At Sea With Marianne: Pleurobrachia pileus and its copepod prey

Saturday, May 9, 2009

Pleurobrachia pileus and its copepod prey

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On My Way to the Bottom of the World...

From January 4 through February 24, 2008, I will be participating in a research cruise in the Ross Sea, Antarctica. The cruise which is adual-collaboration between Stony Brook University (Dr. Darcy Lonsdale) and University of Southern California (Dr. Dave Caron) seeks to investigate the impact of crustaceous zooplankton (copepods,krill, etc) grazing (feeding) on the heterotrophic plankton community (micro and nanozooplankton) and to better understand the role of crusteaceous zooplankton in regulating zooplankton and phytoplankton assemblages in the Ross Sea Polynya (an ice-free region) off theRoss ice shelf, and Terra Nova Bay, Antarctica. Each of these two regions harbors different phytoplankton assemblages and we expect to find different trophic (food web) interactions betweenthe two stations. In addition to these experiments, I will personally be investigating the grazing impact of pteropods - commonly known as sea butterflies and sea angels. Pteropods are small, planktonic mollusks that spend their entire lives in the water column. Pteropods create mucus webs with which they use to trap small particles and prey items on which they feed. Pteropods (Limacina helicina) can be quite abundant in the Ross Sea and serve as an important food source for fish, birds, and even whales. Despite this, little is known of their feeding impact on the surrounding zooplankton and phytoplankton community and how this may differ among different phytoplankton-dominated regimes.

I will be onboard the R.V.I.B. (research vesselice-breaker) Nathaniel B. Palmer, which is a 308ft. U.S. vessel on which I will sail from Lyttelton, New Zealand to the Ross Sea, Antarctica. The Nathaniel B. Palmer is a working-laboratory and home for us while we spend several weeks at sea. The ship has a full service kitchen, a gym, TV lounge, and even a sauna!Staterooms house 1-2 persons and include a toilet and shower.

Contact while at sea is limited and for this reason, it may take several days to respond to questions and comments posted to this blog. Thank you for your patience and enjoy the trip!

At Sea With Marianne

Saturday, May 9, 2009

Pleurobrachia pileus and its copepod prey

0 comments:

Blog Archive

Nathaniel B. Palmer

On My Way to the Bottom of the World...

About Me

Eastern Tropical Pacific

Ross Sea, Antarctica

Cape Adare, Antarctica

School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, Stony Brook University

The Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation