Hatchery field day at Point Whitney May 6 2024

This post details activities at Point Whitney from 6 May 2024 trip.

Overview

Today I went at Point Whitney to check on projects and conduct weekly stress as well as collect animals for ploidy testing.

To do list for today

  1. Calibrate and set up pH/temp/conductivity probe
  2. Pulse feed all tanks
  3. Take fluorometry measurements
  4. Take pH/temp/conductivity measurements
  5. Conduct 30 min heat stress
  6. Conduct 30 min fresh water stress
  7. Check fresh water stress mortality from last week
  8. Collect animals for ploidy testing
  9. Label trays of new large 2023 POGS seed
  10. Take size measurements of 2023 POGS large seed and existing POGS seed trays

List of things to bring from UW to Point Whitney

  • 50 mL falcon tubes (10-15)
  • Kim wipes (2-3 boxes)
  • Pencils (box or two)
  • Scissors

Calibrate and set up pH/temp/conductivity probe

I set up and calibrated our new Orion Star A325 probe following the Putnam Lab protocol. I conducted the pH calibration with pH 4, 7, and 10 buffer and the conductivity 1413 uS/cm solution. Next week when I have falcon tubes I’ll do a two point calibration for the conductivity probe - I didn’t have a vessel to pour the 12 uS/cm solution into today. The calibration results are in the notebook images below. All went well setting up the probe and it performed as expected.

We will measure pH on the NBS scale. We would need to source Tris buffer and do a calibration with Tris in order to do pH on the total scale. Since we are monitoring conditions and we are not doing OA experiments, this should be just fine.

Pulse feed all tanks

I added about 1/3 of a 5 gallon bucket to each tank for pulse feeding. I also filled the feed reservoir tank.

Take fluorometry measurements

I took fluorometry measurements before and after pulse feeding. Measurements are below in the notebook images. Measurements were about 1-4 before feeding and 50-70 afterwards.

Take pH/temp/conductivity measurements

I took pH (NBS scale), temperature (°C), and conductivity measurements (psu) in the left, middle, and right tanks as well as the trays outside. Measurements are in notebook images below. We will do this every week.

Check fresh water stress mortality from last week

There was no mortality of our fresh water stress oysters from last week.

Label trays of new large 2023 POGS seed

I labeled two trays of larger 2023 POGS seed with “SR” and “Large 2023 POGS Seed”. One of these trays will be for weekly temperature stress (labeled with “Temperature”) and the other will be for weekly fresh water stress (labeled with “Fresh H2O”).

I then took about half of the seed in each tray and added them into orange bags with a label tag inside. The bag was then returned to the tray. Each week, we can take out this bag, conduct the stress, and put them back.

Conduct 30 min stressors: fresh water and temperature stress

I conducted 30 minute stress exposures of the following groups:

  • Large POGS 2023 seed fresh water - fresh water for 30 min
  • Large POGS 2023 seed temperature - 25 °C for 30 min
  • Small POGS 2023 seed temperature (2 trays) - 25 °C for 30 min

These exposures were done as we have in previous weeks. Animals were exposed to stress for 30 minutes. Fresh water exposure was done in a bucket filled with fresh water.

Trays were then returned outside and bags were put back in their respective trays.

Collect animals for ploidy testing

I collected n=3 animals from each of our 5 cohorts of diploid/triploid animals: Dog, Yellow, Blue, Orange, and Bird. I will take these to Manchester tomorrow for ploidy testing so that we know which are diploid and which are triploid.

I kept each cohort in mesh bags with a label and will keep them in seawater in a cooler until tomorrow.

Take size measurements of 2023 POGS large seed and existing POGS seed trays

Finally, I took size measurements using the new waterproof digital caliper (which is awesome) for a subset of individuals to characterize size class of seed.

I took size measurements of 20-30 individuals from:

  • 2023 large POGS seed (temperature stress group)
  • 2023 large POGS seed (fresh water stress group)
  • 2023 small POGS seed (temperature stress; 2 trays)

See notebook images below for measurements.

Notebook images

To do next week

  • 30 min stress and fresh water stress
  • Download temperature loggers
  • Take all LCO growth measurements
  • Weekly pH/temp/conductivity measurements
  • Weekly seed stressors
  • Fluorometry measurements
Written on May 6, 2024