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#plankton

2 posts2 participants0 posts today
Public
Warren Currie 🦠🦐

Weekend #Plankton #Factoid 🦠🦐
When a species has no close relatives, with only a single unique species within a genus, we refer to it as a monospecies or monotypic genus. Well-known, often strange examples include the aardvark and platapus. Zooplankton also have these, some being quite contentious because they are often phenotypically plastic (variable features) but are genetically similar. Bythotrephes longimanus, a Great Lakes invader is one of these.
nature.com/articles/s41598-021
#Science #genetics

A microscope image of a crustacean zooplankton with a bulky body, a large distinct black eye, and three very black balls on its back. An extremely long very spiny tail extends from it. Spiny Waterflea, Bythotrephes longimanus. Photo Kelly Bowen, DFO. CC BY-SA 3.0.
Public
Lukas VFN 🇪🇺

Amazing diversity of shapes found among #plankton-feeding fishes theconversation.com/we-study-p paper by Isabelle Ng et al.: link.springer.com/article/10.1

"Some truly fit the typical plankton-feeding #fish model with a forked tail, torpedo-shaped body, large eyes, small extendable jaws. But most others break the mould entirely. Tiny #gobies cling onto whip corals & adopt a sit-and-wait approach for plankton to pass by. Other deep-bodied #damselfishes depart a small distance from their coral hosts to feed."

underwater photo of a group of bright pink fish at a coral reef
Public
Warren Currie 🦠🦐

Weekend #Plankton #Factoid 🦠🦐
With spring 🌱 upon us in the northern hemisphere, it is the time for the spring bloom in many lakes and oceans. To grow, #phytoplankton require #nutrients and #light, so start reproducing rapidly due to an abundance of nutrients mixed in the water column and increased light intensity 🌞. Zooplankton grazers have yet to increase, and warming conditions help to retain algae near the surface euphotic zone via stratification.
serc.carleton.edu/eet/phytopla
#Science #climate

image/jpeg vibrant varied colours of green are seen in the ocean off the coast of Alaska in this satellite image. NASA. Public domain.
image/jpeg a graphic diagram of the spring bloom showing the winter sun low on the horizon and only some algae. An arrow with "growing" shows more algae in spring as the sun is higher in the sky with deep mixing down to depth. In later spring the mixed layer is compressed to closer to the surface, concentrating the algae. Source: Julie Sansoulet / Takuvik, Université Laval
Public
Warren Currie 🦠🦐

Weekend #Plankton #Factoid 🦠🦐
Autotrophs are organisms which use pigments for photosynthesis by absorbing light at specific wavelengths. The dominant chlorophyll-a absorbs #light in the violet-blue (430nm) and red (660nm) wavelengths, but not green, which is why #algae is green. Phycocyanin, an accessory #pigment in #cyanobacteria, absorbs in those green wavelengths, so is blue in colour. This is why we can determine algae types from space.
scitechdaily.com/new-research-
#Science #satellites #oceans

image/jpeg a graph of pigments in algae showing absorbance of light by wavelength grom 440 (violet) to 700 nm (red). Pigments shown are chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b, chlorophyll Concentration, carotenoids, phycocyanin, phycoerythrin. Each absorb light at different wavelengths at their peaks.
image/jpeg a microscope image of a ball with tiny green dots filled with other bright green balls against a black background. Volvox Frank Fox CC-BY-SA 3.0.
image/jpeg a microscope image of a filament of cells that are slightly bluish-green coloured. Anabaena sphaerica CC-BY-SA 3.0.
Public *
Lukas VFN 🇪🇺

It’s the little things that count aappartnership.org.au/its-the-

"Deep inside the icebreaker RSV #Nuyina off the coast of East #Antarctica, as 9-metre swells and 50-knot gales rage outside, the #plankton team is busy collecting tiny creatures with the wet well: a unique sampling space below the waterline, connected to the ocean by large inlets... the wet well enables particularly fragile #animals, like #salps and #jellyfish, to be captured alive and in good condition."

photo of a small cylindrical sea slug
Public
Warren Currie 🦠🦐

Weekend #Plankton #Factoid 🦠🦐
The study of #phytoplankton is difficult because of their small size. For this we thank Antonie van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1722), the "father of microbiology". This Dutch draper was self-taught in creating high-quality #microscope lenses to examine thread. He then viewed tooth scrapings and water, coined the term "animalcules" for #protozoa, and first described Spirogyra (👍 genus name from JHF Link) as “spirally wound serpent-wise earthy particles”. A #science was born.

image/jpeg a sketch of a man in academic style robes, a crevat, and long curled wig, sitting by a globe and holding a scientific instrument. Antoni van Leeuwenhoek. Mezzotint by J. Verkolje, 1686 CC BY 4.0
image/jpeg an old brass instrument comprised of a large backing plate, with a screw mechanism on the front which comes to a sharp point. A glass lens in the plate is barely visible near the point. Van Leeuwenhoek microscope. Museum Boerhaave, Leiden CC-BY-SA 3.0
image/jpeg a view through a microscope of an algal filaments that contains two very green spirals in a double helix, similar to the structure of DNA. The charophyte green algae Spirogyra. Public Domain.
Public
Tino Eberl

Wie reagiert #Plankton auf eine Erhöhung der #Alkalinität im Ozean?

