Welcome to Striped Bass Magic—2019 Newsletter

The Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) in Woods Hole, MA has developed an ecosystem-based website, stripedbassmagic.org, as part of its outreach activities. Geared for middle and high school students, the site explores the interrelatedness of organisms by focusing on the ecosystem, migration, and life cycles of the striped bass and their predators and prey.

Since 2015, more than 250 individuals have been introduced to the science behind striped bass with a progressive increase in the number of students conducting research projects.  Many of these projects have resulted in the development of lesson plans.

Students follow the bass as they migrate more than 1,000 miles round-trip and learn how the animals interact with other organisms in their ecosystem, the technology used to research marine life, and how human activity affects the striped bass and their food web.

Classroom material developed by students and teachers as well as lesson plan links are available in the “Curriculum” section of the site.

A number of examples of student and teacher involvement in the striped bass initiative are listed below. More information can be found at stripedbassmagic.org. Join us in the striped bass adventure! If interested please contact Steve Zottoli ([email protected]). Please consider donating to this outreach initiative so that it can continue and grow.

1. School Visits

Mashpee High School, Mashpee, MA

Thomas Hoppensteadt and his Ecology of Cape Cod course, visited the MBL on 5-1-19. The group of 19 students toured the Marine Resources Center and discussed the migratory pattern of striped bass, tagging and their imminent return to Eel Pond. Two of Tom’s students, Hannah Shields and Shaela Alves, wrote a lesson plan for the stripedbassmagic.org website based on the life history of striped bass.

Epiphany School, Boston, MA

Fifteen 7^th graders and 3 instructors visited the MBL on 5-10-19. Since striped bass had returned to Eel Pond on their coastal migration, students were able to feed the fish and identify some of the bass that had been tagged the previous fall. We discussed acoustic tagging and how the acoustic signal is received and the information that can be gathered with such a technique.

Children’s School of Science, Woods Hole, MA

Nine middle/high school students, 2 assistants and their teacher (Aaron Sloboda) of the Ichthyology course visited the MBL on 7-12-19. Research Assistants working with Steve Zottoli   discussed their research and the techniques they were using. The Ichthyology students were able to take GoPro pictures of the tagged bass, feed the bass, and see how acoustic data is assessed. Of the five fish tagged last fall, four returned and students were able to identify 3 of those 4 by photographing and looking for external tag colors. The students were introduced to skeletons of 4 fish found in the local ecosystem and the group discussed how skeletal bones inform us about function.

New Bedford Whaling Museum High School Apprenticeship Program

On 7-15-19 fifteen students and 4 assistants visited the MBL. The group was led by Tiffany Henriksen. Research Assistants discussed their research projects with small groups and instructed them in hands-on activities. Tiffany writes, “Thank you so much for having our group at the MBL yesterday. The activities were engaging and exciting. Also, it was wonderful that students had the opportunity to work with other teens as well as undergrads.  It was truly a successful day.”

University of Chicago Pre-Matriculation MBL Career Exploration Visit

Eighteen students and their coordinator, Dave Lerner, visited MBL on 9-14-19. The group discussed the local ecosystem, and, as part of that discussion, the head skeleton of a black sea bass and a tautog were passed around. Students were challenged to hypothesize what these fish eat based on differences in their oral and pharyngeal teeth.

Students were divided into two groups and were introduced to the squid, one prey item of the striped bass. One group observed squid feeding on small fish.   The second group dissected the squid and were able to see chromatophores pulsating under a dissecting microscope. In addition, they observed the branchial and systemic hearts beating. Using squid ink and the internal skeleton (“pen”), students sketched (see below). This group fed striped bass their squid.   The two groups then switched activities.

We ended the visit by challenging the students to map the migration routes of the striped bass that were tagged with acoustic tags the previous fall using a lesson plan developed by Laurel Barnett, one of the Research Assistants.

Dave writes, “Thank you so much for connecting with our students last week and leading a lab exercise – they loved the experience!  Feedback from the participants was extremely positive – the lab exercise was a favorite highlight of the trip!  Students loved learning more about the impressive research of the Woods Hole area and various STEM career trajectories – thank you for your help to make this meaningful experience possible for our students.”

