12.23.25

Growing kelp for community

A grow line on a kelp farm in Prince William Sound, Alaska.

The activities are as follows:

When thinking about farming, many people imagine fields of corn or soybeans, or even their own vegetable garden. All of these crops are grown on land, but what about growing food in the ocean? Alaska Natives who live along the coast have been harvesting kelp, a group of seaweeds, from the wild for thousands of years. Kelp is very nutritious and is full of vitamins and minerals. It is used in a variety of dishes, from soups to salads. Kelp also provides structure for herring to lay their eggs, another traditional food source that coastal Alaska Native communities harvest. Kelp has other purposes too, including soil fertilizer and food additive applications.

Recently, there has been a surge of interest in farming kelp at a larger scale along the Alaskan coast. Farming kelp involves cultivating kelp at a site to grow larger for harvest. Caitlin is a biologist who works for the Native Village of Eyak within the Prince William Sound of Alaska. The Tribe wants to start a kelp farm to provide a nutritious food source for its community members. Caitlin was tasked with designing the farm setup and testing how much kelp can be grown. Her first step was to find a site. She had to consider environmental factors that help the kelp grow. Kelp need particular nutrients and cool water temperatures. She also had to make sure the site was easy to get to and that it was protected from intense weather like high winds and large waves. 

Left: seed line one week after planting in November. Middle: kelp at the farm in April. Right: kelp blades after the harvest in June. 

To get started, Caitlin talked to the members of the Eyak community to learn where they have historically found kelp, called Traditional Knowledge. She listened to their suggestions, which were based on current and long-term connections with the local environment. This helped her identify a site that is a short boat ride. Caitlin also had discussions with other kelp farmers in Alaska and read scientific research articles to learn more about how to set up a kelp farm and which species would be a good fit. She decided to grow sugar kelp because it has a sweeter taste and grows well in other places with similar conditions. 

She designed the farm to grow the kelp vertically in the water. To do this, she would place lines vertically in the water for kelp to attach and grow at different depths. This design maximizes the amount of kelp grown below the surface, which is good to minimize interference with boats and animals. While vertical lines have benefits, there could be drawbacks too. Kelp needs sunlight for photosynthesis, which it uses to grow. But the deeper you go in the water, the less sunlight there is. The kelp at the surface will get plenty of light, but the kelp attached to the line in deeper water might not get enough. The kelp at the bottom could also get blocked or shaded by the kelp above it. 

Caitlin wanted to know if there is a time of year when kelp had the fastest growth rates. This information would help her know when to harvest kelp from the site. She also wanted to know whether depth affected the kelp growth. If it turned out that kelp didn’t grow on her vertical lines in deeper water, she may have to try another design. She predicted that kelp grown in the first 1-2 meters from the surface would grow more over a season because it would receive the most sunlight. 

To assess her kelp farm plan, Caitlin worked with partners to seed lines with fertilized sugar kelp spores. Each of these spores can grow into a large kelp blade that can be up to 5 meters long. The seeded lines were then installed vertically at the farm site in the fall of 2022. Caitlin and her colleagues set up 532 vertical lines that were each 10 meters long. In total, over 2 miles of seeded line were installed on the farm! The lines were attached to a horizontal line to secure them in place and were spaced out so they had room to grow. 

Each month, Caitlin and her colleagues monitored the kelp growth by measuring the length of kelp blades, or leaf-like structures, on 5-8 of the seeded lines. On each line, they measured kelp blades at different depths so they could see how the kelp was growing at different depths.

Featured scientist: Caitlin McKinstry (she/her) from the Native Village of Eyak. Written with Rosel Burt and Melissa Kjelvik from Prince William Sound College.

Flesch–Kincaid Reading Grade Level = 7.4

Additional teacher resource related to this Data Nugget:

This Data Nugget created with funding from the NSF Alaska EPSCoR Interface of Change.

12.8.25

The science of stamen loss

A pollinator visiting a mustard flower, drinking nectar and picking up pollen from anthers.

