Andrew Nosal, an associate professor of biology at Point Loma Nazarene University, spent the summer with students observing the sharks both underwater and with drones
It’s no secret to most San Diegans that leopard sharks come each summer to warm their pregnant bellies on the sand at La Jolla Shores.
Nosal has always mentored undergraduates who have helped with field work. But this year he began teaching a summer program in which students help direct the research.During the 10-week program, which wrapped up in August, he encouraged students to form research questions as well as collect and analyze data that will be used for a published paper, Nosal said.
Now, rather than attaching a first-generation GoPro to his balloon and trying to guess — often unsuccessfully — where the sharks were, he uses drones.A few years ago he started pairing the drone footage with a computer program that tracks each shark in the group by looking at contrasts, such as a dark object swimming in a lighter area.
Andrew Nosal, an associate professor of biology at Point Loma Nazarene University, and biology students head to the water with their gear at La Jolla Shores.“Some days we like to just have a little bit of fun and just be in the water to really connect with the animals that we study,” he said. “But it’s not just for fun. We are making observations, and that’s what we were doing today.”
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