CEPH-BAS 2019_#07: O que estamos a querer descobrir?/What are (re)searching for?

Latitude: 53.18 S
Longitude: 52.11 W
Jose Xavier (with Ricardo Matias)

E tu, compreendes a importância da ciência que se faz na Antártida?
Nós sabemos que a Antártida e o Oceano Antártico tem um papel importante no nosso planeta. Seja, por exemplo, na contribuição para o aumento do nível do mar, no armazenamento de carbono no Oceano, nas correntes oceânicas, no clima e na questão das alterações climáticas... num contexto em que sabemos que no futuro esta região vai ter um papel preponderante em muitas destas questões, temos um grupo de equipas que aborda questões importantes sobre o Oceano Antártico. Aqui estão alguns cientistas de algumas equipas:
 
- Julie Meilland
Julie é uma investigadora pós-doutoral do MARUM, um instituto cientifico em Bremen, na Alemanha. Ela colabora com Clara Manno no estudo do potencial que algumas espécies de organismos marinhos (chamados foraminíferos) possuem para se adaptarem às alterações climáticas e à acidificação dos oceanos. Estes organismos estão presentes em todo o lado dos oceanos e são do tamanho de um grão de areia. A bordo, estará a estudar como o seu metabolismo consegue lidar com o aumento da temperatura. Usando redes BONGO (que possuem uma malhagem muito pequena, 100 µm), apanhamos estes organismos e os colocamos a 2 temperaturas diferentes. Os resultados preliminares sugerem que poderão adaptar-se bem.  No regresso à Alemanha, irá analisar em detalhe os organismos recolhidos para compreender melhor os processos associados aos resultados obtidos. E tive uma supresa: estes organismos tiveram filhotes a bordo, um evento raro!!!!
 
- Emily Rowlands e Clara Manno
Emily investiga o impato de nanoplásticos em águas do Oceano Antártico.  Nanoplásticos são do tamanho mais pequeno de plástico, que não é visível ao olho humano com < 0.001 mm. Isto é 2000 vezes mais pequeno que um grão de areia!!!! Por eles serem tão pequenos, os nanoplásticos podem interagir diferentemente com as partículas da água e dentro do corpo dos animais que os consome, comparativamente com os plásticos maiores. A primeira coisa a fazer é estudar os nanoplásticos de diferentes profundidades, com um aparelho chamado armadilha de sedimentos flutuante (floating sediment trap). Também estuda como os nanoplásticos podem afetar o desenvolvimento do camarão da Antártida Euphausia superba. Sendo um dos organismos mais importantes na cadeia alimentar Antártica marinha, será importante perceber em detalhe se, por exemplo, fêmeas do camarão conseguem produzir ovos e como os camarões bébés lidam com nanoplásticos. Muitas amostras foram recolhidas para estudar mais em detalhe as experiências realizadas a bordo.
 
- Anna Belcher
Anna é uma bióloga marinha que estuda o camarão da Antártida Euphausia superba. Ela conta-nos uma história para explicar o seu trabalho: “Um dia na vida do Larry, o camarão da Antártida – a bordo do navio RRS James Clark Ross”. Larry começou os seus dias a viver no Oceano Antártico, a comer plantas, feliz da vida e evitando ser comido por baleias. Mas o Larry era um camarão curioso e notou um navio nas suas proximidades. Não tinha a certeza  do que estava a fazer ali mas ficou curioso e foi ver... com sorte o Larry conseguiu entrar no navio por uma rede científica. Já a bordo, encontrou-se com outros amigos camarões num balde como se estivesse numa festa. Excitado pela próxima aventura, Larry foi posto noutro balde onde as luzes foram cobertas e onde havia um sensor. Larry ficou todo contente a dançar de um lado para o  outro enquanto o cientista o observava atentamente com o sensor. Larry pensou o que viria a seguir... e nessa altura, vários outros colegas camarões foram colocados com Larry. Ele não saiba exatamente o que se estava a passer…mas ouviu o cientista dizer que a cientista estava a tentar medir camarões a partir do espaço. A partir do espaço!? Isto seria muito fixe, pensou Larry. Assim ficaria a saber quantos amigos teria no Oceano Antártico.  A cientista estava a medir a luz reflectida de Larry e dos seus amigos de modo a que possa usar imagens de satélite que possam dar a mesma informação da quantidade de camarão da Antártida. Larry dançou o que conseguiu para ajudar a cientista na sua tarefa! Ele estava a contribuir para a ciência :). Depois de meia hora, Larry foi posto com os seus amigos novamente num novo balde, tendo a sensação que a sua contribuição estava feita...e assim foi. De repente, splosh, Larry estava novamente no Oceano, com uma história para contar. E que grande aventura!!!!
 
