LTER: Krill Component

Krill are a type of zooplankton. They feed on the phytoplankton, and in the winter they feed on ice algae that grows on the underside of sea ice. They also use the ice to breed and hide from predators in the nooks and cracks. One krill is about 5cm long as an adult, and they live about 6-7 years on average. Krill schools are huge- I was out with this group and we found one school that was over 1km long, over 50m wide, and as thick as 38m in some places. There is so much krill in the Antarctic, its biomass is estimated to be greater than the entire human population.

Krill school on the underside of the ice.

This group is looking at krill populations from year to year and how it has been changing and/or cycling, among other things. Many other animals rely on krill for its main food source- seabirds, penguins, seals, whales, fish, and others- so it's a very important part of the food web.

Poster from the lab illustrating the importance of Krill in the food web.

Krill in the hand for scale. Photo courtesy of the British Antarctic Survey.

A good picture of a Krill. Photo courtesy of Benjamin L. Saenz.

LTER: Phytoplankton Component

The phytoplankton are your basic, minute, free-floating plants of the ocean. They are like any plant you are familiar with in that they take up carbon dioxide and release oxygen in photosynthesis, using nutrients produced by bacteria in the process. This group is studying production rates of the phytoplankton in the area and under what conditions and depths they occur. They are also recording the yearly blooms that occur as the levels of water mix due to seasonal temperature changes. The mixing brings nutrients up from the lower levels and gives the phytoplankton more food for production. Monitoring this activity on a consistent basis will give them a good picture of how things change day to day and year to year and what may be affecting this level of the food chain.

Something interesting to consider here: phytoplankton are a good resource for taking carbon dioxide out of the air (where it is a major greenhouse gas) and into the ocean. If bacterial activity is high, it produces mass amounts of carbon dioxide for the phytoplankton to use; therefore, the phytoplankton will take much less out of the air. Also, changes in average air temperature, which affects water temperature, can upset the balance that nature has set for itself concerning yearly blooms of phytoplankton. More or less blooms will have an affect on bacterial activity (which decompose dead phytoplankton and use other byproducts from its photosynthesis), krill populations (which eat the phytoplankton), and other factors not yet considered.

Sampling in the Field- taking water samples and reading light levels at various depths.

Phytoplankton under the microscope. Magnification is about 1000 x.

LTER: Microbial Component

Most of the science that goes on at Palmer is dedicated to the Long Term Ecological Research project. This project studies the ecological connections among the different levels in a basic ecosystem. The connections in this fragile environment (along with others at high lattitudes or high altitudes) will be the first to show the effects of global climate change. By studying the effects here, we can better understand what will happen to more complex systems around the world and hopefully act appropriately. And in the process hopefully eliminate the doubt about global warming and climate change.

Looking at the bookends of the nutrient cycle (the beginning and end to organic matter), this first group studies the microbial component of the ecological connection in the area. The bacteria break down organic compounds into usable forms of food for higher organisms such as phytoplankton (discussed next). This group is studying the populations and types of bacteria and how they react to changes in their environment. Therefore, how do these changes perpetuate up the food chain?

Sampling water in the field to collect the bacteria in the water at different depths.

Back in the lab filtering out the bacteria for further analysis.

Under the microscope- and example of one strain of bacteria they are looking at.

Buggers

It's weird to think about, but there are bugs here- mites, ticks, and wingless flies. The flies (Belgica Antarctica) live in the dirt on the islands and feed on bacteria and algae. The mites and ticks are parasites that live off the penguins. Rick Lee's group, affectionately called The Buggers, is here studying these insects that live in the extreme environments. They don't migrate north like the birds and whales, they spend the winter on land, which makes these creatures a very interesting and understudied topic.

Belgica can freeze solid and lose 70% of its body wieght in water when it winters here. In the spring, it will animate back to life when temperature and moisture levels rise. It spends two winters as a larva, eating in the summers, then emerges in its third summer as an adult to mate for about 10 days before expiring. They have no predators and no parasites.

Collecting Belgica in the field.

The climate change effects on higher organisms, such as penguins and plants, trickle down the food web to these insects. In addition to these affects, Rick's group is also looking at the effect of increased amounts of fresh water in the local area from heavily melting glaciers.

A great website for teachers can be found here, and an article published by Lee and others aimed at students is here. Great information.

Ice

As you may already know, a facet of my community contribution involves hosting Saturday Evening Cocktail hour. And in addition to making the drinks, I gather the ice that goes in them.

The ice at the bottom of the glaciers is over 1000 years old. It has been compressed to the point that it has little or no air bubbles in it. As the glaciers calve, you can find this ice floating in the local area. It is very dense so it sits low in the water, and it is almost invisible since it is as clear as glass when it's in the water. This is the pure freshwater ice we seek to keep our drinks cold. Hence, its name- Bar Ice.

So every once in a while, I will get some friends to help me go shopping for some good bar ice. We'll toodle around out on the water looking for a piece that is clear and just the right size to last us a while but still be small enough that we can get it in the boat.

Perhaps we were a little too eager about this one.

LTER Cruise

The Long Term Ecological Research project (LTER) consists of four groups studying aspects of different ecological levels (microbial, phytoplankton, krill, and seabirds) and how those levels affect each other. Most groups are funded for only 3 years in Antarctica, but the LTER groups have been conducting research here since 1990. This gives them a long data set to extrapolate trends from. Consistent data is most important, and these trends will be a strong foundation for climate change studies.

So the groups set out on the Gould for a four week cruise. They travel down the peninsula and sample at the same locations that they have been for over 15 years. The volume of sampling and analysis, done from this large research vessel in 4 weeks, is greater than all the work they do from the zodiacs in the local Palmer area the other 5 months they are working here. So this cruise is an important part of this project.

As part of this year's project, Rutgers University deployed a glider from the waters near Palmer that will travel down the peninsula for 15-30 days. The glider propels itself through the water not with motors but by changing its buoyancy. It moves forward as it sinks and surfaces. All that time it will be taking readings of the water column (global position, water depth, temperature, conductivity, fluoresence, etc.). I was lucky enough to go out in the zodiac and help deploy it.

I will post pictures later on the separate aspects of each LTER component since each is interesting on its own.

Lemaire Channel

While aboard the Rotterdam, the ship steamed south to the Lemaire Channel. It was too full of ice for the ship to go through, but we still got a beautiful look at it.

Rotterdam

Last week, I was thrown into the part of my job that is boarding tourist ships and presenting a slideshow on the science that happens at Palmer Station. This ship had about 1200 passengers, so we had to do two talks with two seatings. It went smoothly enough. So that was a good introduction for the rest of the ships we'll visit as they come to station this year.