The activities are as follows:

Plants and animals have adaptations, or traits that help them survive and pass on more of their genes to the next generation. Flowers are a key adaptation for plants because they help the attract pollinators and reproduce.

Flowers come in many different shapes, sizes, colors, and forms. While flowers as a whole are an adaptation, traits within flowers are often adaptations themselves. For example, different flower colors attract different types of animals to the plant. Some flowers make nectar that gives animals a food reward for visiting. Other plants have small flowers with no petals so that pollen can be easily picked up and travel by wind.

Many of the animals that visit the plant serve as pollinators. Pollinators help plants reproduce by bringing reproductive parts together. Pollination happens when pollen from the stamen reaches the stigma. This is needed for seeds to form. By moving pollen, pollinators help plants make more seeds. More seeds lead to more plants in the next generation. Small differences in flower traits can change which plant is the most successful at reproducing and setting seed.

Jeff is a scientist studying a very particular flower shape seen in plants of the mustard family. Most plants in this family have flowers with 4 long stamens and 2 short stamens. No other plants have this shape, and no one knows why! The short stamens are a particular mystery.

Jeff wanted to see why mustards might have these short stamens. He thought that short stamens are an adaptation because they make it harder for pollinators to reach the pollen, so that more pollen would be left over for later pollinators. This might be beneficial because the first pollinator visiting the flower wouldn’t be able to take all the pollen, leaving none for the following visitors. If his hypothesis was correct, he predicted that short stamens would have less pollen removed with each pollinator visit compared the long stamens.

Members of the Conner Lab taking measurements of pollen found on the anthers of short and long stamens.

To collect his data, Jeff and other scientists in his lab needed to measure how much pollen was removed by pollinators on short and long stamens. To do this, they grew mustard plants in the greenhouse and let them flower. This made sure no pollinators could visit the plants before the experiment. Next, they exposed the plants to the three most common pollinators for mustards – bumblebees, small bees, and syrphid flies. To test honeybees, plants were put into flight cages with bees inside. To test small bees and syrphids, plants were put outside. Pollinators chose the flower to visit. After each visit, the lab counted the pollen on the visited flower. They then compared it to the amount of pollen on a flower that was not visited. They used these values to calculate the percent pollen removed. This was repeated for short and long stamens.

Featured scientists: Jeff Conner (he/him) from the W.K. Kellogg Biological Station. Written with Kirsten Salonga, Justice High School, Research Experience for Teachers.

Flesch–Kincaid Reading Grade Level = 7.6

Additional teacher resource related to this Data Nugget:

The data featured in this activity has been published. If you are interested in having students read primary scientific literature, they can complete this Data Nugget and then explore the full study here: 

11.20.25

Elizabeth Schultheis awarded fellowship to tackle science misconceptions

Dr. Elizabeth Schultheis, co-Founder of Data Nuggets and Education and Outreach Coordinator at the W. K. Kellogg Biological Station’s Long Term Ecological Research Program, has been named a 2025 Sound Science Fellow by the National Center for Science Education (NCSE). This prestigious fellowship, aimed at advancing the teaching of evolution, climate change, and accurate scientific education, will provide six scholars with unique opportunities to engage in deep exploration and collaboration, building upon NCSE’s mission to ensure accurate and evidence-based science education in K-12 schools nationwide.

The Sound Science Fellowship is designed to address the ongoing challenges faced by teachers as they navigate issues such as scientific misinformation, evolving educational standards, and societal resistance to critical scientific topics. “We are so excited to welcome this exceptional group of scholars into the second cohort of the Sound Science Fellowship,” said NCSE Executive Director Amanda L. Townley. “These fellows are passionate about inspiring the next generation of scientifically literate citizens, and through this fellowship, they will have opportunities to inform, support, and expand our understanding and approaches to address challenges to the teaching and learning of topics such as evolution and climate science.”

