeling a super long blog coming on (sorry!), but rejoice, for this time you'll be happy to see that I have curated some photographs! Unfortunately for Luca, there are none of white-tailed foxes, but I do have a squirrel (well, at least I think it's a squirrel - it was rather small, but I'm guessing that's because I'm so used to those huge grey things that run around Singleton Park...). Foxes pending.</div>
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I want to start with a bit of a disclaimer... I have been the centre of some media attention these past couple of days, which is great for sharing my research, and I am very happy to share the the stories online, there is one from the University <a href="http://www.swansea.ac.uk/media-centre/latest-research/swanseauniversitystudenttakeslobsterresearchacrossthepond.php" target="_blank">here</a>, and one from the Western Mail <a href="http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/the-girl-lobster-tattoo-research-6128326" target="_blank">here</a>. However, this has also made me realise how the media can twist your words... I would like to say that lobsters DO NOT need 'saving'... in the <i>print</i> version of the Western Mail, it states that I am in Canada to help save the lobsters.. no idea where they got that from. To be honest, lobsters are doing a pretty good job of looking after themselves. I even told the reporter that he wasn't to write anything of that sort, as I am worried about scaremongering fishermen. I would also like to point out that I am working at the foreFRONT of research in my field.. not with the foreRUNNERs.... anyhow, rant over.</div>
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I have also been contacted by Wales Online, and the Denbighshire Free Press, so look out for those articles.. (Think I'm a bit scared to be honest..).</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwIyhrFRNlS2EmA77R9RlZWBJLbLKMjSIDnGRaynkdJu5q7Hnac9-jxWVjK9cg0Qjhi2xF30v8WeEi73BtAXt7QexjplR08BqMU4_EMqmu8gPBGXcko192m8mddCtVFG1_mBxKShR6bYsl/s1600/IMG_5458.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwIyhrFRNlS2EmA77R9RlZWBJLbLKMjSIDnGRaynkdJu5q7Hnac9-jxWVjK9cg0Qjhi2xF30v8WeEi73BtAXt7QexjplR08BqMU4_EMqmu8gPBGXcko192m8mddCtVFG1_mBxKShR6bYsl/s320/IMG_5458.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Fall Flavours Farmers Market.</td></tr>
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Over the weekend I got to explore a little more - it was the Fall Flavours Farmers Market down town, which was amazing - they had all sorts of food and arts stalls, as well as a petting zoo?! I also took a walk to Victoria Park.. but I am starting to feel a little cabin-fever-ish. PEI is a relatively small island so you'd think that it would be easy to explore via public transport, but it turns out that it's not as easy as you think (unless you have a car, which I don't!). I've heard that other towns worth seeing are Cavendish (of Anne of Green Gables fame), and Souris, both of which are over half an hour away, and there are no local regular buses, only private shuttles which run once or twice a day and are extortionately priced. I mainly want to get out to Souris as I hear it has beautiful beaches, and boat trips that promise whale watching. The fluffy marine biologist in me is dying to get out there! </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7aEXskzxS3Jk-7Ik2afK1nvOaGBQuvc8dK_PtOU4_liMO8CLPJ4feWARQ6qehjZy_dsJ2uCb6CDiqXQ-CLPA9QREDYmkFbnYQk7v4y26DQAjRFwFAA_C6pIss5IIdJrsC9cmSPCiAXsiy/s1600/IMG_5480.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7aEXskzxS3Jk-7Ik2afK1nvOaGBQuvc8dK_PtOU4_liMO8CLPJ4feWARQ6qehjZy_dsJ2uCb6CDiqXQ-CLPA9QREDYmkFbnYQk7v4y26DQAjRFwFAA_C6pIss5IIdJrsC9cmSPCiAXsiy/s320/IMG_5480.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The rusty red dirt.</td></tr>
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My housemate, Renee, a veterinary student, has just had her car brought up from New Hampshire by her dad, and she has invited me to go apple picking to a place called York this weekend, so I'm excited to go and explore! She also told me it was definitely worth checking out the red cliffs.. but we are yet to discover where they are. The soil on PEI is famous for it's red colour, this is due to the high iron-oxide (rust) content... Adam told me today that it's havoc for cars, and they have to buy second hand cars from off of the island because with the rust, and the sea air... cars don't last long!</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dinner! I mean... research subjects.</td></tr>
