Catching crabs in Sea Point

My favourite project so far.
I loved being so independent and
self sufficient. 

I did one of my BSc(Hons) projects on the invasive alien European green crab, Carcinus maenas, and you can imagine how I was teased about working on crabs... Feel free to snigger to yourself before you move on. Still, this was truly my favourite project in my post graduate career. I really loved that I could just get on and do it and that I knew what I was doing most of the time. (It also resulted in neat paper which I am quite proud of.) 

When I saw an advert looking for people to help a Stellenbosch University PhD student (who's supervisor is just lovely and someone I really respect and admire) with field work looking for these crabs, I was really quite excited to sign up. I have an almost compulsive need to sign up for things anyway, which has its pros and cons. 

So, last weekend in addition to helping my friend Z with her mussel field work I started doing crab work again. (Incidentally, my second BSc(Hons) project was on one the species of invasive mussels that Z is working on and while I loved that project too it was never published, but it did take me to some of the most beautiful places on the west coast of SA and, I think, one of the main reasons I can now count a truly awesome person among my genuinely fabulous friends). 

One of Z's field sites
and one of the locations used in TV series, Black Pearl

There are three reasons that I sign up to do these things: 1) Even though the pay isn't great, it is more than I would have without it, 2) I know how hard it is to find reliable people to with field work, so this is my way of earning "research karma" points and 3) most importantly the best thing about doing biology is the bit that happens outside so I like the excuse to step away from my PC and get into the field. 

I think it doesn't really matter what it is that you do, it is important to occasionally remind yourself why you do it. It is so easy to get bogged down in the detail that you forget about the big picture. I didn't study biology to learn how to use R (multivariate statistics in R are giving my a headache this week), although R is a useful tool for doing biology. I do biology to understand how tiny bits of the world work and because the world is a beautiful, fascinating place! (Actually, to be completely honest, I do biology to try understand the world in the hope of contributing to conservation and rational, knowledge-based bunny hugging). 

Silwerstroom 

So, for me anyway, I find it helps to step outside and be fascinated by the world I want so desperately to protect. On Saturday, at Blouberg Beach, in between looking for green crabs, I found a (different) crab the size of a R2 coin, still soft from moulting. On Sunday, at Sea Point, in the beds of sea lettuce (Ulva sp) I saw hundreds of cushion stars at densities I haven't seen in ages. Marvelling at these small treasures (chitons, brittle stars, starfish, anenomes, tube worms and there were many more) are what make working in the field, in biology so exciting. That renewed enthusiasm for all things marine has helped get me through my multivariate headaches - well, that and wine at the pub last night... 

I definitely recommend finding what it is that you love about what you do (your work, not what you do to avoid your work) and indulging in it from time to time... 

P.S. It helped that the weather this weekend was stunning and so it was actually quite nice being knee deep in Cape Town waters, I am not sure how much I will be oozing enthusiasm when I have to do this in winter... Although, there is something satisfying about feeling like a hardcore biologist...