Planting trees for the ocean?

[Originally posted to MBA Student Oceanography Club (SOC)]

For two of our field activities, the Student Oceanography club has planted trees and removed invasive plants on a former artichoke farm that is now growing strawberries.  Huh?  What does weeding have to do with oceanography?  How do willows next to a berry patch help conserve the oceans?  Well it turns out that our efforts can help the ocean in a number of ways:

1. Trees and other native plants produce habitat and foraging space for birds and insects.  Many of these, such as the ladybugs that we saw during our visit, eat crop pests.  When pest predators are abundant, farmers use fewer pesticides, reducing the amount of chemicals washed  into the sea.  Even though Serendipity Farms is an organic farm, the insectivore-friendly practices they are putting in place will have positive effects on surrounding farms, too.
2. Trees and other plants absorb lots of nutrients in ground water, leading to cleaner water reaching rivers and the ocean.  While nutrients may sound like a good thing, excess nutrients in the ocean can lead to harmful algal blooms (see my post about dinoflagellates below).  This is especially important in agricultural areas where farmers add nutrients to the soil with fertilizers.
3. By slowing down water running over the ground and protecting the ground from wind and rain, trees and plants also reduce erosion.  Less erosion means less sediment is transported to the ocean, where it can smother marine life.  Less erosion also means that rich topsoil is preserved, reducing farmers’ reliance on fertilizers.
4. Trees create shade that keeps water in streams and marshes cooler.  Cool water increases dissolved oxygen levels and is crucial for the health of fish, such as steelhead that live in the Carmel River. Fallen trees also create hiding spaces and slow currents, making better habitat for young steelhead.  After growing up in streams and estuaries, steelhead become an important part of the marine food chain, feasting on plankton and small fish while providing food for larger fish and marine mammals.
5. Finally, trees reduce atmospheric carbon through photosynthesis and sequester carbon in their wood.  Planting trees may be one of the most effective methods of taking CO2 out of the atmosphere in order to reduce the effects of global climate change and ocean acidification.

Halibut Catch

[Originally posted to the Marine Photobank]

Freshly caught halibut ready for market.

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Description:
California Halibut (Paralichthys californicus) unloaded from bottom trawlers in Monterey, California, await shipment to markets.

Exposure Date:
3/17.2010

Gallery:
Fish Markets

City/Region:
Monterey

State/Province:
California

Country:
United States

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Download:
http://www.marinephotobank.org/secure/gallery-photo.php?photo_id=7617

Copyright Statement :
Image may be used for non-commercial and media purposes only. Credit should state, "Gerick Bergsma 2010/Marine Photobank."

Rockfish in Bin

[Originally posted to the Marine Photobank]

Rockfish shipment

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Description:
Rockfish (Sebastes spp.) unloaded from bottom trawlers in Monterey, California, are loaded in bins for shipment to markets where they will be sold as Pacific Red Snapper.

Exposure Date:
3.17.2010

Gallery:
Marine Species of Concern, Fish Markets

City/Region:
Monterey

State/Province:
California

Country:
United States

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Download:
http://www.marinephotobank.org/secure/gallery-photo.php?photo_id=7615

Copyright Statement :
Image may be used for non-commercial and media purposes only. Credit should state, "Gerick Bergsma 2010/Marine Photobank."

Rockfish on Ice, close-up

[Originally posted to the Marine Photobank]

Gazing into the eye of a freshly caught rockfish.

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Description:
Rockfish (Sebastes spp.) unloaded from bottom trawlers in Monterey, California, await shipment to markets where they will be sold as Pacific Red Snapper.

Exposure Date:
3.17.2010

Gallery:
Marine Species of Concern, Fish Markets

City/Region:
Monterey

State/Province:
California

Country:
United States

---

Download:
http://www.marinephotobank.org/secure/gallery-photo.php?photo_id=7616

Copyright Statement :
Image may be used for non-commercial and media purposes only. Credit should state, "Gerick Bergsma 2010/Marine Photobank."

Rockfish on Ice to be Shipped

[Originally posted to the Marine Photobank]

Freshly caught rockfish wait to be shipped.

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Description:
Rockfish (Sebastes spp.) unloaded from bottom trawlers in Monterey, California, await shipment to markets where they will be sold as Pacific Red Snapper.

Exposure Date:
3/17/2010

Gallery:
Photo Contest 2010, Marine Species of Concern, Fish Markets

City/Region:
Monterey

State/Province:
California

Country:
United States

---

Download:
http://www.marinephotobank.org/secure/gallery-photo.php?photo_id=7376

Copyright Statement :
Image may be used for non-commercial and media purposes only. Credit should state, "Gerick Bergsma 2010/Marine Photobank."

