SEAPLEX

Our second post today is from Meg Rippy.

Meg writes:

Hello everyone, Meg Rippy here. I realized recently that I haven’t really described why I’m out here in the North Pacific subtropical gyre, other than a brief mention that I study marine bacteria. Let’s correct that, shall we? First, a bit about marine bacteria. Typically when we think about bacteria we conjure up images of infected wounds, colds, and other unpleasantness. Most bacteria, however, are beneficial. They can be thought of as the recyclers of the ocean because they play an important role in decomposing dead matter, which releases inorganic nutrients that other living organisms need to grow. Without bacteria nutrient concentrations in the ocean would decrease, the phytoplanktonthat form the base of ocean food webs (like plants do in terrestrial systems) would be less abundant, and zooplankton, fish, birds, and mammals would have less to eat. The ocean needs its bacteria folks, so leave the Lysol at home .

Besides playing an incredibly important role in marine food webs, the bacteria in our oceans are also extremely abundant and diverse. On average there are around one million bacteria living in every milliliter of seawater and no two bacterial species within that milliliter are exactly the same. Efficient recycling of dead matter requires an entire community of bacteria with complementary metabolisms that break down different compounds. Some of these bacteria specialize in the colonization of particulates and some are free living in the water column. A subset of the marine bacteria that specialize in particle colonization are called biofilm formers. They form thick coatings on solid objects. My work on the SEAPLEX cruise directly concerns these biofilming bacteria, which may opportunistically colonize plastic debris as well as organic matter. If these bacteria colonize plastic, then bacterial communities in high plastic areas could contain more biofilm formers than is typical for the open ocean. This could possibly perturb ocean nutrient cycling and/or food webs, but we don’t really know how. The role of bacteria as the ocean’s primary recyclers makes it important for us to find out.

It is also important to point out that some biofilm bacteria serve as cues for the settlement of invertebrates like polychaetes (marine worms) and mussels. In this light, plastic and associated bacterial biofilms could serve as a transport mechanism for coastal invertebrates, bringing non-native (invasive) species into the gyre and possibly to distant shores. Non-native organisms can be extremely problematic for local ecosystems because some invasives survive better than local species and can take over an area, drastically altering the local food webs that depend upon native species. The association between plastics, bacteria, and invertebrate fouling has been one of my focuses these past few weeks. So far we have collected large pieces of plastic from the small boat and smaller pieces via dip netting. The bacterial communities on these plastic pieces will be examined back on shore using genetic analyses that type bacterial groups using known DNA markers. Miriam Goldstein plans to examine the associated invertebrate fouling communities. So far we have already seen mussels, bryozoans, gooseneck barnacles, and an amazing number of small
crabs on our plastic samples. It will be really exciting to combine this information on invertebrate fouling with the bacterial data later this year.

The SEAPLEX team: (front row, left to right) Jesse Dubler, Andrew Titmus, Pete Davison, Doug Woodring, Karin Malmstrom, Miriam Goldstein, Darcy Taniguchi, Meg Rippy, and Chelsea Rochman. (back row, left to right) Timbo Stilliger, Jesse Powell, Mario Aguilera, Jim Leichter, Lara Dickens, Matt Durham, and Josh Jones.

All sampling on the SEAPLEX cruise has stopped.  They are experiencing some rougher weather (6 feet swells).  This means that the ship can’t travel quite as quickly, so they don’t have time to slow down even more to sample if they want to make it to Newport on time.  So now, they are packing and anxiously awaiting the time when they will be near enough to shore to have internet access again!

Our first post today is from Darcy Taniguchi.

Darcy writes:

Hello yet again outside world! This is Darcy Taniguchi, writing to you from the R/V New Horizon as our cruise winds down and we head closer to port. After all these blogs, I’m sure you have seen mentioned several times our various standard sampling instruments—the manta net, Matsuda-Oozeki-Hu trawl (aka Oozeki trawl), bongo net, and CTD. I am sure that you have read some of the other information about these pieces of equipment. However, I will use this blog
entry tell you what data we obtained from each one.

First, the manta net. Oh the manta net. This piece of equipment has become sort of the bread and butter for several people on this cruise.   It samples at the surface,  so it is used to catch particles and organisms which are floating at or very near the surface. In it, we have managed to capture such things as numerous types of crustaceans, gelatinous salps, glowing lantern fish, and, of course, multi-colored plastic pieces.

Next, the bongo net. This instrument is also used to collect zooplankton, just like the manta net. However, it is used to catch organisms deeper in the water. On this trip, the bongo net has been able to catch many little crustaceans, such as the often abundant copepods and krill, as well as glistening comb jellies and perhaps the occasional piece of plastic.