The 2025 Sound Science Fellows were selected based on their dedication to science education and science teacher education, their proven ability to engage critically in research and teaching spaces, and their commitment to upholding the highest standards of scientific accuracy. As part of the fellowship, each fellow will work closely with experts in the fields of evolutionary biology or climate science as well as pedagogy to develop our understanding of best practices in education and emerging challenges while contributing to ongoing efforts to improve science education nationwide.

Along with Schultheis, the 2025 Sound Science Fellows are: Kelly Feille, Associate Professor of Science Education at the University of Oklahoma; Isaiah Kent-Schneider, Associate Professor of Science Education at Purdue University; Lauren Madden, Professor of Elementary Science Education at The College of New Jersey; Irene Marti Gil, Educational Outreach Coordinator at Louisiana State University Museum of Natural Science; and Chelsea McClure, Assistant Professor of STEM at The Notre Dame of Maryland University.

“These educators are at the forefront of ensuring that future generations are equipped to understand and engage with the most important scientific issues of our time,” Townley said. Schultheis will serve a term of two years. During her tenure, she will work on individual and collaborative projects, attend seminars with scientists and education leaders, and contribute to NCSE’s broader mission to promote and defend high-quality science education across the nation.

For more information about the Sound Science Fellowship and the National Center for Science Education, please visit: https://ncse.ngo/supporting-teachers/sound-science-fellowship .

*****

Contact: Paul Oh, NCSE Director of Communications, oh@ncse.ngo

10.15.25

Stormy shorelines

A scientist adding water to simulate flooding.

The activities are as follows:

Chevak is a village that sits along the Ningliqvak River in Alaska. The area around the village is a flat coastal wetland, a landscape of winding river channels, marshes, and salty lakes. In the Yup’ik language, this low-lying terrain is called maraq. Here, salt-tolerant grasses and sedges thrive in an environment with brackish water, which is saltier than fresh water, but less salty than sea water. These wetlands serve as nesting grounds for waterfowl during the spring and summer months.

Further upland, the higher ground that sits roughly three meters in elevation is called nunapik, meaning tundra. Brackish water does not usually touch these areas. The tundra has many freshwater lakes and supports a different plant community, rich with forbs, shrubs, and lichen. Because it experiences less flooding, more types of plants can live in the upland tundra, providing important resources for food and medicine.

In recent years, coastal flooding has become more common near Chevak. Protective sea ice melts earlier each year. Storm surges and rising sea levels now push brackish water further inland. These flooding events increase erosion, damage property, and alter the delicate balance of wetland and tundra ecosystems.

Ecologists Karen, Kathy, and Josh began studying the plants around Chevak to better understand how flooding affects these ecosystems. To understand how plant communities at high and low elevations respond to flooding, the scientists designed an experiment at Old Chevak, the original village site abandoned decades ago due to flooding.

Chevak, a village in Alaska.

Working in collaboration with the Chevak community and the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge, they established experimental plots to simulate flooding. The flooded plots were created by pumping in seawater to simulate high-tide flooding. This was repeated 3 times during the summer. Karen, Kathy, and Josh also kept control plots where no brackish water was added. The treatments were repeated at both high and low elevation sites. There were 7 replicates at each location.

At the summer’s end the team collected data on plant growth. They measured the biomass, or weight, of all plants in all of the plots. Karen, Kathy, and Josh grouped the plants into 4 groups. Graminoids, which include grasses and sedges, are the dominant plant group of the maraq. They typically grow well in flooded wetland areas. Forbs are broadleaf herbs, like salmonberries, that grow well in the nunapik. Shrubs include species such as blueberries, cranberries, and tundra tea. Like forbs, they also grow well in the nunapik. Lichens are plant-like species that form low crusts along the ground and are only found in the higher elevation sites.

Karen, Kathy, and Josh thought that plants from the low elevation sites would be made up of more salt and flood-tolerant species and would therefore be less harmed by frequent floods. On the other hand, high elevation sites would consist mostly of plant species that are not salt or flood-tolerant and would not do well during floods.

