Analysis of settlement and community stability - A report by Lydia Kohlmorgen

05.12.2016

Preparation for the deployment of the tiles in Tauranga harbor - Picture by Lydia Kohlmorgen

5th - 24th November 2016
After a long flight from Hamburg to Auckland I was picked up by the New Zealand Intercoast students Mariana Cussoli and Bradley Monahan. We drove to Hamilton were I spend the first weekend; recovering from the long flight. On Monday I was offered a ride to Tauranga field station by Conrad Pilditch.

The task at the field station: The exposition of 30 concrete blocks for analysis of settlement and community stability. The blocks will be exposed in Tauranga Harbour and Motiti Island for one year, when I will come back to New Zealand to analyze settlement.

I was warmly welcomed. While waiting for my experimental set-up arriving from Germany, the first week at the field station was mainly used for organizing and planning. Together with the technicians and divers David Culliford and Rex Fairweather I discussed the best spots for the deployment of the tiles.

My second week at Tauranga field station started with a nice boat trip. Together with Chris Battershill, Rex Fairweather and Fenna Beets, who is currently doing her Master studies at the station and is working on sponges and sedimentation loads, we drove to Karewa Island. Karewa is small island approximately 6 km off of the coast of Matakana Island. Its covered by Taupata Forest and can only be entered by DoC permit. Fenna and Rex had to do some diving while Chris and I enjoyed the warm and sunny weather.

On Wednesday my experimental equipment arrived and we started to get everything ready for deployment. On Thursday, with the help of David and Rex, we deployed 15 blocks at Butters Wharf in Tauranga Port. Everything went well and we could start on preparing part two: Deploying another 15 blocks at Motiti Island.

After waiting for another couple of days my last week started and we finally had luck on the weather. The weather forecast predicted good boating conditions. We got everything packed and started off for Motiti island.

This time with David Culliford, Fenna Beets, and Alice Morrison as the diving team. Further accompanied by Dudley Bell as skipper and two teachers from NZ, who were spending some time at the field station learning about scientific research; they will bring their experiences forward to schools. After a nice one hour drive we arrived at the island. David, Fenna and Alice got ready for diving while we prepared the set ups for deployment. After finding a nice spot between some overgrown rocks we started with deployment. Few minutes later we successfully had everything installed at the bottom. Fenna and Alice were continuing diving for Fenna was hoping to find some nice sponges for her work while I snorkeled around some of the rocks, getting some more impressions about the sampling site. We headed back for the field station in the afternoon. Happy about our work.

Preparation of the tiles by Dudley Bell - Picture by Lydia Kohlmorgen

Deployment of the tiles -
Picture by Lydia Kohlmorgen

Installation of the set-up by Alice Morrison and David Culliford -
picture by Fenna Beets

Thanks again to all members of the Tauranga field station for the warm welcome. I’m looking forward to come back next year to continue my work on the tiles. Meanwhile I’m grateful to David keeping an eye on the blocks.