Now, the Oozeki trawl. This is another kind of net, but it is bigger than a bongo or a manta, with a frame about the size of a Smart Car. The target depths to which this equipment is deployed is between 150 and 800 meters (492 to 2625 feet). At these different depths, the net has come up with various types of interesting, sometimes rarely observed, fish, although, there are other (unlucky) organisms which have also been pulled on deck—pyrosomes that exhibit bioluminescence, jellies that you have to squint to see, and squid with googly eyes, to name a few.

Last, but most certainly not least, is the CTD, which stands for conductivity-temperature-depth. The CTD is a real workhorse in oceanography, being used in the realms of marine chemistry and geology, physical and biological oceanography to look at the structure of various properties of the water with depth. Besides the sensors for temperature and conductivity (used to determine salinity), the CTD can also be outfitted with equipment to measure oxygen, light from the surface, fluorescence (from things like phytoplankton), nitrate, and water clarity. These sensors are on a large, cylindrical frame that is also outfitted with special bottles called Niskin bottles. These bottles have caps on either end that are closed with a click of a button at whatever depth the scientists on board wish to snap them shut, thus collecting water from that chosen depth, which is later sampled. Thus, the CTD can provide immediateinformation about the different regions in the ocean described by these variables as well as for the collection of water within regions of interest.

With these different pieces of equipment, we are cooperatively trying to collect various types of organisms at different depths within the ocean, as well as put them in the context of the structure of the water column with depth. These instruments are by no means unique to our expedition but instead are tools which can be and have been used in a wide variety of studies. Nevertheless, we hope that they have done well on this particular cruise in collecting enough information to begin to help us determine what effects, if any, plastic may be having on organisms of the north Pacific gyre.

Captain Wes Hill on the bridge of the R/V New Horizon during the SEAPLEX research cruise.

Our second post today is from Andrew Titmus.

Andrew writes:

One of the greatest things about this cruise is that each of the scientists onboard comes from a different background and is out here working on very different projects. However, we have this unifying theme of plastic research. This means that many different ways of thinking can be brought to the table about how to tackle a problem. It’s one of the things that I love about science: You can have great discussions, throwing around ideas, figuring out the right questions to ask, and the right way to go about answering those questions, and then you get to go and try it. The best part about it is that we have gotten to really work through this process on this cruise; it’s both fun and rewarding. Here on the SEAPLEX cruise one of the things that we are trying to do is get a feel for the spatial patterns associated with the debris so that we may be able to figure out just how much there is out here in the subtropical gyre. Due to the variety of backgrounds on the ship, we are able to come up with some interesting ways to get at this question.

I came out to this cruise both to look for seabirds and marine debris with the goal of figuring out which species of seabirds are found to associate with high density areas of marine debris accumulation. I came out here with the goal of counting and describing the debris that I saw as we moved along the transects. However I was not prepared for how this visual survey would work out. As we moved into the gyre, the amount of seabird sightings declined dramatically. Concurrently, the amount of debris increased considerably. It was obvious that we needed a new way to look at the plastics as they floated by the ship. Luckily for me, there were others onboard who believed that we could examine these plastic aggregations using visual survey methods. Working together we were able to come up with what we believed to be the best way to examine the plastic aggregations at multiple spatial scales and also still be able to make comparisons between our visual observations and the quantitative manta tows. Using the incredible flexibility of this cruise, we were able to dedicate an entire day to try out our new methods. So we spent an entire day staring at the ocean for all sizes of marine debris and now we are left with sore eyes and lots of numbers. I am sure that we made some mistakes, and in hindsight we knew what should have been different, but that is all part of the process. Personally, I am happy with what we have accomplished with this survey and I know that it would not have been possible without the intensive collaboration of ideas that occurred.

Now that we have spent over a week here in the gyre it is time to shift gears again. After concentrating so hard on those little plastic fragments in the water, it is time for me to start looking for those seabirds again. Transit time is the best time for conducting seabird surveys and now that we have turned east towards Oregon there are some interesting days on the horizon. It is an interesting position to be in, most other people on the cruise are finishing up their science, while things are really only halfway through for me. We will be leaving the gyre, passing through the transition zone and in towards land. It should make for some great observations. Speaking of which, I should get back up to the observation deck, I wouldn’t want to miss the birds…they have a knack of showing up whenever I am not up there.

SEAPLEX researcher, Andrew Titmus.

The R/V New Horizon sampling in the North Pacific Gyre.

The New Horizon will dock in Newport, Oregon on Friday.  Don’t forget to vote for your favorite SEAPLEX haiku!  Voting closes today at noon Pacific time!

Our first post today is from SEAPLEX volunteer, Jesse Dubler.

Jesse writes:

The energy of the crew has changed the last few days as people start wrapping up their respective research efforts. We will continue to conduct five manta tows daily as weather permits but almost all other scientific instruments were hung up to dry out properly yesterday. We are preparing to arrive in Oregon this Friday by cleaning up the labs and our sleeping quarters. We are also securing everything in anticipation of 40-knot winds with swells up to 15 feet high along the Oregon coastline. Most of us will probably get seasick the last one or two days before we finally dock. Fortunately, this vessel is 170-feet long and weighs 30 tons so it can handle this weather without too much of a problem.

