Cruise day one

Welcome to the R/V Weatherbird!

The ship is all loaded and we are underway (and only an hour behind schedule!) That’s actually a record for this group! Normally something goes wrong and we’re far further behind schedule – and it almost happened again. The bow thrusters were not starting, but two new (giant) batteries and off we go!

The 116ft ship holds 20 people, 13 science and 7 crew. It can be a little cramped, but I like to think of it as cozy 🙂

We’re out in the Gulf of Mexico to sample a series of sites looking for environmental effects that may still be lingering from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill that happened in 2010. We are funded from the money BP paid to Florida as recompense for accident (though the blowout was preventable if overseers were not lazy, it was still an accident). Sometimes I may refer to it as “BP money” but we are not directly funded by them.

We steamed for 4 hours to a calibration site for the Ultra-Short Baseline (USBL) communications systems. Here Dr. Ian Macdonald’s crew dropped a pinger sending location data to the bottom then we steamed around it with the receiver so that we can know the range of values off of a known point. These pingers will be attached to the multicore and piston core so we know nearly exactly where they land on the bottom. The camera tow runs on fiber optic cable, so it doesn’t use a pinger.

Next up we will go to a site and begin the real sampling. We have a general cruise plan where multicore, CTD rosette (water variable and sample collection), Bongo nets, and a camera tow will be intermittently deployed. For example – drop the multicore then get mud, process mud while CTD collects water, collect mud again, process mud while bongo nets are towed to collect plankton samples, final mud collection, camera tow. Hopefully we can get all our samples in a timely manner because we have 16 sites to hit in about 11 days. Let’s just say I sleep like a baby when I finally can!

Some of the gang also like fishing during steaming. I’m not a huge fan myself, but I get great pictures from it!

The seas are nice and calm now, and we’ll do ceremonial mud dances in the morning to placate the gods/spirits/chthullu to keep them that way! Four different labs need mud samples from the multicore so there’s a lot riding on the samples. Noon tomorrow we start getting muddy!

Hah, oh yeah -the ship’s crew has a great sense of humor. The Ice Cream Fridge:

May 30, 2014 1

Preparing for a research cruise

Tomorrow morning a pod of Oceanographers (including me) will gear up and go to sea for two weeks to gather samples from the deep-ocean floor and the water column. Today was packing day – and lets just say Oceanographers need a lot of stuff

That’s just from our lab! Three other lab groups will be on board as well. Our lab does take the most stuff though 😀 My co-worker is collecting sediment from the sea floor with a Multiple Corer in order to count the number of animals living in the mud. These animals are called infauna, because they live IN the mud rather than on it, and are also called macrofauna. Macro refers to the size of the animals, and the cut off points were designated by taxonomists decades ago based to sieve mesh sizes. Collecting them takes a lot of sample bottles and supplies.

The Multicorer of DOOM! Well for macrofauna at least.

I’m basically going along for support and grunt work. Other labs are collecting mud for environmental data like chlorophyll levels (how much food is there), Nitrogen (how much could be recycled into the surface water for phytoplankton – also called a nitrogen budget), and the favorite basics of Temperature, Salinity, and Oxygen concentrations. I’m told there is also going to be Bongo net sampling:

Anyone else have “Cuban Pete” from The Mask in their head? I guess I see the resemblance –

Admit it - you were thinking something more like this! — Admit it – you were thinking something more like this!

All in all this will be a very busy cruise for the for the Science and Ship crews, but hopefully it will both be informative and fun! We will be on the R/V Weatherbird II owned by the Florida Institure of Oceanography, and I will be keeping everyone up to date as best I can throughout the cruise. We shall do Science together!

