Biology major visited islands during start of coronavirus outbreak
Brooke Schaefers was in the middle of the Pacific Ocean when the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the country.
Schaefers, the daughter of Mark and Suzanne Schaefers of Butler, was conducting an ecosystem biology field study in the Galápagos Islands 563 miles west of the coast of Ecuador.
A biology major with a focus on marine biology, Schaefers set out with 10 classmates, as well as a graduate student and professors, on March 7 for the trip to the islands while her school, Youngstown State University, was on spring break, a break that never ended.
“We were planning this trip for two years,” Schaefers said. “Dr. Ian Renne is my adviser. I helped him plan the trip. We put the offer out and students applied.”
All of the students were tasked with doing research papers on different topics.
“My research was on the bio-accumulation of DDT on the Galápagos sea lions,” she said.
The pesticide, banned in the United States since 1972, is still used in South America as a low-cost way to fight malaria-bearing mosquitoes.
“Because of that it is getting into the water. Sea lions are the top predators of their food web. It's accumulating in sea lions,” Schaefers said.
The DDT is believed to be affecting the marine mammals' immune system.
She said since 2011 there has been a 30 percent decrease in the population of the 14,000 sea lions in the Galápagos.Because the Galápagos sea lions are a smaller, sleeker variety DDT affects them much more than their larger cousins, such as the California sea lion.Sea lions inhabit every island of the Galápagos archipelago. Schaefers visited three islands: Isabella, Santa Cruz and San Cristobel.Her research had to be conducted under a number of restraints.Because the Galápagos is a national park, Schaefers wasn't allowed to take samples or approach within six feet of the animals.She observed the sea lions, talked with researchers at the Charles Darwin Research Station and read peer-reviewed published research papers.Her conclusion?“There's not a lot of research on DDT. More research is needed. Precautionary measures need to be researched,” Schaefers said.Other students concentrated on the islands' mangrove trees or animals that are only native to the Galápagos, such as its marine iguanas and finches.
Schaefers said she has completed her research paper but her presentation was canceled because of the stay-at-home measures put into place while she was gone.Because of those measures she has been taking her college classes online, and she will be taking her finals next week online as well.Even her extracurricular activities have moved online.A featured baton twirler with the Youngstown State Marching Band, Schaefers said, “I'm taking FaceTime lessons with my teacher. I twirl to the best of my ability in the parking lot.”
She has stayed in Youngstown since her return because she is a recruitment counselor for incoming college students.“I give incoming students orientations online through Zoom and WebeX. I recently had a tour with an Ethiopian student,” Schaefers said.Like the rest of us, her plans are on hold.“I was supposed to get an internship this summer and visit graduate schools in the South,” she said. The visits have been canceled and the internship at the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium is uncertain.But she hopes her plans to pursue marine biology, a passion she's had since she was 8, will go forward.“Hopefully, we will revisit my paper, and I look forward to graduate school,” Schaefers said.