Falmouth Academy, Pre-Algebra Class, Falmouth, MA

Nine students and their teacher, Scottie Mobley, visited the MBL on 9-30-19. Scottie who is a mathematics and science teacher, developed a lesson plan during the summer while working for the stripedbassmagic project. Her fall pre-algebra class used the lesson plan entitled, “Math informs Biology” to determine the rate (miles/hour) of striped bass tagged with acoustic tags and estimated the caloric intake necessary for a striped bass to migrate from Woods Hole to the Chesapeake Bay. Their visit allowed the students to identify the actual fish that they were studying. They discussed acoustic tagging and how data is collected and analyzed. The goal is to give the students a connection between math and the migratory biology of striped bass.

Scottie writes, “We enjoyed the visit so much! The students found the fish rates yesterday and today we’ll be plotting their paths to see which fish went the furthest. They are enjoying working with the data.”

2. Westwood, MA High School Leadership Team Visit  

The Leadership Team from Westwood High School visited MBL on 8-6-19. The team oversees the K-12 curriculum at the school and consists of 4 members, Elementary Science Coordinator, Middle School STEM Department Head, Science Department Head and Assistant Superintendent. The team spent the day discussing stripedbassmagic and how components of the initiative might be incorporated into their curriculum.

Allison Borchers, Assistant Superintendent writes, “We are excited about the resources you are developing and sharing via the website, and have started thinking about ways that the lessons, background information, and data sets could enhance our students’ understanding.  Thanks again for the opportunity.  We hope this is just the beginning of a fruitful MBL-WPS partnership!”

3. Student Participation in Research at the Marine Biological Laboratory during the School Year

One major goal of the striped bass initiative is to provide a forum for students to ask questions, to develop hypotheses, and to devise ways to test the hypotheses. More information about research projects conducted at the MBL can be found at stripedbassmagic.org, “Surprising Science.”

Student Research Projects, Summer 2019

Jolie Ganzell, Great Mills High School, Great Hills, MD

Students from prior years have speculated that stripe aberrations of striped bass allow identification of individual fish (much like the unique patterns of whale flukes). To test this hypothesis, controls are needed to ensure that the patterns do not change over time. Jolie studied whether the stripe aberrations of captive striped bass changed over a 9-month period. Her conclusion that they do not change is exciting and will now allow further identification of individual fish by stripe patterns. Jolie writes, “Working in a lab setting at MBL made a difference in my life and education because I got to experience something similar to what it would be like to study marine biology in and after college. Overall, this experience has increased my interest in marine biology.”

Emyrs Martens, high school student at Sint-Paulus Gent, Gent, Belgium

Emyrs studied the daily movements of striped bass. A group of fish in Eel Pond gather daily but then disperse in the evening about 7:30pm. Emyrs hypothesized that any action that fish associated with feeding might delay or prevent the departure. He first observed the fish from afar to get the “normal” departure time. Then he ran three tests, 1) whether his presence with no movement, 2) whether his presence with movement and 3) whether his presence with feeding the fish every 15 min or so would delay the departure of the fish. Although there were not enough replicates, the preliminary information indicates that he could delay departure most dramatically with feeding. However, none of the trials prevented departure. Emyrs comments, “The internship itself was innovative and creative for the freedom we had, sadly I only really realized this the last week.”

Laurel Barnett, Westwood High School, Westwood, MA

Jonathan Marvel-Zuccola, Beaver Country Day School, Chestnut Hill, MA

Mikaere Todd, Tamalpais High School, CA

This team ran a number of tests utilizing acoustic transmitters and receivers. Using a receiver in Eel Pond, they tested whether multiple acoustic tag transmissions or boat motor noise interfered with reception. They deployed thermometers to determine the temperature profile near one of the sites that are used by the striped bass. Along with Emyrs Martens, Sint-Paulus Gent, Gent, Belgium, the group tested the distance over which a transmitter can be detected by a receiver. Laurel writes, “Being challenged to write a lesson plans to meet exacting standards, to think on my feet while presenting to groups of both students and adults, and to work both independently and in a collaborative setting helped me gain confidence as both a learner and a leader. I have no doubt that these experiences will help me succeed in future academic and work endeavors, and I am grateful to have been a part of the Striped Bass Project.” Mikaere notes, “The atmosphere was warm and welcoming, and the group of interns became a close-knit collective. I appreciated the creative freedom we got when it came to designing our own lesson plans for the website. It made the work constantly individualized and interesting.” Jonathan comments, “In evaluation the preponderance of this experience can be subjectively deemed to be positive, and I will contemplate returning in future summers.”

