
Sample team is brought back by boat after drifting with the currents. On the platform they were probably just enjoying the little trip 😉
All these experiences made us stronger and ready for the real samplings and subsequent processing of the samples. In my case it meant filtering about 80 liters of water. These because I want to see coccolithophores, marine calcifying phytoplanktonic organisms that are at the base of the food web and particularly sensitive to the changing ocean carbonate chemistry. Coccolithophores produce plates (coccoliths) of calcium carbonate which they use to cover their bodies (single cells).
For these organisms, a decreasing pH of the ocean is expected to affect the production of calcium carbonate by coccolithophores (see Image from Beaufort et al. 2011 article where evidence from sediment samples seem to agree this hypothesis). From each of the nine mesocosms I will be filtering 9 liters of water to later observe the filters under the scanner electron microscope (SEM). I will check whether those coccolithophores living in the more acidic ambient have more malformed, incomplete or thinner coccoliths than those living under normal conditions (in the Mediterranean “normal” means high alkalinity and saturation state for calcite, impeding the dissolution of calcium carbonate). Half of the water will be used to measure Ca in the smaller than 40um fraction (if I manage to get sufficient material). First samples are in the oven!
Hi Guys !
C’est le radeau de la Méduse ?
Vous dérivez souvent ? Attention de ne pas vous échouer !
Bon courage
Nanogaz