Diese Frage untersucht eine weltweit koordinierte Vergleichsstudie mit Experimenten an 19 Standorten. Auch das #GEOMAR in #Kiel ist beteiligt und testet in der #Ostsee sowie in tropischen Gewässern vor #Kenia.

Die Methode der Erhöhung der Alkalinität könnte helfen, mehr #CO2 im Meer zu binden und die #Ozeanversauerung zu bremsen.

geomar.de/news/article/oaepiip

www.geomar.deWeltweite Vergleichsstudie zur Alkalinitätserhöhung im Ozean startet in Kiel13.03.2025/Kiel. Wie reagieren Plankton-Gemeinschaften auf eine Erhöhung der Alkalinität in verschiedenen Regionen des Ozeans? Diese Frage steht im Mittelpunkt des internationalen Forschungsprojekts Ocean Alkalinity Enhancement Pelagic Impact Intercomparison Project (OAEPIIP). Im Rahmen dieser ersten weltweit koordinierten Vergleichsstudie werden an 19 Standorten standardisierte Experimente durchgeführt – darunter auch am GEOMAR Helmholtz-Zentrum für Ozeanforschung Kiel. Hier nutzen die Forschenden Wasser aus der Eckernförder Bucht, das sie jetzt an der Zeitserienstation Boknis Eck entnommen haben. Damit hat ein Messmarathon begonnen, mit dem bis Ende des Jahres Daten von allen Kontinenten gewonnen werden.
#Meeresforschung#Ozeane#Wissenschaft
Public
Warren Currie 🦠🦐

Weekend #Plankton #Factoid 🦠🦐

Scientists love acronyms. This week's is UZELA, Underwater Zooplankton Enhancement Light Array. Corals worldwide are stressed by bleeching events due to #ClimateChange. This system uses phototactic behaviour (swim toward light) of #zooplankton to concentrate them up to 4x over reefs. #Coral polyps use their tentacles to immobilize and capture prey, which is vital when they lose their zooxanthellae algae symbionts during bleeching. #Science

aslopubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.c

image/jpeg a scuba diver sets up a frame with light devices in it in bright blue waters. Andrea Grottoli tending to an UZELA experiment (Ohio State University)
image/jpeg frames are deployed in shallow water by a dock, one with an array of four bright lights. Photo from Ohio State University.
Public *
Lukas VFN 🇪🇺

The Secret Sex Lives of Deep, Dark Corals
biographic.com/the-secret-sex-

"A unique fjord in Chilean #Patagonia gives scientists a chance to unlock the reproductive secrets of cold-water #corals that typically live thousands of meters below the surface... Instead of partnering with #algae within its cells for food, #Desmophyllum catches #plankton with stinging tentacles... cold-water corals live throughout the world’s oceans, providing habitat at least as critical as that of tropical #CoralReefs"

Photo of sea floor covered in various invertebrate animals
Public
Warren Currie 🦠🦐

Weekend #Plankton #Factoid 🦠🦐
Most aquatic scientists, particularly those working on #algae are familiar with the name Hans Utermöhl. His name is synonymous with the "Utermöhl method" of settling #phytoplankton in a slide-off sedimentation chamber, with the base chamber assessed using an inverted light #microscope (which he helped develop). Every phytoplankton taxonomist uses this technique. He was foundational in the #German #limnology research community. #science
academic.oup.com/plankt/articl

image/jpeg a historical photo of clean cut man in a lab coat sitting in front of a microscope in a lab. Photo from Max Planck Institute of Evolutionary Biology.
image/jpeg a historical photo of a microscope with a distinct bottom mounted lens system that points upward. A series a glass tubes with wooden a box of glass slide plates sits to the side. Image from Utermöhl (1931).
Public
Warren Currie 🦠🦐

Weekend #Plankton #Factoid 🦠🦐

From Feb 3 - 7 2025 two members of my lab joined our CCGS Samuel Risley icebreaker to sample onboard for the binational 🇨🇦 🇺🇸 Great Lakes WinterGrab. In doing so we had many issues collecting #zooplankton due to the ice and slush which formed in the nets. In spite of this we found several species of copepods carrying eggs. One of these is the calanoid Leptodiaptomus sicilis. Egg counts are vital for calculating secondary production.
The BLOG greatlakesfoodwebs.com/breakin

A microscope image of two torpedo shaped crustacean zooplankton carrying a single large bundle of eggs in a sac near their tail, amongst numerous algae. Leptodiaptomus sicilis. Photo from K Bowen, DFO.
A deckhand pulls in a zooplankton net from over the side of a ship with snow and ice built up over the side. Photo from K Bowen, DFO.
Public
Warren Currie 🦠🦐

Weekend #Plankton #Factoid 🦠🦐
Continuing the Fram story, after calculating it would take the ship up 5 years to get to the north pole, Nansen and Johansen (chosen because Nansen was not great with the dogs) abandoned the ship and set off on March 14 1895 using an Inuit model of dog sledge, kayaks, and skis. The plan was to head for the pole and return via Franz Josef Land, a northern archipelago only recently mapped, so undertaking some risk given they had problems knowing their direction.
1/6

A historical photo of a number of men in heavy winter clothing pose on skis and with dog sleds on a vast stretch of icy landscape. Public Domain.
image/jpeg a three masted ship sits on a large expanse of rugged ice. The Fram. Public Domain.
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