The RSMAS experience

I'm a french PhD student working on larval fish distribution, dispersal and behaviour in the Mediterranean Sea. As you may know, there is no better place than RSMAS to improve my expertise on that subject. With that purpose, I just spent two and a half months in that beautiful and brain stimulating place! And this was made possible by the PUF project that supported my travel expenses and housing!

I had the chance to learn about the three main topics of my research, starting on the first day of my arrival with larval fish distribution. I first participated ("observed" would be more adapted) in the coupling of UVP and ISIIS with Jean-Olivier, Marc and Cédric, that will be produce a brand new in situ observation tool which will be used for the VISUFRONT cruise in a few weeks.

After the french team went back to France, I was introduced to the "french crew" of RSMAS with whom I spent most of my lunches and wetlabs, tanning (burning) on the terrace of The Commons.

I started working on the main objective of my stay in RSMAS: using the Connectivity Modelling System (CMS), a dispersal model that was developed by the Physical-Biological Interactions Laboratory, under the supervision of my Ph.D co-advisor, Pr Claire Paris. The major advantages of this model are the behavioural components implemented that permit to model active particles. During my stay, I adapted the CMS to oceanographical data from the western Mediterranean Sea, generated by two different physical models (Nemo and Mars3D). Here is an example of a simulation with passive particles over 45 days and 16 different releasing locations.

Robin Cms Simulation

Now that I'm able to run the CMS in this region, I will need to collect behavioural data in order to implement realistic behaviour in the model. And my stay in RSMAS offered the opportunity to learn how to do so!

Indeed, I participated in a two weeks field trip using the Directional In Situ Chamber (DISC), which was also developed in RSMAS, and allows to determine orientation behaviour in larval fish, one of the major factor influencing their dispersal. Next year, I will be doing the same experiment, following the same protocol, offshore Villefranche-sur-Mer. Again, this was precious knowledge that I will be bringing back to France!

As icing on the cake, I ended my stay with the Larval Fish Conference where I presented a poster and during which I met several leading figures of larval fish science. I had very interesting interactions with them about larval fish distribution, i.e. for the VISUFRONT survey with ISIIS, dispersal modelling and behavioural capabilities of fish larvae.

I can't write about everything and everyone I met, that would be too long, but as a short conclusion I'd like to say that I had a wonderful and productive time in Miami. I would also like to thank everyone who has been very helpful and nice to me, spending time trying to answer my numerous questions (special thanks to Pr Paris's lab PhD students for the CMS and the rest), sharing ideas and culture. I hope I will come back soon!

Merci à tous et merci le PUF !

Robin1 Robin2