Graduate School

A Taste For Science

Suzanne Winquist, M.S. student, College of Agricultural Sciences

Here I am, flying a research drone at the edge of one of the largest and southern most penguin colonies in the world, Cape Crozier, Antarctica. I set out to capture footage of our team using drones to count the >650,000 Adélies that breed here. I position the GoPro, click it on, and focused on the work of flying. In trundles our main character. Adélie penguins like this one have no natural land-based predators and are quite curious. This one saw some long-legged creatures making a commotion and had time in his day to come investigate. Without hands for poking, these birds explore their world with their bills. It is not uncommon to have one of these characters sneak up behind us while we walk through the colony and tug on a pant leg, untie shoelaces, or knock over an unattended water bottle. My MSc research here at OSU relies on yet another type of camera. I use video loggers taped to the back of these birds to record their foraging behaviors. I spend hours reviewing these videos and recording each time the bird plucks a prey item from the water. The perspective of video-logger points over the back of the penguin’s head and straight into the eyes of a krill, fish, or other prey item as the penguin’s bill flicks up and snatches it. I love that the perspective is flipped in this photo. Now we all know the last thing those krill or fish might see. Photo credit goes to me. Credit for Artistic direction goes to Unnamed Adélie penguin.

We're Gonna Need a Bigger Boat....and a Better Understanding

Jessica Schulte, Ph.D. student, College of Agricultural Sciences

What lies beneath the waters within the northern California Current System? Little is known about the roles that predators play within Oregon and Washington waters. What few studies have been done focused on orcas, sea lions, and shorebirds. However, sharks are abundant in our waters and likely play critical roles in interactions with economically, ecologically, and culturally important fisheries in the region. My research focuses on incorporating the broadnose sevengill shark – an abundant, large, apex predator along temperate coasts – into the understanding of our coastal marine ecosystems. These animals show up seasonally and in high numbers within shallow bays, but little more than that is known. My research focuses on tagging them with movement tracking devices and gathering foraging data to quantify their role. On a cool April day, we arrived in Willapa Bay, WA – a known sevengill haunt in the summer. But when do they actually show up? Unknown unknown unknown. We rode out to one of the deeper spots in the bay and dropped in our baited hooks. Wait wait wait. After a morning filled with rain and hail, the clouds parted, letting the bright sunshine through to warm us as we bobbed around on our boat. Suddenly: tug tug tug. I pulled up the line to reveal…a huge male sevengill! I rejoiced…they’ve arrived! Before we collected tissue samples, my advisor, Dr. Taylor Chapple, measured the length - 2.52 m (8.3 ft)! The largest sevengill I’d seen yet! Sevengill science season has officially begun. Happy happy happy.

Bigleaf Maple Flower in Bloom, Under 10x Magnification

Melanie Douville, M.S. student, College of Liberal Arts

As anyone who has tried to remove one may tell you, bigleaf maples are a tenacious tree. It is built for this landscape. The large, lush leaves blanket the canopy, and its exuberant flowers are among the earliest and largest to bloom (to many pollinating insects’ and beekeepers’ delight). Not only can you make maple syrup from a bigleaf, but you can eat its flowers too! They make great tempura and fritters. Native to the Pacific Northwest, bigleaf maples (Acer macrophyllum) are cousins to the traditional syrup producer, sugar maples (Acer saccharum). Preliminary findings from our OSU team suggests nutrients may be significantly higher in bigleaf than sugar maple sap, likely giving it its rich, complex flavor reminiscent of the Willamette Valley and coastal mountain ranges it thrives in. The bigleaf is an integral member of riparian ecosystems. It recycles nutrients and absorbs heavy metals such as iron, asbestos, and lead from groundwater, helps prevent erosion, and is a robust carbon capturing tree. Growing up in rural Oregon, I am deeply invested in the care and celebration of our forests. Inspired by public communicators who bridge the gap between art and science, I saw an opportunity to embrace interdisciplinarity and study art and science communication at OSU’s premier research College of Forestry. Through my work as a research assistant for OSU’s bigleaf sap-tapping project, I hope to inspire new appreciation for our common native species and all they have to offer.