Now that's a beauty shot — Now that’s a beauty shot. From the FIO webpage

May 27, 2014 0

Sea Creature Sunday – the Urchin

The sea urchin looks kind of like some crazy experiment that crossed a pincusion with a K’nex build, but as crazy as it looks, Urchins have been around since 450 million years ago, and have colonized every type of marine habitat from warm tropical waters to near freezing deep oceans. Once the larvae settle, urchins develop an endoskeleton – known as a test – made up of calcium carbonate. Also, urchin anatomy is a thing of art.

The urchin endoskeleton. Image from the National History Museum.

Diadema antilarum. Image from reefguide.org — *Diadema antilarum.* Image from reefguide.org

In tropical waters, urchins play important roles in controlling algae growth on coral reefs. The urchins scrape off young algal films before the algae has a chance to grow over and shade the corals. In 1983/84 a massive die-off occurred over the course of a year, and 93% of the Diadema urchins died throughout the Caribbean. The cause of the die-off has yet to be ascertained, though it was likely due to a viral outbreak. Due to the large percentage of population lost, as well as fishing pressure, there has not been a strong comeback of the urchins, and combined with the excess nutrients in the water from growing human populations on Caribbean shores, algal growth on these reefs is damaging the corals and seagrasses.

OSHER-00000526-001 — *Strongylocentrotus franciscanus* (red urchin on left) and S. *purpuratus* (purple urchin on right)

On the other hand, sea urchins that live on rocky coastlines and kelp beds have been known to wipe out whole areas of kelp forest if unchecked. The red and purple urchins on California’s coastline did just that in the late 1990’s because their main predator – the sea otter – was being wiped out by a pod of Orcas (a.k.a. Killer Whales, I just personally don’t care for the name) that had moved into the area. Estes et al. 1998 described it in their landmark paper. When urchins wipe out large algae forests (kelp or other species) these are known as urchin barrens.

Red Urchin barren. Image from Paul Nicklen.

Urchin barrens also occur on European rocky coast lines and in the Mediterranean. In Europe, the edible urchin is a more dominant species, and is currently the main fishery for uni (urchin sex organs) – not too surprising considering the name!

Colony-of-edible-sea-urchins-feeding-on-algae_arkive — *Echinus esculentus*

Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis - the green sea urchin — *Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis* – the green sea urchin

In the deep-sea, urchins are more solitary and range over large areas looking for food. Deep-sea urchins can be far more strange looking than shallow-water counterparts. This urchin has poisonous sacs that prevent fish from making a meal of it. Some shallow-water urchins are poisonous too.

Phomosoma sp. Image from Okeanos. — *Phomosoma* sp. Image from Okeanos.

Another urchin has little scoop feet to help it walk along in the fine sediment this seafloor is made of.

Araeosoma sp. close-up. Image from Okeanos — *Araeosoma* sp. close-up. Image from Okeanos

And some deep-sea urchins are just cool looking. Deep-sea scientists still don’t know much about the ecology of urchins – during the last Okeanos dive everyone was surprised and excited to see one munching on an octocoral! It had previously been assumed that they only scavenged on material in sediments rather than active predation. Neat! So the next time you try umi, you can thank these ancient oceanic dweelers for being both cool and tasty!

P.S. A big thanks to Dr. Christopher Mah for his Identifications during the Okeanos cruise. I wuld never known the scientific names otherwise!

P.P.S. Apparently urchins inspire very weird toys

May 25, 2014 0

A day at the beach

I decided to take a mini-holiday on Sunday and pack up the hubs and the dog and enjoy a relaxing beach day. Unfortunately I also missed my Sea Creature Sunday post – but I’ll make it up to you, I promise! I love going to the beach here on the Gulf side of FL.

Gorgeous white sand, gentle lapping waves, blue skies that go on forever, and endless sunshine

The cooler full of goodies and an escapist novel don’t hurt either!

I also almost ended up with a new puppy – this guy kept sneaking away from his Dad and into our shade. So adorable! My puppy was more than a little jealous.

