![]() |
![]() |
|
![]() |
|||||||||||||||
Researchers | |||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||
Leg 4 Researchers Click on any name below to read an interview. (Back to Main Researcher Page)
Jim Barry (top of page) MBARI Benthic Ecologist http://www.mbari.org/barry-james/
Amanda
Bates (top
of page) Senior Scientist http://www.mbari.org/clague-david//
What is your role on this cruise? Provide navigation support for Vrijenhoek dives to assist in locating vents for sampling and to collect volcaniclastic samples to evaluate whether eruptions along spreading centers have a mildly explosive component.
What are your primary goals? We have recently found that eruptions along the Gorda Ridge, a moderate-rate spreading center in the northeast Pacific, produce glassy bubble-wall fragments during mildly exposive eruptions. We want to sample for such sand-sized particles along the faster-spreading East Pacific Rise to determine if this eruption style is widespread along mid-ocean ridges.
What do you expect to find? We expect to collect sediments that contain sand-sized glass particles formed during explosive eruptions. recovery of such small fragments requires collection using a specially designed submarine vacuum cleaner and small push-cores with custom core-catchers.
What is your favorite/least favorite part of a research cruise? Best part is that each day brings surprises and new discoveries that require frequent and rapid modifications of the plan to accomplish the goals. Worst part is when weather or equipment prevents accomplishing the carefully planned program.
Why did you decide to become a scientist/engineer/etc.? I decided to become a scientist because it is exciting and rewarding to figure out how even a small part of the world works.
How did you become one? Took all the math, physics, chemistry, and geology I could squeeze into my high school and undergraduate schedules. Then went to graduate school in marine geology. Peter
Girguis (top
of page)
What is your
role on the cruise? What are your
primary goals? What do you expect
to find? What is your
favorite/least favorite part of a research cruise? Why did you decide
to become a scientist/engineer/etc? How did you become one? MBARI Research Technician What is your
role on the cruise? What are your
primary goals? What do you expect
to find? What is your
favorite/least favorite part of a research cruise? Least favorite - not being able to run more than 25 feet in any direction. Why did you decide
to become a scientist? How did you become one? University of California, Santa Barbara What is your
role on the cruise? What are your
primary goals? What do you expect
to find? What is your
favorite/least favorite part of a research cruise? Why did you decide to become a scientist/engineer/etc?
How did you become one? Joe
Jones (top
of page)
What is your role on this cruise? My role on this cruise will be assisting with sorting and organizing organisms we bring up with the ROV. I will also be performing tissue dissections and DNA extractions on tissue samples we collect.
What are your primary goals? One of our primary goals on this trip is to determine if there are new populations of deep-sea mussels in the Gulf of California. We also will be collecting tubeworms, clams, gastropods, and other invertebrates for DNA analysis in our land-based lab.
What do you expect to find? We expect to find several new populations of deep-sea mussels (at least in the southern part of the Gulf of California). Previous exploration by geologists in the southern part of the Gulf of California found bivalve shells but no living critters. We hope to determine if deep-sea organisms found on the East Pacific Rise (EPR) are found in the Gulf of California.
What is your favorite/least favorite part of a research cruise? My favorite part of this cruise will be the fact that this will be the first research cruise I've gone on. This cruise will also be my first trip to Mexico and Baja. I'm very excited about seeing the Tiburon in action and the new organisms we'll be collecting. Undoubtedly, the worse part of the cruise is being seasick.
Why did you decide to become a scientist/engineer/etc.? When I was growing up in South Carolina, my parents would take my sister and I to the beach for a family vacation. My parents encouraged my interest in nature and the ocean when I was about 5 years old. I became fascinated with the diversity of tide pools and learning about the tides.
My family owns a lot of land with ponds and creeks where I spent a lot of time exploring. My fascination with fish, in particular, started when I was old enough to hold a fishing rod and has increased continuously since. Also when I was growing up, I was interested in how things work and why certain animals were found certain places and not others.
How did you become one? I obtained my B.S. at the University of South Carolina in the Marine Science Program. I spent a lot of time volunteering in an ichthyology research lab where I became serious about my pursuit of a Ph.D. I also became involved with the Marine Science Undergraduate Society (MSUS) where I helped organize undergraduate research trips to local barrier islands.
During my senior year, I did an independent research project in Dr. Joe Quattro’s lab on population genetics of an estuarine flatfish. Dr. Quattro encouraged me to return to his lab after a brief summer at the Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ) working as a visiting scientist. I returned to Dr. Quattro’s lab where I became involved in a number of projects ranging from population genetic structure of summer flounder (my Master’s thesis) to conservation genetics of pygmy sunfishes in the southeast United States.
I moved to UC Santa Cruz following my Master’s where I worked in Dr. Giacomo Bernardi’s lab. I focused on two native California freshwater minnow species using DNA markers and phylogenetic methods. After my Ph.D., I went to Germany where I worked in Dr. Axel Meyer’s lab on color genes in a Central American cichlid fish. Currently, I am working as a research technician for Dr. Bob Vrijenhoek at MBARI.
MBARI Research Technician
University of Victoria
What is your role on this cruise? I will be helping sort the tubeworm bush samples. I am very familiar with vent species on the Juan de Fuca Ridge, and have a lot of experience identifying polychaetes.
