Featured Scientists: LaTreese Denson and Sennai Habtes!

Today we'd like to introduce you to two collaborators that we've had the pleasure of working with for many years, LaTreese Denson and Sennai Habtes! 

LaTreese first teamed up with the FORCES lab in the summer of 2009 when she completed her Hollings Scholar internship in Miami. We were thrilled when she returned to Miami last year to start her PhD at the UM Rosenstiel School for Marine and Atmospheric Science (RSMAS), funded by the NOAA LMRCSC Fellowship! 

LaTreese shared with us about herself: "Since this is my first year, I currently take classes and experiment with data (e.g., fish abundance, environmental indices, etc ) and different population estimation models to help figure out what I will be using for my dissertation. At this point I basically sit inside all day and read. On the cruise, I am hoping to get more experience with data collection methods for the ecology of larval fish so that I have a better understanding of the quality of the data that is available for my population models. I also just want to be outside/at-sea.

Her research: "I am interested in modeling fish populations and the effect oceanography may have on their dynamics. Modeling fish populations and estimating their abundance is like putting together one of those insane 1000 piece puzzles with a three year old. The pieces might be everywhere or even missing, there is probably a lot of jamming of miss match pieces together and you won't finish it as soon as you thought but eventually you get close to putting the edges of the puzzle together. In the end its great because even those small steps are huge when you consider the magnitude of the problem."

We love LaTreese's passion and curiosity for marine science! Be sure to check out her personal blog as well, where she's currently sharing her own experiences on the Nancy Foster!

Dr. Sennai Habtes has been an honorary member of the FORCES lab since 2009 when he participated in the Spring SEAMAP plankton survey, and then throughout his PhD studies on larval bluefin tuna. He is now an Assistant Research Professor of Biological Oceanography at the Center for Marine and Environmental Studies (CMES) at the University of the Virgin Islands (UVI).

Read more about Sennai's research! "As a professor at UVI, my time is split evenly between research, teaching, and running the Coastal Oceanography lab for UVI-CMES. My research falls primarily within the fields of fisheries oceanography and zooplankton ecology and is focused on using time series data to study patterns in, and impacts to marine organisms in tropical and subtropical regions. This often requires the development and analysis of data products from satellite, airborne and in-situ oceanographic sensors to understand large marine ecosystems at synoptic spatial and longer temporal scales. Here at UVI I am interested in studying the physical processes and environmental variability in coastal and pelagic ecosystems surrounding the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, and to determine how these factors affect the abundance and distribution of marine organisms. In particular I am interested in larval fish and zooplankton, which are important life stages for most commercial and recreational fisheries. This information can be used to develop better tools for ecosystem based management and fisheries decision support systems. The Coastal Oceanography Lab or “Ocean Lab,”  is involved in a range of oceanographic research activities surrounding the USVI, including management of two coastal ocean buoy systems which are part of the CARICOOS buoy network, deployment and recovery for a host of oceanographic sensors used in conjunction with marine research for the Virgin Islands Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (VI-EPSCoR), and a time-series of zooplankton and oceanographic data used as part of an ecosystem analysis project within Brewers Bay, on St. Thomas. In addition I teach courses on Ecological Research Methods for the Masters for Marine and Environmental Studies program at UVI and a course in oceanography for the undergraduate BS/BA programs in Marine Biology and Environmental Sciences for UVI."

Goals for this cruise: "Beyond simply getting to interact with the cool and amazing scientists in the FORCES lab at NOAA SEFSC and Physical Oceanography Division at NOAA AOML, I am collecting zooplankton in conjunction with the surveys on larval reef fish to understand how oceanographic conditions affect patterns in zooplankton abundance, distribution, and community composition. In addition this data can be used to understand over time if there are changes in Caribbean zooplankton communities and to asses how this may impact larval fish habitat suitability and survival."

Sennai is excited for the waterspout that came near the ship!

We are grateful for the time we've had with LaTreese and Sennai, and look forward to collaborating with them for many years to come!

Featured Scientists: Adrianne Wilson and Mara Duke!

We are extremely lucky to have so many partners and collaborators from around the country and globe - over the next few posts we'd like to introduce you to some of them that have joined us for Leg 3! First up, we have two graduate students who are spending some of their summers with us, Adrianne Wilson and Mara Duke! 



