Week 1: Learning About Baruch Marine Field Laboratory
Emma Vansickle
25 May 2024
Overview of Baruch
Baruch Marine Field Laboratory is one of the two laboratories situated on the Hobcaw Barony land that is roughly 16,000 acres. This land has an expansive history that I learned some of in my first few days of being here. This land used to be home to Bernard Baruch and his daughter, and later owner of the land, Belle Baruch as well as many slaves over the years. Bernard and Belle’s houses both are still standing as well as many of the slave villages, which are open to take tours of. Upon Belle’s death in 1964, she donated the land “for the purpose of teaching and/or research in forestry, marine biology, and the care and propagation of wildlife and flora and fauna in South Carolina, in connection with colleges and/or universities in the state of South Carolina.” (Belle Baruch)
Living situation
While here, I will be staying on site in a cabin that houses up to 20 people. I will only end up having nine roommates, which will allow plenty of room and a great opportunity to get to know people from all over the United States. Besides our cabin, there are three other cabins housing summer interns, so there will never be a shortage of people to go do things with!
Seine
On my first day at Baruch, I started off strong with going knee to waist deep in the marsh and mud to pull a seine. A seine is a long net with a pole at either end, and it is used to collect small nekton (animals that can swim freely in the ocean). We pulled the seine for about 20 yards then collected all of the animals that were in the net to identify and measure once we got back to the lab. This project has been going on since the mid 1980s and has helped with many different research projects as a long term dataset.
Zooplankton sampling
I was also able to be part of another long term project collecting zooplankton samples from the estuary. This project included using very fine nets to collect 2 final samples that will be preserved and stored for the use of various projects. This sampling has been going on since 1981 and has accumulated over 1,000 samples since then acting as a bimonthly record of the zooplankton over the past 40+ years.
All three of these pictures were taken while doing the zooplankton sampling, including putting the net (which had heavy weights on it) into the water, the cooler where the samples were kept while we were on the boat, and Josh (the person in charge of the project) rinsing the zooplankton from the net into the collection jars.
Identifying Nekton
I have been working with others on a project to identify nekton samples from a two-year project that ended this past December. To do this, we have been using a dichotomous key, which is a series of questions that help lead you to the species of an unknown organism. With doing this, I have been practicing my microscope skills as well as critical thinking, especially when we are working on a particularly tricky organism that seems out of place!
Free time
In my free time, I have been making ample use of being so close to the beach. Multiple other interns and I have gone to the beach to either play volleyball, swim, or just enjoy the sun pretty much every day after we get off. We have been compiling a bucket list of fun activities and sights to go see and do over our time here and plan to make the most of our time and new friendships!
Overall thoughts
Just within the first week of being at Baruch, I feel as though my knowledge of the professional world of science and the scientific research process has increased exponentially. It has shown me that I am truly passionate not only about environmental knowledge but the work as well. I cannot wait to see what that rest of the summer holds and to see how much my knowledge grows.
All three of these pictures were taken while doing the zooplankton sampling, including putting the net (which had heavy weights on it) into the water, the cooler where the samples were kept while we were on the boat, and Josh (the person in charge of the project) rinsing the zooplankton from the net into the collection jars.
