Students will conduct the bulk of the field work at Punta Delgada, a research area located at about 160 km from Puerto Madryn. Participants are housed at in a well equipped, and logistically supported field research station maintained by the Marine Mammal Lab. This outstanding facility is made available to UCSC-MIRT at no cost while food, fuel and research supplies are provided at cost. The facilities are of excellent quality providing both room and meals, thus maximizing the time students may spend in the field engaged in research. General Research Activities.
Student learn to keep a serial log of important events during their first week in the field.
From then on, the student will be assigned specific research responsibilities. Every day, students will spend 6-9 hours in the field with their team, recording data on the behavior adults and pups at different harems. On an opportunistic bases, they will help to weigh and measure weanlings, tag and mark individuals, place time-depth temperature recorders to study the diving behavior, and assist in select physiological studies under field conditions. Upon returning from the field each day, the students spend 2-3 hours transferring the data to cards, forms and computers. Twice per week, in the evenings, the teams meet project scientists to discuss research projects, logistics, reports, special problems, changes in experimental design and to put the ongoing season and total experience in perspective.