Introduction to Plankton - Phytoplankton

In my first "Introduction to Plankton" post I introduced the different types of plankton that live in the ocean. I now would like to expand my introduction and focus on one plankton type at the time. I think the logical way to do it to start from the base of the oceanic food chain upwards (downwards in the picture below in order of appearance in the food web) . 

Oceanic food chain.
Phytoplankton at the base , eaten by zooplankton.

The term "food chain" stands for the representation of what species live in a certain ecosystem (environment) and how they are linked together in a sort of "who eats what" order. Basically all organisms that live in a certain habitat interact with each other, those interaction follow an order which, in simple words, start from the simplest life form upwards. 

Different habitats and ecosystems have evolved throughout time different complexities in their food chains, depending on how many species live there and the environmental factors. Although doesn't matter where, they all have one thing in common, the first link of the chain is plants or so called PHYTOPLANKTON (unicellular algae) in the ocean. 

Because plants and phytoplankton are the first link in the various chains they are called PRIMARY PRODUCERS. Plants can produce their own food through a process called photosynthesis (this is what autotrophs means: plants are autotrophs). The two most important things that phytoplankton needs to do that are:

• light



Phytoplankton growth

• nutrients  (inorganic)

So different light intensities and different nutrient concentrations will determine how well phytoplankton grows and develops. Temperature also plays a major role. Different environments often offer different amounts of the 2 required items. For example, think of polar waters compared to equatorial areas, you will find different species of phytoplankton living in these 2 parts of the world. This is because the 2 areas have completely different characteristics,  therefore the phytoplankton grows differently and over time evolved to adapt to the specific conditions of the habitats. 

Because of this dependence on light, phytoplankton productivity is highest near the surface water and decreases with depth. 

The most important Inorganic nutrients necessary for phytoplankton growth  are CARBON (C), NITROGEN (N) and PHOSPHATE (P) (macronutrients) plus others so called micronutrients such as IRON (Fe). Micro because they are necessary in smaller quantities for the cells to function.

Generally those nutrients are limited at the surface of the open ocean waters with nitrogen and phosphorus in especially short supply; (this is a primary reason for the relatively low productivity of open oceans). Marine phytoplankton is more productive near the coasts were input of nutrients come from the land running off into the surrounding waters. Also productivity is higher in upwelling areas where nutrient rich waters come to the surface.

In one of  the next posts I will talk about the different types of phytoplankton and how to culture it! 

Norwich and Norfolk Festival 2011

Giant Robot-wolves and "piper" driving a wolf-head

For the past 2 weeks (6-21 of May) here in the East of England we had a large festival going on; the so called NNF11 aka Norwich and Norfolk Festival 2011.

The festival's programme included theatrical and musical events as well as workshops for all ages and general random entertainment.

Gosh it took me ages to figure out how to spell the word entertainment...

Anyway,

special effects of giant robot wolves

with so much going on in the lab I managed to select only a few events. The first thing I went to see was this crazy giant robot wolves performance. It was an interpretation of the tale of the Pied Piper of Hamling where the wolves followed an incredible woman playing the piano at the same time as driving a giant wolf head-cart around the city centre...I forgot to mention she is even a contortionist!

The day after (the beginning of the weekend), opened with the "May Daze". In Chapelfield Gardens they set up a lot of stalls and mini shows. I went to see the "side show of curiosities". Quite random as you can see from the picture of the bearded Houdini mermaid...very funny though! It involved cabaret & burlesque events. http://www.hocuspocustheatre.co.uk/

bearded Houdini mermaid

street entertainment

I loved the randomness of some of these performances, the colours and the creativity behind each thought and costumes. There were a lot of science outreach events too, mainly connected to pollution and conservation. Some very interesting workshops of mixing Art and Science as well (I love it).

Back to the festival. In the main time, all over the city, art displays and streets performances were on.