The water is still a little chilly for my Southern sensibilities (meaning colder than 25C – I’m a wuss!), so we enjoyed walking along the beach instead. Rather than collecting seashells, I collected seashell pictures 🙂

We tried to coax Merlin into the water – but he apparently didn’t want to muss his fur

After a lovely stroll I decided to once more try and incorporate photosynthesis into my nutritional routine. One day I really will be solar powered!

We stayed until Merlin was passed out on the sand and the sun faded into the horizon (of which I didn’t get a picture due to dead battery!)

It was a truly enjoyable day where I let go of all the stress of the week…..

Then I came home to find my computer keyboard partially non-functional. I have to say I wasn’t aware of how attached I am to that computer until I finally had to let the technician take it away! Hopefully I will have it back (using a borrowed one now) before next Wednesday. Then I will be leaving for a two week cruise in the Gulf of Mexico. I am looking forward to sharing the experience with you all!

May 21, 2014 0

Technical difficulties

So I may not have any new posts for a little while – I appear to be having some keyboard issues with my computer, but I will be back at it ASAP

May 19, 2014 0

The problems with seafood

I know I’ve mentioned a couple times that many fishing practices are destructive to the marine environment, and especially how it is destroying the deep-sea. I figured I would go a bit more in depth into what I mean by destructive, and also give more detail into the fish species that perhaps are better to avoid when seafood is on the menu. I will state here I’m not even the best at following some of these suggestions – I love sushi too – but even small changes can breed large differences.

Bottom trawling (you tube video) is the most destructive practice used, and it persists even though the destructive nature is well documented because the practice has the capability to bring in thousands of pounds of fish in hours. Compare that to hook-and-line or artisanal fishing practices which catch fewer fish (maybe a few hundred pounds) in the same time period. Longline fishing can also damage corals and sponges by entangling them, but these are more localizes than trawl paths.

Trawling uses large rollers in front of the nets that remove all biology

Trawling is also a nondiscriminatory method for catching fish and more often catches more unwanted fish, or bycatch, than actual target fish species. Bycatch can be other fish species that would be eaten, but the ship doesn’t have permits for, it can be unwanted species that aren’t typically eaten, and bycatch can be protected species like dolphins and turtles.

Bycatch of a Manta Ray and leatherback turtle — Bycatch of a Manta Ray and Leatherback turtle. Image credit Helene Petit of WWF.

Non-target animals are thrown back into the sea, but hardly ever survive the ordeal. They were dragged along in the net for one to multiple hours, then brought to the surface and dumped onto the ship’s deck, where they may sit for hours before being released. In the case of deep-sea trawling, most fish species cannot survive the pressure change as they are brought up from as deep as 1000m / 3000ft to the surface too quickly to equalize their swim bladders. In a recent Oceana survey, bycatch for some U.S. fisheries can be upwards of 60% of the total biomass removed.

Combined with the destruction of the bottom habitat, few of these fisheries are sustainable. Fish are removed to quickly, too young, and lose the habitat they need for reproduction and growth. One example comes from grouper caught in the Gulf of Mexico: fishing focused on regions where large spawning aggregations were found, but scientists found out that male groupers defended “good” spawning grounds with coral cover, and management realized they were selectively removing more male grouper than females. The loss of the spawning grounds and mature males decreased the number of groupers born in subsequent years and stocks began to collapse. A favorite deep-sea example is the orange-roughy fishery in Australia and South America, you can click the link to learn more.

orangeroughy — You’d be grumpy too if you were facing extinction

Never fear, not all is doom and gloom! Some wild-caught and farm fisheries are well managed and make for good eating. Monterrey Bay Aquarium Research Institue (MBARI) runs a program called Seafood Watch that has loads of helpful information about sustainable options and even make pocket guides for local options (based on US region) you can keep on your phone or tablet and easily reference. Here’s one for the Southeast U.S. They also have an iOS app.