- Natalie Ensor
Natalie é uma das gestoras dos laboratórios que trabalha para a British Antarctic Survey.  A sua função consiste em coordenar o uso dos laboratórios nos navios, assegurar que todo o equipamento está a funcionar corretamente e ajudar os cientistas se necessário, a bordo do navio RRS James Clark Ross. 
Outro aspeto deste trabalho é a saúde e segurança no trabalho. Para isso, Natalie precisa de compreender quais os organismos que vão ser estudados, que experiências vão ser realizadas, e que riscos existem associados a eles. Tudo isto para assegurar que todos trabalham de um modo seguro e evitar acidentes. Por exemplo, haver regras do uso de batas no laboratório, usar proteção se lidar com materiais nocivos à saúde. Exemplo prático: Preservar amostras de  organismos podem ser em álcool 70%, por exemplo...e como alcool é inflamável, é preciso usar bata. É uma profissão muito interessante, pois a Natalie lida com muitos cientistas de diferentes áreas de investigação, tudo a bordo do navio RRS James Clark Ross.
 
- Petra ten Hoopen
Petra é a gestora de dados cientificos da UK Polar Data Centre para expedições cientificas marinhas. “O que aconteçe aos dados recolhidos numa expedição como esta?” Hoje em dia as expedições cientificas recolhem muitos dados dos numerosos aparelhos usados no navio RRS James Clark Ross. Os dados podem ser da temperatura do ar e da água, das amostras recolhidas, ao longo da expedição. Todos os dados desta expedição serão transferidos em segurança para a British Antarctic Survey em Cambridge, Reino Unido. Cientistas que recolhem amostras e dados terão o acesso exclusivo à base de dado num periodo mínimo de 2 anos para a sua investigação. Depois, há medida que os dados serão publicados em revistas cientificas,  eles também estarão disponíveis na UK Polar Data Centre (https://www.bas.ac.uk/data/our-data/). Este catalogo também coneta para portais de dados onde eles estarão disponíveis. O objetivo final é certificar que os dados da expedição fiquem disponíveis a todos!
 
- Iliana Bista
Iliana Bista é uma ecologista molecular no Sanger Institute, Cambridge. Ela trabalha com a genómica de peixes, em particular de um grupo abundante na Antartida, os Notothenioids. A bordo do RRS James Clark Ross, ela tem recolhido amostras de água para a análise de DNA ambiental. DNA Ambiental (Environmental DNA (eDNA)) é DNA livre que é deixado na água pelos animais que vivem lá, como as células da pele, urina, entre outros. Ao filtrar a água nós podemos recolher e analisar o DNA destes animais e detetar a sua presença e a estrutura da sua população. Ela também trabalha na sequenciação de genomas completos destes e de outros tipos de peixes. Para isso, Iliana tem recolhido amostras de uma variedade de peixes. Usando tecnologia de sequenciação recentes nós poderemos ler todo o genoma dos organismos a uma elevada precisão, além da sua ecologia e evolução.
 
