Deep Sea News

This is a repost of KZ’s winning post for Open Laboratory 2009: The Best Science Writing on the Web. Congrats to KZ!

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This is a tale of cause and effect in the deep sea woven by threads of hypotheses held together by the loom of targeted sampling efforts and multiple lines of evidence. You see, dear readers, once upon a time existed an observation. Hovland (1989) noticed along the Norwegian coastline that carbonate reefs occurred in sediment laden with detectable concentrations of methane and oil. This led him to suggest that

“such reefs form at locations containing high concentrations of bacteria and other microorganisms suspended in the water column as a result of seeping fluids (solutions and gases) that provide some of the energy basis and carbon source for ecosystems independently of photosynthesis.”

Over the course of the last 20 years that hypothesis has been refined by several lines of evidence to suggest that

“the coral reef is located at this exact location due to sub-surface hydrogeologic properties, i.e. that there is an upward seepage of hydrocarbon-charged porewater on which bacteria and other micro-organisms thrive, thus providing suspension-feeders, including the corals, with a substantial and reliable food source.” (Hovland & Thomsen 1997)

This is known as the “hydraulic theory” for reef occurrence. My colleague and former labmate Erin Becker just published a study which sheds more light on the coral-seep relationship. (more…)

NOAA scientists with giant squid aboard the NOAA research vessel Gordon Gunter. (Credit: NOAA)

From NOAA…

Scientists from NOAA’s Fisheries Service have captured a giant squid while conducting research off the Louisiana coast in the Gulf of Mexico. This is only the second known giant squid obtained from the Gulf of Mexico – the first was collected in 1954 off the Mississippi Delta where it was found floating dead at the surface.

This giant squid was collected on July 30, during a 60-day scientific study where scientists from NOAA’s Southeast Fisheries Science Center and the Department of the Interior’s Minerals Management Service were studying the availability and diversity of sperm whale prey. The scientists were aboard the NOAA research vessel Gordon Gunter when the squid was caught in a trawl pulled behind the research vessel at a depth of more than 1,500 feet.

“As the trawl net rose out of the water, I could see that we had something big in there…really big,” said Anthony Martinez, marine mammal scientist for NOAA’s Fisheries Service and chief scientist for this research cruise. “We knew there was a remote possibility of encountering a giant squid on this cruise, but it was not something we were realistically expecting.”

This giant squid was preserved and sent to the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum for Natural History for further study. It measures just over 19½ feet long and weighs more than 103 pounds.

Graduation Day at TAMU-CC

I expected an obstacle course on Commencement Day, just one more hurdle to clear, but the book length manuscript was delivered, and the defense was over, so I was hooded by Dr. Tom Shirley, happy the PhD was complete. My little girls were not so happy. They thought I had joined a cult, that the cap and gown were permanent, and might never come off. Notice the concerned looks in the photos below.

Working as a doctoral student in marine science was my best job ever. Research was inspiring. Harte Research Institute was stimulating. My advisor was the best. The work was challenging, exciting. I would stick around, ya’know, investigate phenomena, but I’ve managed to skip the post-doc. My country calls me to serve.

The new job is incompatible with blogging, so now, after four years before the mast at Deep Sea News … its time for me to fly.

Next month I take a position with JHT, Inc. working in support a deep-sea coral research program at NOAA’s Center for Coastal Environmental Health and Biomolecular Research in Charleston, SC. It will be nice to live somewhere you can drive ten hours and be in another state. This holds great appeal for me after three years in Texas.

The new position will be engaged with helping to develop a federal deep-sea coral research program. It’s a long term research opportunity with a deep-sea aquaria component. Stop by to see Lophelia alive and up-close, if you’re in town. Maybe we’ll get some giant isopods in there…

It feels like an exciting time in government. Leadership is strong. Science is appreciated. Deep-coral awareness is high. I really look forward to working for the public good.

Between then and now I will join the Lophelia II 2009 crew aboard the RV Ron Brown. From mid-August to mid-September we’ll be looking for coral on hard bottoms, shipwrecks, and oil rigs with WHOI’s Jason ROV in the Gulf of Mexico. You can follow the cruise at NOAA’s OceanExplorer Website and get the inside scoop at Global Ocean Exploration.

If you miss me, you can always  read the backgrounder on Reconnaissance for the expedition. LOL. (It goes live Tuesday). Please, definitely check out the new videos. They’re free to download! NOAA’s like NASA in that way, … always sharing the science.

Thank you everybody for a great time here. It was an adventure to remember. I really enjoyed it. Profoundly abyssal thanks are due to DSN visionaries Craig McClain and Kevin Zelnio. Readers are in very good hands.  Best wishes to you all.

Clara, me, Ana, my advisor Tom Shirley, my wife Maria

I'm happy, but Clara's not. She thinks I joined a cult.