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So, real highlight of the week so far.... I got to see an American lobster, in the flesh, for the very first time (Oooooooooh, aaaaaaaaah!). Adam, who has been helping me in the lab, brought a male and a female in as we needed some blood for the DNA extractions I am trying to optimise. Naturally, I had my camera handy... and was fascinated. It's cool to be able to see the differences between the lobsters here and the ones back home. Whilst the main difference is the colour (European = blue/black, American = brown/red), there are also other differences, such as the American lobster having an extra spine on the lower rostrum (the 'nose'). The spikes on the claws, as well as the underside of claws, are a bright shade of orange/red, rather than the creamy white/pink colour of the European ones. I couldn't stop looking at them, and as always, got a bit sad when we had to bleed them (I need to man up and be a scientist...).</div>
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Since I have never actually eaten lobster before (the horror!), over here they think that's so strange because it's so popular and readily available. I was able to take home the two lobsters, for my dinner.. and Renee has promised to help me cook them (she loves lobster), but I'm not so sure how I feel about eating them! I will keep you posted on dinner plans...</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTcdHGY-DwYCHW0M0jlK4conkN0MceHabOx28P_4qJU-ak6suJSbWjp0mADjc8RYe1seH6RAVyZ-ymYsm32q-CZk08oVRDPLupfm_pcX8hkChB51llyvDMpDLmWpQSF143RuTX_8PL1XHe/s1600/IMG_5495.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTcdHGY-DwYCHW0M0jlK4conkN0MceHabOx28P_4qJU-ak6suJSbWjp0mADjc8RYe1seH6RAVyZ-ymYsm32q-CZk08oVRDPLupfm_pcX8hkChB51llyvDMpDLmWpQSF143RuTX_8PL1XHe/s320/IMG_5495.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Taking some haemolymph (that's lobster blood).</td></tr>
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In other news, the 'science' is going great, I am doing some DNA extractions so I can test some primers, and doing lots of reading. Everyone has been so helpful, and I am actually really excited to go back home and start my experiments, now that I have a solid plan. I am also really excited because I have been in contact with another lobster professor, from Virginia (the last stop of my trip), and we are going to meet and discuss my plans - just so I can have the perspective of another scientist - he might have some additions or changes I could make to my plans, or even just some advice. May seem like overkill, but I just want to make the most out of my time over here... it is, after all, a once in a lifetime experience!</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13191127290064670594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4818124434817685997.post-53482130511775973972013-09-28T00:23:00.001+01:002014-02-14T12:25:17.253+00:00Back to schoolSo, after my epic weekend of exploration, I remembered that I was actually here for a reason (doh), and that I had better get some reading done in readiness for 'school', as they call it over here, on Monday. I was a little nervous - having swapped numerous emails I was about to meet my collaborators.<br />
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I needn't have worried. Professor Greenwood (Spencer), is the nicest guy on the planet! He met me in the foyer of the Atlantic Veterinary College (part of the University of Prince Edward Island, or UPEI for short), I was bound to get lost if I tried to find his office myself. After a brief tour of the AVC, and the biomedical sciences department, where he is based, I finally got to see the The Lobster Science Centre.. it is made up of 2 labs, and I was given an office space so I could store my stuff. </div>
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We Skyped Andrew (my supervisor), to set some aims for my time here, and agreed that I would be shadowing his lab technician <a href="http://people.upei.ca/sgreenwood/html/lab_life.html" target="_blank">Adam Acorn</a> for the most part, starting with some RNA extractions, and setting up a qPCR (basically, ways of amplifying DNA so that you can use it to detect pathogens or certain genes, which may be expressed in conjunction with a disease). Their labs are amazing, they are so high tech and I'm in awe, just staring at everything, they have several different grants and projects going on at once, from lobster pathogens such as Gaffkaemia, Bumper Car Disease and White Spot Syndrome Virus, to crab diseases such as Bitter Crab Disease (caused by <i>Hematodinium </i>spp.). To my non-crustacea loving friends, this will all be total jibberish, so apologies! They also work on none-crustacea diseases, such as <i>Crypto</i>, which causes stomach bugs.. details of which can be found <a href="http://people.upei.ca/sgreenwood/html/research.html" target="_blank">here</a>. </div>