On Friday, we went out in the ship’s small boat to retrieve plastic debris floating around that are out of reach of the ship. Let me tell you… it looks easy to spot the debris from high up but when you’re in the small boat, it is so hard to spot them! We managed to find a few large objects and there were fishes swimming under those objects… it seems like a symbiotic relationship somehow in a way that we do not fully understand yet. It certainly didn’t seem as foul as the name we have given them… “fouling communities.” Another recent small boat expedition found an adorable and remarkably well preserved stuffed dog that we have named “Lucky.”

Obviously, we used the small boat because we can’t have the ship stopping to chase down every plastic bit that gets us—the nerds—excited. Although the ship did reverse course during the middle of the night once to chase down a worthy piece… a buoy! I really enjoyed hunting down the crabs hiding among all those mussels living on the buoy. I must have gotten 60 of them! I get a rush from finding a crab and the anticipation of getting pinched then high-fiving myself for not getting pinched most of the time! Oddly, the bluish crabs seem to be much smarter than the rest and they never fail to hang onto my fingers! When they do get me, it doesn’t really hurt at all but it creeps out the ladies onboard so… I get to hunt for crabs mostly all by myself! Yay! It’s amazing where they find places to hide on a buoy… so many nooks and crannies. Just when I think I’ve caught them all, I spot a large one that so cleverly stayed out of sight until that very moment.

I can’t speak for the others but I sure am looking forward to us hanging out at the brewery in Newport! Of course, all of us are anxious to get back in touch with our families and friends! That said, I feel really fortunate to have embarked on this historic voyage. This is a story I will be sharing to impress my grandchildren after I’ve long since lost my teeth.

Jesse Dubler searches through marine debris for crabs and other organisms associated with fouling communities.

A stuffed dog, nicknamed Lucky by the SEAPLEX researchers, was found in a ghost net.  Photo taken by Jim Leichter.

The SEAPLEX researchers have finished their intensive gyre sampling and are heading to Newport, Oregon.  However, while working long hours with little sleep, some of the researchers and crew members wrote haikus!  They would love it if you would vote for your favorites.

Today’s blog entry is from Darcy Taniguchi.  This is her second post.

Darcy writes:

Hello again outside world! This is Darcy Taniguchi, writing to you as we head back from the gyre to Newport, Oregon. The intensive stations are completed, which means no more whirl-wind sampling extravaganzas. However, that doesn’t mean our work out here is done, especially for those of us on the vampire shift (the night watch) collecting water from the CTD and the on-board flow-through system. Why bother, you might ask? It’s just clear sea water after all—no large animals nor pieces of macrodebris. But living in each unassuming water sample is a tiny world teeming with life. The microscopic organisms filling this world are often out of sight and thus out of mind. However, in high concentrations, they can be readily visible to humans. For instance, the White Cliffs of Dover are made from the remains of one type of organism called a coccolithophore. Also, some of the red tides which you many have seen forming along coastlines are the result of large numbers of dinoflagellates.

These and other organisms in the microbial community serve some very important roles in the ocean and the world at large. This community consists of tiny single-celled microbes, like bacteria and protists, less than half a millimeter in length. Some of these cells, the cyanobacteria and phytoplankton, are the main photosynthesizers of the sea, meaning they use carbon dioxide, water, and light to produce sugars and oxygen, just like trees and shrubs on land. Indeed, the majority of the oxygen produced fromphotosynthesis in the ocean comes from these very small cells. This breathable oxygen gas they produce can then be used by other organisms, like fish and krill. Furthermore, the microbes’ ability to use the sun’s light for energy places them at the base of the food web. So, just like grass being food for rabbits, which in turn are eaten by foxes, phytoplankton can be food for zooplankton, which can then be consumed by fish and eventually people.

The microbial community also plays a part in the huge topic of global climate change. For example, carbon dioxide is a major greenhouse gas. As mentioned earlier, these single-celled organisms are the major photosynthesizers and thus can take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and use it to produce sugars. Therefore, they play a part in regulating the amount of greenhouse gas there is in the air.

These are just a few examples to illustrate how important the microbial community is for both the ocean and the world. Even though they usually cannot be seen by the naked eye does not mean we should forget about them and ignore their existence. So, the next time you cup some sea water in your hands, realize that you hold within your grasp organisms which are crucial for sustaining life as we know it.

SEAPLEX researchers (left to right) Miriam Goldstein, Jesse Powell, and Chelsea Rochman examine a stuffed toy dog after it was collected along with ghost net debris, on Aug. 15, 2009.  Photo taken by Jim Leichter.

A barnacle found on a piece of marine debris provided a home for a scale worm (bottom) and a sponge.

One of hundreds of labels used to document every sample obtained in the North Pacific Ocean Gyre during the SEAPLEX cruise.