With a week of the nutrient challenges behind us, the TIDE Project’s crew steamed on into the weekend, under the direction of their fearless leader Kate.  Tank fills, acid washing, filtering, and canoe sampling were some of the many activities that continued on through the weekend and into the early portion of the week.

With things wrapping up quickly just as the week started several key events were of particular importance.  Sarah cried briefly as she packed up her SIGMAs for the last time, we gave our farewell to Amanda and Jo from Boston University, and Kate went into an apparent state of well-deserved hibernation after multiple weeks of work and little sleep.

Things are never quiet around here even with the lack of nutrient challenges so here’s what we’ve been up to.

The REUs/The Girls, Meghan and Ashley, started to work on a secret experiment in their lair of the barn. Or perhaps they are just trying to get their critters to enjoy some tasty Spartina patens.

The Plant People, Chris, Erik, and Ariella, started to measure Mud vs. Veg. in hopes of quantifying Sweeny’s apparent collapse of the creek bank and tall Spartina alterniflora.  Mid-week we were visited by Scott, their PI, as well as Earl Davey and Cathy Wigand, from the E.P.A., to compare coring techniques and have some of our sediment cores CT scanned.

The Algae folks, Sam and Austin, worked to examine production of epiphytes and diatoms, and figure out what is going on in the shark-infested marsh platform ponds…okay, maybe they aren’t shark infested.

Thursday at noon was indeed time for another TIDE Power Hour of Cleaning in the barn and the lab.  No speck of dirt or misplaced item was safe from the hands of the TIDE people.

Head to head equipment washing challenges between Austin and Meghan was the main event in the lab.

Bench washing, floor sweeping, mopping, wiping, and reorganizing were also major events.

In the outdoor events, Austin dominated the beating of the rugs.

Chris won the mesh lift with approximately 25 square meters of mesh.

Ariella and David both had strong showings in the recycling events and were able to crush some cardboard along the way.

Additionally, there was a tie in the “Sharing is Caring” award between David and Sarah, for their work in the “Marking Sketchy Batteries”, and Erik and Chris, for their work in “Could you hand me that board?”

Every surface was sparkling.

To round out the day the TIDE Project donated some wooden pallets to the greater Plum Island Community.

[Note: Sam was not included in the donation]

After all of the hard work during the nutrient challenges, the cleaning extravaganza, and the regular work of the week, we all decided to take Friday to join in some TIDE Project bonding as we drove up to the Franconia Notch Region and climbed Mt. Liberty.

A good time was had by all.

Tune in next weeks for updates on the All Scientists Meeting, the continued saga of the REUs Amphipod lair, and what Sarah is doing in life post-SIGMAs.

– Erik

Picture 6am on the marsh.  The sky begins to brighten, mosquitoes begin their whining, early birds get their worms, and muddy scientists climb out of a ditch, eager to greet the next round of replacement labor, a hot breakfast, and a highly pressurized shower after a night of canoe sampling.

And so it began.  The July madness that David has been hinting about since May hit like a hurricane.  The week began innocuously enough, with Dr. Fleeger’s arrival from oil-soaked Louisiana.  He appeared, however, in the calm before the storm of 24-hour sampling that turned Marshview into a hotbed of planning and processing.

Friday and Saturday were devoted to becoming one with the Sweeney confluence, or what the less poetic among us would call “sitting in a canoe taking water samples every half hour”.  There was syringing involved.  As well as some napping.  Fortunately, neither occurred at the same time. (Though a filter bottle may or may not have overfilled as a result of some previously undiagnosed narcolepsy.)

Monday morning started with a shock after a snail cake brushed a bit too close to reality during an unplanned session in the oven.  Megan didn’t seem to mind her melted birthday cake, though the firemen may have minded the early morning call.

The rest of the week can be compared to a runaway amphipod – it only accelerated after its initial Friday scare.  All I can say is, whoever is foolhardy enough to challenge the marsh better be prepared for a barrage of filtering, fetching samples, feeding the tank, schlepping batteries and autosamplers, acid washing, filtering, sampling, crushing phosphate, and did I mention filtering?

