Today was our first day off of diving, and while it was relaxing for some of us to not be seasick, the day still went by quickly. This gave us a chance to catch up on preparing and problem solving for our science for the rest of our time here. There was lots of reorganizing, charging of cameras, and problem solving adjustments needed to be made in the field.
I had a chance to look at the first round of zooplankton that were collected from my night traps. After looking through just one sample over the reef I learned that there is a large diversity of zooplankton and there are quite a few new species that I have never seen before.
I had a chance to look at the first round of zooplankton that were collected from my night traps. After looking through just one sample over the reef I learned that there is a large diversity of zooplankton and there are quite a few new species that I have never seen before.
I was able to determine which zooplankton from my sample were alive or dead before they were collected by using a neutral red staining technique. This is added to the sample on the boat at the surface while processing the samples immediately after their collection. Then when looking at the sample under a microscope, the dye makes any animals that were alive during the collection a darker red color, whereas any animals collected that were already dead are a lighter pink, brown, or clear color. In the picture below, you can see the larger copepod on the left is a darker color than the smaller copepod on the right, meaning it was alive during the time of collection. This allows for greater insight on discovering the dynamics of zooplankton on the reef. In this sample there was only one additional copepod that appeared to be alive, which provides a better interpretation of what is happening on the reef.
- Amanda