Dive Into Your Imagination

David Shiffman loves all things sharks!  He is a graduate student in South Carolina studying the ecology and conservation of sandbar sharks, writes for the blog Southern Fried Science as “WhySharksMatter”, and even has his own book coming out in order to educate more people on why we should all be involved in protecting the world’s shark populations!

What is your favorite species of shark, and why?  What is your favorite shark quality?
A lot of people would probably think I was crazy if I claimed that sharks are beautiful animals, but no one can deny how gracefully they swim through the water.  I used to sit by the shark tank at the Pittsburgh aquarium for hours just watching them.

My favorite species of shark is the Megaladon, which is basically an extinct 60 foot long great white.  Their teeth can be five or six inches long, making them a pretty impressive predator!
 

Brent Stewart is a Senior Research Scientist at the Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute, and a respected expert on the satellite tagging of marine vertebrates around the world!  Not only has he studied everything from seabirds to elephant seals, but he is also an integral part of the Maldives Whale Shark Research Programme, as well as other whale shark studies around the world!

Having done research all over the world, tell us about some of your findings!  What has been your most fascinating discovery so far? 
Perhaps the most fascinating discovery was one my colleague Robert DeLong and I made in the early 1990s that northern elephant seals make two long distance foraging migrations each year between the Southern California Channel Islands (where they breed and molt) and distant foraging areas in the north and central eastern Pacific Ocean AND that males and females are segregated during these migrations AND that they dive continually throughout these migrations AND that they rarely breathe while living mostly at depths of 1000 to 5000 feet for 8 to 10 months a year.  When we discovered these things, we had a difficult time believing it and just as difficult a time understanding how they do these things singly, even more all at the same time.

One of the most awesome things has been to witness the consistent increase in abundance and expansion of breeding distribution of the northern elephant seal each year for the past 30+ years, a species that was presumed extinct by the late 1800s.  It is a refreshing example of how we might conserve wildlife by doing just simple things such as reducing direct or incidental killing of them, and by limiting the modification or destruction of important habitats.

From growing up without electricity in Hawai`i to traveling the world swimming with all sorts of sea creatures, Claire Fackler has had lots of adventures!  As the National Education Liaison for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, Claire uses these wonderful experiences in order to inspire everyone to both love and protect the ocean!

Having had countless ocean experiences all over the world, what would you say has been one of your favorites?
I was on a research boat that was moored above the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary in the Gulf of Mexico.  On a break from diving, I saw a piece of waterproof paper get picked up by a breeze and blow into the water.  Concerned that a group of scientists and educators would leave debris in a marine protected area, I offered to jump into the warm water with my snorkel gear to retrieve the blank data sheet.  As I swam further and further away from the boat, I was suddenly surrounded by barracuda, which wasn’t unusual in these waters.  Then in the distance, I saw something larger coming directly towards me.  The visibility was spectacular and soon I realized it was a blue shark.  I held my breath, wondering what would happen next.  The shark came within two feet of my face to check me out, and then with a flip of its tail zoomed past me.  It was my first in-water shark encounter.

Bernhard Riegl is not just a biologist, but a geologist as well!  He is a professor at the Nova Southeasters University Oceanographic Center, as well as the associate director of the National Coral Reef Institute.  Bernhard is also a hydrographic surveyor, all while conducting his own research—and he has still found the time to tell us all about it!

What is paleontology, and how does this apply to coral reefs?
Paleontology is the study of ancient organisms and ecosystems. Since coral reefs are essentially big rocks in the ocean, they fossilize very well. Thus, there are many excellent examples of ancient coral reefs in the geological record. Ancient reefs can tell us a lot about the resilience of reef systems in general and how they react to large-scale environmental perturbations – such as ice-ages, meteorite impacts, or climate change in general. Therefore, by studying ancient reefs we can draw many inferences about the future of our present reefs. This is what I spend a lot of time on: forecasting what might happen in the future, and trying to decipher what has happened in the past. Since it is often said that the past is the key to the future, it is not such a bad idea to study it.

Have you ever dreamt of living underwater?  Sarah Fangman is one of the few people to ever live out this dream when she spent ten days doing research in an underwater laboratory!  She is now the Program Coordinator for the Southeast and Gulf of Mexico Region of the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries where she continues to live out her dream of protecting the oceans.

What is the Aquarious Habitat, and what was it like to be a part of a saturation mission?
Aquarius is the world’s only underwater research laboratory (often called the “habitat”) and it is located off of Key Largo, Florida.  The habitat is in 60 feet of water, and scientists can live in it for up to ten days at a time.  “Aquanauts” as they are called, can spend hours outside of the habitat (on SCUBA) conducting research on the reefs surrounding Aquarius.  If the aquanauts were using traditional scuba methods it would require considerable more time to accomplish the same work.  I participated in two saturation missions, where we were conducting fish tagging and tracking (similar to the work I’m now doing in Georgia).  Living underwater was an amazing experience, as you are able to “be with the fishes” morning, noon and night.  Living on the reef allows you to observe the rhythm of the reef in a way not possible when you are just visiting for a few minutes at a time.  It was magical to have the opportunity to fall asleep below the waves and wake up there too.  One of my favorite memories was observing a lightning storm from underwater one evening.  The habitat has several large view ports, and we watched as each flash of lightning would light up the reef outside showing fish cruising about the reef, that the moment before we were unable to see in the dark.  Very cool.