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In the labs they have 'robots', which I've never seen before - basically machines that do everything, from pipetting out a mastermix for a qPCR, to adding in the samples. This is mind blowing (and expensive!), great for speeding up extractions, PCR and other analysis of high volume samples, and at the same time, eliminating human error. This is excellent for the hundreds of samples they receive to test for other institutions, however, as a student, despite my admiration, I can't help but feel that you lose the 'science' of some things, ie. the breakdown of reactions, and exactly what goes into a PCR mix to make it work. I feel that when you are learning as a student, manually might be better, to give a better understanding later on.</div>
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Spencer had invited me to a genetics seminar on Wednesday, which he assured me would include a free lunch and a chance to meet lots of cool people (food genetics... err... genetics in general... my brain is hurting just thinking about it)... however plans changed (should I be relieved?), and instead I attended a shorter seminar on aquaculture, presented by an AVC alumni now based in New Zealand.<br />
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On Wednesday I got to meet one of Spencer's post-docs, Dr. Fraser Clarke, who is only in a few days a week (he lives in Nova Scotia, which is over an hour away), so time with him is valuable. He completed his PhD with Spencer looking at gaffkaemia, so is the perfect guy for me to talk to, and a fountain of knowledge about lobster immune systems. After sitting down with him for just half an hour I was ready to start designing primers (??!). He was really friendly and helpful and didn't mind that I didn't have a clue what he was talking about half the time. We went through some ideas I had, he showed me some pathogens down the microscope and talked me through a few histology slides, which contained gaffkaemia and bumper car - both of which I have never seen down the microscope, so that was cool!<br />
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By this afternoon (Friday), I had come up with a proposal for two separate projects (and maybe even a third one!), which I can start here and complete once I am home in Swansea, using equipment we already have in the lab. I am really excited about everything I have learnt this week, it's so nice to get someone else's perspective, and as Fraser said, we are both at early stages in our career and this is how collaborations start!</div>
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In other news, I've been to my new <a href="http://charlottetown.mokshayoga.ca/" target="_blank">yoga school</a> a few times now, and am booked in most days until next week.. I love it! The heat wasn't unbearable at all, it was about 40 degrees celsius, but once you're 'in the zone', you don't notice it (except when the sweat starts dripping in your eyes... blerughghh, I am gross, I know). I think it helps you relax as I was getting into positions I didn't even know were possible and it didn't feel like a regimented workout, you just did what you could and concentrated on your breathing. After class, my teacher today, Robin, and I got talking, and it turns out that her sister did her degree at the lobster science centre and now works with the local lobster fishery, and is married to a lobster fisherman. She gave me her email so I could chat to her.. I think the UK, Wales especially, could learn a lot from fisheries over here!</div>
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For now, there are lots of new things to learn and lots of reading to do. Having never practised techniques such as RNA extractions (I only have experience with DNA), qPCR, or primer design, it is all very exciting and new, and I hope that I can replicate my new found skills once I'm back in the UK.<br />
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Apologies for lack of pictures in this post - I hope to take some of the lab next week, when I am actually doing some 'hands on' work... and I hope too to get some pictures of the wildlife here - every morning walking to University, I see wild foxes, they are beautiful and shy, so usually run away, but this evening I had the fright of my life when I saw a black fox with a white tail!? He stared at me for a while before strutting past, stunned me a little...! It has been pouring with rain all week, so I felt right at home, but the weather for the weekend is looking up - perfect for some more exploring.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13191127290064670594noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4818124434817685997.post-58470243650533559592013-09-22T20:50:00.001+01:002014-02-14T12:25:39.896+00:00Dora the explorer <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzU6Bjd16WZtEWijmrJzbCbts8LCGtlkbQupx3TAGKv3axq7_F32IH8Ja_-cmuAgupxyjkknvHmBlJadQZh4-BPpL_Qi6FeZ8udAi5RnnRgfpI414qayezbTGqojio_J8FBn0clfR7Etj0/s1600/IMG_5442.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzU6Bjd16WZtEWijmrJzbCbts8LCGtlkbQupx3TAGKv3axq7_F32IH8Ja_-cmuAgupxyjkknvHmBlJadQZh4-BPpL_Qi6FeZ8udAi5RnnRgfpI414qayezbTGqojio_J8FBn0clfR7Etj0/s320/IMG_5442.jpg" height="320" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Confederation Trail</td></tr>
