cmcclain | November 27, 2007In the Pose A Question post a reader asked...
What are your (research) interests? I personally tend to find some of the more exotic deep sea communities interesting-- hydrothermal vent communities, whale falls, and life at the poles.
The simplest answer to this is the diversity and body size of deep-sea animals. My research often focuses on soft-bottom communities typical of most of the deep sea, but currently is moving toward seamounts. As such, my research often tends toward more general ecological and evolutionary questions that affect all organisms not just those in the deep.
What…
cmcclain | November 27, 2007
Coryphaenoides armatus arrive to feed on bait (mackerel) set by ROBIO. Photo from here
A recent study by Barry and Drazen (open access)notes that some deep-sea fishes avoid the odor of dead conspecifics. Coryphaenoides armatus, the Pacific grenadier, is a prominent scavenger and typically one of the first fish to arrive at a food fall of a carcass. However, in caging experiments to test the effects of ocean acidification on seafloor organisms, cages where C. armatus died potentially due to cage-related stress, predation, or exposure to acidic waters, did not attract C. armatus. Figure 6 (…
cmcclain | November 25, 2007Perhaps as no shock, oceanography is going to need some more money, about $2-3 billion to be exact. A group of international scientist called the Partnership for Observation of the Global Oceans (POGO) says "warming seas, over-fishing and pollution are among profound concerns that must be better measured to help society respond in a well-informed, timely and cost-effective way...A system for ocean observing and forecasting that covers the world's oceans and their major uses can reduce growing risks, protect human interests and monitor the health of our precious oceans." So what would we…
cmcclain | November 25, 2007
I took my love, I took it down
Climbed a mountain and I turned around
I saw my reflection in the snow covered hills
till the landslide brought me down
The largest known arthropod is now followed by the largest known landslide. 60,000 years ago a submarine landslide off the coast of north-west Africa traveled 1,500 kilometers before dumping 225 billion metric tons of sediment. For perspective, 1,500 km is about the distance from Miami to Memphis and 225 billion tons is the weight of about 45 billion male African elephants. One of the authors, Peter Talling, of the article published in…
cmcclain | November 21, 2007Caption below under next figure: Image from "Giant claw reveals the largest ever arthropod" (2007), Biology Letters
The arthropods we are familiar with today tend toward the small side compared to the some of the giants found in the fossil record. From the Late Palaeozoic, 2m long millipedes and dragonflies with 75cm wingspans are known. Even marine arthropods obtained large sizes with examples including Ordovician trilobites and Siluro-Devonian eurypterids (sea scorpions). In part the Late Paleozioc pattern might be explained by increased atmospheric oxygen levels. Work on extant groups…
cmcclain | November 20, 2007&Here's the list beginning with my thoughts. Hopefully the readers can suggest other ideas and revisions with the goal of this being a central archive for active ways to conserve our oceans.
Start by eating the right fish or not eating fish at all. This is probably the easiest. You yield the greatest power when you make simple decisions at the table. The Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch makes this easy with downloadable charts to carry with you for every region in the U.S. With respect to fishing, Conservation Magazine also lists 10 ways to save the ocean. The list is comprised of…
cmcclain | November 20, 2007
Speaking of deep-sea posters, Dr. Charles Messing (Nova Southeastern University), who ordinarily works on crinoids and deep-sea corals and just generally a renaissance man, has left the benthos to offer this 25x36-inch wall poster that includes 109 of his pen-and-ink illustrations of pelagic organisms from bacteria to whales and from the surface to the abyss. The drawings are arranged by ecological grouping and depth, with names, taxonomic affiliation and maximum known size. The short is you can be sure the information is accurate and the drawings exceptional.
The poster is available on www.…
petnoyer | November 19, 2007A friend of mine from Japan used to like to begin his grad school seminar talks with a favorite recipe for preparing whale meat. His first slide would feature a steaming hot bowl of soup with sliced layers of meat dangling over the side. He was not a joker. He did these things to shock students into a new perspective. My friend wasn't ready to begin any discussion of Japanese fisheries policy until people understood that whales are a cultural resource in Japan, a downright delicious cultural resource. His approach was provocative. It stole the high ground on the whaling issue, and put…
cmcclain | November 17, 2007Before this marine-based life I worked in a hospital. One thing that scared the @#$% out of me was methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA. When I left the hopsital for graduate school I was glad to leave that behind. I never thought that MRSA and my new life would meet. A group of UK scientists recently discovered a bacterium from the seafloor off Japan with the ability to kill MRSA.
cmcclain | November 17, 2007One of my visions for the future is my wife and I enjoying full-bodied French and Italian wines in our villa overlooking the Mediterranean. In contrast, if you are shark or ray the Mediterranean is more like hell. Globally, many elasmobranch species are endangered due to anthropogenic effects. In the Mediterranean, the IUCN reports that 30 of 71 species are close to extinction from over-fishing and habitat loss. This and low reproductive output (a few pups a year), slow growth, and late maturity, combine to doom most species. Only the Portuguese dogfish, a deep-sea shark, is doing better…
petnoyer | November 16, 2007
Deep-sea poster art could make a great Christmas gift, don't ya think?
