Diving in — research opportunities solidify Anna Metzger’s career choice

Anna Metzger spent a month this summer researching how an unprecedented extreme marine heat wave in the Florida Keys last year affected the tiny shrimp, crabs, snails and marine worms that live in or near coral reefs.

During her summer dives to the ocean floor, Metzger monitored the abundance and diversity of cryptofauna at 14 artificial structures designed to mimic the conditions of real corals.

Coral reefs offer crucial habitat for marine life - including the cryptofauna that live hidden among them. Last summer's spike in water temperatures triggered widespread coral bleaching, which happens when the corals expel the symbiotic algae living in their tissues and turn completely white. Corals can recover from mass bleaching events, but long periods of high heat make them weak and vulnerable to disease that can ultimately kill them.

The dives weren't Metzger's first underwater adventure. That came on a visit to the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga, Tennessee, during a family vacation when she was 4 years old.

"I remember looking up and being surrounded by all these colorful fish and thinking, 'Oh, wow!' It was amazing, and I knew then that I wanted to be a marine biologist," said Metzger, a senior biological sciences major who grew up in Asheville, North Carolina.

Anna Metzger, a senor biological science major, spent a month this summer researching how an unprecedented extreme marine heat wave in the Florida Keys last year affected the tiny shrimp, crabs, snails and marine worms that live in or near coral reefs. During her summer dives to the ocean floor, Metzger monitored the abundance and diversity of cryptofauna at 14 artificial structures designed to mimic coral reefs.

Far from the coast

So, why did she decide to attend Clemson, a school located 250 miles from the coast?

"I toured campus and I could see myself at Clemson. It just felt right," she said. "I liked the idea of having a biological sciences degree and exploring other areas of biology, not just marine biology."

While watching a freshman orientation video, Metzger first heard about the Clemson Creative Inquiry + Undergraduate Research program and the vast research opportunities it provides.

"That was game-changing," she said. "It's such an amazing program. I've learned so much."

During her first year at Clemson, Metzger was a part of Something Very Fishy, a Creative Inquiry program designed to teach elementary school children about ocean and climate literacy through the arts and hands-on scientific activities. It was developed by Michael Childress, an associate professor in the Clemson Department of Biological Sciences.

The next fall, she began working in Childress' research lab.

"I didn't know anything like Creative Inquiry existed before I attended freshman orientation, but I am so thankful that it does," she said. "Being in the lab for so long has allowed me to grow as a scientist and actually know what it means to be a scientist."

Published paper

That growth included authoring a scientific paper with Childress and her mentor, Kea Payton, a Ph.D. candidate at Clemson, about the increasing amount of human-made marine debris and how some species of cryptofauna are using it for shelter. Their study, published in the journal Integrative and Comparative Biology, "provides better understanding of the marine community ecology surrounding anthropogenic marine debris to aid in debris removal and management that contributes to comprehensive reef health."

For her senior thesis, Metzger will further analyze the data she collected this summer. The data showed increased diversity and richness of all cryptofauna species over a three-year period beginning in 2022.

"It looks like the high marine temperatures did not adversely affect cryptofauna," she said.

Metzger said she plans to get a Ph.D. in marine science but first wants to take a gap year to get more advanced SCUBA certifications.

"(Marine science) is definitely my passion," she said.

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