Adrianne Wilson is a Master's student at Florida A&M University. She is currently working on her M.S. in Environmental Science with a concentration in marine and estuarine studies. Her Master's thesis focuses on larval fish assemblages in the Gulf of Mexico. Adrianne is doing a summer internship in the FORCES lab in Miami, and we are thrilled she was able to join us for a leg of the cruise! During these two weeks at sea Adrianne hopes to learn more about the methods behind larval fish sampling, gain research cruise experience, meet cool scientists and study fish all day!

Mara Duke is a graduate student in the Masters of Marine and Environmental Science Program at University of the Virgin Islands. Her thesis research is on the connection between water quality and abundance and distribution of zooplankton in Brewers Bay in St Thomas, USVI. This is Mara's first cruise, and she hopes to gain her "sea legs" and experience on an oceanographic vessel!

Both Adrianne and Mara have already showed how valuable they are as scientists on board, and we can't wait to see what is in store for these awesome young researchers! 

via GIPHY
(Mara is preparing the plankton collected in the MOCNESS for preservation in ethanol)

Return to the Virgin Islands

While Legs 1 and 2 of NF1602 involved updated collection strategies, adaptive sampling, new techniques, and historic port stops, Leg 3 brings us back to some welcome familiar territory, the U.S. and British Virgin Islands! The partners at AOML/PHOD and NMFS/SEFSC have sampled these regions from 2007-2011, and again in 2015. 

Brewers Bay, St. Thomas, USVI

A plankton sample is preserved

This year, the research collaboration will focus on surveying the oceanographic conditions (using CTD, ADCP, and drifter data), larval reef fish populations (with neuston and MOCNESS net tows), and zooplankton concentrations (mini-bongo) across the coastal shelf of the U.S. Virgin Islands and the surrounding region. Data collected will help us understand the connectivity and variation in the transport and supply of reef fish larvae between managed and non-managed areas in the Virgin Islands. 

Scientist Kathryn sorts a fresh sample

We'll be sorting our plankton samples live on board, like on Legs 1 and 2. This way, we can get real-time information on fish species of interest, and freeze samples immediately so we can conduct DNA and isotope analyses on the samples. Nitrogen isotopes in these samples provide definitive biological linkages and trophic structure comparisons between fish populations. We are especially targeting larval parrotfish. These colorful species are fished locally, especially in St. Croix, USVI. From an ecosystem standpoint, herbivorous parrotfish are valuable grazers on coral reefs, feeding on competitive algae which can inhibit coral recruitment.

The two genera of parrotfish larvae we are interested in: left, Sparisoma sp., and right, Scarus sp.

We have many new faces on board this leg, so stayed tuned for some spotlights on our guest scientists and their research! For now, here's a sneak peak at what we've been up to so far...

Scientists Adrianne, Kathryn, and LaTreese rinse down the "S25" neuston net

Scientist Dan takes light measurements for his optics study

Oceanographer Ryan takes water samples from the CTD

Scientist Mara preserves a microzooplankton sample from the mini-bongo

Leg 2 Wrap Up!

"Leg 3" of the survey has officially started! Nancy, as we affectionately call the ship, departed from St. Thomas and is currently sampling in and around the US and British Virgin Islands as well as Puerto Rico for the next couple of weeks to continue our larval reef fish monitoring in the area (EST 2007-2011, 2013 and 2015!). The focus of this survey is quite different than the previous month (chasing eddies, lobsters and tunas!) and we will continue to share our journey along the way.

So to wrap up the first portion (NF1602), our Legs 1 and 2 chief scientist shared some of her thoughts:

John, our SEFSC Principle Investigator (PI) on the back deck

Evidence of our very international sci-crew

"The past month aboard the NOAA Ship Nancy Foster has been compiled with unforgettable moments! After many years of trying to have a port visit with our neighbor country (Cuba), we successfully docked in La Habana as well as in Cienfuegos!! As marine scientists, we are often ultra-focused on the science, but often the social angle gets lost in the mountains of paperwork we have to navigate to accomplish our research. Our trip to Cuba was possible thanks to many many people in the University, as well as multiple people in both of our governmental institutions - each doing their part to inch our collaborations forward. Our blog portrays the most fun aspect of going to sea, but just to set foot on the ship, A LOT happens behind the scenes!