This is a tale of cause and effect in the deep sea woven by threads of hypotheses held together by the loom of targeted sampling efforts and multiple lines of evidence. You see, dear readers, once upon a time existed an observation. Hovland (1989) noticed along the Norwegian coastline that carbonate reefs occurred in sediment laden with detectable concentrations of methane and oil. This led him to suggest that

“such reefs form at locations containing high concentrations of bacteria and other microorganisms suspended in the water column as a result of seeping fluids (solutions and gases) that provide some of the energy basis and carbon source for ecosystems independently of photosynthesis.”

Over the course of the last 20 years that hypothesis has been refined by several lines of evidence to suggest that

“the coral reef is located at this exact location due to sub-surface hydrogeologic properties, i.e. that there is an upward seepage of hydrocarbon-charged porewater on which bacteria and other micro-organisms thrive, thus providing suspension-feeders, including the corals, with a substantial and reliable food source.” (Hovland & Thomsen 1997)

This is known as the “hydraulic theory” for reef occurrence. My colleague and former labmate Erin Becker just published a study which sheds more light on the coral-seep relationship.

(more…)

This went public today over the TAMU-CC listserves, the first attempt to tie all my deep-sea coral research from the last three years together into four tidy little paragraphs.

DISSERTATION SEMINAR NOTICE

COASTAL AND MARINE SYSTEM SCIENCE PROGRAM

DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY-CORPUS CHRISTI

SUBJECT:      Distribution and Diversity of Octocorals in the Gulf of Mexico

SPEAKER:     Peter J. Etnoyer

DATE:            Monday, July 20, 2009

TIME:             11:00 a.m.

PLACE:          Harte Research Institute Conference Room 127

ABSTRACT:

Octocorals are broadly distributed throughout the world’s oceans, from the shallow intertidal zone to deeper than 5800 meters. Fishermen refer to large colonies as ‘trees’. This is appropriate because colonies provide complex structural habitat for associated species, they are broadly distributed, and they are threatened by industrial practices, such as bottom trawling. Below the warm water layer (50 – 70 m deep), octocorals are presumed to be cosmopolitan in the West Atlantic, with a broadly homogenous distribution. This creates a problem for conservation and management because it is difficult to justify conservation of one place, if all others are the same.

This dissertation tested the null hypothesis of no difference in octocoral assemblages at the three spatial scales (referred to as basin, region, and site scale) through meta-analysis of two large, original datasets. Univariate and multivariate techniques were used to compare and contrast depth zones, regions, and sites (six outer continental shelf banks) within a GIS framework. Spatial analysis techniques were used to identify octocoral “hotspots” within Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary.

Octocoral assemblages in the Gulf of Mexico differed significantly between depth zones and regions, but there was no difference in diversity between depth zones less than 800 m, due to species replacement. Composition of octocoral assemblages varied significantly between sites, and hotspots for richness and abundance were evident within sites. Null hypotheses of no difference between banks, depth zones, and regions were rejected with confidence.

The findings support the broad distribution of octocorals in the Gulf of Mexico, but not homogeneity of octocoral assemblages. Based on these results, place-based conservation of deep octocoral habitat is justified, because some sites have higher diversity and abundance of octocorals than others.

When the Graduate Student Handbook says PhD candidates will be submitting a book-length manuscript, they’re not kidding. Thursday I turned over my draft dissertation – 185 pages of deep thoughts about octocorals in the Gulf of Mexico. Within 5 minutes of discussion about the weight of the paper (~ 3 lbs. ) and the cost of the ink ( ~$150), we’d rearranged the chapters and decided “nobody cites Sanders (1968) anymore.”  Oh well, back to the drawing board. LOL. Not like I have anything better to do. “It’s on the shelves for eternity,” so I might as well mess with it some more. The defense is in 2 weeks. Any sage advice would be appreciated.

A commercial fishermen  in the Gulf of Mexico last month ensnared a 8ft long missile in his longline.  The missile contained a hole leading the fishermen to assume it was previously detonated.  Wanting to keep the missile as a souvenir, he tied it to the top of his boat where it rested for the remainder of 14 day fishing trip.  Ashore several days later, emergency officials determined that the missile was actually live.  A bomb squad from MacDill Air Force Base was summoned to the marina

The fishermen is on record as stating, “If it was going to explode, it was going to explode a long time ago”.

Let jokes ensue.

We’re collecting stories from researchers who worked with the Johnson Sea-link submersibles to help raise awareness about their plight, and to illustrate their unique utility for science. Dr. Christina Kellogg is a microbiologist with the USGS. She used the JSL to collect deep-sea microbes in a way that’s never been done before.

To counterpoint Dr. M’s post, I’d like to mention that the JSL is important to studying the entire spectrum of marine life, from big to tiny. The Johnson-Sea-Link submersible has been invaluable to my research on the microbial ecology of deep-sea corals (discussed previously at DSN here and here).

