Exploring the Chilean coast near Las Cruces - Teresa Tymon, April 11, 2014

It is our second day in Las Cruces Chile and I am writing from our office at ECIM which has a beautiful view overlooking the ocean.  We just got back from a tour of potential dive sites shown to us by Randy, the DSO here at the marine lab.  We stopped at 3 sites: Algarrobo, Punta de Tracla, and El Quisco.  Punta de Tracla is a fairly well protected cove that seems to be perfect for deploying Pedro’s gametophyte cultures (as baits for potential pathogens) and for collection dives.  Conditions for diving have worsened the past few days and next week’s forecast is less than ideal so we need a dive site that is protected from wave action.  At El Quisco we checked out some of the kelp that had washed up on shore.  There were large mats of giant kelp (Macrocystis sp.), which is abundant off the central coast of Chile.  Durvillaea antarctica, another species of kelp, had also washed up on shore.  With its leathery fronds, Durvillaea is impressively resistant to breakage and tightly held to its substrate.  Randy’s attempts to tear it with his hands were unsuccessful and he finally used his mouth to rip open the plant.  Inside it is filled with air pockets that help it float, explaining it’s the cushiony feeling when you squish it between your fingers. When we looked at the underside of its holdfast we could see that when this plant had been dislodged it actually took with it the barnacles and rocks it was attached to.

Frithjof, Randy and myself donned our snorkel gear and tested out the Chilean waters to collect Macrocystis.  The visibility was much better than I expected considering the strong winds and large swell over the past few days.  We collected a few fronds and brought them back to the lab in preparation for the uptake experiments we will start this weekend.  We have enough material to keep us busy for the next few days and will hopefully be able to dive early next week!

ECIM

 ECIM

 

  ECIM

 

Pedro and Frithjof at ECIM

Randy, Pedro, and Frithjof at El Quisco

  Macrocystis washed ashore- El Quisco

air pockets of Durvillaea

Holdfast of Durvillaea with substrate still attached

Punta de Tracla

 Me, Frithjof, and Randy getting ready to snorkel at El Quisco

California and Chile - March 26-May 5, 2014 - April 10, 2014 - Frithjof

The Algae Group Blog website is ready for news! I am writing these lines during the last hour of an overnight flight from Atlanta (GA, USA) to Santiago de Chile. Together with Teresa Tymon, MSc student of my long-time friend and collaborator Carl J. Carrano (San Diego State University), I have been travelling close to 20 h since leaving San Diego early last morning, via Salt Lake City and Atlanta. The last leg from Atlanta followed a route along the west coast of Florida, across Cuba, Panama, SW Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, a bit of the Pacific, and then into Chile.

I have spent 2 weeks visiting Carl and my other friends and collaborators in southern California – in particular, Dan Reed, Eric Hessell and Alison Butler at UC Santa Barbara (and special thanks to Glyn and Jean Pritchard for their hospitality). Ever since I was a postdoc with Alison Butler at UCSB (2001-2003), this used to be an important part of life – I used to come back almost every spring since then, for 2 appointments as visiting professor at UC Santa Barbara, the PhD of Cliff Ross, and, of course, the many years of collaboration with Carl in San Diego. However, due to increased activities in the Eastern Mediterranean and South Atlantic, I had not been back since March 2010 – it was time to reinvigorate my California ties.

Later today, Teresa and I will be met at ECIM (Estación Costiera de Investigaciones Marinas) in Las Cruces (about the same latitude as Santiago on the long Chilean coastline) by Pedro Murua Andrade, my new Chilean PhD student. In 4 days’ time, we will be joined by Melina Marcou (Dept. of Fisheries and Marine Research, Cyprus Government).

The objectives of this trip are to explore 2 features the world’s largest seaweed, giant kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera), which is abundant along much of the Chilean coast, but also in California, the Falkland Islands and other parts of the world. Firstly, we are trying to get new insight into the halogen (in particular, iodine) metabolism in Macrocystis. While the North Atlantic kelp Laminaria digitata is well explored in this respect and known to be the strongest iodine accumulator in life, impacting atmospheric processes through its emissions  of molecular iodine (I₂). Secondly, we (in particular, Pedro) are interested in the pathogens infecting gametophytes of Macrocystis.  The work is funded by the EU project ASSEMBLE (www.assemblemarine.org) and CONICYT (the Chilean national research council).

Our time in Chile will be concluded by 5 days in Easter Island, one of the remotest islands on Planet Earth – diving included. I teach island biogeography and conservation at Aberdeen, and I am hoping to get some inspiration for these lectures which have become quite popular among the students from visiting the textbook example of a ruined island ecosystem.

 pizza and beer with Glyn Pritchard in Goleta

 Pt Loma and Coronado San Diego

 San Diego State University

 Santa Barbara California

  Marine Science Institute UCSB

 

 Teresa and Fifi landed in Santiago de Chile

Elephant Seals at Sea-Lion Island - From our last expedition to the Falkland Islands (Nov-Dec 2013)

Thank you Melina for the nice video! 

Ascension Island - Scuba Diving Highlights (Melina 13/01/2014)

 Α short video by Melina Marcou about the underwater highlights of our latest visit to Ascension Island (on the way to the Falklands) in late November 2013. Enjoy! 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UoTT23hpJQ&feature=share

Salvage operation at Ythan Estuary - Dawn M. Shewring, Dec. 19, 2013

On a chilly breezy afternoon on Thursday the 19^th of December 2013 we had word from SEPA that they wished us to retrieve some equipment for them which is attached to our buoy out in the Ythan estuary just across from Oceanlab. Normally we wait until low tide to wade out to do this t

ask – however, with the next low tide being at around 9 pm this was not going to be possible.

A brainwave came to mind – Professor Frithjof Kuepper had just returned from his trip to the Falklands and he was definitely the man for this challenging task. With his wealth of diving and snorkelling experience we asked him to swim across to the buoy to recover the equipment. Not one to turn down anything which can be done in a dry suit – after the risks had been assessed - Frithjof duly set off across the choppy waters.

Within no time at all he had achieved his goal – and successfully brought the SEPA equipment back to shore – can you see his delight J Well done Frithjof – without you this couldn’t have been done. The final job was to get cleaned down so what better way to do this than to stand in a stainless steel sink and be hosed down!!!