Insect Ecology @ Au Sable - spring 2024

Tyler Souza During our dive trip to Cozumel, Mexico, I had a few organisms on my mental list of things I wanted to see. One of the organisms on the top of that list was a sea turtle. I have always had an interest in them, but that’s probably because of how they’re portrayed as the laid-back animal in cinema or maybe just the fact that they’re so dang cute. I will always remember the first time I saw one in the wild leisurely munching on bits of sponge as I tried desperately to stay beside it while fighting against the pulling currents. The turtles just made it look so easy. After studying more on sea turtles in class we were introduced to the Hawksbill Sea Turtle, or Eretmochelys imbricate . This specific turtle really stuck out to me because it was a combination of a cute sea turtle with a cool bird’s beak, hence where it get’s its name. These turtles are listed as critically endangered under the IUCN Red List Status (1). Not particularly large compared with other se...

Ben Book Brayden Burns Sportfishing in Cozumel Mexico, though not an original focal point in our Marine Ecology lab, became an interesting aspect of our education at SNU. Having made friends with a gentleman from Wisconsin; Ben, Rena, and were I given the opportunity to accompany him on a fishing charter. The Mexican Government allows regulated commercial and sport fishing in its waters. Anglers must purchase a license before ever getting a line wet. (on charter boats the captain can get a collective license which covers all those on board.) Once the initial paperwork is completed, fishermen must abide by laws very similar to those in the USA. You cannot use electric reels or illuminated tackle, you may not have more than one line per person, you may not exceed your bag limit, you may not use firearms ect. Bag limits vary by species, with some fish have a bag limit of one, others of five. Mexican law clearly states that fishermen are prohibited from tampering with the ecosystem or ...

Where’s all of the a l g a e ? By:Elizabeth Hargis and Shannon Ashworth Cozumel was filled with a variety of marine life including several different types of algae. Did you ever look around and notice what algae you saw where? Did you only see the merman's shaving brush on deep dives? How about Saucer leaf Algae, where on earth did you see that? Maybe you were so distracted by the christmas tree worms or spotted eagle rays or even coral that you did not pay much attention to the algae. Whatever the case is we can dive right back in and recap on what we saw on our trip! Intertidal walk The intertidal area was one filled with several different types of algae. This is neat because on the intertidal zone walk we went on was predominantly rocky. The importance of this is that this enables the growth of algae in this area. Typically when you think of areas where the ocean meets the shore you probably think of white sandy beaches… These white sandy beaches that come to mind...

It was the last day of diving off of the beautiful island of Cozumel. Our group had just finished our first dive for the day and we were now resting on the rocking boat, waiting for our last chance to dive before the end of our trip. We were sipping on soda and eating little Mexican cookies and fresh fruit that the boat crew through Dive Paradise had brought for us. After we had rested a little while, we all pulled our wet suits back on and got our gear ready for one last deep adventure in the salty blue water. We strapped our BCDs on and pulled our masks and flippers on, and then one-by-one, we waddled to the edge of the boat and plunged into the cool water. Everyone looked around to check for their buddies and then we slowly started to descend deeper and deeper while letting the air out of our BCDs. My ears hurt for just a few minutes as I tried to equalize and then I was finally able to make it to the sandy bottom with the rest of the group. My eyes took in everything as I looke...

Shark Teeth By: Cecilia Vela Humans are born with no teeth and in the first several years of life will grow about 20 teeth, our baby teeth. Losing them is exciting and a bit scary as they get wiggly until the eventually either fall out or get pulled out (1). Then we are left with a whole in our smile until our adult/permanent tooth grows up from our gums. Once we lose all of our baby teeth and have our molars come in we end up with about 32 teeth (1). These are known as our adult teeth and we keep those, hopefully, until the end of our days since no more will grow in. We also have different types of teeth, incisors for biting off pieces of food that we can then chew or grind with our flat back teeth/molars (1).          Sharks on the other hand can have up to 3,000 teeth at one time (2). Different species will vary in the number of teeth they have but all sharks are born with a complete set of teeth (3). While shark teeth have the same central p...