"So without much further ado, THANK YOU to all that made the month of MAY possible! If you are one of those people reading the blog (you know who you are), we truly appreciate your efforts and hope you enjoyed the blog so far!"

We have some May photos for your enjoyment... stay tuned for most of June as Nancy returns to the eastern Caribbean!!

Miami-Cozumel (Leg 1)
L-R: Ofelia, Lulu, John, Yoandry, Raul, Aki, Grant, Jason, Matthieu, Leif, Atsushi
Front: Sarah and Estrella

Cozumel-Cienfuegos (Leg 2)
L-R: Estrella, John, Trika, David, Aki, Leif, Cati, Ofelia, Jason, Ryan
Front: Raul, Yoandry

Yoandry, Grant, Lulu, and Raul pose during a station on the back deck

Selfie!! Leg 1 scientists on the back deck at the end of the leg.

Cati, Ofelia, Raul, and Aki take in the view from the bridge deck as the ship pulls into Cienfuegos, Cuba.

L-R: John, Raul, Jason, David, Leif, Ryan, Aki, Trika, Cati, Ofelia, and Estrella in Cienfuegos.

Featured Scientist: Catalina "Cati" Mena Oliver

Although we are starting to sample in the eastern Caribbean, today's blog features a 'leg 2' participant: Cati! 

Picoplankton and the microbial food web (from Johnson and Lin, 2009)

Processing plankton samples

Catalina Mena Oliver (Cati) joined us in Cozumel back in May to specifically sample picoplankton during Leg 2. Catalina is a PhD student from the Spanish Institute of Oceanography (Oceanographic Centre of  Baleares - Larval Ecology Group), and she is developing her Doctoral Thesis studying the base of the planktonic food web with special interest in the bacterioplankton communities (picoplankton). 

Dynamic oceanographic currents of the western MED
(Balbin et al 2014)

Picophytoplankton (~0.2 to 2 µm) are the smallest autotrophic organisms on Earth and in stratified oligotrophic regions (like the Mediterranean and the Caribbean) can be a key component as biomass source. During our survey we aim to link the community of primary producers to eddy structures, since these communities can be highly influenced by mesoscale dynamics and by changes in resource supply. The phytoplankton size structure and the relative contribution of the different phytoplankton size fractions in terms of carbon biomass strongly affect the carbon transfer and the ecosystem functioning.

Cati shares her research with the science team

Cati shared with our blog: “I am very grateful to FORCES Lab from SEFSC-NOAA to give me the opportunity to participate in the Nancy Foster survey and I hope we could continue this collaboration in the future. The results obtained will help us to assess if the ecosystem is supported by a microbial food web, dominated by the picophytoplankton fraction, which might be crucial as food source not only for bluefin tuna larval ecology but also for other many species”.
We enjoyed to have Cati aboard and hope that she will sail again with us! We look forward to sharing her results in the future with you our loyal reader! 

Trying on the safety suit! (Cati is a LOBSTER)

Featured Scientist: Dr. Raul Laiz Carrion!

Dear reader, today we feature a guest post by Dr. Raul Laiz Carrion. Please scroll down for English. 

Raul and Lulu collect plankton

En esta campaña NF1602, somos muy afortunados de nuevamente contar con la participación del Investigador del Centro Oceanográfico de Málaga del Instituto Español de Oceanografía (IEO) el Dr. Raul Laiz-Carrión! Raul se ha convertido en un “clásico” de nuestro equipo de trabajo en las campañas de investigación del Mar Caribe, gracias a la estrecha colaboración que existe entre el IEO y el FORCES Lab del SEFSC-NOAA. 

Measuring fish before freezing them in Liquid Nitrogen

Esta fructífera colaboración entre las dos instituciones ha dado lugar a que actualmente se haya conseguido financiación de la Secretaria de Estado de Investigación,  Desarrollo e Investigación del Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad de España para realizar el proyecto ECOLATUN (CTM2015-68473-R-MINECO/FEDER), titulado: “ECOLOGIA TROFICA COMPARATIVA DE LARVAS DE ATUN ROJO ATLANTICO (THUNNUS THYNNUS) DE LAS AREAS DE PUESTA DEL MEDTERRANEO-NO Y EL GOLFO DE MEXICO.”