Brandt's Cormorant

[Originally posted to the Marine Photobank]

A Brandt's Cormorant breeding colony.

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Description:
Brandt's cormorants (Phalacrocorax penicillatus) nesting along the Central California coast.

Exposure Date:
7/10/2009

Gallery:
Marine Species of Concern

City/Region:
Monterey

State/Province:
California

Country:
United States

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Download:
http://www.marinephotobank.org/secure/gallery-photo.php?photo_id=7105

Copyright Statement :
Image may be used for non-commercial and media purposes only. Credit should state, "Gerick Bergsma 2010/Marine Photobank."

Additional Comments:
shorebird, seabird, bird, nest

Common Murre

[Originally posted to the Marine Photobank]

A common murre.

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Description:
A common murre (Uria aalge) along the Central California coast.

Exposure Date:
10/15/2009

Gallery:
Marine Species of Concern

City/Region:
Monterey

State/Province:
California

Country:
United States

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Download:
http://www.marinephotobank.org/secure/gallery-photo.php?photo_id=7104

Copyright Statement :
Image may be used for non-commercial and media purposes only. Credit should state, "Gerick Bergsma 2010/Marine Photobank."

Additional Comments:
shorebird, seabird, bird, auk, guillemot

Surf Scoters

[Originally posted to the Marine Photobank]

Surf Scoters.

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Description:
Surf scoters (Melanitta perspicillata) along the California coast.

Exposure Date:
11/04/2009

Gallery:
Marine Species of Concern

City/Region:
Monterey

State/Province:
California

Country:
United States

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Download:
http://www.marinephotobank.org/secure/gallery-photo.php?photo_id=7109

Copyright Statement :
Image may be used for non-commercial and media purposes only. Credit should state, "Gerick Bergsma 2010/Marine Photobank."

Additional Comments:
shorebird, seabird, bird, seaduck, duck

Marbled Godwit, California

[Originally posted to the Marine Photobank]

A marbled godwit.

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Description:
A marbled godwit (Limosa fedoa) along the California coast.

Exposure Date:
1/16/2010

Gallery:
Marine Species of Concern

City/Region:
Monterey

State/Province:
California

Country:
United States

---

Download:
http://www.marinephotobank.org/secure/gallery-photo.php?photo_id=7106

Copyright Statement :
Image may be used for non-commercial and media purposes only. Credit should state, "Gerick Bergsma 2010/Marine Photobank."

Additional Comments:
shorebird, seabird, bird,

A Willet, California

[Originally posted to the Marine Photobank]

A willet.

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Description:
A willet (Tringa semipalmata) along the California coast.
Exposure Date:
11/04/2009
Gallery:
Marine Species of Concern
City/Region:
Monterey
State/Province:
California
Country:
United States

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Download:
http://www.marinephotobank.org/secure/gallery-photo.php?photo_id=7108
Copyright Statement :
Image may be used for non-commercial and media purposes only. Credit should state, "Gerick Bergsma 2010/Marine Photobank."
Additional Comments:
shorebird, seabird, bird, sandpiper, shank

Zooxanthellae and Coral

[Originally posted to MBA Student Oceanography Club (SOC)]

Zooxanthellae featured heavily in Dr. Webster’s talk during February's meeting, and the mutualism between corals and zooxanthellae deserves special attention.  In the sunlight-rich but nutrient-poor tropical waters where they occur, reef forming corals and zooxanthellae need one another to survive.  Corals provide zooxanthellae with a comfortable environment, protection from predators, and access to concentrated nutrients (especially carbon and nitrogen that the corals get by eating other organisms).  In exchange, the zooxanthellae photosynthesize, and share the sugars and carbohydrates they produce with their hosts.  Many corals derive as much as 90% of their energy needs from the zooxanthellae and would die without them.  Zooxanthellae are therefore critically important for coral reef health.

Unfortunately, we know very little about zooxanthellae.  Zooxanthellae all belong to the genus Symbodinium, but there is debate as to whether Symbodinium represents a single diverse species or several closely related species.  What is known is that there are several different types of Symbodinium called clades.  Some clades are closely associated with corals and are rarely found outside of them.  Others are usually free living and only rarely found in corals. Clades also vary in how useful they are to the corals; some give lots of energy to the corals, whereas others give relatively little.  Scientists speculate that different forms perform best in different environments, and that different clades will maximize the benefits realized by corals depending on the environmental conditions.