Fresh fish Jo and Amanda from Boston University joined biogeochemists Kate and Sarah in getting their fill of ungodly early morning field work and late night lab work for the rest of the season, and preferably for the rest of their careers.  They could be seen shuffling weary-eyed from the marsh to the trailer and back out again, pushing to do almost inhuman amounts of work.  The trailer proved to be a godsend, becoming the estuarine filtration center of Marshview and most likely the state of Massachusetts.

As if nutrient challenges were not enough, another series of late night/early morning flume netting rode in on the spring tides.  Ariella and Erik got their first tastes of the irreplaceable sensation that is nighttime marsh swimming.  Sam and I underwent the singular experience of being hopelessly lost in densely foggy Nelson.  It was, euphemistically speaking, an exciting lesson in the importance of orienteering skills.  Meaghan and Austin worked hard to remove the flume nets after the night’s catch was collected and measured by Imogene.

Dr. Fleeger, Imogene, Meghan, and Ashley caught 1000 Philoscia, 160 Melampus, and 180 Orchestia to start a mesocosm experiment.  The marsh proved fruitful and petri dishes were assembled in the barn, ready for critters to start chowing down on some dead Spartina patens.

The algae team continued to investigate the mysterious abundance of algae in the dark mosquito ditches.  They also studied pond algae and counted diatoms like old pros.

The plant people wandered the marsh looking for crack.  They were successful.

And that, friends, was a week in the life of the TIDE project.

– Ashley

They have arrived. They like the dark, they enjoy feeding on human blood and their bite burns and can leave scars. Can you guess who they are? No not vampires, greenheads! Greenhead flies are out with a vengeance and adding an extra challenge to marsh life; however, we the persevering TIDE team, have overcome them by wearing long clothes, bathing in Skin So Soft and confronting them with courage.

Despite the little buggers, we have all had a very productive week.   Some of the many achievements have been:

   

Meghan and Ashley baked a good-bye cake for Konner.  We miss you Konner!

   

Meghan, Ashley, Chris and Erik made a birthday cake for me!

Two new members have joined our team:

Sam, looking fly with his shades and…

Sarah, also known as the queen of the SIGMAs.

Team Austin and Sam, or the algae people, have been installing fish exclosures and decorated the marsh with more bridal veil for algae to colonize.

   

Team Meghan and Ashley, or the girls, have been collecting their inverts including 4,000 coffee bean snails and deploying more invert filled bags.

   

Chris, Erik and I, or team Ariella-just kidding I mean the plant people, have been busily coring and sorting. We have a total of 20 cores so far. We also teamed up with the girls.

Kate, Linda (Lead PI) and  Bruce (co-PI) have begun preparing for the nutrient challenges. Here they are outfitting a canoe in preparation for a 24-hour water sampling adventure.

Other events of note include:

Erik embarking on his first fill

Plant people cleaning the bathrooms during a house clean up power hour.

Erik, Megan and David perfecting their rapping skills.

We work hard and play hard here in the marsh.

– Ariella

It’s getting a little hotter out on the marsh, but we are finding ways to cope.

Everything ran smoothly this past week and we will be entering July in full stride.

Erik, Ariella, and Chris counted root hairs at full speed; Meghan and Ashley did some early season data analysis; and Austin started examining algae in the ponds.

Kate and Bruce paid their dues to Isus, God of Nitrate.

Rio stopped by again.

David has become the proud father of some baby Melampus.

A few new bodies are still rolling in.  Imogene, a high-school intern local from the Governor’s Academy, has joined our ranks.  She has acted as a renaissance woman, collecting chlorophyll a samples, labeling bottles, entering data, collecting diatoms with Austin, measuring grass and counting inverts with Meghan and Ashley, and much, much more.  Everyone’s life has become a little easier since her arrival this past week.