The highlight of the week for me was the "Dining with Alice" show http://diningwithalice.co.uk/. For that we traveled to Elsing Hall, a 15th century moated manor house in rural Norfolk. A wonderful place so fairy-tale like, my pictures don't do it justice so here the direct link http://www.elsinghall.com/. Some of my friends have even volunteered to participate and gave up much of their precious time for the performance! The attention to the details was fabulous.

dining with Alice 1

Dinner table

Izzy and I enjoying the party/show

Final show

In the end I managed to fit in a puppet show as well as a great classical music/choir concert at the Norwich Cathedral (The so called "voice project"), a very enchanting setting with so much history and atmosphere http://www.cathedral.org.uk/.

I seem to go through phases when I listen to a lot of classical music and others when I am more into contemporary pop/rock/folk genre. At present I am loving the old school classics, particularly while I am trying to write up a paper I wish to publish soon (ish...a few months I suspect)..we'll see. I found that listening to new age type of noises, the sound of waves in particular is also very soothing and helps me focusing blocking the other background noises out. Strangely on the website I found: http://www.partnersinrhyme.com/wmcstore/WMCshop.cgi?action=dbview&id=EA25 you can even select background such as "electric fan"...

I am disappointed I didn't get tickets for some of the show in the main tent arena but there is always next year. Shakespeare season is opening now, not that I understand all of what the actors are saying, with me being foreign and all, but I love a bit of theatre none the less! Shows really break the routine and they are very social. 

Collecting Plankton

Carboys and Emma

A few weeks ago I went to collect some lovely plankton off the coast of Great Yarmouth. The company were I used to work before (Gardline Environmental), is kindly helping me in my quest for it.

Emma and I went out on one of their fast cats. It was a very clear day and thankfully very calm! I do suffer of seasickness and unfortunately, I am one of the very unlucky ones that really cannot get over it; doesn't matter what I do. But I love the sea so much and I will keep going back.

Emma's version of the event is here:  http://sowhataboutseaweed.wordpress.com/2011/04/11/monday-media-copepod-hunting/

WP2 Bongo net 0.2mm mesh.
AMT20 zooplankton pre-dawn cast

We deployed our nets not too far from the coast in the cold water (8 degrees!) and collected some little zooplankton and copepods for me.

There are different ways of collecting plankton, mainly because it depends on what plankton you want to sample. As I mentioned in my previous post "introduction to plankton", the is quite a variety  of plankton and plankton sizes which can effect the selection of the sampling method. Plants and animals are collected usind different equipment and separately.

I am interested in MESO - zooplankton. This means I want to target animals and in the size range of 0.2-20 mm.

Plankton net cleaning

I also have to consider the environmental conditions of where I want to sample. In the North Sea for example, the water is quite shallow and murky and a little bit colder than in the English Channel. The zooplankton population here tends to be a little bit smaller. For instance, very abundant around here is a copepod species called Temora Longicornis, adult females are about 1mm in length.

The standard way of sampling mesozooplankton is to deploy a 0.2mm mesh sized WP2 plankton net. "WP2" stands for the type of net, it defines the net diameter (usually 57cm) and the proportions of the net. Combining 2 nets together like in the pic to your left makes a "bongo" net.

However I selected a smaller net with a 0.12mm mesh. The picture above shows the little net I used and the  "anatomy" of a plankton net .

We towed the net slowly for a few minutes and then we recovered the sample.  Copepods are delicate and sensitive to light, I need them to stay alive for my experiments so I took a few measures to limit the stress as much as possible. I delicately emptied the cod end into a darkened carboy and made sure the copepods had plenty of water to swim about. Soon I will show you a few pictures of my little ones.

Back at the lab I started sorting them out under the microscope and I set up a culture. They are now reproducing and swimming in my buckets.

Experiments...in the kitchen!

I have never been great at planning my evening meals nor my lunch boxes unfortunately, so often I found myself opening all the cupboards in the kitchen trying to scrape something up together or even just ending up with a sandwich. I am generally a good cook and I do like cooking when I have the time and the motivation (when others are there to benefit from it too basically). 

So...In light of all the above, I started daring a little and experimenting with my dinners, implementing a good and solid scientific method "cough cough". Kind of. 

