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I have been privileged to work with many talented undergraduate researchers - both in the lab at UC Santa Cruz, and in the field on Santa Catalina Island! Here are some of the cool projects we have put together:
I have been privileged to work with many talented undergraduate researchers - both in the lab at UC Santa Cruz, and in the field on Santa Catalina Island! Here are some of the cool projects we have put together:
Leverage Behaviors of the California Moray
UCSC undergraduates Sacha, August, and Avery conducted many feeding trials to document the different ways morays use their bodies to gain leverage when extracting prey from within a rocky crevice. We documented that the California moray can tie itself into not one...not two...but THREE different knots!...and when not knotting (ha), morays can strategically press their bodies along the crevice walls forming anchors or braces!
Avery measures a sleepy eel
The Crew preps for another experimental trial
August, Avery & Poster Presentation
Sacha giving a talk at UC Davis
Observing multimodal sense use during foraging in piscivorous kelp forest fish
Through the NSF-REU program at USC's Wrigley Institute, Gabby and Dani, and I experimentally tested the different types of stimuli (smell, taste, visual) required for predatory fish to complete a full foraging sequence (what senses are used to detect prey, specifically locate prey, and a capture prey). We found that kelp bass and moray eels rely on different types of sensory information for each of these phases!
Gabby deploys a camera for a trial!
Dani & Gabby hard at work, building camera frames.
Gabby presenting her poster at Western Society of Naturalists
Assemblage-wide comparison of the growth of retinal area for rocky reef fishes off Santa Catalina Island
REU Dani (with the help of Gabby) measured eye diameter across ontogeny for 16 species of rocky reef fishes. From this, we were able to estimate the rate of retinal growth for each species, showing which may be more visually-oriented. Dani was also able to use her amazing art skills to create beautiful illustrations of the fish species!
Gabby & Dani measuring specimens and scouring at the LA Natural History Museum!
Hard at work, scouring the shelves of the LA Natural History Museum!
Dani shows off her poster at Western Society of Naturalists!
Using BRUVs to document behavioral responses to ecologically relevant Prey chemical stimuli
I mentored REU Students Helena (2022) and Nico (2023) as they deployed BRUVS (Baited Remote Underwater Video) to test the olfactory sensitivity predatory fish across two habitats! They observed many, many fish species - highlights include bat rays, leopard sharks, and giant black sea bass! Both Helena & Nico presented beautiful posters at the REU symposium.
Helena and I, ready to drop a BRUV or two.
From the era of BeReal, Nico and I, capture a snapshot of post-trial BRUVs cleaning
Giant black sea bass popping into view!...note the ~6in kelp bass in the foreground for scale.
The influence of spatial context on prey manipulation behaviors in the California moray eel
Morays eels use many different behaviors to forage within tight, rocky crevices. UCSC student Liliana, along with the help of Sacha, tested how the size of the crevice impacts which behaviors the morays could (or could not) perform.
Lili measures a sleeping moray named Snickers
Snickers, wide awake and feeding within a transparent "crevice"
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