For their part, the corals seem to have some ability to choose which clades they harbor.   Corals in different environments may house different types of Symbodinium, and interestingly, large corals often host different types within the same colony.  For example, many colonies will have one clade on their top surface, while having another clade along their sides. 

Promoting the growth of clades specialized to your environment works remarkably well for corals – that is until the environment changes.  If conditions change, a particular clade of Symbodinium may no longer be beneficial, and the coral must seek a new partner.   Corals stressed by high temperatures, for example, may expel all of their zooxanthellae, a process known as bleaching (so named because the corals often appear white without their symbionts; the first image below is an example of a healthy coral, while the second image shows a stressed coral that appears to be losing its color).  Scientists believe that this may be a coral’s emergency effort to be recolonized by heat-tolerant symbionts.  Sometimes corals are able to find new zooxanthellae and survive (there is some evidence that corals acclimatized to warm waters do not bleach, giving support to the idea that the proper symbiont may make all the difference).  Often, however, bleaching results in death.  Many scientists consider increased bleaching due to climate change a major threat to the world’s coral reefs.

Tiny creatures with outsized influence

[Originally posted to MBA Student Oceanography Club (SOC)]

In our February meeting, we talked a little bit about some often overlooked, but really important creatures, including foraminifera, coccolithophores and zooxanthellae.  These tiny organisms, along with a few others, have an outsized influence on the biology and the geology of our planet, so I thought I would share a little more about them.  To appreciate the magnitude of their effects you have to remember that these organisms are major constituents of the plankton, and as such fill the surface waters covering over 70% of the earth’s surface.  This means that in aggregate, these tiny organisms play an important role in capturing sunlight, cycling nutrients, driving the make-up of the atmosphere and creating geological formations.  For example, phytoplankton, a mix of photosynthesizing algae and bacteria, account for as much as 50% of the world’s primary productivity, more than rainforests, grasslands, marshes or coral reefs.   Small shell-forming organisms are also a major force in the earth’s carbon cycle, where atmospheric carbon, such as the greenhouse gas CO₂, is absorbed by the oceans and ultimately locked up in marine sediment and rock.  I’ll focus on a few major groups of single celled algae and animal-like protists that help make this planet a comfortable place for us to live.

Animal-like Marine Protists




Foraminifera (often called forams for short) are single celled protists that form shells, and can be found living on the bottom of the sea or drifting in the plankton.  Planktonic forams almost all form calcium carbonate shells by pulling carbon out of the water.  When the forams die, these shells fall out of the water and accumulate in huge numbers on the ocean floor where, along with coccoliths (see below), they contribute to the formation of carbonate rocks (i.e. limestone and chalk).  This is an important process driving the earth’s carbon cycle, and leads to the long-term storage of carbon in the earth’s crust.





Radiolarians are similar to forams, but most form their beautiful shells from silica.  Radiolarians can be very common in the tropics where their fallen shells cover the bottom in what is commonly called radiolarian ooze, which can harden into siliceous rocks (i.e. chert and flint).


Plant-like Marine Protists





Coccolithophores create calcium carbonate plates (coccoliths) that form an armored surface, they therefore store carbon in a manner similar to foraminifera.  However, because they are able to photosynthesize, they have an even greater effect on atmospheric carbon by directly consuming CO₂.  Coccolithophores can form huge blooms that are easily visible from space (the milky green water in the photo shows such a bloom off the coast of Alaska), and help drive the exchange of gases between the ocean’s surface and the atmosphere.




Diatoms form silica shells, and are probably the most common component of the phytoplankton.  As a result, diatoms are one of the most important sources of photosynthesis on the planet; it has been estimated that 20-30% of atmospheric oxygen is produced by diatoms, as much as the world’s
combined tropical rainforests.  This photosynthesis also takes up lots of CO₂, and the heavy silica shells quickly drag this carbon to the bottom of the ocean.



Dinoflagellates are a diverse group of marine protists, that unlike the others, do not form hard mineral shells (though some have hard, cellulose coverings).  Their inclusion among the plant-like protists is a bit arbitrary, as about half of the dinoflagellates do not photosynthesize, but many of the best-known examples do.  These include species that give rise to red tides and other harmful algal blooms (like the red tide off the coast of California pictured above), species that create the glow in bioluminescent water, and the zooxanthellae that live symbiotically within the tissues of a number of other organisms, including corals, jellyfish, clams, sea slugs and even foraminifera and radiolarians.