- José Xavier e Ricardo Matias (com Gabriele Stowasser, Martin Collins, Ryan Saunders e Clara Manno)
Como investigadores associados ao ECOTOP – MARE da Universidade de Coimbra, o nosso trabalho nesta expedição foca em estudar as diferentes pressões que os animais marinhos na Antártida estão a sofrer atualmente e que mudanças poderão a vir a ocorrer nesta região, seguindo algumas das nossas recentes publicações (Rintoul et al. Nature 2018, Seco et al. Envirn. Poll. 2019, Bessa et al. Sci. Rep. 2019). Estamos a falar das alterações climáticas e da poluição, em particular. Assim recolhemos amostras para 3 projetos:  1- se os animais têm a capacidade para se adaptar à medida que o planeta aquece (estamos a recolher lulas para estudar a sua genética, para saber que genes possuem que possam lidar com mudanças do oceano, como o aumento da temperatura) (com Cecília Roque, Margarida Dias), 2- se microplásticos estão presentes em peixes na Antártida (estamos interessados em peixes lanterna) (com Clara Manno, Ryan Saunders, Martin Collins, Gabi Stowasser, Claire Waluda) e 3 – se o camarão da Antártida possui meios de se libertar de mercúrio (com José Seco). Já possuímos 95% das amostras que precisamos...estamos a quase!!!
 
Alguns destes trabalhos terão certamente implicações na gestão desta região do planeta. A Antártida é gerida pelo Tratado da Antártida, que se foca em 3 pilares principais: na ciência, cooperação internacional e proteção do ambiente. Tudo o que possa informar decisores políticos para como melhorar o conhecimento, a cooperação entre países e a proteção da Antártida, melhor...esta informação poderá ser valiosa!!!

Why is relevant the science that is being conducted in the Antarctic? We do know that the Antarctic and the Southern Ocean have an important in our planet, with issues such as climate change, sea level rise, Southern Ocean carbon sink, Ocean acidification, Thermohaline world currents, animal adaptation… in a context that it is known that this region will have an increasing important role in these big issues, we have a group of teams that are addressing important questions about the Southern Ocean. Here´s some of the scientists:
 
- Julie Meilland
Julie is a postdoctoral researcher from MARUM, a research institute located in Bremen, Germany. Julie have been invited to join this cruise by Clara Manno with whom she collaborates. “I aim here is to study the potential of a group of zooplankton to adapt to climate change and ocean acidification. The name of these “climate fighters”? Planktonic foraminifera! Foraminifera are present everywhere in the ocean and each one of them is about the size of a grain of sand. They are made of a single cell, able to build a shell and once they die, they sink to the ocean floor where they fossilise. Through this process of sedimentation and fossilisation, planktonic foraminifera stock Carbon (indirectly captured from the atmosphere) on long time scales and are therefore crucial components to our Earth system. Understanding how their metabolism can cope with a rise in temperature is a major question! Onboard the JCR we had and still have the chance to collect them using a bongo net. The bongo net is a plankton net with a very small mesh size (100 µm) that allows the collection of small marine organisms and their good preservation. We sampled the plankton from 100 m depth to the surface and immediately after collection I selected living specimens of planktonic foraminifera and placed them in culture under 2 different temperatures, mimicking a potential temperature increase of the ocean. I fed the individuals daily and kept them under their temperature treatment for 11 days. Most of them survived, suggesting a good adaptation to the temperature rise they faced. Back to my laboratory in Bremen I will study the collected specimens a bit more in detail to understand how their metabolism did adapt. This cruise is full of surprises and to my greatest pleasure, we obtained planktonic foraminifera offspring – an extremely rare event that makes the whole experience even more special! I couldn’t be more thankful for this amazing opportunity!”
 
