Topic choice submission
Posted by theadora on October 6, 2007
disclaimer: somehow I have gotten totally self-conscious and embarrassed about my writing. I hope no one thinks I am an idiot. Does this make any sense at all? Our topic choice submissions are supposed to be really informal. But I know that when I’m half-way-ing the scientific tone, I just sound overblown and undereducated. But the point is, you’re reading this because you want to know what I’m up to out here on the tundra and I’m going to tell you about it. I don’t do anything but think about marine science all. day. long. That, and how to retaliate for pranks by the diving class. And what the rest of the lyrics to “Shady’s Back” are at 7:00am in dining hall. Pictures and video to follow. For now: SCIENCE! sort of. ugh.
Topic choice sheet
1. Zooplankton
2. Physical Oceanography
3. Otherwise anything else is fine
I’ve gotten really interested in the net movement of water masses through the San Juan channel. I know that tidal signals in the fauna and physical oceanography of North and South stations are incredibly strong, but I also have a feeling that what happens to the zooplankton in the water as they are transported with the non-tidal currents is a story worth investigating. For example, Zamos’ research describes a decidedly bottom-up controlled ecosystem near South station. Nothing so definitive has been described for North station, and I am wondering if part of the answer might lie in the fact that the structure of the plankton community that passes South station is fundamentally changed by the time that same community reaches North station. This effect would never have shown up in any of the other plankton papers for PEF because no one took into account how long it would take a theoretical cohort of zooplankton to move from South to North, not with the tides, but with the circulation currents.
This is also a great topic for me because, as Leigh Van Valen said in 1973, “Evolution is the control of development by ecology.” I have been interested in development and evolution for a long time. Since larvae make up an important part of any zooplankton community, now is a perfect chance for me to learn a lot more about larval ecology!
