The aquarium lab houses cold-water and tropical marine aquariums, with a total capacity of over 500 gallons. Our focus is on North Pacific organisms, so most of the current capacity is for cold water. Water is chilled by two Aqualogic chillers (3/4 & 1/2 HP) and held at 8-9 C (47-49 F). The lab serves both instructional and research functions. Two courses (Aquarium Biology and Invertebrate Zoology) are currently supported by the lab. The lab is designed to also support student class projects, practica, and Senior Projects, as well as faculty research on the Giant Pacific Octopus.

The energetics lab provides the ability to measure the energy content of biological samples as small as 25 milligrams, and to measure the metabolic rates and energy requirements of marine organisms from small fish to beluga whales. Energetics is an important technique in understanding marine systems, particularly in understanding how predator-prey relationships may constrain or alter populations. The technique has been used in the North Pacific in studies of herring population dynamics, returns to salmon fisheries, seabird studies, killer whale-Steller sea lion interactions, and many more. Faculty at Alaska Pacific University are using the technique to study habitat selection of the Giant Pacific Octopus and the energetic demands of Cook Inlet beluga whales. Equipment includes a Parr Semimicro Bomb calorimeter, TurboFox 500 open-flow respirometer, YSI Lactate-Glucose Analyzer, SonoSite portable ultrasound, pellet press, drying oven, a -40 C freezer, and scales.

The marine bioacoustics lab provides opportunities for recording sounds produced by marine organisms (passive acoustics). Available recording equipment includes: HTI hydrophones, digital recorders (Edirol R-09), and autonomous recording devices. Passive acoustics can be used to answer an array of ecological questions relating to the animal’s presence and absence, relative abundance, and distribution. This type of work has been conducted on a wide variety of organisms: fishes (e.g. rockfishes, cod, damselfishes), marine mammals (e.g. whales and dolphins), and invertebrates (e.g. snapping shrimp). The lab has a large quantity of data (hundreds of GB) collected in different regions of the world, which are used for teaching appropriate sound analysis techniques. The hardware and the sound analysis software are used both in classes and for student and faculty research projects.

• Sonic Tracking - Marine Biology works with Vemco sonic receiver and hydrophones for deploying and tracking sonic tags for marine animal movement studies.
• Nets - We have small nets for vertical tow and neuston (surface) plankton sampling, as well as scientific sampling (variable mesh size) nets for fish.
• Other Field Gear - We have GPS receivers, laser range finders, and miscellaneous collecting gear, as well as field units for physiological and acoustic research and scientific work using SCUBA.
• Video & Digital Underwater Cameras and Housings - These cameras are used for behavioral studies and student projects in Marine Biology, as well as faculty research.