Toucan Drinking and Basis of the Research

(Toucan drinking out of Nalgene in the Rainforest)

The Title of the research is: Structure, Function, and Evolution of Authigenic, Methane-Derived Carbonate Ecosystems......Chief Scientist is Dr. Lisa Levin, UCSD

Authigenic carbonate precipitation associated with methane seepage is typicallyby anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM). This microbial process produces massive amounts of carbonate rock, introducing habitat heterogenity to continental margins and providing a major repository for methane derived carbon released from the sea floor. We are investigating the extent to which these carbonate substrates form a distinct ecosystem within the seep environment by characterizing associated microbial, foraminiferal, macrofaunal and megafaunal communities in a successful context.

(CTD- Allows water samples to be taken at different depths. Typically one of my many jobs is to aid getting this machine off the side and emtying the bottles in to jars, and writing a log on the samples. These water samples are used to determine the oxygen mininum at certain levels of the dive. We are currently doing dives of 800meters.)

(Surfacing of Alvin's first dive of our research. Alvin brings up many things from the bottom of the ocean for analysis here...rocks, )

(Left to right: Brian Wrightsman, Tony Rathburn

Jason Waggoner, and Elana Perez...these are the main four

people that I work with.)

(Alvin being hoisted after first dive)

(In case of emergencies we had to try on our "Gumby Suits")

(Brian and me getting ready to get in Alvin for the first time)

(Inside Alvin, the position I'm sitting in would typically last for 8 hours per dive)

I am currently working on the Night Ops crew [90% of us do], duties include CTD-Water, CTD-Log, CTD-Operations, I have taken full duties of the Multi-core machine, which includes launches and retrievals a night, and processing the sediments back here in our lab wants they are retrieved. We work in the Chem Lab, trying to identify Foraminifera, ("Hole Bearers" , forams for short, are a large group of amoeboid protists with reticulating pseudopods, fine strands of cytoplasm that branch and merge to form a dynamic net.

We usually sleep through breakfest, and sometimes make it for lunch, mostly one to two meals a day with lots of snacking and coffee throughout the day. There are two chefs on board that do a fantastic job of macking good food.