We hope that our experiences working in the tropics on this project can help others by pointing out pitfalls and problems as well as successes.
Several problems were encountered during our first year, not the least of which was the red tape associated with a last minute approval of funds. For this reason, we did not have enough time to obtain and ship all of the equipment we had planned on taking. Therefore we decided to take our research equipment as excess baggage. Unfortunately, American Airlines (the only major airline with direct flights to the BVI at the time) has placed a moratorium on excess baggage as well as any boxes checked as baggage flying into Caribbean destinations during the summer tourist season, so this option was unavailable to us. After being turned away at the airport we ended up repacking to avoid using boxes, and mailing light weight items via Federal Express. We suggest that you specifically ask about restrictions pertaining to the exact destination and dates of your travel well ahead of time. We have now learned that American Airlines will allow excess baggage for scientists, but it is difficult to find the proper person to speak with to arrange this. we suggest trying your regional sales manager.
One of our major concerns was legally shipping formalin and ethanol to the BVI for specimen preservation. Formalin was obtained through Sigma Chemical Co. and shipped through their international division. The U.S. Department of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms assured us that distributors could ship ethanol out of the country without the usual permits required for domestic institutional delivery, however we could not find an air cargo service that would carry ethanol, and shipment by sea was expensive and would take several months.
Ethanol was available in the form of 151-proof rum, and as denatured alcohol (ethanol with 5% methanol added, available at hardware stores and marine supply houses). Basic building materials for constructing sampling devices such as the A.R.M.S. were readily available from local merchants (lumber, sand mix concrete, PVC, cinder block, tools, etc). We tried to use materials that would be common and available throughout the tropics, in case anyone wished to duplicate any of our techniques.
Logistical limitations meant that most of our collecting had to be carried out along the shore line some distance from our lab. These collections proved to be much more successful (at least for larger organisms) than collecting in deeper water using scuba, mainly due to increased visibility, dexterity, and available time on site. Because we are interested in biodiversity at all scales, care was generally taken to keep even the smallest samples separated. We found that overloading samples by placing too much algae or sediment in a container resulted in anoxia and death and decomposition of soft bodied animals in a very short time.
Equipment:
Paint Scrapers--Used to remove algal samples from rocky substrates without stress to the inhabitants living there in.
Pry Bar, Abalone Iron, or Rock Hammer--Much of the rocky intertidal consists of boulders of volcanic rock cemented together by coralline algae. A pry bar came in handy when rolling these. It also aided in avoiding fireworms while turning large pieces of coral rubble. Any sturdy piece of metal comes in handy when working with hard substrates.
Forceps -- Invaluable for teasing animals out of crevices and picking up small worms off rough surfaces. A tether on the forceps is suggested to prevent their loss.
Push net -- A large baitnet (2ft handle, 16 inch wide net, 1/8 inch mesh) proved invaluable for sampling sand patches when used like a dredge.
Plastic bags -- Zipper-lock bags are unwieldy in the field. Slide-lock bags work better but malfunction upon subsequent use due to fouling by sand. 10x12 inch wire closure (whirl-pak) bags were easy to use and durable in all situations.
Wide mouth capped bottles -- hard-sided containers are invaluable for keeping individual animals separate. Some exciting specimens were eaten by others while en route in large plastic bags.
Slurp Gun --This clear plastic suction tube helps to capture fast moving shrimps.
Yabby Pump --This stainless steel slurp gun pulls up animals living in burrows on soft bottoms. Ghost shrimp and echiuran worms were even pulled out of burrows at water depths of 2-3 meters while skin diving. Don't bother with the short models or those made out of PVC.
Mask, Fins and Snorkel -- Although scuba gear was preferable for work in all depths greater than 1 meter, skin diving in the shallows was also very productive, especially in water only inches deep.
Modified Minnow Traps -- Baited traps were used with limited success.
Light traps -- Light traps sold through BioQuip Co. were placed on the bottom with small, low intensity dive lights (8 hrs of light), or chemical light sticks of various colors. These were used both uncovered and covered by a 1 square meter canopy made of PVC and black Tyvek-type garden weedblock cloth (for a quantitative sample of emergent species). These traps yielded high numbers of peracarid crustacea, as well as polychaete worms and other taxa. Short durations for these traps may be better in that it would decrease predation within the trap. These traps need to be modified to secure entry funnels (duct tape is a quick fix), and to ease sample retrieval (a filter needs to be incorperated to allow water to drain without loss of sample). Quantitative tests using different colored chemical light sticks are planned for the future.
Cryptofaunal organisms have proven to be difficult to collect by hand on the reefs in this area. Shrimp, crabs, worms, and brittle stars avoid capture by quickly retreating into the rubble when rock is lifted, and algal growth is not as accessible as in the shallows. This has led to the use of air lifts to sample rubble, box cores and pushnets to sample sand patches, the development of A.R.M.S.
The general tool kit for shore collecting was also taken to scuba depths, with some additions.
Pushnet sampling of sand bottom and larger sand patches has proven to be most valuable, especially when sediment is freed of silt by sieving through the mesh and then immediately bagged to be sorted in a tub on shore. Attempts to sort at depth is comparably fruitless and time-consuming. An airbag attached to a large goody bag helped in bringing up pushnet and the box cores to the surface Alternately, a line attached to the goody bag and a small buoy (waterbottle) was used to enable multiple samples to be collected and later pulled up and into a boat.
Air lift--Sand and rubble patches were aspirated within the confines of a cofferdam created by cutting the bottom from a 2 gallon plastic pail. The air lift was created using 2 1/2-inch PVC pipe and accessories, 3/4-inch bilge pump tubing, and 1/2-inch tubing clamped to a scuba low pressure blower nozzle.
Box Cores (One liter capacity cores made of 4-inch PVC and caps)-- Five cores were taken at a site, capped, and brought back to the surface. Samples were swish washed three times and seived through a 0.5mm mesh before preservation.
Preferred Scuba Gear
Team members sported a variety of dive gear ranging from heavyweight technical diving equipment and high quality tropic-weight equipment to economy grade equipment. Work underwater was much different from general recreational diving. We needed to be able to work and maneuver on the bottom for long periods, and also to swim back to the boat with heavy loads and ungainly equipment.
Here are some observations :
Fins--Bottom work tears them up quickly, and longer fins are a detriment on the bottom. Kicking efficiency is noticeable while swimming with equipment and samples! Members with short model Jetfins were happy except for the strap mechanism of this model. Check Rodale's Scuba equipment reviews on the web.
Masks--Periferal vision was of key importance, especially when teams of divers were working with multiple peices of equipment to employ A.R.M.S., and use the airlift, box cores etc. Low volume masks with clear skirts helped in this regard.
BCs--The tech type high buoyancy back-bladder BCs aided work underwater with the heavy and bulky items. Lower quality BCs felt awkward or even dangerous while doing this work.
Regulators--Regulators that were compact and simple were prefered. Even top-of-the-line regulators could be a source of frustration if hoses for octopuses and air gauges/computers were always in the way.
Suits--This area seemed to be more uncomfortable than other areas we have visited in the tropics (even free nematocysts in the water became annoying). Fire coral deserves its name here, and soft corals are almost as bad. At least a full body lycra suit was necessary, and a 2mm full surf suit helps conserve heat while a diver is slowly working the bottom for several hours.
Other--Leather work gloves were necessary, and inexpensive knee pads helped.