What are your primary goals? Our aim is collect 3 tubeworm bushes (and the associated species) coupled with habitat data from three distinct venting locations. For each collection we will measure species richness and community structure. The ultimate goal is to determine if the communities differ significantly between sites, and if so, to relate these differences to site characteristics. We predict that habitat factors such as substratum type and fluid properties (e.g. hydrogen sulphide) are the main drivers of community variation.
What do you expect to find? Again, we expect to find site-to-site differences in vent communities that are explained by differences between the sites in substratum and fluid properties (e.g. hydrogen sulphide).
What is your favorite/least favorite part of a research cruise? Favorite things: working with ROVs, meeting new people and nightly stargazing. Least favorite things: lack of sleep and missing my family and friends.
Why did you decide to become a scientist/engineer/etc.? As long as I can remember I've been fascinated with the ocean. I've been an avid scuba diver since I was 14, and always wanted to be a marine biologist when I grew up!
How did you become one? My path was a bit unconventional. I first completed a degree in philosophy and german, and afterwards completed a second undergrad degree in Marine Biology. I worked with marine mammals for my BSc honours thesis, and before grad school I studied intertidal polychaetes in Bermuda. For the past 5 years I've been studying the ecology of deep-sea hydrothermal vents on the Juan de Fuca Ridge in the northeast Pacific. I hope to complete my PhD this term! Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
What
is your role on the cruise? What
are your primary goals? What
do you expect to find? What
is your favorite/least favorite part of a research cruise? My least favorite part of a research cruise is being away from home. I will be missing my boyfriend, my cat, and my dog while I'm gone, but I'm sure they'll survive without me for 2 ½ weeks! Why
did you decide to become a scientist/engineer/etc? How
did you become one? I applied to graduate schools and decided to make the leap across the country to work on a Masters in Marine Science at Moss Landing Marine Labs. I remember the second week in the program counting gastropods in the mud flats for a Marine Ecology class and thinking, I can't believe I am in school right now—this is so fun! I studied larval settlement of benthic invertebrates for my thesis and then got the opportunity to work for MBARI's video lab. In the year and a half that I have worked here, I have learned about deep-sea invertebrates and fish, cold seeps, hydrothermal vents, lava formations, and geological processes—all while annotating MBARI ROV dive tapes! I feel really fortunate to be in a position where I am paid to keep learning every day!
MBARI Senior Scientist
What is your role on the cruise? I am the chief scientist for this cruise. I will be responsible for determining the dive targets and coordinating the shipboard efforts of a diverse team of scientists, including chemists, geologists, zoologists, and microbiologists. Developing a dive strategy that meets the needs of this diverse group is the greatest challenge.
After the cruise, I will coordinate efforts by these scientist to develop a comprehensive picture of ecological and evolutionary changes across the hydrothermal vent fields we plan to visit.
What are your primary goals? Our immediate goal is to obtain biological, chemical, and geological samples from a series of hydrothermal vents in and out of the Gulf of California. In the Gulf, the Guaymas Basin hydrothermal springs (27 degrees north latitude) sit on top of 600 meters of sediment that covers the hard-rock bottom. Superheated vent water leaches through these sediments and delivers a rich mixture of reduced gases (mostly hydrogen sulfide) and hydrocarbons to the bacteria and animals that colonize the areas around hot springs.
Outside the Gulf, hydrothermal vents at 21 degrees north latitude are not sedimented. They occur in hard rock (basalts) produced by recent lava flows. Here the chemistry is simpler and the animal diversity changes substantially to a fauna that is characteristic of the East pacific Rise system. However, vestimentiferan tubeworms, a few snails, and some crustaceans occupy both the sedimented and unsedimented ecosystems. We also plan to explore the Tamayo Fracture Zone, a geographically intermediate locality that might comprise a transition zone between the sedimented and unsedimented regions.
Back at MBARI, we will quantify the differences in community composition and examine the rates of animal dispersal (gene flow) among these localities spread across 300 kilometers of ocean bottom.
What do you expect to find? Based on my earlier expeditions to the Guaymas and 21 north vents, I expect to find giant (3-6 foot long) tubeworms, Riftia pachyptila, that create large bushes in which many other animals live. You could look at them as trees in the forest with all the attending birds, insects, etc. I also expect to see different species of clams at the two ends of the sampled range. This raises questions about which species will occupy the intermediate locality at Tamayo. Much of our work will focus on identifying all the little critters that live in the tubeworm forest. We hope to assess whether the chemical and microbial environment of these bushes is related in some way to the composition of the animal communities.
What is your favorite/least favorite part of a research cruise? The few weeks before a cruise are always hectic with all the attending worries about your equipment getting there intact. I don't like to travel much anymore, so the flights and all the aggravation dealing with customs and immigration going to and from a cruise are very tiring.
But, the cruises themselves are enjoyable once you leave the dock. I enjoy most the interactions with a diverse group of scientists. Frankly, most of the chemistry, geology, microbiology, and oceanography I have learned was acquired at sea with the help and patience of my scientific colleagues.
Why did you decide to become a scientist/engineer/etc? How did you become one? Basically, I am still a 9-year old boy who won't stop asking simple questions, and who is rarely satisfied with the answers. So, I have to learn it for myself. I can't remember a time as a child that I didn't want to be a biologist of some kind. In high school and college, I wanted to be a biology teacher or a veterinarian. My college professors recognized my curiosity and encouraged me to go to research seminars and engage in research projects, and that was it! The fun of learning something new, just for its own sake, was the major attraction for a career as a scientist. I went to graduate school, earned a Ph.D., and have been a college professor and research scientist ever since.
|
|||||||||||||||