There are numerous other issues with declining seafood health: recreational fishing removes 2x the biomass of some species than commercial fishing; bycatch is not reported for commercial or recreational fishing, so the lost biomass to regional ecology is largely unknown; persistent pollutants are still found throughout the food chain; the list can really go on and on. The scientific community is very aware that the market controls the future of our oceans, so the more people who are informed about their seafood, the brighter the future looks for our oceans. For further reading here are some good links:

Mercury Levels

European overfished species

Future of sharks and rays

Oceana – a non-profit organization for all things marine

A deep sea biologist calls out fishery lobbyists: Watling 2013 Deep-sea Trawling must be banned

Happy Learning!

May 15, 2014 1

Midday Breakaway

The air conditioning on my floor seems to be malfunctioning. To combat the warm, sticky inside air, the office window is opened and in rushes…warm, sticky outside air. I know. Woe is me! Today with the warm breeze I could smell the pungency of spring and finally I couldn’t resist taking a walk around campus to literally smell the roses. And the jasmine. And daisies.

IMG_20170525_184533_524 — As well as this gorgeous bloomer!

I also have been bringing my new Sony a5000 camera with me wherever I go now, thanks to some great blogging advice from a pretty smart lady. FSU’s campus has some gorgeous landscaping mixed in with huge old trees. Would you like to join me on my walk?

I love the African lilies, I’m contemplating sneaking back at night and stealing some.

Apparently this is what lured me out of the office – confederate jasmine. I love how the flowers look like they are doing cartwheels! And they make lovely additions to palm fronds.

I’m an absolute sucker for “texture” style photos that focus on shape and shadow.

But of course, the flowers.

The best part? The magnolia blooms! I have loved these flowers since I was 10 years old when my sister and I would hide in giant magnolia trees on my Grandparent’s front lawn.

Isn’t it just the most Southern of all flowers. I could write (really bad) peotry to those blooms!

I may not have felt any cooler after my walk, but I felt much happier with my day. Who wouldn’t with such lovely companions?

May 13, 2014 0

Sea Creature Sunday – Red and Pink Corals

Happy Mother’s Day!

As a following to my initial post, I figured it would be a good idea to delve more deeply into the coral family my research currently focuses on (though I hope to continually expand!) Red and Pink corals are given those general names due to the color of the skeletons left after the coral dies, which are then frequently used in the jewelry and art trade.

Corallium-rubrum-colony-polyps-extended — Corallium rubrum is found in the Mediterranean

coral jewelry — Jewelry from red coral can be quite pricey

Coralliidae038 — Pink coral generally grows in deep waters between 300-400 meters

These corals are typically very slow growing; measurements currently estimate average growth rates of only 0.2mm per year for the main axis (think coral trunk) and an average growth of the branches at 5mm per year. This slow growth is an important reason as to why fishing and jewelry harvesting has been so damaging to populations of these corals wherever they are found. Further complications to sustainable harvest stem from the long growth period needed before the corals are sexually mature.

Wait, did she just say that rock becomes sexually mature?!

Yep. As is found in many coral species, each colony is made up of many polyps that are all the same sex (i.e. female colonies and male colonies). This prevents self-fertilization and inbreeding. You could say in some ways corals understood genetics better than humans until the 19th century! But they also had 500 million years to get it right.

cptcaveman — Captain Caveman was pretty smart though!

Back to sex. Before Corallium colonies are able to produce sperm or eggs, they have to reach a certain size. I like to think of it this way: there have to be enough polyps to collect enough food for the whole colony before it has the energy to make babies. And making babies takes a lot of energy! That’s why these species need 5 to 10 years before they can make eggs or sperm. The females colonies will take in the sperm then brood baby corals in their polyps.

Unfortunately humans tend to remove more corals from an area than any one population can replace within a “sustainable” time frame. Demand is simply too high for coral products for the corals to keep up. Deep-sea trawling doesn’t help the problem, but that’s another post. Maybe the next time you see pretty coral jewelry, you can appreciate the beauty of the live organism more, and pick up some Moissonite instead!