Day 9: Back to Class

Hi everyone! My name is Sophie, I am a rising senior at Cal Poly studying biology.

Today's our first official day on Tetiaroa and energy is high as we embark on our second half of our adventure. We started off Day 9 with presentations concluding our research in Moorea. After a full week of sampling and analyzing it was amazing to see what our experiments had explained. While being immersed in my sub-group analyzing chlorophyll concentrations in the waters it was exciting to see other peoples projects and to finally see everyone’s hard work pay off. Impressed by our successful work in Moorea, I am curious to see what our work in Tetiaroa will bring.

Later that afternoon, we met with Jayna DeVore, the new Director of Conservation, Science and Education. She shared her work on Tetiaroa's ecosystems, focusing on the impacts of invasive species and the ongoing conservation efforts across the atoll. Her insights helped shape our research ideas and provided valuable guidance on where to focus our project.

What stood out most to me was the seabird attraction project on Rimatuʻu, an area that had

previously been overrun by rats. As the lead of the successful rat eradication effort, Dr. DeVore explained how restoring the island has allowed seabird populations to recover. Our project aims to investigate whether this increase in seabirds is enriching the surrounding waters with nutrients, ultimately enhancing coral reef productivity and ecosystem health.

As our projects continue to take shape, I'm excited to see what discoveries and challenges the rest of the week will bring.