- Emily Rowlands and Clara Manno
Plastic science aboard JCR
Emily´s research aboard JCR focuses on determining the impact of nanoplastic in Antarctic waters. “So what is ‘nanoplastic’? It’s the smallest size of plastic, unseen by the human eye and less than 0.001 mm in size. That’s at least 2000 times smaller than a grain of sand! Because of their extremely small size, nanoplastics interact differently with the water particles in the sea and within the bodies of animals that eat them, compared to how bigger plastics behave.  We don’t yet know how much nanoplastic there is in Antarctic waters and we know little of how they impact important zooplankton such as Krill which are hugely important for the Antarctic marine food web.
To address these questions there are many hurdles to overcome. To look at plastic in the water column we use a floating sediment trap. The trap gets left at sea for 24 hours capturing particles in the water column at different depths before we go back and collect it. There are many factors to consider at we have to plan carefully to ensure a successful deployment including looking at the currents, predicted travel paths and water depths. This makes recovering the sediment trap a nervous but exciting operation which starts with first locating the flashing beacon amongst the Southern Ocean waves and icebergs.  Here’s a picture of the first recovery aboard.
The next hurdle was catching krill, and not just any krill but gravid females that will produce eggs, so that I can look at how nanoplastics impact their development. After catching krill and setting up the treatments, working on the krill maternity ward is no easy job and I check every four hours to see if they have released eggs. After the eggs are released we do further experiments to see how plastic impacts the development from the embryonic stages through to the krill eggs hatching. Here’s a picture of how a newly hatched krill looks!
Because the plastic is soo incredibly small, there’s only a certain amount of analysis we can do on-board. All of the samples will be taken back to the UK for further analysis to help us understand the effects of nanoplastic.”
 
- Anna Belcher
Anna is a marine biologist studying Antarctic krill Euphausia superba. She tell us a story, to explain what she studies: “A day in the life of Larry the krill – aboard the RRS James Clark Ros.” Larry, the krill, began his days living in the Southern Ocean, happily munching on marine plants and trying to avoid being eaten by whales. But Larry was a curious krill and had noticed a large red ship called the RRS James Clark Ross hanging around. He wasn’t sure what they were up to, but was keen to get a closer look. As luck would have it, Larry the krill managed to hitch a ride onto the ship in a big net that was being towed through the water. Once aboard, Larry found himself in a big white bucket with some other krill friends. He could see lots of faces above looking into the bucket looking amazed and excited. Larry swam to the surface of the bucket to get a closer look, and was scooped out by what appeared to be a large ladle with holes in it. Unsure where he was going, but excited for the next adventure Larry found himself in a new bucket, with a few other friends and was taken away to a new room. This one was interesting, as all the lights had been covered up with black cloth, and there was some kind of sensor pointing into yet another bucket. Larry sat happily in his nice bucket of cold water, watching a scientist dash around adjusting this sensor. Larry wondered what might be in this new bucket, and before long he was able to find out, as he got once again scooped with the ladle, and carefully plopped in. As he swam around checking out his new bucket, the scientist lowered the sensor down into the bucket, and began adding more krill. Larry wasn’t sure exactly what was going on, but he heard the scientist chatting about trying to measure krill from space! From space! That would be cool, thought Larry, then he might find out just how many krill friends there might be in the Southern Ocean. The scientist was trying to measure how Larry and his new krill friends reflected light in the hope to be able to use this information to help decipher the images that the satellites are recording. Larry swam around as nicely as he could to help the scientists.
After about half an hour, Larry had met a lot more krill friends in his bucket and thought that he had done a good job at reflecting his red/pinkish colour. It seemed like it was time to return to his original bucket as the ladle came in once more and Larry and his pals were scooped up. Larry wasn’t sure where the scientist was taking him, but soon found out, as splosh…Larry was back in the ocean, and what a story to tell!! A great adventure!!”
 
