UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH
UC Berkeley
Marine Mammal Sleep Studies in Russia
SUMMER 2016
EYE STATE AND UNIHEMISPHERIC SLEEP IN THE NORTHERN FUR SEAL
Advisor: Oleg Lyamin (PhD), Center for Sleep Research, UCLA School of Medicine
I spent two months in Russia studying sleep in marine mammals, including northern fur seals and beluga whales.
For my honors thesis, I focused on the correlation between eye state and sleep state, scored using both qualitative (visual scoring) and quantitative (scoring based on spectral power analysis) electroencephalogram (EEG) data.
Read about that project in the published paper here.
Publication
Kendall-Bar, J.M., Mukhametov, L.M., Siegel, J.M., Lyamin, O.I. (2016). Eye state asymmetry during aquatic unihemispheric slow wave sleep in northern fur seals (Callorhinus ursinus). PLoS ONE 14(5): e0217025. DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0217025
Related Presentations
Refereed Conference Presentation at the 9th International Conference on the Marine Mammals of the Holarctic in Astrakhan, Russia by Dr. Oleg Lyamin Nov 2016.
Refereed Conference Presentation at the Western Society of Naturalists in Monterey, California Nov 2016
Pilot Whale Photo Identification
SUMMER 2015
MOVEMENT AND OCCURRENCE OF PILOT WHALES
Advisors: Jay Barlow (PhD) & Dave Weller (PhD), Southwest Fisheries Science Center NOAA
At NOAA’s Southwest Fisheries Science Center in La Jolla, I worked under two co-mentors, Jay Barlow and Dave Weller, to complete the internship portion of my NOAA Hollings Scholarship Program.
For my study, I created a photo-identification catalog, conducted an analysis of the matches I identified, and compiled a short note which has been published in Aquatic Mammals.
Moorean Morays
FALL 2014
BEHAVIOR AND DEN FIDELITY IN MORAY EELS ON MOOREA
During my Fall 2014 semester, I traveled to the UC Berkeley Gump Station on Moorea in French Polynesia, conducting an independent research project.
I characterized moray eel behavior using a tailored ethogram and formulated behavioral comparisons across groups of morays, with particular attention paid to temporal, tidal, and weather patterns. I studied den fidelity in giant morays (Gymnothorax javanicus) as well as four other tropical moray species.
Related Presentations & Publications:
Presented at the course symposium for Biogeomorphology of Tropical Islands (IB 158LF) (Dec 2014)
Paper available in UC Berkeley’s Integrative Biology archives (Dec 2014):
"Behavior, den fidelity, and distribution of moray eels (Muraenidae) on Moorea in French Polynesia."
Chemical Oceanography Research Cruises
AUGUST 2016, JANUARY 2013, & OCTOBER 2012
STUDYING CARBON IN THE OPEN OCEAN
ABOARD THE RV OCEANUS, RV POINT SUR, & RV NEW HORIZON
Advisor: Jim Bishop (PhD), UC Berkeley
Under the supervision of Jim Bishop, Professor of Marine Geochemistry at UC Berkeley, I was able to attend three research cruises where I:
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deployed carbon-profiling robots, CTD sensors, plankton nets, sediment PIT traps, McClane pumps, and adjusted sensors to resist pressure changes
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filtered ocean water samples for Particulate Inorganic Carbon particles
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filmed and analyzed the diurnal vertical migration of zooplankton
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served as photographer & videographer for the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab's blog oceanbots.lbl.gov
We deployed automated carbon-profiling robots. These robots, called Carbon Flux Explorers, float off on their own and measure the amount of carbon sedimentation occurring over the course of multiple days. We were qualifying the data collected using this method by comparing it to other data, collected through more conventional, surface-tethered methods.
Phoebe Lam, a professor at UCSC, was deploying McClane pumps at various depths to compare to the data collected by Jim Bishop’s robots. Another scientist, FSU's Mike Stukel, was conducting biological surveys using plankton nets and measuring sedimentation using Particle Interceptor Traps (PIT traps). See below for a video from the cruise.
Sexual Selection in the Maritime Earwig
SUMMER 2014
SEX BY THE SEASHORE
Advisor: Vikram K. Iyengar (PhD), Villanova University
Related Publications & Presentations
Paper published in Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology (2017):
Kendall-Bar, J.M., Iyengar, V.K. (2016). Sexual selection by the seashore: the roles of body size and weaponry in mate choice and competition in the maritime earwig (Anisolabis maritima). Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 71(1), 1-9, DOI 10.1007/s00265-016-2233-9
Paper published in Friday Harbor Laboratories online archives (Aug 2014)
Refereed Conference Presentation at the Society for Integrative & Comparative Biology (Jan 2015)
Presented at the REU Symposium at Friday Harbor Labs (Aug 2014)
Octopus Behavior Research
2013-2014
FEEDING BEHAVIOR
Octopuses drill a hole in the shells of gastropods and bivalves to release their venom, paralyze the prey and therefore relax the prey’s grip on the shell, and eventually remove the gastropod from its shell. It is a process that hasn’t been well studied, partly because it’s almost impossible to observe when the octopus has enveloped the shell.