Science Fair Project, Fall 2019

During the 2019-2020 academic year, Landon Cormie a resident of Martha’s Vineyard and an 8^th grader at Falmouth Academy, Falmouth, MA, conducted a project to compare the response of the black sea bass (Centropristis striata) to presentation of pieces of squid and a lure tied to mimic the squid. He used a resident population of bass in the Marine Resources Center at the MBL and randomly presented squid pieces and the lure. He found that the bass took a significantly longer period of time to approach the lure as compared the squid. He speculates that the bass can distinguish between the lure and squid bait.

Landon comments, “My experience at MBL was very welcoming, Dr. Steven Zottoli was extremely helpful in helping me think of new ways to approach my project. He was extremely knowledgeable in his field of work and helped me decide what would work best for the project. Whenever something went wrong, everyone at MBL was there to work with me on fixing the problem.  Their input was invaluable in helping me create a project that went beyond what I had in mind in the beginning of it all. The rest of the staff members that worked with me in handling the bass were extremely open to assisting me with my project. It is a dream of mine to work in marine biology when I grow up, and having Steven work with me was an experience that I will not forget. I look forward to working at MBL in the future and I know that I will have an equally fantastic time.”

4. New team member: Brian Prendergast, Professor of Psychology, University of Chicago

Brian Prendergast, Professor of Psychology at the University of Chicago, worked with the Research Assistants on a number of projects.

Brian is a behavioral neuroendrocrinologist and an expert on diurnal rhythms of hamsters. He became interested in striped bass on a visit to MBL. This past summer he spent 6 weeks conducting experiments and helping to mentor the students. He wishes to continue the collaboration with our summer team. Such a collaboration is beneficial to the project and provides students with an introduction to the design and implementation of experiments. Brian and the students deployed receivers inside and outside of Eel Pond to determine whether the five fish tagged in 2018 and ten fish tagged in 2019 stay in the pond 24/7 or whether they might leave the pond to return later. Preliminary results indicate that the fish spend most of the time in the pond, but occasionally leave for varying periods of time. Brian and the students ran a number of control experiments and deployed HoBo thermometers at different depths near one of the striped bass sites in Eel Pond to obtain a temperature profile of the water column.   Brian comments, “My research interests lie in understanding how daily and seasonal biological clocks allow animals to survive and adapt to a changing world. A pattern that has emerged in this field of chronobiology (‘the biology of time’) is that daily (circadian) and seasonal (circannual) clocks influence each other: the best time of day to forage, explore, or even just sleep changes across the seasons. Almost everything we know about how biological clocks interact with one another comes from studies of birds and terrestrial mammals; we know very little about how biological clocks function and interact to create an internal representation of environmental time in marine vertebrates. I am interested in joining stripedbassmagic to study how striped bass use circadian and seasonal environmental cues to initiate and terminate seasonal migratory behavior, and to behaviorally thermoregulate.”

5. Development of Technology used in Research

Tae Rugh, Mill Valley High School, CA senior built a robust underwater ROV utilizing bilge pump motors during the summer of 2018. However, he was unable to finish electronic control elements of the ROV but was able to do so during a short visit this summer. He and the other Research Assistants tested the ROV and it passed with flying colors. Future students can work with this ROV for various projects that involve photographing tagged striped bass.

Tae is currently attending the University of California, Irvine and writes, “I truly had a good time working on the ROV. It actually turned out to be a very helpful project for me, as I have been using a lot of the same knowledge gained this summer on a quadcopter that I’m making for my Intro to Engineering course.”

6. Development of Lesson Plans

Research Assistants who conducted research projects also contributed lesson plans to stripedbassmagic.org for their potential use by other students and teachers. In addition Scottie Mobley, mathematics and science teacher at Falmouth Academy developed a lesson plan entitled, “Math Informs Biology.”