- Natalie Ensor
Natalie is one of the ships laboratory managers that works for the British Antarctic Survey: “the role of the lab manager is to run the laboratories on the ships, ensure all lab equipment is working properly and to generally help the scientists when needed; whilst they work aboard the RRS James Clark Ross. 
Another role of the lab manager is health and safety.  In order to fulfil this role, we require knowledge and understanding of each experiment that is being carried out and the hazards that are associated with it.  Once we know this, we can ensure that everyone is carrying out their science safely to prevent any accidents from happening, this is important as they can effect both people and experiments.  This often involves ensuring PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) is worn, ensuring lab rules are followed and that protective equipment is both running and used properly e.g. fume hoods. Whilst working on the ship, many scientists required hazardous chemicals to complete their work.  The lab manager is in charge of making sure these chemicals are stored and used safely as well as ensuring that everyone, both scientists and crew, are aware of the dangers they pose.  Some of the chemicals used most often are Ethanol, Formaldehyde and Hydrochloric Acid. It is a very interesting and varied job.  Working with numerous scientists, all with different specialities from atmospherics to oceanographers; lots of different work is carried out aboard the research vessel.  In order to complete this important science, the RRS James Clarke Ross has visited some fantastic and beautiful places.  I have been very fortunate to visit the Antarctic as well as the Arctic, seeing the wonder and wildlife that they have to offer.”
 
- Petra ten Hoopen
Petra ten Hoopen is a scientific data manager at the UK Polar Data Centre publishing data from marine science expeditions. She wondered: “Do you wonder what happens to data collected in a marine science expedition? Marine scientific expeditions collect a lot! of data from ship-mounted instruments and from instruments deployed with help of ship cranes and winches and with assistance of the ship crew. All data from our expedition will be transferred to and safely archived at the British Antarctic Survey in Cambridge, UK. Scientists who collected the data will have exclusive access to the data for the period of minimum two years and will use the data for their research. The data will then be gradually published, either as part of scientific publications or made available via a data catalogues of the UK Polar Data Centre (https://www.bas.ac.uk/data/our-data/). This catalogue also links to data portals that allow you to browse and download information you are interested in. The good news is that, ultimately, data collected by our expedition can be explored by anyone!”
 
- Iliana Bista
Iliana Bista is a molecular ecologist based at Sanger Institute, Cambridge: “I work on genomic analysis of fish species and I am particularly interested in Antarctic Notothenioids, the dominant group of Antarctic fish. On the RRS James Clark Ross I worked on collection of water samples for environmental DNA analysis. Environmental DNA (eDNA) is free DNA that is left behind in the water by the organisms living there, through their skin cells, urine etc. By filtering water we can collect and analyse the DNA of these organisms and detect their presence and population structure. I also work on sequencing the complete genomes of these and other fish species. For this, I collected tissue samples from a variety of fish species. Using new sequencing technologies we can read the entire genomes of organisms to high accuracy, and study their ecology and evolution.
 
- José Xavier and Ricardo Matias (with Gabriele Stowasser, Martin Collins, Ryan Saunders and Clara Manno)
As scientists of ECOTOP – MARE of the University of Coimbra (Portugal, our work in this expedition focus in studying the different environmental pressures that Antarctic are facing today in this region of the Antarctic, following our recent work (Rintoul et al. Nature 2018, Seco et al. Envirn. Poll. 2019, Bessa et al. Sci. Rep. 2019). We are specifically talking about climate change and pollution. We have collected samples for 3 research projects: 1- Assessing if marine animals have the capacity to adapt to warming (we are collecting pelagic squid, as biological samplers of the pelagic areas, to study their genomics and transcriptomics, in order to know which genes they possess to cope with environmental change (work with Cecília Roque, Margarida Dias and colleagues), 2- If microplastics are present in Antarctic fish, with  the plastic origin and (work with Clara Manno, Ryan Saunders, Martin Collins, Gabi Stowasser, Claire Waluda and colleagues) and 3 – Processes of removal of mercury in Antarctic krill (work lead by José Seco and colleagues). We already have 95% of the samples…nearly there!!!
 
Some of these research groups will lead to implications in policies to be implemented in the Antarctic. Antarctica is a continent under the Antarctic Treaty, that focuses on three pilars: science, international cooperation and environmental protection. All the information relevant to policy and decision makers will be surely very welcomed...that surely will improve knowledge of the region and promote cooperation between countries…good, altruistic values for one of the nicest times of the year!!!
 
Merry Christmas!!!!