This is the Abdopus aculeatus I am working with and the hole it drilled last week in the shell of Littorina littorea, a sea snail:
The octopus repeatedly drills the exact same location on each shell
Internship at the Marine Mammal Center
SUMMER 2013
In 2013, I interned with The Marine Mammal Center, a hospital for sick or injured marine mammals. My videotaping internship with the center took me into the patients’ pens, surgeries, and necropsies as well as to the beach for rescues, releases, and even on-site whale necropsies! I got a behind-the-scenes view of the Fish Kitchen, Research laboratories, and most of all, the hard work that goes into coordinating all of the operations running through The Marine Mammal Center.
Most of my job consisted of putting together videos which will be used in an educational program called the “Three R’s”, which tracks a patient’s journey through rescue and onto his or her release, documenting intermediate procedures such as feedings, fish school, and surgeries. The rest of my videos were put together to train volunteers and people already involved with The Marine Mammal Center. These are all instructional videos which will be narrated and therefore have no soundtrack besides the animals’ natural vocalizations.
The Marine Mammal Center Videos
Water Quality Testing for Surfrider LA
SANTA MONICA HIGH SCHOOL 2009-2012
TEACH AND TEST PROGRAM
As co-president of the Heal the Bay Surfrider Club at Santa Monica High School, I help lead our, “Teach and Test,” water testing program which provides water quality results used by various businesses in Santa Monica. After this morning,
I hope that these results will convince Santa Monica and its surrounding cities of the importance of reducing water pollution and the direct and very dramatic effect of pollution.
IN THE NEWS:
in the SANTA MONICA MIRROR
Welcome to Plastic Ocean.
Would you like fecal bacteria with that?
By Jesse Robertson of Team Marine &
Jessica Kendall-Bar of The Heal the Bay Surfrider Club
www.teammarine.org, http://teachtestsm.blogspot.com
Santa Monica High School 601 Pico Blvd. Santa Monica, CA 90405
The “first flush” of the storm drains is an annual event every fall or winter. The first heavy rain causes massive amounts of water and trash to flow out of the storm drains, onto the beach, and hours later, into the ocean. As a result, there is an enormous amount of plastic and urban runoff that is brought to the coastline, and this month was no different.
After the first heavy rainfall hit the Los Angeles area on the morning of October 5, garbage lodged in catch basins from all over the city was shuttled to the ocean shore. Santa Monica High School’s Team Marine and Heal the Bay Surfrider Club were quick on the scene. The groups ventured to the storm drains to collect samples, survey the damage, and start cleaning up. Club members tested ocean water for fecal indicator bacteria, while Team Marine assessed the state of plastic pollution on the shore and performed an emergency beach cleanup after school.
Members of the Heal the Bay Surfrider Club, continuing their third year of weekly water quality monitoring as part of the Teach and Test Program with Surfrider Foundation found extremely high Enterococcus fecal-indicator bacteria levels at all three of their testing sites (Santa Monica Pier, Pico Kenter, and Lifeguard Station 26).
“Our results indicate bacteria levels in the ocean at Pico-Kenter were the highest since the Teach & Test Program began at Samohi three years ago,” said club president Jessica Kendall-Bar.
Meanwhile, Team Marine assessed the flow of plastics out of the Pico-Kenter storm drain before school for their fourth year in a row. Later, Team Marine returned to pick up plastic pollutants after school, fully equipped with nets, trash bags, buckets and rubber gloves. The goal was to collect as much plastic as possible and to properly recycle it or throw it away, instead of letting it funnel into the ocean.
During the cleanup, students toiled for about four hours focusing on two areas totaling about 90 square meters. Making baby piles, they removed roughly 300 pounds of garbage. This consisted of mixed leaf litter, single use plastic films, wrappers, containers, bags and packaging. The amount of Styrofoam found was particularly bad this year; it made up the vast majority of non-organic waste found on the beach.
The morning flow of plastics and “mystery foam” from the Pico-Kenter storm drain
“Though this may seem like a large amount of garbage on the sand, it’s a relatively small amount compared to what flowed into the ocean earlier in the day, which is really disappointing,” commented Jesse Robertson of Team Marine.
Team Marine and the Heal the Bay Surfrider Club strive to keep the coasts clean and free of plastic debris and harmful waste. The “first flush” is proof that there is a lot more work to be done to protect the environment from human products and waste. The passage of the city’s plastic bag ban and other pending state laws give hope that plastic and fecal pollution will become a thing of the past.