Hannah Shields and Shaela Alves, Mashpee High School, Mashpee, MA

This pair of students under the supervision of Thomas Hoppensteadt created a lesson plan to understand the life cycle and history of the striped bass: https://stripedbassmagic.org/lesson-plan-life-cycle-history-of-striped-bass-video/

Laurel Barnett, Westwood High School, Westwood, MA

Laurel developed two lesson plans. The first, Mapping Striped Bass Migration: https://stripedbassmagic.org/mapping-striped-bass-migration/

utilizes data obtained from the 5 fish that were implanted with acoustic tags in the fall of 2018. Fish need to be within a few hundred meters of a receiver to be “recognized.” We only have a one receiver in Eel Pond. As a result, we rely on reporting from scientists along the Atlantic Coast that have receivers deployed for their own research projects.   We have joined an acoustic transmitter network (ACT) where data is shared. Since the transmitters have a battery life of about 10 years, students will be able to follow our tagged fish for many years. This lesson plan allows students to track the migratory path of our tagged fish on their cell phone or laptop using latitude and longitude of the receivers and Google Maps. Her second lesson plan is focused on the challenge fishes face migrating from salt to fresh water and back while keeping their internal salt concentrations constant. Her osmoregulation/transport lesson plan is quite impressive: https://stripedbassmagic.org/osmoregulation-and-ion-balance-of-a-euryhaline-fish/

Emyrs Martens, high school student at Sint-Paulus Gent, Gent, Belgium

Emyrs developed a clever lesson plan entitled, Climate & Climate Change: https://stripedbassmagic.org/lesson-plan-climate-and-climate-change/

He constructed a series of crossword puzzles to allow students to gain a better understanding of the basic challenges of climate and climate change on humans and migrating animals like the striped bass. He then provides students with a few mathematical challenges and four exercises to help students better understand carbon dioxide effects on our atmosphere, the absorption of heat by the ocean. He ends the plan with ways in which students themselves can help reduce climate change at home.

Jonathan Marvel-Zuccola, Beaver Country Day School, Chestnut Hill, MA (currently a first year student at Williams College)

Jonathan developed a lesson plan on circadian rhythms in both humans and fish: https://stripedbassmagic.org/lesson-plan-human-circadian-rhythms-and-fish-migration/ Since changes in external cues most certainly affect internal clocks, it is highly likely that seasonal changes in timing will be involved in migratory patterns. Since students have observed circadian movements of striped bass in Eel Pond, this lesson plan is particularly important to understand the involvement of environmental cycles in local movements of fish.

Mikaere Todd, graduate of Tamalpais High School, CA (she will be attending the University of St. Andrews in Scotland)

Mikaere created a lesson plan on the importance of countercurrent exchange in the extraction of oxygen from water by fish: https://stripedbassmagic.org/lesson-plan-countercurrent-exchange-of-oxygen-across-fish-gills/ She used original sketches to explain the mechanism and developed activities to compare countercurrent with concurrent exchange of gases.

Scottie Mobley, mathematics and science teacher at Falmouth Academy, Falmouth, MA

Scottie developed a lesson plan for her pre-algebra class entitled, Math Informs Biology. She took migration data from a Massachusetts Fisheries receiver that identified all five fish that we tagged with acoustic transmitters in 2018. The MA Fishery receivers were south of Eel Pond. Students picked one of the five fish that they guessed had the fastest rate between Eel Pond and the receiver and based on time and distance traveled calculated the rate (miles/hour). Students compared their results to determine which fish had the fastest rate and then discussed whether the rate was the fish’s maximum or minimum speed and why.   They then looked to see if the rate showed any correlation to the time at which the fish left Eel Pond. Using all of the migration data sent to us from scientists along the Atlantic Coast, students tracked the path of their fish’s migration (https://stripedbassmagic.org/mapping-striped-bass-migration/). Then, the students made predictions as to why the fish chose the final location at which they were identified.   Finally, they compared the fish paths to see if the fastest fish went the furthest. Discussions included why it is important to conduct this type of research.

Scottie is working on a calorimetry exercise for next year that will allow students to first dissect the squid, one of striped bass prey items and then to calculate the caloric content of the squid as a way to determine how many squid a striped bass would need to consume to complete its southerly migration.

Scottie writes, “The activity in my math class went really well. The students obviously loved the MBL visit and continued to talk about it the rest of the week. One of my students was so enthralled with the whole experience that she said she really wants to apply to work there, do a mentored Science Fair project there, and/or get an internship in the future! I love instilling a passion for science in my students!”

