The Kelp Ecosystem Ecology Network uses a standardized method to compare studies of kelp ecosystems around the world. Kelp forests cover 25% of the world’s coastline, dominating many nearshore habitats in temperate climates. They are important sources of food and structure that support valuable nearshore ecosystems. We built the course around the KEEN protocol because it implements commonly used survey techniques, connects to international collaborators, and requires expert knowledge of local flora and fauna. In other words, it could be an ideal teaching tool. Incorporating this work into a summer course contributes to a better understanding of how the habitat around FHL fits into the global context of kelp forests, but also serves as a roadmap for other field stations hoping to incorporate networked research into scientific diving classes. We were able to build on research conducted by Dr. Katie Dobkowski and others who have studied kelp in the San Juan Islands. For the purposes of MSE 2018, we established our KEEN site at a Nereocystis (bull kelp) bed known to FHL researchers just off the Southwest tip of Shaw Island.
The students dove right into their training, taking advantage of the diversity of habitats accessible from the FHL dock. Challenge accepted! We walked through survey methods on the lawn in front of the dining hall, and practiced counting and identifying local organisms at low tide below the yoga platform between labs 5 and 11. Then, by the end of the first week the divers-in-training were ready to get underwater with slates, quadrats, and transect tapes to further develop research skills in the eelgrass and clump-weight reef habitats under and around the docks. We used the species-rich rocky reefs in the FHL preserve to teach organism identification and life history. Finally, we took these skills to the kelp bed at the South Shaw Island KEEN site for two practice dives before the big day when the students conducted the final survey to characterize the biological community before we removed the kelp from the experimental treatment plots. Mission accomplished: what seemed impossible had become reality.
Now that MSE has been over for several months, we’ve had the chance to take stock of all we accomplished: minting of 12 new AAUS divers, 463 dives, 12 independent research projects, and 1 new KEEN site. The MSE instructors have continued to visit the KEEN site at South Shaw and found interesting patterns of kelp recruitment and progression in experimentally-cleared plots. Continued studies at this site are important to our knowledge of kelp dynamics in the quickly-changing Salish Sea. The combination of KEEN and MSE paves the way for continuing these observations. As for the students, they agreed in post-course surveys that while there seemingly “wasn’t enough time” for everything we'd set out to achieve – scientific diver qualification, a full KEEN survey, and students’ individual subtidal projects – the experience had been “amazing.” Nearing the end of 2018, most remain active as scientific divers: beginning PhD projects that will involve subtidal research, finding employment that utilizes scientific diving skills, and supporting other UW divers as buddies. It’s hard to decide what makes us more proud: knowing that we've helped set burgeoning young scientists on the path toward reaching new depths in subtidal research, or that someday their future colleagues and supervisors will learn “that’s a UW scientific diver trained at FHL.”