Featured scientists: Karen Beard (she/her) of Utah State University, Kathy Kelsey (she/her) of the University of Colorado Denver and Joshua Leffler (he/him) of South Dakota State University. Written by: Andrea Pokrzywinski (she/her).

Flesch–Kincaid Reading Grade Level = 8.9

Additional Resources:

This activity pairs with another Data Nugget, “Salmonberries in our future”, which features this same collaboration, but focuses on one culturally significant type of Arctic plant, salmonberries.

Additional video resources and lesson extensions can be found at the project website “Working Together”, including the following:

  • “Voices from the Land” introduces the collaboration between scientists and Yup’ik community members. They are working together to respect and care for the land. This narrative is told by the students from Bethel and Chevak Alaska. 
  • “Mapping Merbok” describes the questions scientists are researching to document how increased flooding, such as that from Typhoon Merbok, will drive landscape changes.
  • “Warming and Flooding on the Tundra” describes the research scientists are conducting to measure the impact of both warming and flooding on plant communities.
9.20.25

Salmonberries in our future

Picking salmonberries is a cultural tradition for many Alaskans.

The activities are as follows:

In the Yup’ik and Cup’ik Native communities of western Alaska, berry picking is a deeply rooted tradition. Many villages are located more than 500 miles from the nearest road system or grocery store. Fresh fruits and vegetables from other places are flown in by small planes at significant cost. This makes local berries a lifeline for these remote villages.

Salmonberries (also known as cloudberries) are one type of Arctic berry. They are prized for their wonderful taste. Salmonberries are rich in nutrients like vitamin C, antioxidants, and essential minerals. One cup of salmonberries alone can meet a person’s daily vitamin C needs. In addition to humans, these berries provide nutrients to other animals, such as migrating birds, small mammals, and bears.

During berry season, families travel across the land to gather berries, preserve them, and store them for the winter. Families use a vast web of winding rivers to travel by boat to reach their berry picking camps. These western Alaska rivers flow towards the Bering Sea, where freshwater mixes with salty ocean tides.

Rubus chamaemorus, known as salmonberry in western Alaska, ready to be picked.

This mix of saltwater and freshwater shapes the tundra landscape. Tough, salt-tolerant plants, like grasses and sedges, often dominate low-lying areas closest to the sea. Slightly higher ground, just above the reach of the tides, provides a more suitable home for berries. These subtle shifts in water levels play a large role in determining where berries can grow.

Ecologists Karen, Kathy, and Joshua are collaborating with Native communities to learn more about how changes in climate are affecting berry plants. They are studying two major changes already observed under climate change – warming and flooding. Over time, warming and flooding combined could change the entire makeup of plant communities. This will affect whether local families are able to continue their traditions and access this valuable food source.

Alaska’s average temperatures are increasing, more so than other parts of the globe. This warming might help some plants by extending the growing season. With more time and sunlight, salmonberries and other plants may actually grow faster.

Climate change is also expected to increase flooding in some areas of coastal Alaska. Storms are already becoming stronger and more frequent, pushing seawater farther inland. Because of this, flooding events are increasing in frequency. Rising sea levels and storm surges may kill salmonberry plants because these plants are not adapted to having their roots submerged in salty water.

To tease apart the effects of warming and flooding, Karen, Kathy, and Joshua designed a field experiment to simulate climate change. They built clear plastic structures, called open-topped chambers, to trap heat and raise the temperature by about 2°C. These chambers can be thought of as mini time machines, creating small areas that have the expected temperatures of the coming decades. Next, they created flooded plots using brackish, or slightly salty, water that they collected where the fresh river water meets the sea. They used this water to simulate flooding events in the plots. In the end, their experiment had four different types of plots: (1) Control plots with no warming or flooding, (2) plots that were warmed, (3) plots that were flooded, and (4) plots that were both warmed and flooded. 