1. Acoustic Tagging Initiatives

2018

In late August and early September of 2018 VEMCO acoustic tags were implanted

into the abdominal cavity of 5 striped bass. A receiver placed in Eel Pond, Woods Hole, MA monitored the unique acoustic pattern of each fish transmitter (i.e., fish ID and temperature). All fish left the pond in October; two left on the same day but at different times while the other 3 left on different dates. Three of the fish were picked up by receivers outside of Delaware Bay (based on latitude and longitude of each receiver) and one of these three fish was picked up off of Chesapeake Bay while it was presumably heading to the mid-Atlantic off of North Carolina. Four of the five fish returned to Eel Pond where they spent the summer of 2019. This data is very exciting since it indicates at least one of the fish followed a migration pattern documented in the literature (over 1,000 miles round trip) but more importantly it highlights the ability of the fish to find Eel Pond, Woods Hole, MA in the spring of 2019! One of the four fish was reported as caught off of Delaware this past Fall and was kept by the fisher. We are looking forward to seeing whether the remaining fish will return again in May of 2020.

Laurel Barnett took the latitude and longitude data for each fish and developed a lesson plan to plot the migration paths taken using Google Maps. (https://stripedbassmagic.org/mapping-striped-bass-migration/) This lesson plan combines geography, tagging technology, mathematics and migratory patterns and should be of use to many other teachers/students.

Since the battery life of the acoustic tags is about 10 years, students will be able to monitor migration patterns with data from receivers purchased from the Groff Grant that will help determine whether tagged fish return to Eel Pond from year to year. In addition, we have joined the ACT network of receivers found up and down the Atlantic Coast. If “picked up” by these receivers deployed by other scientists we will be able to follow migration patterns for many years.

2019

Based on the success of our 2018 tagging project, we tagged another 10 striped bass in the fall of 2019. All left Eel Pond in September and October on their migration route. We have learned that 5 of these fish were picked up by receivers in the Hudson River at the Tappan Zee Bridge. These tags give signals that allow identification of each fish, temperature and pressure (depth). We have 5 more tags that we will implant in 2020.

Now that we have 14 striped bass with tags we look forward to using an array of 6 receivers to determine daily movement patterns of those that return next spring/summer to Eel Pond. Emyrs Martens obtained preliminary data (see above) that some of the striped bass in Eel Pond move daily from their feeding location to some unknown site at about 7:30pm each day and then return in the early morning. This circadian rhythm will be interesting to document with the help of Brian Prendergast, University of Chicago faculty member.

1. Website Development

The website provides a mechanism to distribute results of student projects and lesson plans to a broader audience. We continue to make updates and check links. Skeletons of fish in the striped bass ecosystem have been prepared and have been photographed as a teaching tool for stripedbassmagic.org. Currently we are designing two mini-courses, one on proper technique for “catch and release” by fishers and another on form and function that we will place on the website for teachers to use.

Summary of Participation in the Striped Bass Outreach Initiative from 2015-2019

The striped bass initiative has involved more than 250 individuals since 2015. The number of students participating in research projects was lower this year because Lincoln School, Providence, R.I. did not offer the course that has utilized stripedbassmagic in the past. They intend to offer the course next year and plan to re-connect. In addition, a former teacher at Lincoln School has now moved to teach at St Mary Academy—Bay View, Riverside, R.I. and wishes to start interactions next year. Buxton School, Williamstown, MA has also voiced an interest in including stripedbassmagic into the independent research aspect of their Marine Science course. Join us in the striped bass adventure! Steve Zottoli can be contacted at: [email protected]

The current academic institution of those students that have participated in the outreach over the past 4 years and have now graduated from high school is listed below:

Thomas Blum—Yale University

Ian Hinkle-–Skidmore College

Morgan Howes—University of Massachusetts, Boston

Darya Khodakhah—Middlebury College

Jonathan Marvel-Zuccola—Williams College

Tae Rugh—University of California, Irvine

Daniel Sosa Cobo—University of California, San Diego

Michael Stack—University of Maine

Steven Tanguilig—Northeastern University

Mikaere Todd—University of St. Andrews in Scotland

Acknowledgments

The Mary E. Groff Charitable Trust has been the main financial contributor to this initiative.