Imagine a job that requires spending all day in the sun swimming with the world’s largest fish!  Well, as cofounder of the Maldives Whale Shark Research Program, Adam Harman gets to do just that! He spends five months a year in the Maldives, an archipelago of islands off of the Western coast of India, studying and protecting these beautiful sharks!

What is the Maldives Whale Shark Research Program, and what does it aim to accomplish?
The Maldives Whale Shark Research Program exists to conduct whale shark research and to foster community focused conservation initiatives throughout the Maldives. The research organization has quickly grown into a conservation charity dealing with the issues facing the ecosystem and the Maldivian communities. The charity is also developing the largest Marine Protected Area in the Maldives, alongside the Maldivian government, and contributes findings to scientific literature and to education, conservation, and management authorities to promote science-based conservation of ocean life, helping to ensure the protection and conservation of a species ‘vulnerable to extinction’ – the whale shark.


 

Miriam Goldstein is a PhD student at Scripps and was the principle investigator on the SEAPLEX cruise!  Through many manta tows, Miriam received over a hundred samples of plastic to analyze.  She is particularly interested how plastic affects the biology in the ocean, so she studies zooplankton and fouling communities.  Find out what these are and how they are impacted by the plastic floating in the North Pacific Gyre! See a Flickr album about Miriam's studies here.

What do you feel is the most important thing for people to know about plastic waste?
Plastic does not rot or rust. This is great when using plastic items for their intended purpose - for example; I love my SCUBA gear, which is mostly made of plastic or nylon. But when plastic makes it into the environment, it can be unsightly and harmful for many, many years.

What are plankton and fouling communities, and why do you specifically study them?
I'm interested in the impact of plastic on marine invertebrates, so that's why I study zooplankton, which are tiny floating animals, and fouling communities, the animals that live directly on the plastic, like barnacles. I think one of the most interesting implications of having all that plastic in the middle of the ocean is the addition of hard surfaces that wouldn't otherwise be there. This could be changing the way that zooplankton and fish move through the ocean, or transporting potentially invasive species to new habitats.

Paul Valentich Scott is living the scientist’s dream!  In his job not only does he travel the world, but he discovers new species of animals while doing it!  As the curator of malacology at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, Paul researches bivalve mollusks.  He also manages the Museum’s shell collection and teaches both adults and children about these special creatures.

What has been the most exciting aspect of your career so far?
I love every day at work. Field work is perhaps the most exciting. I have sampled in the tropics in Asia, and also through the ice on the Arctic Ocean. But I also love looking through the microscope and discovering new species of animals. It is pretty amazing to look at a new species that no one has ever seen before.

Pete Davison is our most recent SEAPLEX Scientist to update us on the research he did in the North Pacific Gyre!  Pete is currently getting his PhD in biological oceanography, and spent the cruise studying weather a special group of fishes called myctophids ingests the plastic in the gyre. 

What is a myctophid, and why do you study them?
A myctophid is a member of the lanternfish family—the most common vertebrate on earth (by weight) and they are very important ecologically because they are important prey for larger animals such as squids, birds, bigger fish, and whales.   Also, most of them vertically migrate, which is important for my thesis topic.  There are 2-10 grams of mesopelagic (or “midwater”) fish for every square meter of ocean surface, and it adds up to more than a billion tons of fish worldwide!  I am studying the ecological impact of vertical migration on the global carbon cycle.  To do this, I need to measure the population density of these fish and what percentage of them vertically migrate.

Linda Cole has been known to dance at the sight of tunicates—one the most fascinating animals in the entire ocean!  She is a specialist at the Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History in Washington D.C. and is currently working on what will be the largest listing of tunicates ever from the Tobago area!

What is a tunicate and what makes it special?
Tunicates are marine invertebrate animals.  Invertebrate animals do not have a backbone. But one of the things that make these animals special is the fact that they are considered vertebrates in their larval or developmental stage.  This is because they have a notochord (similar to our backbone) that they use for swimming to find a good habitat where they will develop into adults. The notochord shrinks down to a tiny bump when they become adults.  The fact that they have a backbone in their development makes them the highest of the invertebrates.  They are a part of the same phylum as you and me, the Phylum Chordata – animals with backbones. The name “tunicate” comes from their outer covering called the tunic, which comes in various beautiful colors.  Some individuals share the tunic, and are called colonial tunicates.  Others have their own tunic and are solitary tunicates.