Matt Bracken
@brackenlab
Marine biodiversity - - he/him/his
My “office” this morning, complete w/ *Postelsia*. 🌊🌴💙 #MarineLife #SwelterShelterNSF #Kelp
Spotted (😉) in many of our #SwelterShelterNSF intertidal survey plots today: terrestrial visitors - spotted cucumber beetles (*Diabrotica undecimpunctata*). 🪲 #MarineLife?
Where intertidal rocky reefs are composed of “soft” rock - such as the sedimentary mudstones and sandstones of the Point Arena Formation in Mendocino County, California - sea urchins create circular niches by abrading the substratum. #MarineLife #SwelterShelterNSF 🌊🦑
CHONK! Any day I spot a *Cryptochiton* is a good day. #MolluskMonday #MolluscMonday #MarineLife #SwelterShelterNSF 🌊🦑
And here is the amazing map of the rockweed plots, drawn by our 13-yr-old field helper. #PhycologyFriday #MarineLife 🌊🦑
For #PhycologyFriday… Here is our rockweed study site on the north side of Starrigavan Bay near Sitka, Alaska. #MarineLife 🌊🦑
I spy with my little eye something beginning with the letter C. #MarineLife 🦀🦑🌊
Sorting snails… 🐌 🐌🐌 vs. 🐌🐌🐌 vs. ❓❓❓ #MolluskMonday #MolluscMonday #SwelterShelterNSF
Here’s one last view of Sitka’s amazing intertidal zone before I head to the airport and back to California. I grew up in a small Alaskan fishing community about 100 miles from here, so the time I spend here for fieldwork always feels like coming home. #SwelterShelterNSF #MarineLife 🌊🦑
Our #SwelterShelterNSF project evaluates habitat-forming foundation species (intertidal rockweeds & mussels) in the context of aerial heat waves, w/ more stressful (S. California, Washington) regions matched w/ less stressful (Nor Cal, Alaska) ones. Alaska surveys are done - next stop, Nor Cal. 🦑🌊
Seaweed selfie! Collecting Alaskan *Alaria* for our global canopy-forming #seaweed traits network! @intertidaleco.bsky.social @jngriffy.bsky.social #PhycologyFriday #MarineLife🦑🌊
Whelk convention at the lag screw that marks the corner of one of our #SwelterShelterNSF study plots. 🐌🐌🐌🐌🐌🐌🐌 #MarineLife 🦑🌊
I met a crabby new friend during today’s #SwelterShelterNSF fieldwork. #MarineLife 🦑🌊🦀
Amazing tiny floral bells. 🔔🌹 Rose twisted-stalk (*Streptopus lanceolatus*), Baranof Island, Alaska. #Bloomscrolling
What’s this guy doing all the way up in the rockweed? 🌊⭐️🪨🌱🤔 #PhycologyFriday #MarineLife 🦑
It’s really impressive to see the shuttle in launch configuration! The last time I was at the California Science Center, I loved being able to walk around - & under (!) - the orbiter to get a sense for its size. 🚀
Barnacles on barnacle! Baby barnacles often settle on or near adults of the same species. The big one & likely the little ones are the thatched barnacle *Semibalanus cariosus*. Because this species is a simultaneous hermaphrodite, this could be appropriate for either Father’s Day or Mother’s Day. 🦑
We’re currently in Sitka, Alaska, setting up sites for our #SwelterShelterNSF study: measuring how intertidal foundation species - rockweeds & mussels - protect other species against aerial heat waves & determining whether loss of foundation species could lead to cascading biodiversity declines. 🦑🌊
One of the many great things about marine labs is that they often have aquaria featuring cool, local critters. #MarineLife 🌊🦑