Last weeks dive with Commerson's dolphins and a nosy Sea Lion at Kelly Rocks in Port Williams

  Commerson's dolphins - Cephalorhynchus commersonii

  Commerson's dolphins - on our way back to Stanley with the boat

Ready to get in the water with the Shallow Marine Survey Group (SMSG- http://smsg-falklands.org/).

Sarah Lee (photo) and Simon Browning were looking after us before their big trip to South Georgia.

Falkland Islands: Second expedition (26 November 2013-Alexandra)

Our second expedition to the Falklands already started. I arrived to the South Atlantic on the 6^th of November and until now I have done a couple of dives and explored the area around Stanley (the capital of the Falkland Islands). Prof. Pieter van West arrived yesterday night (25^th of November) with 14 hour delay due to the strong winds at the Falklands. The rest of our group members for this expedition, Prof. Frithjof Kuepper and Melina Marcou, are arriving on the 28^th of November.

I (Alexandra) and Pieter will be sampling seaweeds and oomycete pathogens at Saunders Islands until Friday (29^th November) and then our expedition will follow with samplings at the West Island, Falkland Sound with Shallow Marine Survey Group (SMSG- http://smsg-falklands.org/) and then Sea Lion Island.

This trip includes a lot of scuba diving for seaweed sampling at the most unexplored places around the Falklands. Please keep checking our blog for updates.

We would like to thank SAERI (South Atlantic Environmental Institute) for supporting our expedition and particularly Dr Paul Brickle. Moreover, we very much appreciate the financial support from John Cheek foundation which covered the flights for two members of the group for this expedition.

Snorkelling in the North Sea - Bullers of Buchan

On this occasion, the Algae Group explored the Bullers of Buchan by snorkelling. This spectacular coastal site is located just north of Cruden Bay and about 25 miles north of Aberdeen in northeast Scotland. It is a collapsed sea cave and the cliffs around it provide a nesting site for colonies of seabirds including puffins during the summer. We were lucky enough to snorkel underneath the puffin colony.

 Alexandra, Frithjof and Andronikos getting ready for snorkelling

Among the species that we observed are Ulva sp., Laminaria saccharina (Saccharina latissima), Laminaria digitata, Laminaria hyperborea, Alaria esculenta (the kelp species / member of the Laminariales), Desmarestia aculeata, Porphyra sp., Punctaria sp., Palmaria palmate, Fucus vesiculosus and Fucus serratus.

 Kyle, Alexandra, Frithjof and Andronikos at the Bullers of Buchan

26 July 2013

Collecting seaweeds in the Ythan Estuary

Today, several members of the Algae Group explored the Ythan Estuary, just at the doorstep of Oceanlab, looking for Ectocarpus sp. in support of Ásta Heiðrún Pétursdóttir’s PhD project (with Prof. Joerg Feldmann, Aberdeen). The Ythan Estuary is the tidal component of the Ythan River, emptying into the North Sea 19 kilometres north of Aberdeen, Scotland. Besides the tidal channel there are interfaces to the upland dunes including mudflats, sand beaches and shingle flats. The Ythan Estuary is a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and appears as site no. 939 on the Ramsar list of wetlands of international importance with Meikle Loch.

Alexandra Mystikou, Frithjof Kuepper and Kyle Fletcher

As we observed, the seaweed biodiversity increases as you walk from Oceanlab closer to the marine environment of the estuary. Some of the taxa that we observed are Ulva sp., Fucus vesiculosus and Fucus distichus, which occur quite far towards the interior of the estuary (i.e. with a strong freshwater influenced environment). As we went further towards where it enters the North Sea, we saw a salt marsh with Salicornia sp. (a salt-tolerant higher plant), and gradually observed more and more seaweeds as we were approaching fully marine conditions: Alaria esculenta (a kelp species / member of the Laminariales), Desmarestia aculeata, Porphyra sp., Punctaria sp., Palmaria palmata and Fucus serratus.

July 25, 2013

Ásta Heiðrún Pétursdóttir, Frithjof Kuepper and Kyle Fletcher

Marine Phycology Course in Greece – April 11-18, 2013 (Frithjof and Alexandra)

We are on the way back from the Greek island of Lesvos. There, at the campus of the University of the Aegean in Mytilini, we have been teaching a 1-week course in marine algal biology – a first-ever both for the University of the Aegean and also our home university, Aberdeen.

 

Department of Marine Sciences, University of the Aegean
 

Attendance of senior undergraduate and MSc students to our classes was completely voluntary. We jointly gave the following general lectures: Introduction to Phycology, Seaweed Ecology, Molecular techniques in Phycology. We furthermore gave 2 lectures more closely related to some of our own current research activities, Seaweed Biodiversity around the Antarctic Convergence I/II,  and we held a practical in seaweed identification. Finally, we organized 3 dive excursions to the waters around Lesvos – two to Charamida and one to Petra (special thanks to Giorgos Filios / Lesvoscuba as well as Lio, Argyro and the University of the Aegean Scuba Team) – for collecting seaweed specimens for our classes and an introductory session in underwater photography.

 Petra, Lesvos Island

We were truly impressed by the enthusiasm of the students. None of them was anyhow expected to attend, but it looked to us that they were seizing an opportunity that they would otherwise not be getting in their regular curriculum. As we heard from many sides, the conditions of working and studying at their university (like in most other higher education institutions in Greece) has certainly become much worse in recent years due to the severe economic crisis.

 From the left: Dr. Maria Kostopoulou-Karadanelli (Assistant professor at the University of Aegean), Alexandra Mystikou and Prof. Frithjof Kuepper

In summary, a most gratifying and rewarding experience. We will try to use some of our experiences from Lesvos to add new content and value to our regular teaching at Aberdeen. A wild thought – would it be worthwhile to organize a joint marine phycology course for students of both universities, Aberdeen and the Aegean, in Mytilini, for the Easter Break?