To accomplish my work, I needed to keep coral samples separate from each other in sealed containers, and in come cases, inject a preservation solution at depth. When no such sampling gear was available, my husband and I built a custom unit in our garage (small budget, big payoff!). The submersible team at HBOI was super accommodating. I drove my gear to Ft. Pierce multiple times to test its fit on the sub, and to see how the manipulator arm would handle it. The sub guys were always ready to haul this heavy thing out of its shipping crate and place it on the sub so we could do as many tests on dry land as possible.

As a result, the gear worked perfectly the first time we deployed it at 1500 ft in the Gulf of Mexico and every time since. The only usable samples of deep-sea corals I have collected have come from the Johnson-Sea-Link. My luck with ROVs to date has been abysmal. ROV and AUV technology are great for a lot of things, but for delicate sample collection, in situ manipulation, and times when you just ‘have to be there’ there is no beating the Johnson-Sea-Link.

My first submersible dive was in the Delta, a two-person sub that looks like…a little yellow submarine. The scientist lies in a fetal position videotaping through a porthole, while the pilot sits above in the conning tower driving the sub. A few months later, I did my first dive in the JSL. I was in the rear compartment and felt I had really traded up since I could sit upright while videotaping through the porthole!

The five dives I’ve been fortunate to make in the front sphere of the JSL were another animal entirely. It’s not just the panoramic view of the seafloor (although that is a life experience in and of itself), but also the technical abilities of the pilots to use the hydraulic manipulator arm or suction hose to sample tiny pieces of coral.

Another huge plus is the payload, i.e., how much stuff you can collect with the JSL. There are multiple individual buckets, as well as room for a large biobox, racks of sediment cores (or mammoth sampling gear like mine), as well as cameras. When a research group has spent a lot of time and money to get to sea, it is nice to know you have the space to collect a little something for everyone during the dive (fish for the icthyologist, crabs for the invertebrate taxonomist, rocks for the geologist, corals for all sorts of biology-types…).

At a point where our country is willing to pony up billions (with a B) to bail out failing banks and car manufacturers, I would like to suggest that funding the HBOI subs and ship is a significantly better investment with practically unlimited opportunities to recoup that investment in scientific discoveries.

Having said that, it should be noted that these are my personal opinions and not those of my employer…the Federal Government.

I’m so excited that in such a short amount of time the Save Our Subs & Ships effort have already reached their goal and are now setting their sights higher and want to get 5000 signatures. Thanks to Leroy Nunez from Florida for helping out the deep sea community by putting his voice to work. So many people are leaving comments on the petition which is great. It makes a huge difference to show how much you care about keeping science, engineering, technology and education in the forefront of our country. I might share some of them with you later.

Make sure you head over to the Save Our Subs & Ship website and read about the history of the Johnson Sea Link submersibles. The discoveries it has made have been so vital to not only our scientific understanding of the deep sea but to our commercial sector as well. It has played a key role in the discovery of vast communities of animals with the base of the food chain living off methane and sulfide gases. This information has helped inform the Mineral Management Service of the US Dept. of the Interior in dealing with gas and oil exploration off the Gulf coast. Here is a bit of a timeline of the unbelievable “seep” discoveries from SOS’ history page:

• 1987 Deep Sea Hydrocarbon communities discovered
• 1988-1989 Green Canyon oil lease block on the Louisiana continental shelf in the Gulf of Mexico discovered.
• 1990 Gulf Mexico Brine pool on bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, 540 sq meters, 121 psu salinity pool at 650 m depth. The brine is so dense that the JSL floated on top of it!
• 1990 Mussels “fueled by gas” discovered lining the Brine Pool
• 1994 Gas hydrate seeps in the Gulf of Mexico discovered
• 1997 Cold-Seep Vestimentiferans (tube worms) studied intensively using JSL and R/V Seward Johnson II
• 1997 Methane Ice worms discovered

And this is only ONE area of study. Not to mention the extensive work in bioluminescence, natural products chemistry/pharmacology, vertical migrations, midwater ecology, seamount discoveries and countless new species found from its endeavours.

Have you ever seen an interactive mosaic? Its a very modern art form.

Harte Research Institute’s (HRI) Dixie Smith made this very image of South Texas and the Gulf of Mexico using 10,0000 images as pixels on an electronic canvas. The mosaic was produced using freeware from AndreaMosiac.

If you click on the artwork, it will take you to a website that shows you each pixel as you “roll-over” the image. Read Dixie’s thoughtful reflections at the HRI website. She says this about her inspiration:

“…It is my hope that the mosaic might awaken the kindred spirit in others that leads us to love the splendor of our universe, to be drawn to learn all we can about it, and to do our best to be good stewards as we pass through it.“

Besides being such a talented electronic artist, Dixie also helps keep our research scientists and graduate students “on the move” through the often complicated Texas A&M University system.