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By Khristian Neal
Throughout this trip, I have genuinely enjoyed learning about oceanography. As a Computer Science major, it is very intriguing to hear about other everyone’s research, what they’ve done during their college years, and learning about organisms within the Atlantic Ocean and the Chesapeake Bay.
One thing that I thought that I would not get used to, but enjoy, is waking up early to see the sunrise. I thought I would hate waking up at 5:45 AM every day, but I love it. The sunrises are always a great way to start the morning and is worth waking up for.
On this trip I realized that I absolutely love water, and I could live on a boat forever if permitted. Exploring the ship, meeting Captain Sean, the crew, and Chef Jeff has all been a blast. It is so much fun, and I wish it was longer than the time permitted. The only not so fun thing was the first day when I got slightly sick, but I enjoyed my time after that passed.
So far research-wise, I have learned about the decrease in the oyster population, and why they are important for the Bay area, foraminifera, and I have learned how to measure bacteria. During the first few stations on the trip, I learned about the abundance of heterotrophs, phototrophs, mixotrophs, and I looked at them at multiple depths. I also learned how to use a flow cytometer, and that it utilizes lasers to measure different things, and how the water samples flow through the machine (through tiny amounts of water) and goes into a waste container.
Today, we switched stations, and I collected data from different depths, measured the mixotrophs ingestion rates on bacteria, and I added fluorescent microspheres for the mixotrophs to eat so that they could eat the beads so that they could be seen under a fluorescent microscope. It was interesting to try something new and interact with new people.
