Field Training

Field research is basically the same in any country. Food, water, transportation, fuel, research assistance, and shelter all go through the mind of a researcher when planning a trip to the field. For me, these are the things I'm worrying about as I look to begin my research in the next month. I worry about transportation; how to get there- am I renting a car, hiring someone to drive me? How will I move from study site to study site? In my case, do I need to rent a boat and possibly supply fuel- if so how much fuel should be brought and how can it be transported so it doesn't spill everywhere along the way? Shelter: Where am I going to sleep/stay while conducting research? Am I camping in the middle of a field (please God no), staying at a research station or renting a local house? With shelter comes food and water. Do I need to bring food to eat? Will I make it myself or is there someone to make it for me? How much food should I bring- is one bag of rice enough for four people for four days? or do I need two? What about potable water? Is the water safe to drink? Can I buy water there? Or do I need to bring enough wih me? And finally, every field researcher needs a trusty assistant. Where do I get one, will they have to be paid and how long will I have to spend training them?

These are the things running through my mind on my 1.5 hour drive with Gabi from Ierece's lab to her study site in the Bay of Mamanguape. Gabi is studying seahorse habitat in Paraiba, the state of Joao Pessoa and Ierece's lab. Hilariously I thought I was going for 1 day of field work, but on the morning before we leave, Gabi informs me it is actually 3 days of field work. How this slight little miscommunication happened I'm not quite sure, but I happily set off for 3 days of fieldwork anxiously looking forward to my first seahorse. Ierece's lab has a hired driver to drop people off at different field sites and so we ride in a luxurious truck/SUV into the country. The ride there was covered with lots of green sugar cane fields; and few houses. The place we are going to in the Bay of Mamanguape is actually a protected area called Project Manatee (Projecto Peixe-boi). The Environment Department has a house and full time research staff there to study the endangered Peixe-boi (manatee). We are going to stay at the house; we are bringing food with us, and we will be renting one of the Fishermen's boats in the morning for research.

The house is small and basic with three rooms for bunk beds and storage. There is a small kitchen and a little gathering area for eating/hanging out. The house comes with barbed wire fence and a guard. Once we get there, we buy a fresh gallon of water for the house because the water is yellow when it comes out of the tap.

Gabi has three study sites within the Bahia de Mamanguape, one along the barrier reef, and two smaller branches (called camboas in portuguese) of the estuary. The first day we do two transects along the reef. For each transect, Gabi lays out a 50 m tape measure, takes salinity, depth, GPS and temperature readings, along with a visibility estimate. For the next 20 minutes Gabi, myself and her research assistant search for seahorses within 2 meters either side of the transect.

Disappointment strikes and there are no seahorses to be found. Nonetheless we carry on with identifying substrate along the transect, which turns out to be lots and lots of algae. After two chilling transects snorkeling on the reef, and by reef I sadly don't mean coral reef, I mean rocky reef with bad visibility and little fish, we move on to one of the estuary areas. The visibility from the reef to the estuary drops from bad to worse, due to the rain last night and the increase in sedimentation in the estuary. The procedure in the estuary is about the same, laying out the transect, seeking amongst the mangrove roots for seahorses and recording environmental variables. Substrate and habitat identification in the mangroves is pretty clearcut, it's either Rhizophora mangle (red mangrove roots), mud or oyesters. Disappointment falls again and no seahorses are found.

Day 3 of field work begins similarly to day 2, up at 6 am, into the boat and out onto the reef. Just as we take a rest after spending the last 20 minutes snorkeling for seahorses, one is spotted just outside the transect, next to my hand! Now the real field training begins. Gabi plucks the seahorse off the algae and hands it for me to hold. We brush off the sediment and determine that it is red, with tiny white spots. We see it has small little filaments growing off from its head and body, which usually meants it is a juvenile. We then look to determine the sex and Gabi shows me where the brood pouch (think kangaroo pouch for keeping babies) is located in the males. We find one....it's a boy!! Next, Gabi lets me measure the seahorse against her slate where she has 20 cm marked out. Here in the photo you can see my intense look of concentration as I attempt to measure my first seahorse in the field! He measured up to 10.2 cm! We then took some photos of him, and marked his tail with a tiny elastic string and bead (part of a mark and recapture method they are studying here in the Bay of Mamanguape). That was it! We then finished up our habitat analysis, more algae, and headed over to the estuary again. No more luck in the estuary with seahorses and the visibility was actually so bad we had to call it quits early. But what a find! My first seahorse in the field! and a rare red one at that!

This has me super stoked to get back to Ceara and start my own research! Searching and seeking for seahorses has been what I've been dying to do for such a long time. Now that I'm trained, I can't wait to begin. Only a few more hurdles to cross before I can officially start, hurdle one: clear my research plans with IBAMA (Brazilian Environmental Agency) that's on the list to do this week and two: head to Sao Paulo for a quick Fulbright Orientation. Stay tuned for the adventurous story of my meeting with Ibama coming soon!