   

As some are just getting their first salty taste of the marsh, Konner is saying his final goodbyes to the mummichogs.  He had what may very well be his last bite of American Barbecue on Thursday.

We conducted a little whiteboard poll this week.  It asked some important and probing questions.  Here are the results (n = 8):

1) Do you think Salicornia is tasty?
Yes: 75%
No: 12.5%
Haven’t tried it: 12.5%

2) Would you eat an amphipod for $10?
Yes: 37.5 (Note: David said he would eat one for $1)
No: 62.5 (Note: Meghan said that if offered $13 she would eat and amphipod and also drink 1 spoonful of tire water, whatever that is)

3) Favorite creek
NE:12.5%
CL: 12.5%
WE: 25%
SW: 50% (Note: for some this is highly contingent on boat availability)

4) Favorite truck?
Old Grey Mare/Silver Bullet: 50%
The Red Truck: 50%

5) Would you consider yourself a:
a. plant person: 45%
b. bird person: 9%
c. invert person: 9%
d. microbial/biogeochemical person: 0% (yikes!!)
e.fish person: 9%
f. ecosystem person: 27%

Another week of TIDE and the team keeps growing with returner Chris blistering back into the swing of things.

Two additions from Conn Coll, Erik and Ariella arrived looking to get to the root of the marsh cracking.

Some 2 and 3 am strolls and swims were taken on the marsh as the season’s first Flume Nets were deployed beneath the stars and pink glow of the sunrise.

Dr. Warren, Dr. Deegan, and Rio paid a visit to troubleshoot coring techniques and caught everyone up to speed in the first TIDE Project meeting of the field season.

The new chemistry lab trailer arrived and provides excellent additional, air-conditioned, lab space; and Kate’s new Lair.

Ashley and Meghan worked throughout the week to deploy their handmade detritus invert cages.

The tanks continue to guzzle and pump fertilizer allowing more team members to learn how to drive the boat. Back at the house all 9 inhabitants assisted Chris in devouring eight 100% Compostable Sun Chip bags that he will use for a plastic degradation experiment on the marsh. The chips helped fuel work for the week as well as late night Spades games and PIG and Knockout on the basketball court.

– Chris

The number of people in the house has exploded up to 6 people with two new REU’s joining the rest of us.

Meghan has returned for another year of what can only be described as fun in the sun.

A newcomer Ashley has joined us for a summer of marsh adventures she will try to forget.

Tank fills continue constantly, presenting unforeseen challenges and foreseen human error.

Bags of fertilizer open seemingly on their own adding clean up duty.  Sweeney couldn’t wait for the next high tide to pump and consequently overfilled with excitement and water.  A Clubhead mishap was attributed to an angry water hose which caused an unexpected early morning marsh shower.

In other news, flume nets have been installed at all 6 creeks.  The Marshview crew is restlessly awaiting their first midnight sampling assignments.  Hours upon hours of S. patens detritus sorting has taken place in the lab this past week.

The marsh hasn’t been the only source of work.  The dumpster has been moved in preparation for a new lab/trailer that is to arrive shortly.  A new toilet has also been installed in order to stop a potentially smelly leak.  The grey truck was given an oil change to ensure smooth running throughout the summer.

On a leisurely note, late night spades and Scrabble competitions have caused some team members to lose a few hours of sleep.  For some it was worth it, and sadly for some it was not.  Weekends have included a few fishing trips with the experts pulling in the fish and the novices gazing on jealously.  Only one person was foul hooked…

   

– Konner

First, an editorial.

Rowley, Mass.

Inhale.  Water floods and fills the creeks.  The marsh swells with water and nourishment.  The water is clean.  Cold.  And recharging.  Exhale.  The water ebbs and the creeks empty.  Fish with full bellies and detritus once attached now return to feed the estuary.  Tidal creeks, like the rivers and ditches, are conduits to the marsh like watery bronchial branches bringing needed elements and energy for exchange.  The astronomical rhythm of eons have risen and fallen for a never breathless marsh.

