After a 3-day visit to
Ascension Island, our team of 4 scientists and divers - Alexandra Mystikou
(joint PhD student of the South Atlantic Environmental Research Institute in
Stanley (SAERI) and the University of Aberdeen), Professors Pieter van West and
Frithjof Kuepper (both at the University of Aberdeen) and Melina Marcou (Dept.
of Fisheries and Marine Research, Cyprus) - have been roaming and diving the
shores of Saunders Island, West Falkland, SW East Falkland (Danson Harbour
area) and Sea Lion Island from Nov. 26 - Dec. 17, with strong support by Stevie
Cartwright, Paul Brewin and their friends from the Shallow Marine Surveys
Ground (SMSG) and SAERI (notably Dr. Paul Brickle). Another important activity
covered the freshwater courses in these regions, where isolates were made for
surveying the diversity of aquatic oomycetes, a group of pathogens related to
fish mould and potato blight.
The only major,
published research on seaweeds in the Falklands is the work of the Swede Carl
Skottsberg on the Falklands’ brown algae in the early 1900s. With no diving
available at that time, inevitably a part of the deeper-water flora was not
covered – and the archipelago’s red and green algae have remained almost
totally unexplored to this date. The team is returning to Europe with hundreds
of specimens and samples and over 10,000 photos. Follow-up work at Aberdeen –
mostly consisting of algal and oomycete culturing, DNA analysis and microscopy
- will start immediately but will certainly take several years to complete.
The team came across
challenging weather conditions, poor visibility and underwater currents. In
combination with the cold waters (7o Celsius), they made the
scientists’ work not an easy task. Nevertheless we not only managed to complete
successfully the scheduled sampling, we also very much enjoyed diving in the
Falkland Islands. The underwater environment of the Falklands is full of
surprises -the colourful coralligenous habitats underneath the forests of giant
kelp (Macrocystis sp.) and the deeper-growing
Lessonia create a unique habitat for
the marine organisms, which looks like a magical world. The underwater photos
taken by SMSG and the team reveal a secret paradise hidden in the waters of the
Falkland Islands. This was the 5th visit of Frithjof and Pieter to
the Falklands - every single visit so far has resulted in new discoveries of
seaweed and oomycete biodiversity from around the islands.
We are very grateful
to SAERI and SMSG for their support during our expedition - namely the Director
of SAERI and Alexandra’s co-supervisor Dr. Paul Brickle and his team at SAERI
(Rachael Crowie, Dr. Deborah Davidson, Anne Saunders and Dr. Ilaria Marengo). We
would like to thank also Steve Cartwright, Dr. Paul Brewin, Dr. Martin Collins,
Joost Pompert and Vernon for their organization and support of the expedition
to the Falkland Sound (Danson Harbour).
Once more time the
people from the Falkland Islands showed us their hospitality and made
everything they could to make us feel like home. Special thanks to Brian Jamieson
(owner of the South Harbour Farm for warming up us with a cup of tea after of a
cold dive but also to the owner of Dunnose Head Farm (SW of Port Philomel). Our
special thanks go to Kay McCallum for making our stay in Stanley feel like
home. Her orange cake filled us with energy to complete even our most
challenging task.
We are once more on
board the gray-painted AirTanker Airbus A330 Voyager. As the Falklands
disappeared from our views, a Typhoon fighter jet appeared as escort on each
wing tip, a stark reminder of the siege-like situation that the Falkland Islanders
still have to put up with.
We are flying back to
Europe, but our hearts and minds remain in the Falklands with the Falkland
Islanders and the magic underwater world in this cold corner of Planet Earth...
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