The Ocean
The start of the journey was a success!
After finally meeting each other we were put in the welcoming hands of Dr. Greely where she filled our minds with a brief overview of the Ocean and its vast puzzle of systems working together to create such a massive diverse habitat.
The first mission:
Kayaking through the storm
We got up close and personal with the local Bayboro harbor on the USFSP campus, by kayaking through the approaching storm and learning hands on about the bay. Dodging lightning and paddling through the storm really helped us to get to know each other a little more and build team skills. We were all excited to learn more the next day!
Understand the Geology of the earth and how the oceans floor was created:
Dr. Greely gave us a little taste of how the oceans floor was made and the different factors that shape the diversity of life. We learned the process of sonar bathymetry and how scientists came up with the conclusions of seafloor spreading. We learned about the tectonic plates floating on the liquid mantle and the different ways they move to create the seafloor structures that influence the diversity of the ocean. After this lecture we went to see the process mocked by a wax model, by observing millions of years unfold before our eyes. This model really taught me a lot and gave us a way to observe this natural process in a new perspective.
After learning about how the floor was made we got into what the sediment consisted of and how each layer was different. We were introduced to two awesome grad students in the core sampling lab where they showed us their work on forams in two extremes the arctic and the Caribbean. We observed fresh core sampled from the arctic and observed how some layers were anoxic and changed to a reddish color. We looked under microscopes at the many shapes that the forams beheld and then got to learn how the mass spectrometer worked to further analyze these forams and what they consisted of.
The last stop of the day was to learn how different layers of water stratified in the water column to created diversity. Temperature salinity and density drive the deep ocean currents, along with wind driving the surface currents. These stratified layers of the open ocean have different salinities dissolved oxygen and organic matter levels, that all bring diversity to the open ocean. Major processes such as upwelling on the west coast of continents and downwelling drive productivity and some of the worlds main fisheries. Dr. Greely demonstrated this for us with isolation chambers of water samples with different temperatures and salinities, and what happens when they are slowly mixed.
We learned about the factors that influenced the currents while still keeping the Jamacian spirit alive!
Then the afternoon was left in our hands to practice fishing off the seawall and of course our selfie taking skills!
Final Mission:
The oceans life
We then learned all the different habitats and lifestyles of organisms that inhabit this vast ecosystem. The main take home message that phytoplankton are at the bottom of the food chain and provide most of the primary productivity in the ocean and the larger zooplankton and nektonic organisms follow the trends of phytoplankton. Life is inhabited where there is a constant supply of food and mates. We then learned how to track the levels of productivity by some grad students in the remote sensing lab. They showed us their processes of tracking chlorophyl levels in the open ocean and all the various types of technology used.
After this we got a close view of the transition electron microscope and the scanning electron microscope, and got to see some fascinating detailed images.
And some in 3-D
Finally we learned all the special adaptations of some of the local fish found in the gulf!
Some were cute
Some not so much
But they all were specifically adapted to their environment in their own unique way and served a very special niche to keep the ecosystem sustaining with life.
No comments:
Post a Comment