Science Fair Project Suggestions

1. Interdisciplinary approach to studies of the striped bass, science and the humanities
2. Striped Bass Food Preferences
3. Predator-Prey Relationships
4. Food Web in the Northeast During Winter Months
5. Striped Bass Migratory Patterns
6. Environmental Triggers for Migration
7. Migration of Striped Bass Predators
8. Migration of Striped Bass Prey
9. Do all striped bass migrate?
10. Resident Striped Bass Populations
11. Resident and Non-Resident Populations of Striped Bass
12. Resident Striped Bass Local Migration
13. Influence of Storms on Resident Striped Bass Populations
14. Distribution of Striped Bass Resident Populations
15. Striped Bass Sound Production
16. Commercial Fishing for Striped Bass
17. Striped Bass Controversies
18. Importance of Plankton in Striped Bass Migration
19. Anatomy of Striped Bass
20. Underwater ROVs
21. Software Development for Recognition of Striped Bass

Note: Some of these projects will need prior approval of the MBL IACUC and will need to conform to school science fair rules.

Proper control experiments are critical to the success of your project!

  1. Interdisciplinary approach to studies of the striped bass, science and the humanities

See: Curriculum, Interdisciplinary Exercises, to develop approaches to the study of the striped bass ecosystem in an interdisciplinary fashion. Develop your own interdisciplinary study and submit it for addition to this website.

  1. Striped Bass Food Preferences

What are the food preferences of striped bass? If striped bass are fed squid, will they eat other prey items? Do they have a preference hierarchy?

Fish can be presented with different foods during a feeding session and food consumption and rate of food consumption can be observed. Objects that have same color and density can act as control food objects. Foods can be worms, undersized lobsters, soft-shelled clams, broken soft-shelled clams, crabs, eels, scup, butterfish, etc.

  1. Predator-Prey Relationships

Can live squid escape from striped bass?

Live squid can be given an acclimation period where they are exposed to but protected from striped bass consumption.   They can then be released and the time to capture/escape determined and compared to consumption if there is no acclimation period. See striped bass eating squid on stripedbassmagic.org under: All About the Bass, Prey

  1. Food Web in the Northeast During Winter Months

What happens to the food web of which striped bass are a part during winter months? Where do striped bass, predators and prey go? See: Curriculum, Food Web

There is data online of tagging a variety of organisms that are part of the food web. Construct a food web in summer and winter in the Northeast and compare it with that in North Carolina. Why do some animals migrate and others do not?   Take a census of harbor and gray seals. Connect with other high schools up and down the migratory path of the striped bass to determine food web components along the Atlantic seaboard.

  1. Striped Bass Migratory Patterns

Where do striped bass migrate from Cape Cod during the winter? How would you determine this?

Do some populations of striped bass stay locally (holdovers) and not migrate?\

Become involved in a tagging program so that you can get real time data on the movements of striped bass both in the summer and winter months.

  1. Environmental Triggers for Migration

Many striped bass migrate from North Carolina north in the spring and back to North Carolina in the fall. What is the environmental trigger for striped bass (or predators or prey of striped bass) fall migration?

One can use the web to gather data on sun position and angle; daylength/night length; disturbances like storms; water temperature; food availability. This data can be plotted against when fish migrate from Cape Cod. Tagged fish can be studied to get an exact date of departure while fish that are not tagged can be studied based on the number changes in a resident population and the loss of individuals can be determined by studying the aberrant line patterns of fish.\

One can take data from local waters when fish are not present to get hints as to why they migrate.

  1. Migration of Striped Bass Predators

What is the factor(s) that drive osprey (one of many striped bass predators) to fly from the Martha’s Vineyard region to the Amazon basin? What is the geographic route they take to ensure they can eat daily? Remember osprey eat fish almost exclusively. Do other geographical populations of osprey exist and do they migrate?

There is a great deal of information on osprey migration using GPS on the web. This data can be plotted against the availability of their prey during summer and winter on Cape Cod and along their routes. Perhaps you can do sampling of fish caught by commercial fishers during these times of year. Perhaps you can get access to tracking data in real time.

  1. Migration of Striped Bass Prey

What members of the striped bass food web migrate? Do they all migrate to the same locations as the striped bass? Why, why not?