Northern Gulf of Mexico.

Inhale.  A shallow but long breath.  A throat is gummy.  Sticky.  Choking.  Exhale.  Something coating, adherent, blackening remains.  Maybe another breath.  More thickness and the inhalations are shuddering.  How black can lungs be before an estuary of coastal counties and parishes, perishes?

Tick tock.  More than 40 days has the oil geyser-ed from a mile beneath the Gulf.  It’s more than distressing.  And as a project scientist on a saltmarsh project, one can feel a bit impotent watching the blackness coat the marsh.  I mean, we are marsh scientists and what are we to do?  I am angry, but not sure who to be angry at.  After all, I did drive my car today and it certainly does not run on unicorn dreams and leprechaun giggles.

Blackness on the marsh.  The sediments.  The animals.  Choke the plants, lose the organic matter.  Lose the organic matter, lose the sediments.  Lose the sediments, lose the marshes.  Lose the shrimp, the fish, the storm-surge protection, the productivity, the bird habitat.

A new containment dome will be tried to cap the spilling thickness.  I won’t hold my breath, but I wish the marshes could.

Second, an update.

New bodies occupy the marsh.  Konner, the intrepid LSU grad student, has come back again to slog in the marsh.  Austin, a student of algae and Sallie, is leaping with excitement to be in the marsh.  Ujwala, an intern who will be processing chlorophyll a at MBL this summer, joined us for sampling event.  As you can see, she forgot to bring her four-wheel drive.

Birds have been creating new life, but what have we done lately?

Planks, walkways, red carpets!  Cover those ditches and protect those squidgy parts of the marsh.  More planks!  More walkways!  Fill those tanks.  Phosphate needs a-crushin’.  Sweeney’s empty again!  Fill it!  Clubhead?  Fill it!  Sweeney again!  What about chlorophyll a?  Let’s take some.  How much?  270 vials worth!  How about infauna?  Take them too!  Inverts for isotopes?  Snag ’em!  Are we filling an ark?  No, but the water is flooding so grab that next sample.  This slump looks new.  Take it’s picture before it gets away!  What about this science detritus?  Remove it!  The path.  Where’s the path?  Serious path maintenance time.  Build new autosampler platforms?  I thought they were R2-D2s.  Deploy the YSIs!  The LENS project needs the boat.  Charge them 1 Sweeney fill and by golly, make them walk the planks.  Arg!

The marsh.  It needs love.

Me, I need a nap.

– David

The marsh begins to bristle with grass, the willets “pill-will-willet” as they flush, and office-worn scientists stretch their atrophied muscles and leap a leap that’s not short on confidence but short on distance onto the spongy peat.  A new, muddy skidmark – a badge of honor or welcoming – adorns the no-longer-new pants.  The scientist stands, struggling like a new-born foal to find her legs.  The marsh smiles a creek-wide smile, breathes deeply and says hello.   A new field season begins.

The next week the weather was temperamental and our week was filled with the minutiae of set-up.  Deploy walking planks (arg!), order supplies, dust the cobwebs from the battered memory about how to set-up YSI’s, go to Home Depot, forget something, go back to Home Depot, and of course, haul one or two bags of fertilizer.  By the Friday, both Clubhead and Sweeney tank set-ups were complete and their bellies full of sweet, sweet fertilizer.

We started pumping by May 14.  I lie.  Clubhead is a gem and began on the 13th.  Sweeney.  Well, Sweeney is Sweeney.  A lovely child, but always needing just a bit more attention than the rest.  Pump hiccups happen but there is no angst (maybe a little) as I am to New Hampshire to roost on the porch of Frank Bowles, the pump engineer, until we fix the Sweeney pump up nicely.  Kate and I still celebrated Friday with both set-ups being complete, if not operational.

For now it is just two of us, but soon there will be more.  It should be a productive season and I look forward to your smiling faces and slumping, fertilizer-laden shoulders on the marsh.

The marsh.

It waits for you.

– David