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Charlottetown is AWESOME. Everybody I have met has been so friendly and helpful and we have been lucky enough to have brilliant weather these past two days - it is so beautiful... I am feeling optimistic about the coming weeks!<br />
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I ventured to the farmers market on Saturday morning, which was full of yummy local produce and crafts, from candles, to soaps and wool.. I definitely need to go back to invest in some PEI Maple Syrup before I leave! I walked to the market, followed by the University (to get my bearings before I start tomorrow) along the Confederation Trail, which is really nice, but early in the morning quite lonely- hopefully on Monday it will be bustling with students.<br />
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After I had walked to the university I decided to go on a hunt for a plug adaptor (I left mine in Llangollen.. another thing to add that to my list of mishaps..), there was a bus but it was such a nice day that I decided to walk - Charlottetown is pretty small and I wanted to see as much as possible! There are SO MANY SHOPS - it's crazy, everything is HUGE.. and it's all along one big road. If you're into shopping (which I'm not... massively...), you would be in heaven.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR_1eBATExVzCQtOQKRbiMb9k7IzR5cGNjIF8WM5MM41en0bOsR6bqTFCLlUxxhfTc5D0cbX69sLGJgW8R9qoenAT_tdmoX5lurN8HDnr-QYPXkFjiWv1l5TsCkXD4j8oUeO26ubBHMIER/s1600/IMG_5454.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR_1eBATExVzCQtOQKRbiMb9k7IzR5cGNjIF8WM5MM41en0bOsR6bqTFCLlUxxhfTc5D0cbX69sLGJgW8R9qoenAT_tdmoX5lurN8HDnr-QYPXkFjiWv1l5TsCkXD4j8oUeO26ubBHMIER/s320/IMG_5454.JPG" height="213" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Downtown Charlottetown</td></tr>
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Later on in the afternoon I took a walk 'downtown', and it's so different to the area where I'm staying (around University Avenue) - the architecture is beautiful and there are lots of little shops, restaurants and things to see, and there are LOBSTERS EVERYWHERE. I'm in heaven. I'm not just talking about lobster to eat (of which there is plenty... live and kicking in tanks in restaurant windows), but every sort of lobster gift and paraphernalia you can imagine, too. I was reminded yesterday, however, that the whole point of buying gifts is that they are for someone else, and I don't know anyone else obsessed with lobsters...<br />
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There is a marina (well, there are three!), with a boardwalk around the coastline - I could see lots of sail boats out in the bay, even sailing right into the harbour! I've enquired about getting some sailing done one weekend, it's all weather dependent so I'm keeping my fingers crossed for next week. By the end of the afternoon I had walked about 10km so I decided to leave the board walk past Victoria Park for another day...<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio8h4U-r3mCxAqFbr8CoN3MUPeVxsmIpdIs5AIrMtP4-pK3V8iStSc8fLrXAwaGaAu1FloyeT56869sbzpuv7HXxQzI8SbiaD7pAOE-Xf2q3bbLxz0IwtMq7s7PYath81K4eeppBhqoBgA/s1600/IMG_5447.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio8h4U-r3mCxAqFbr8CoN3MUPeVxsmIpdIs5AIrMtP4-pK3V8iStSc8fLrXAwaGaAu1FloyeT56869sbzpuv7HXxQzI8SbiaD7pAOE-Xf2q3bbLxz0IwtMq7s7PYath81K4eeppBhqoBgA/s320/IMG_5447.JPG" height="212" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of the marinas</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZQpnYFzDGdTEkzRXDXWw7xMxih_Fsc7QMiXuXN5wBIb_NzX95BHAa2jWHfS5iiKNMNOQ7J8_fv5C23woy2FsOwTbontA2-1S3MV39BqFfHDxGpdyLNaQClPgRLrOs9oIcIKZFBGHJpNvw/s1600/IMG_5449.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZQpnYFzDGdTEkzRXDXWw7xMxih_Fsc7QMiXuXN5wBIb_NzX95BHAa2jWHfS5iiKNMNOQ7J8_fv5C23woy2FsOwTbontA2-1S3MV39BqFfHDxGpdyLNaQClPgRLrOs9oIcIKZFBGHJpNvw/s320/IMG_5449.jpg" height="320" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One for Dad...</td></tr>
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So much to see and do! I feel like Charlottetown could easily become my home, and I have only explored a tiny corner of the Island so far.. I have already signed up to begin a Moksha yoga class, which I've never tried before, and I start at the university tomorrow (eek!), bring on the next few weeks...<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13191127290064670594noreply@blogger.com0