To start with I needed an hypothesis;

Hypothesis 1: It is possible to make a delicious meal under 20 minutes.

The experimental design involved trying to make something decent in the shortest time possible...and with whatever I had in the cupboard. That's because, as I have already mentioned, there is no way I was going to think before hand what to have for dinner (I only have room for plankton related planning at present, thus my internal memory is full). And because I hate shopping, there was no way I would actually drag myself to the supermarket unless moths were the only thing left in stock. 

(I do occasionally stop at the corner shop though...well you know...when the milk turns into yogurt I need to replace it).

The first experiment I attempted involved freezer related "stuff" plus some pasta and half a tomato that was in desperate need to be used up. While I put the pasta to boil (10 minutes), I chopped the tomato up then I added the frozen peas and prawns that I scavenged from the freezer and mixed with a pinch of salt and herbs.  Then I microwaved the whole lot together. Oh! and for a touch of class I added a couple of drops of the lovely truffle oil that my friend Liz got me for Christmas...

Once I drained the pasta and added a knob of butter I splattered the "sauce" on top and proceeded eating it. The result wasn't as bad as I thought, a little tasteless maybe...well I wouldn't pay for it in a restaurant but I think I had worse things. But then again I was late for the comedy show at the Norwich Play House so I just had to be happy with that.

For my second attempt I actually put a little more effort in (considering the first time around my effort level was 0). I discarded the freezer in favour of mystery cupboards 1 and 2 and the fridge. I found:

In the fridge:

• out of date tofu (only 5 days)
• wrinkled up pepper
• a sorry looking leek
• some shriveled up carrots 

Strange looking barley/lentil grainy thing

In the cupboards:

• lentils
• strange looking barley/lentil grainy thing, left behind from a previous housemate since 2009 (see pic)
• out of date saffron (surely being a dried spice it never goes off?) best before 2009 

I chopped the sorry looking veggies and then I mixed them all together with the other items in a pan, adding white wine and stock to stop the whole thing from sticking and adding spices and salt as I wanted.

I think the experiment was a success, I did like the result and I will make it again!

Experiment 2 results

I have to mention that hopefully soon I will be able to find the motivation to cook properly again, my partner is finally coming home from Qatar to stay and not just to visit! Finally after so many years. Maybe he can cook too... 

Where is the good in goodbye?

Raf & Elena

For the past 4 months Elena, a PhD student from Vigo University, has been in Norwich to work with me and Moritz at UEA. 

We had quite a lot of fun trying to compare different techniques to measure dissolved oxygen and she helped me greatly with my poor maths. I don't dislike maths, actually I quite like it, is just that I haven't really used it for years and my brain is taking a while to tune to it again. Well...I never was particularly good at it to be honest but I am sure I can improve. 

Anyway, Elena has now gone back to Spain and I will miss her greatly. Parting from friends and family is never easy, I thought that by now I would be used to it. My family lives in Italy and I live in the UK so I practice a lot on them and on my partner who works in Qatar. 

Elena and "Respi", her microelectrode

But unfortunately it turns out that, you may get used to say goodbye to someone in particular but each time a new person leaves you still end up feeling deeply sad.

I think I am a little bit crap with feelings...I don't realize how much I care about someone until it's time to part... But I suppose it's all in the knowing you'll see each other again (or not!).

"Only in the agony of parting do we look into the depths of love." George Eliot

I hope we'll meet again even if I don't know when. Anyway we still have the secret plan about finding a postdoc in the same place. So to you my friend:

"Farewell, my sister, fare thee well.
The elements be kind to thee, and make
Thy spirits all of comfort: fare thee well".
William Shakespeare

And more:

"May you always have work for your hands to do.
May your pockets hold always a coin or two.
May the sun shine bright on your windowpane.
May the rainbow be certain to follow each rain.
May the hand of a friend always be near you.
And may God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you".
Irish Blessing 

PS: for a godless version may I suggest "life" instead than the word "God"?  It is nice to have an option, scientists are seldom religious.

Can I add: "May Respi be fixed and always give you great data!"