They let these treatments run the full growing season. After that time, the team collected data on salmonberry growth. Karen, Kathy, and Joshua measured both the height and biomass of salmonberry plants in all of the plots. These two measures are good estimates of how many berries the plants will produce – the larger the plant, the more berries it can make. They were very precise in their measurements; in a place where food and traditions are tied to the land, every berry matters.

Note: Cloudberries (Rubus chamaemorus) are regionally known as “salmonberries” in western Alaska, and “Naunrat”, “Atsaq/Atsisaq”, or “Atsalugpiaq” in Yup’ik and Cup’ik. In southeast Alaska, a related but different species, Rubus spectabilis, produces berries that are known as salmonberry in that region. In this activity, we will be referencing Rubus chamaemorus.

Featured scientists: Karen Beard (she/her) of Utah State University, Kathy Kelsey (she/her) of the University of Colorado Denver, and Joshua Leffler (he/him) of South Dakota State University. Written by: Andrea Pokrzywinski (she/her).

Flesch–Kincaid Reading Grade Level = 5.7

Additional Resources:

This activity pairs with another Data Nugget, “Stormy shorelines,” which features this same collaboration but expands to additional plant groups in tundra and coastal habitats. 

These two videos were filmed with scientists during the field research and will give students background information on the research efforts conducted in Chevak, Alaska.

Additional video resources and lesson extensions can be found at the project website “Working Together”, including the following:

  • “Voices from the Land” introduces the collaboration between scientists and Yup’ik community members. They are working together to respect and care for the land. This narrative is told by the students from Bethel and Chevak Alaska. 
9.8.25

Join Data Nuggets at NABT 2025!

We are looking forward to sharing Data Nuggets at the 2025 NABT Professional Development Conference. NABT will be held from October 30th through November 2nd at the St. Louis Union Station Hotel in St. Louis, Missouri. Details are below!

  • Title: Authentic scientific research and data for the classroom with Data Nuggets
  • Description: Data Nuggets are free resources, co-designed by scientists and teachers to bring authentic data and research into classrooms. They highlight the true process of science, along with any surprises along the way. In this hands-on Huxley Award session we will demonstrate best practices for their use in biology classrooms.
  • Presenter: Dr. Elizabeth Schultheis
  • Date & Time: Thursday, October 30, 2025 at 12:30 PM–2:30 PM
  • Location: Midway Suite 7 & 8
Hands-on Data Nuggets workshop to learn about the program and go through classroom-ready example activities!
9.5.25

Salmonberries in our future – draft for piloting

Picking salmonberries is a cultural tradition for many Alaskans.

Thank you for piloting our latest activity! Download and complete the student activity below.

The activities are as follows:

8.27.25

Can kelp help the plovers? 

Beach hopper on a sidewalk

The activities are as follows:

It’s a beach day! You’re walking through the sand on a southern California beach, looking for a place to put your things. You notice there are clumps of dried-up seaweed everywhere. As you brush aside some of these clumps to lay out your towel, a shrimp-like bug jumps out at you and bounces off your hand! With smelly dried seaweed, small birds skittering across the sand, and hopping bugs, you wonder, is this beach healthy? Yes! These are all parts of a thriving food web.

Beaches are home to many important species that each play a role in the ecosystem. On the Pacific Coast of California, the dried-up seaweed is typically made up of several species of kelp. Kelp captures the sun’s energy through photosynthesis. Beach hoppers, the little jumping “bugs”, are actually small crustaceans
that feed on the kelp. In turn, these beach hoppers are the main food source for birds.

Snowy plovers are a type of bird that loves to eat beach hoppers. This shorebird species is threatened in California due to habitat loss. The sandy beaches where the plovers live and nest are also places where people like to walk and play. Scientists want to better understand what makes up the base of the food web that supports plovers to help their populations recover.

