Marine Research Shows Promising Results

Funded by a USC Sea Grant, marine biology Professor Christopher Lowe and graduate student Erica Jarvis are demonstrating that popular sport fish like rockfish that are inadvertently caught have a better chance of surviving if returned quickly to deep water. Preservation of fish populations is important both for food and recreation.

When rapidly brought to the surface, these deep dwelling species experience over-inflated swim bladders that can push out their stomachs and cause their eye to bulge, but they are just tossed overboard if they’re undersized or exceed the daily catch limit. The debilitated fish float near the surface, making them vulnerable to sea birds and marine mammals.

This June, Lowe and Jarvis, assisted by other CSULB marine biology students, caught, tagged and then returned 43 rockfish of various species in cages to lower depths off Long Beach. Diving down two days later, the researchers found 63 percent survivorship. Their previous experiments show an overall 68 percent survival rate, which increases to approximately 87 percent if fish are returned within 10 minutes. Anglers can return fish to the sea by using special releasing hooks on tackle, or weighted, overturned milk crates lowered by rope.

Bird Robots Aid Avian Behavior Studies

Robot house finches that look and behave realistically enough to fool their live counterparts are helping biological sciences Professor Esteban Fernandez-Juricic and his students study the social behavior of birds. He and students Nima Gilak, J. Chase McDonald, Pritesh Pithia and Anna Valcarcel published their initial findings in a recent issue of the journal Animal Behaviour.

In his Behavior and Conservation Laboratory, “we study animal behavior and conservation biology as separate subjects, but we also put both things together and try to use animal behavior tools to answer questions that are relevant to biodiversity conservation and wildlife management,” he explained. “For instance, our applied research is focused on human-wildlife interactions in protected areas. We try to understand the responses of different species to human disturbance like pedestrians, boats or cars or planes.”

They also are interested in the mechanisms by which birds keep attached to flocks. The group captured several birds, placed them in fenced enclosures on campus, then observed and videotaped the birds interacting with the robots. The birds were released afterward.

Fernandez-Juricic also is taking part in research into avian eyesight that could aid in developing systems to deter birds from hitting aircraft in flight.

Editor's note: More information can be found at http://www.csulb.edu/misc/inside/archives/v58n10/7.htm