Start with Menhaden and research the migratory patterns of that fish and compare it with migratory patterns of the striped bass. Other prey include squid, sand eels, lobsters, marine worms,

  1. Do all striped bass migrate?

Fishers catch striped bass during the winter on Cape Cod. Do striped bass “holdover” in local bays/rivers rather than migrate during the winter months? What environmental conditions are optimal for them to survive (i.e., water temperature, salinity, water clarity, water depth)?

One can interview fishers, attempt to catch holdovers, tag them and take data from known holdover sites. Using the web, one can compare holdover environmental conditions with known striped bass preferences.

  1. Resident Striped Bass Populations

Some striped bass form resident populations on Cape Cod during the summer months; that is, they stay in a defined location. Are resident populations of striped bass truly resident or do the groupings consist of residents and transients?

Locate resident populations and use GoPro cameras to document fish based on their stripe patterns. Compare those populations month to month in the summer and/or fall to determine changes in the population.

  1. Resident and Non-Resident Populations of Striped Bass

Can a non-resident striped bass be introduced to a resident population and converted to a member of the resident population?

Striped bass can be caught far away from the resident population, tagged and placed with the resident population during feeding. The fish can be monitored to see if it leaves the resident area.

  1. Resident Striped Bass Local Migration

Do striped bass that form a resident population in the summer months stay in a resident location 24/7 or do they make local migrations in order to procure food?

Fish can be tagged with acoustic tags and studied 24/7 to see if they leave and return to a resident area or whether they are involved in local, daily migrations.

  1. Influence of Storms on Resident Striped Bass Populations

Do storms influence resident populations? That is, do the numbers drop after a storm and do they recover? If they recover, are they the same individuals. What is it about the storm that causes the changes (e.g., barometric pressure, water disturbance).

Environmental parameters before during and after a storm can be plotted against the number and composition of a resident striped bass population.

  1. Distribution of Striped Bass Resident Populations

Do resident populations of striped bass exist along the Atlantic Coast? The hypothesis is that they do.

To document resident populations, areas in Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts will be surveyed. Sites will be mapped based on local lore and then investigated. Underwater pictures will be taken to document identities of fish by aberrant stripe patterns as a way to make a catalog of different fishes. A high school consortium could be established to document resident populations up and down the Atlantic Coast.

  1. Striped Bass Sound Production

Do striped bass make sounds when they eat and can those sounds attract other fishes?

Striped bass make sounds both underwater when they eat and make sounds when they break the surface of the water chasing prey. Sounds can be recorded with GoPro cameras or hydrophones while fish are fed and then can be replayed to see if other fishes can be recruited.

  1. Commercial Fishing for Striped Bass

Can a commercial fisher make a living fishing for only striped bass?

Determine costs associated with commercial fishing overhead. Research regulations, limits, luck, and other factors involved in commercial fishing. See: Curriculum, Lesson Plans.

  1. Striped Bass Controversies

Choose a controversy under All about the Bass, research it and determine how you might design an experiment to test the controversial topic.

  1. Importance of Plankton in Striped Bass Migration

Does the presence of plankton determine migratory patterns of striped bass? What prey do striped bass eat that may depend on plankton to live? Do the striped bass follow these prey?

Get water samples from along the Atlantic Coast to compare quantity and diversity of phytoplankton and zooplankton. Plot this data in relation to the location of striped bass. A consortium of high schools along the Atlantic Coast could be established to share data.

  1. Anatomy of Striped Bass

Striped bass when feeding from the surface discharge air brought in with the prey through the mouth across the gill surface. Can such a discharge damage the delicate gill filaments? Study the anatomy of striped bass on stripedbassmagic.org.

Fish that discharge across their gills can be studied over time to determine whether they are less likely to feed as frequently. In addition, legal fish that are caught for consumption can have air driven across gills and the affected gill can be studied histologically and compared to the unaffected gill in the same fish.

  1. Underwater ROVs

Can an underwater ROV with a GoPro camera be used to film striped bass in the wild?

Underwater ROVs will be built and deployed near resident striped bass populations in an attempt to take videos of the fish. How long before fish acclimate to this foreign object. Will fish feed from the object if there is bait attached?

  1. Software Development for Recognition of Striped Bass

Can pattern recognition software be adapted to identify striped bass based on their unique aberrant line patterns?

Adapt pattern recognition software to identify individual fish from GoPro films by their aberrant patterns.