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NOTES FROM THE FIELD OF A SMITH FELLOW

"What does 800 feet of 1/2 inch, hot-dipped, galvanized chain, weighing more than 400 pounds, have to do with conservation research?" I asked myself as I put down the telephone. John, from Tulsa Chain Inc. in Oklahoma, had just assured me that my shipment would arrive in California within three days. "What kind of carbon footprint is this experiment going to have?" I pondered, vowing to ride my bicycle to work every day for the next five years.

Three days later, the chain arrived, sparks flew, and 24 three-meter long segments of chain were ready to be scattered about the seafloor surrounding the Santa Barbara Channel Islands off the coast of California. All we needed now were calm seas.

We met at the harbor at 6:00 A.M. The morning sun transformed the glassy water into liquid gold. Relieved by the calm weather that can so easily ground fishermen and researchers alike, we geared up for the day and set off to the islands, our arms and shoulders still sore from loading our prized chain onto the boat the night before.

Twenty-four plots, 240 tethered purple sea urchins, 168 tagged kelp blades and who knows how many energy bars later -- we were finished! We had established six sites in less than 11 hours, resting only to eat and drink. Our chain had been put to work, weighing down our tethered victims. In reality, however, our work had just begun. For the next week, we would be diving at these six sites every day the sea goddesses would allow to keep track of how many urchins survived and how much kelp had been eaten.

We all went to bed exhausted from the hard day. As the boat rocked most of us to sleep I lay awake wondering, "Will the chain be there in the morning? Will it be heavy enough to keep our experiment secured to the ocean floor given the strong current? What happens if a fierce storm rolls through?"

The next morning, on the back side of Santa Cruz Island, we were in the water by 7:00. The morning sun illuminated the sea floor carpeted by sea urchins. The chain was still there! Some kelp had been nibbled by the starved sea urchins while predatory sheephead and lobster were out having their morning fill of sea urchins. Looks like this experiment will provide some valuable data after all. I let out a sigh of relief that surfaced as a stream of air bubbles. Measuring variation in predation and grazing rates as a function of fished predator density will inform ecosystem-based fisheries management thanks to John from Tulsa Chain Inc., the Cedar Tree Foundation, and my fellow underwater weight lifters!

Anne Salomon is a member of the David H. Smith Conservation Research Fellowship Program's class of 2008. She is forecasting the ecological effects of marine reserves to inform ecosystem-based management in collaboration with the Marine Science Institute at the University of California, Santa Barbara and the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary.

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