Days Three and Four: Gathering Gear/ Gopher Frogs

June 8, 2015

 

 

            After a weekend dominated by sleep, waking up at 5:00AM on a Monday was very difficult.  But, I did it and thankfully my legs had stopped complaining. My ride to the office was more pleasant, and after the excitement, I was a little bit relieved that day three was going to be an office day. I got to the office, changed out of my riding clothes and joined my mentor Jennifer to get ready for the day.  We got right to work gathering the things we would need for the fish sampling trip. I helped her pack, unpack, and carry things until there was a good sized pile of gear in Jeff’s office.

As we gathered equipment, she explained the uses of each piece.  She also taught me how to be safe around them, and shared some personal experiences that might help me in the field. The more equipment included the back-pack shocker, jars for preserving fish, labels, a clipboard with data sheets, and various kinds of nets. We had three dip nets and one seine net to be used for the trip.  Unfortunately, they needed mending, and we could not find the twine to repair it.  Being a biologist sometimes means improvising.  So I found an alternative, and I spent what seemed like forever mending those nets.  I must say I think I did a fairly good job.

After lunch we continued to gather the rest of the odds and ends for the trip, we ended up finding the correct twine after the fact. We also compiled a short list of the things we could not find, and Jeff offered to take care of it.   After that, I made travel arrangements because Jennifer would not be going with us on this trip and I needed my own room. We still had awhile before it was time for me to go home, so I studied a book on freshwater mussels so I could prepare for the mussel sampling trip. The next few weeks were going to be action-packed and I was looking forward to it.

Day Four: The Dusky Gopher Frog

June 9, 2015

            After a day in the office, I was excited to be going out in the field again.  So I almost did not notice the sullen pain in my legs as I rode to work bright and early for another day of adventure.  Today I would be going out in the field with biologists Matt Laschet, Dianne Ingram, and Tim Mullet, who usually deal with more terrestrial creatures. However, today they were going out to take a look at some ponds that could potentially be suitable habitat and reintroduction sites for the endangered dusky gopher frog which was thought to be extinct in Alabama. There has not been a sighting of one in years, but they are hopeful that they might return naturally or be reintroduced into ponds.

So we got the gear together that we needed, and Dianne, Matt, Tim and I left the office. The pond’s location is called the Laurendiene property and is owned by the city of Mobile. As we drove down one of the dirt roads on our way to the pond, Matt spotted a freshly dug gopher tortoise burrow on the side of the road.  We all jumped out of the car to take a closer look and see if the tortoise was around. Sadly it was not, so we called one of the property managers and flagged the burrow so no one would accidently run over it. That was pretty exciting because the gopher tortoise is a threatened species that needs longleaf pine habitat to survive and it’s always good to see a new burrow from one.

We drove through the bumpy dirt roads and eventually came to the first pond which resembled the type dusky gopher frogs need to breed and hatch eggs. We got out and Matt waded out into the pond to take the depth measurements.  While we waited, I appreciated the beauty of the area. Dianne identified bird calls and Tim took a recording of the natural sounds for possible use.  Once we were done, we got back into the car and went on to the next pond which was not as suitable as the first.  On the way out, we stopped at a pitcher plant bog. 

 

Unfortunately, a downpour cut our trip short—that’s Mobile weather for you. We ended up getting back at around 10:20AM and Jennifer really had nothing planned for me. I discovered that paperwork also plays a huge part in biology.  I watched as Jennifer completed paperwork for her Endangered Species Act consultation projects.  It was actually pretty cool. I ended up learning a lot about what they do with the Endangered Species Act, and how they review federal projects to see if they have any impacts on nearby endangered species. If the project has negative effects, biologists propose a way to do the project that would have less or no impact. They determine the possibility of impacts using a combination of Global Information System (GIS) technology, surveys, and prior knowledge.

I spent the rest of the day reading about more fish and mussel stuff and learning a bit about GIS. All in all, it ended up being a fairly productive day despite the interference of the rain, which conveniently stopped in time for me to go home—no catching I cool car ride for me.

Day Two: The Alabama Beach Mouse

 

June 5, 2015

            On day two, I once again woke up at the crack of dawn.   This time, my legs were complaining about the abuse I had put them through the day before. I ignored them and once again made my way to work, although a bit more slowly this time. Today I was to go in the field with another biologist in the office, Bill Lynn, who is the lead recovery biologist of the endangered Alabama Beach Mouse (ABM). On the dunes of a stretch of Gulf State Park, we checked on some home-made tracking tubes to monitor the ABM population.

 

 

The tubes are about two feet of PVC pipe with a cap on the end.  Bill places sunflower seeds inside the cap to entice the mice.  A piece of paper with an ink pad on the end is placed within the tube. The mice climb into the tube and have to walk through the ink to get to the seeds on the other side.  As a result, they eat the seeds and leave their tracks behind. Bill then takes the papers and looks for tracks.  This indicates beach mice are in the area.  He has to go out once a month to replace the paper and seeds.

            It was on one of these monthly trips that I was accompanying him along with another biologist, Dr. Tim Mullet. Tim is a soundscape ecologist and new to the office, so he was coming along to get a feel for beach mouse work.  Around 7:30 in the morning, we were all packed up and on our way to Gulf State Park.  We got to the park and immediately went out onto the dunes, trekking through the shrubbery to recover and record tracking tube usage.  I was able to contribute by recording the findings in Bill’s note book, dating the backs of the collected papers and inking the new sheets.

 It was a hot day out on the sands of the dunes with no shade, and Tim who just moved down from Alaska was having a hard time. But with a little help from a case of water bottles, (that I was carrying in my book bag) we all got through it. After all of the tubes were checked and restocked, we took a much deserved break and went back to the car.  After leaving the site, Bill showed us around Gulf State Park which Tim and I had never really been through before.  The air conditioning was nice!

When we got back to the office I once again reviewed my fishes. The list of species was in no way short and I spent the rest of the day looking up fish to acquaint myself with what I might encounter in the Buttahatchee River next week.  After that, it was time for me to bike home, again, in the scorching sun.  My legs complained all weekend!

Despite the heat, it was such a fun day, and I learned so much about the ecosystem of the sand dunes.  We saw ghost crab burrows, coyote tracks, an osprey, and more plants than I would have ever imagined. It was a great way to end my eventful (if short) first week on the job and it got me pumped for what the coming weeks might hold.