Comments on: Welcome to 2014 CST Cruise Blog Page!

By: Steven Tuorto

Steven Tuorto — Fri, 06 Jun 2014 20:54:40 +0000

Dear Isabel,
One way to determine the effect of temperature on shell composition is to catch live, juvenile foraminifera (we call them “forams”) out in the open ocean and then grow them back in the laboratory under a range of temperature conditions. When establishing relationships like this, it is important to hold all other variables (like salinity, pH, light, food) as constant as possible. We can then grow individuals at low, medium, and high temperature and analyze the foram’s shell to determine the effect of growth temperature on the shell. Another complementary method is to analyze the shells of “wild” forams that have grown in the open ocean. It can be tricky to determine the specific effect of temperature in these wild samples, because in the open ocean, several environmental variables can change at the same time. However, if we can get samples from a wide range of conditions, we can try to carefully tease apart or deconvolve the different environmental controls. On this cruise, one of my main goals is to determine how temperature and salinity influence the magnesium content of foram shells. I’m collecting both seawater and plankton, which I’ll analyze later. I can’t wait to see the results!
–Kat Allen

By: Steven Tuorto

Steven Tuorto — Thu, 05 Jun 2014 23:32:40 +0000

Hi Ella- thanks for your question! I do hope to sample zooplankton communities in at least one more contrasting part of the world. If given the opportunity, I hope to compare zooplankton sizes here in the tropics to sizes in a temperate region, and maybe even a polar region. I also would like to look at size diversity over time, not just space. I would compare the size of zooplankton in an area during one season, to sizes in the same area, but during a different time of year. Plankton size over space and time can tell us a lot about how an ecosystem works.

Sincerely,
~Karen

By: Steven Tuorto

Steven Tuorto — Thu, 05 Jun 2014 22:30:09 +0000

I enjoy watching unusual animals, and as you hopefully have noticed from our blog posts marine zooplankton are just that – unusual and amazing!! I started studying their behaviors such as diel vertical migration (see my earlier responses to questions for an explanation) while in college. I then started getting interested in how the sensory systems of zooplankton help them to perform their behaviors. That general idea is the basis of many of my ongoing research projects – many of which concern eyes because light is an important ecological factor for many animals. Also, the ocean is natural laboratory for studying vision because it gets dimmer with depth, and greener as you move inshore.
-from Jonathan Cohen

By: Steven Tuorto

Steven Tuorto — Thu, 05 Jun 2014 21:09:40 +0000

Hi Ainsley, thanks for your question. Rain, sleet and snow are all made of fresh water (as even if sea water evaporates the salty bit is left in the ocean) so rain, sleet or snow all make the surface water fresher (a little more like river water). The more it rains (or sleets or snows) the fresher the surface water will become. I hope you enjoy hearing about the rest of the voyage. Thanks, Sam

By: Steven Tuorto

Steven Tuorto — Thu, 05 Jun 2014 18:34:16 +0000

Hi Julie,
A terrific question, and a very hard one to answer. There tons of undiscovered species. We use what we do know now, and the rates that we are finding new species to estimate how many undiscovered species there are in world, but the range in estimates is quite large depending on the method you use. Right now its estimated that there are anywhere from 300,000 to 10,000,000 undiscovered species in the ocean, and
that doesn’t even count the bacteria!! Don’t quote me on this, but I think that we estimate that there are around 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 bacterial species on earth, and we really only know about a handful of thousands of them. Incredible!
Thanks,
Steve Tuorto

By: Steven Tuorto

Steven Tuorto — Thu, 05 Jun 2014 18:10:55 +0000

Hi Jasmyn,
Check through our previous post and replies, we have some great answers to some of these, and we are going go post soon about life on the ship so check back for those!
Thanks for checking in

By: Steven Tuorto

Steven Tuorto — Thu, 05 Jun 2014 18:02:17 +0000

Hello there land lover!

By: Steven Tuorto

Steven Tuorto — Thu, 05 Jun 2014 18:00:28 +0000

We will have a couple of posts very soon about life on the ship, so keep checking back!!

By: Noelle from Morse Pond School

Noelle from Morse Pond School — Thu, 05 Jun 2014 14:35:40 +0000

This question is for anyone- Do you enjoy working on a ship?

By: Isabel H. from Morse Pond School

Isabel H. from Morse Pond School — Thu, 05 Jun 2014 14:35:21 +0000

Dear Katherine Allen,
How do you figure out how the temperature of the ocean effect the plankton’s shells?
From Isabel