High school seniors, Mari and Azra, visited beaches in Lompoc, a coastal city in California, many times with their science classes. They wanted to learn more about the sandy beach ecosystem, so they read an article from a local research group at the University of California-Santa Barbara. On one of their field trips, they learned about a scientist named Jenny Dugan. Jenny and members of her lab study the beach hoppers’ important role in the sandy beach ecosystem. The Dugan lab had done a series of experiments to see what types of kelp beach hoppers liked to eat.

Azra (left) and Mari (right) working with kelp.

Mari and Azra wanted to set up a similar experiment to see if the beach hoppers in the Lompoc area preferred the same species of kelp. Their teacher, Ms. Moore, collected beach hoppers, sand, and kelp on her way to school one day. Mari and Azra set up ten plastic containers by measuring an equal amount of damp sand and punching holes in the lids. Then they tried to put 10 beach hoppers into the container. But it was hard to know the exact number until the very end of the experiment because some would hop out before the lid was on! At the end of the study, the number ranged from 8-15 beach hoppers in each container. Finally, Mari and Azra weighed out 15.0 grams of kelp and put it on top of the sand in the containers. They put one type of kelp in each container. Four containers had feather boa kelp, Egregia, four containers had giant kelp, Macrocystis, and two containers had Laminaria, another type of kelp. Mari and Azra also set up controls for each type of kelp with sand and kelp, but no beach hoppers. This container would tell them how much kelp weight was lost to water evaporation over the 3 days of the experiment, and not due to being eaten.

Trial 1: Mari and Azra placed the containers outside in a shady spot for three days. On the third morning, they opened up the containers to weigh the kelp that remained. Before weighing the kelp, they rinsed it to remove excess sand and dried it gently to remove excess water. Finally, they counted the beach hoppers that were in the container.

Trial 2: After reviewing their results from this experiment, Mari and Azra realized the beach hoppers did not like Laminaria at all. They decided to repeat the experiment using kelp and beach hoppers from a different beach, and did not include Laminaria as a food source.

Featured scientists: Mari and Azra from Lompoc High School, California. Jenny Dugan from the University of California-Santa Barbara. Written by: Melissa Moore from Lompoc High School.

Flesch–Kincaid Reading Grade Level = 8.1

8.20.25

Anole’s new niche

Yoel looking for lizards on a spoil island.
Photo Credit: Adam Algar

The activities are as follows:

Throughout our history, humans have been moving species around the world. In your own backyard there are likely multiple species that have come from different countries and mixed into your local ecosystem. Human movement of species has sped up in the last 150 years as we have gotten better at traveling by trains, planes, boats, and cars.

An open question is, what happens to species when they are moved around? Scientists can study both the species that have been moved, called introduced species, and the original species that were there before, called native species.

One interesting system to study is the anole lizard populations in Florida. In this case, there is both an introduced species that arrived relatively recently, the brown anole, and a species that has been there for much longer, the green anole.

The story of these two anoles and their interactions begins millions of years ago when both the green anole and the brown anole evolved in Cuba. They had different niches, or areas of specialization in their ecosystem when they lived there together. The green anole mostly perched high up on tree trunks, moving through branches and leaves as it looked for insects to eat. The brown anole preferred to perch lower down, finding its food on the ground and the lower part of tree trunks.

The Green Anole (Anolis carolinensis) and the Brown Anole (Anolis sagrei). Photo Credit: Adam Algar

Then, 2-4 million years ago, the green anole established a new population in Florida. How it did this, we are not sure. But it probably was blown by hurricanes from Cuba to Florida on rafts of trees and other vegetation. Once in Florida, it spread throughout the southeastern United States. As best we can tell, the green anole changed its niche once it was in the United States without the brown anole around. Data from previous research suggest that it started finding insect prey on the ground and perched lower down in the tree trunks.

Then, in the 1950s, the brown anole came to southern Florida through human movement on boats. This probably happened because humans were moving agricultural products (like sugar cane) from Cuba to the United States.

Yoel is a scientist studying anoles, and he wanted to know how green anoles respond to the recent presence of the brown anole. Now that they are together in Florida, the two anole species interact a lot.