This one from Allposters.com is unique because it has a black-light quality.
It would look real nice next to my Velvet Elvis.
cmcclain | November 15, 2007We at DSN try to report on the research as it happens. Now we report on research before it happens! DSN's old whipping boy Kevin Zelnio is currently running several posts of his dissertation proposal for International Dissertation Writing Month. Head on over and wish him luck as he preps for his exams in the next few weeks. The proposed research? An ambitious plan linking classical ecological & evolutionary paradigms of zonation, stress tolerances, facilitation, community structure, and biodiversity with faunal patterns at hydrothermal vents. No doubt novel research with important…
cmcclain | November 14, 2007
Over at the World's Fair...
Anyway, this meme asks that you come up with your own scientific eponym. What's that exactly? Well, first read this excellent primer by Samuel Arbesman, which basically provides a step by step description of how to do this effectively. Then have a go at your own blog. If all goes well, I'd like to create a page at the Science Creative Quarterly, that collects (and links to) the good ones.
The credit for this scientific eponym goes completely to Jason Robertshaw at Cephalopodcast, the formalization is mine.
Gorton's Measure states that the time for someone to ask "…
cmcclain | November 14, 2007Bora over at A Blog Around the Clock publishes, edits, and composes (just about everything else) the Science Blogging Anthology, "Open Laboratory 2007". Last year's was a great piece of work. Bloggers and readers are asked to submit their favorite posts. Peter and I submitted our Half Glass Empty/Full posts. We urge you to submit your favorite science writing posts from DSN. The submission form is easily and quickly filled out.
cmcclain | November 13, 2007
So once again, things are slow and I ask you to suggest some questions/topics. Just put them in the comments and Peter and I will do are best to answer them. You may want to keep the questions deep sea related or you will be forced to read our ramblings on matters we have no idea about!
cmcclain | November 13, 2007
Lyrics below the fold. More of Flight of the Conchords at YouTube.
J: Ah Ah...
B: Ah Ah...
J: Ah Ah...
B: Ah Ah...
B+J: Ah Ah...
B: Mermaid
J: Mermaid
B: Mermaid
J: Mermaid
B: Mermaid
J: Mermaid
B: Mermaid
J: Mermaid
B+J: Mermaid Mermaid
J: Mermaid
B: Mermaid
B: Mermaid murmured
Into my ear
The answers to questions
I'm longing to hear.
B+J: Does it relax you
To hear the sound of the land?
Do you, a mermaid, have
Slightly webbed hands?
(AH AH AH)
B+J: Is it normal for a guy to wear
A scuba apparatus
When he makes love in the sea?
Make love to me.
Would it be weird for you
If I touched your…
cmcclain | November 13, 2007
The much loved Texas Clipper will be sunk on this Thursday as part of the ships to reef program. Those from Texas A&M Galveston will remember the 473ft ship as a classroom from 65-94. Those older might remember the ship as the USS Queens, a troop and wounded carrier during WWII. Will try to post pictures as the come available.
petnoyer | November 13, 2007
What do hyperbolic crochet and coral reef organisms have in common? They both evolved to maximize surface area within a limited volume. So, naturally, a crafty and talented group of mathematicians at the Institute for Figuring who are concerned about the effects of global warming would want to knit a Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef for the Chicago Cultural Center.
Go there to see crocheted sea slugs and cephalopods, a hyperbolic brain coral, and other fantastic things, like a plastic reef, and a lesson in hyperbolic crochet taxonomy.
Hyperbolic crochet is an unexpected outgrowth of hyperbolic…
cmcclain | November 9, 2007An upcoming episode (Nov. 14) of History Channel's Monsterquest will supposedly show the largest squid ever caught on video. A squid researcher with film crew in tow filmed a squid estimated to be between 50-100 feet long at 1,000 feet in the Sea of Cortez. How did they get the video? They strapped a small camera to another large squid, the Humboldt (I would love to see the logistics of that), and released it back to the deep. You can see the teaser video for the episode here. And before you ask...yes you will have to sit through the entire episode to see the 15 seconds of video.