Episode 2: What lies beneath?
Be part of us once more aboard the Royal Analysis Ship Discovery, cruising in the direction of the mid-Atlantic to an space often called the Charlie-Gibbs Fracture Zone. As we heard within the earlier episode, this distinctive cruise introduced collectively researchers from a number of disciplines to use their specialist abilities to gather information within the area. On this episode we hear from scientists bridging the hole between the bodily oceanography, the chemistry and first manufacturing, and the ecological roles of cephalopod molluscs.
We start by listening to from Dr. Igor Belkin, our onboard Oceanographer. Igor talks us by the bodily options of the ocean and specifically one in all his passions, ocean fronts. Fronts – the place two water plenty meet – play an essential function each in regulating Earth’s local weather and in nutrient biking. Which leads us on to our subsequent workforce of scientists.
Dr. Tom Browning and Ali Al-Hashem from GEOMAR labored across the clock within the ship’s laboratories. Their goal: to gather samples of water regularly as we cruised. Tom and Ali have an interest within the nutrient content material of the area. Nutrient availability within the ocean is a limiting issue within the progress of algae (phytoplankton), an indicator of main productiveness and a foundational meals supply for different organisms additional up the food-chain. Ali can be fascinated by wanting on the chemical signature of the guano of seabirds the seabird workforce catch. Little is understood in regards to the function greater apex predators akin to seabirds play in nutrient biking within the oceans.
Final, however undoubtedly not least we hear from Dr. Vladimir Laptikhovsky, skilled in cephalopod molluscs. Vlad tells us in regards to the significance of cephalopods within the oceans, significantly deep-sea squids, their function in nutrient biking, and their significance within the diets of apex predators. We additionally learn the way figuring out species of squid from a seabird regurgitate pattern is a difficult course of!
Vlad exams out his internet with crew member Johnny Mac
A fulmar regurgitate supplies some vibrant dietary data
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This podcast sequence was designed, recorded and narrated by Julie Miller, and edited by Taya Forde.
Function picture: Sundown on board the Royal Analysis Ship Discovery, courtesy of Julie Miller.
Intro and outro music sampled from: “The Curtain Rises” and “Early Riser” Kevin MacLeod [CC BY 3.0]