Looking south at Spoil Islands along the Intracoastal Waterway shipping channel in Mosquito Lagoon. Photo credit: Todd Campbell

They both have a large population, they eat similar insects, and likely compete for food and space. Yoel thought the green anoles might respond by changing their behavior and habitat use. Yoel predicted that the green anoles would return to the treetops once the brown anole arrived, living like their ancestors did with the brown anole in Cuba. He also thought that the brown anole would keep low on the tree trunks, because that is where it has always perched while it coexisted with the green anoles in Cuba.

To test his hypothesis, Yoel’s team worked on eleven islands that were approximately the size of football-fields in Mosquito Lagoon, Florida. All eleven islands had green anole populations on them. Six of the eleven islands also had brown anole populations present on them. This meant that five islands only had one species, the green anole.

This created an ideal “natural experiment” to collect data on how green anoles use the habitat when they are alone, compared with when they are living on islands with the brown anole. To do this, Yoel collected data on perch height. He and his team did this by walking through the island habitats slowly until they spotted a lizard. Then, they measured the height of the spot where the lizards were sitting in the trees.

Featured scientists: Featured scientist: Yoel Stuart (he/him) from Loyola University Chicago

Flesch–Kincaid Reading Grade Level = 9.0

7.5.25

Catching fish with sound

Mei next to the research vessel, Endeavor

The activities are as follows:

In our ocean, the connections between the environment and marine organisms are intricate and complex. The watery surroundings connect each level of the food web – including marine mammals, large fish, schooling fish, phytoplankton, and more. Climate change is causing our ocean to become warmer, and organisms are already starting to respond. When ocean waters change, the effects cascade through different levels of the food web. In order to understand how marine organisms, and their interactions, are affected by changing climate, we need accurate measurements that tell us what populations are like today and continue monitoring into the future.
As a biological oceanographer, Mei’s research focuses on organisms in the middle of marine food webs. These are the small schooling fish, like anchovies and herring, that consume other organisms, but are also vulnerable to predation. Growing up in Japan, the ocean was always a part of Mei’s life through hobbies such as swimming, fishing, and also from knowing the cultural importance of eating seafood and learning to prepare for tsunamis. She was first introduced to ocean science through a local fisher who had an oyster farm near her hometown. Since then, she has pursued her career as an oceanographer across three different countries – Japan, Canada, and the United States – both in academia and industry.

Mei now does research as part of a Long-Term Ecological Research project out of Massachusetts. This means that Mei is part of a scientist team working together to study long-term patterns in the ocean.
Looking at data over time allows Mei and others to better identify and understand the consequences of climate change. This information Mei next to the research vessel, Endeavor will help fishers and fisheries managers make decisions and prepare for the future.

Mei testing equipment before a research cruise

In August 2023, Mei went to sea on one of the project’s research cruises. She wanted to take a closer look at one of the fastest-warming ocean areas and richest fisheries in the world – the continental shelf of the Northeast U.S. She boarded a large research ship for 6 days with a team of 14 other scientists who specialize in different areas of oceanographic research. To more accurately collect these data, Mei used sound! Echosounders bounce sound off marine organisms, such as fish. This tool is similar to fish finders that are used by most fishing boats. However, the technology used by Mei is more sensitive and provides more detailed data.
The amount of sound that comes back to the ship after bouncing off fish or anything in the water is called volume backscattering strength, and is measured in decibels (dB). The intensity of what comes back can serve as a measure of fish abundance. If there are more fish, the number becomes larger (less negative).
While the echosounder is operating, other members of the research team measure water temperature and other parameters from the surface to near the bottom. Temperature is measured in degrees Celsius (ºC), and depth is recorded in meters (m). Mei wanted to use these data to give her a snapshot in time of where fish are located.

Featured scientist: Mei Sato (she/her) from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and
Northeast U.S. Shelf LTER (NES-LTER)

Flesch–Kincaid Reading Grade Level = 9.8

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