El principal interés del Dr. Laiz-Carrión se centra en la ecología larvaria de 
especies de especial interés no solo desde el punto de vista económico sino fundamentalmente ecológico, como puede es el atún rojo. En los últimos años ha centrado sus investigaciones en tratar de explicar la variabilidad en el crecimiento a través de las diferentes estrategias tróficas en estadios de temprana edad... “Pequeñas variaciones en el crecimiento pueden originar grandes cambios en la supervivencia larvaria y por consiguiente en el reclutamiento de la especie. 

PI Lamkin and PI Laiz-Carrion 

Tratamos de entender estas variaciones en el crecimiento no solo con la caracterización de los diferentes hábitats de puesta, sino también entendiendo la ecología trófica de la especie objeto de estudio y su interacción con otras especies que la acompañan y con las que puede compartir los recursos alimenticios a lo largo de la cadena trófica. Todo esto lo abordamos desde el punto de vista comparativo entre el Golfo de México y áreas adyacentes y las aguas del Mar Balear del Mediterráneo. Para abordar este proyecto tan ilusionante, es una verdadera suerte el poder contar con la participación y el apoyo de expertos de reconocido prestigio internacional de diferentes instituciones americanas (NOAA, Univ. of Miami/CIMAS, CUNY, WHOI), mexicanas (ECOSUR) y españolas (IEO).”

A brief summary in English:

Raul processes data from the Mini-Bongo net

During this research survey (NF1602) we are lucky to once again have the participation of Dr. Raul Laiz-Carrión, a researcher from the Centro Oceanográfico de Málaga del Instituto Español de Oceanografía (IEO). Raul has become a “classic” member of our team during our Gulf/Caribbean surveys as a result of the close-collaborations between his Lab at the IEO and the NOAA NMFS FORCES Lab. Our productive collaboration has proven effective as we recently awarded a proposal from the Research Ministry of Spain (Secretaria de Estado de Investigación,  Desarrollo e Investigación del Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad de España) in a project titled: “Comparative trophic ecology of bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) in spawning areas in the Northwest Mediterranean and the Gulf of Mexico.”

Raul’s research is focused on the larval ecology for species of interest (not just from a commercial emphasis, but mainly from an ecological context). In the last few years, Raul’s work has investigated the natural variability in growth by examining trophic strategies during the earliest larval stages. Recently we have compared the Balearic Sea (Mediterranean) with the Gulf of Mexico thanks to our multidisciplinary and international support from NOAA, UM/CIMAS, CUNY, WHOI, ECOSUR (Mexico), IEO (Spain).

Megastations!

The second portion of our research survey ("Leg 2") is complete! Over the course of ~3 intense days, we worked around the clock and deployed 104 XBTs, conducted 14 CTD casts, and completed 27 MOCNESS, 19 Neuston, and 6 mini-bongo tows - all in order to better understand the mesoscale eddies that had formed in the south of Cuba, and how these dynamic water masses may impact larval zooplankton and fish! (see this post for more about what we were looking for!)

While we are currently enjoying a little break from sampling, we'd love to share with you some images of the last few days....

Planning in the dry lab to discuss our super-intense sampling strategy! Leif leads the discussion in the dry lab!

Left: Ryan carefully plots the next station
Right: Megastations! Our white board gets full, listing all the planned station events

Resultant velocity vectors showing the speed (vector length) and direction of the currents as we traversed
the anticyclonic (rotating clockwise) eddy. Vector colors indicate sea surface temperature. 

Nets! Top: Sr. Survey Tech Samantha supervises the deployment of the MOCNESS
Bottom: Scientists Leif and Jason deploy the  Neuston net

When you've been up all night working, things get a little silly!
Top L: Jason, Aki, and Yoandry celebrate their 5th MOCNESS tow of the day! Top R: Estrella models the new cruise uniform. Bottom: Jason is excited to have run another successful MOCNESS tow! 

We're done! Scientists Jason, Estrella, and Yoandry celebrate the end of Leg 2 with a back deck selfie!