Tag: show notes

Scientists at Sea Podcast – ICEBERGS with Dr. Alejandro Roman Gonzalez

Ben Toulson Leave a comment

Show Notes – ICEBERGS

In this episode Ethan and Ben talk to Dr. Alejandro Roman Gonzalez about ICEBERGS, a research voyage aboard the RRS James Clark Ross to the West Antarctic Peninsula. Alejandro is part of a team of scientists, technicians and crew that are collecting data to help understand how marine life in this region is responding and adapting to climate change.

 

 

Take a look some of Alejandro’s stunning images from the first expedition. You can see these, and more on his photoblog.

 

 

At the time of writing, they are currently mid-voyage on their second of three annual expeditions. Luckily for us, this means there’s already plenty to look at from the first expedition in the winter of 2017/18. Below we have linked articles from the official ICEBERGS blog, be sure to check back there for more in the future!

 

 

Some of the key locations for the voyage.

 

Welcome!!

Some background on ICEBERGS and the West Antarctic Peninsula.

 

Crossing the Drake Passage

Recounting the voyage across one of the roughest seas on Earth.

 

 

 

 

Sunset over the pancake ice at Marguerite Bay.

Sea ice!

Something the team had to contend with on a regular basis.

Borgen Bay

An update from a stunning location.

 

Read about some of the techniques employed by the team in the following articles:
Science

Mud, mud, glorious mud!

Microplastics

Grabbing for mud

Antarctic Plankton Pigments

 

 

 

Some more of Alejandro’s fantastic photographs from the 2017/18 expedition. You can see these, and more on his photoblog.

 

 

Underwater photographs from the 2017-18 voyage.

 

 

About our guest: Dr. Alejandro Roman Gonzalez 

Alejandro is a Research at the University of Exeter, his research focuses on the use of Antarctic coastal mollusc bivalves as recorders of climate variability in marine ecosystems, otherwise known as Sclerochronology (you might remember Paul Butler talking about this in a previous episode). Alongside his academic work, Alejandro is also a talented landscape and nature photography (which is evident as he’s provided all the fantastic  photos for these show notes). Be sure to check out his photoblog.

 

 

 

Useful Links

You can take a virtual tour of the RRS James Clark Ross here

Find out about the British Antarctic Survey here.

You can follow the ICEBERGS team on twitter – @ICEBERGS_JCR.

Take a look at Alejandro’s photoblog here.

Find the latest ICEBERGS blog here.

 

 

Hosted by Ethan Wrigglesworth

Episode and show notes produced by Ben Toulson and Ethan Wrigglesworth

#ExeterMarine is an interdisciplinary group of marine related researchers with capabilities across the scientific, medical, engineering, humanities and social science fields. If you are interested in working with our researchers or students, contact Michael Hanley or visit our website!

Scientists at Sea Podcast – Climate Change, why don’t people act? With Catherine Leyshon

Ben Toulson Leave a comment

Show Notes

In the last episode we spoke with Paul Butler and Annette Broderick about climate change and how this impacts their work on bivalves and turtles respectively. We also discussed some of the key points of the IPCC’s latest climate change report. If you would like to check that out, click here.

This time, we’re taking a slightly different approach in a chat we had with Professor of Human Geography, Catherine Leyshon. Specifically, we discussed the reasons why, in the face of overwhelming evidence, we appear to do very little in response.

The discussion ranges from why people might struggle to make small, every day changes, right through to governmental/international levels.

“We’re not really set up as a society to reward good behaviour, we tend to sanction bad behaviour”

Why don’t some actions work?

Australia’s Green tax:

The Great Barrier Reef is rapidly disappearing due to climate change.
Photo credit – Toby Hudson

This seemed like a good idea in principle, but ultimately didn’t work out, we’ve collected a few pieces relating to this. You can read about what the taxes were, what impact they had, why they were abandoned, and what has happened as a result:

What was the emissions tax?

“Australia records biggest emissions drop in a decade as carbon tax kicks in”

“Australia abandons disastrous green tax on emissions”

“Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions soar in latest figures”

 

What actions might work?

Mullion Harbour Wall in a storm
Photo credit: Layla Astley

Shifting Shores

In the UK we are seeing some changes. For example, the National Trust have introduced their Shifting Shores project, where they will now be focusing on adapting to changes at their coastal sites, rather than trying to prevent change.

For those of us in Cornwall, Mullion harbour wall is a particularly relevant example, you can read about the challenges the National Trust have faced with this here.

In 2012, Catherine co-authored a paper going into greater depth about this, which you can find here: Shifting Shores: Managing Challenge and Change on the Lizard Peninsula, Cornwall, UK

As Ethan mentioned in the episode, we are seeing some other actions, such as: Dutch parliament to set target of 95 percent CO2 reduction by 2050. There are several other areas covered in the episode, but to find out more you’ll need to give it a listen!

You can also read the IPCC Climate Change Press Release in full here.

Associate Professor Catherine Leyshon:

Catherine is a human geographer whose work combines landscape ecology, social relations and climate change. Catherine’s work on climate change is interesting for many reasons, but one aspect that really makes it stand out is its focus on local communities here in Cornwall. Studies can all too often focus on the distant impacts of climate change, but numerous studies from Catherine help to highlight the potential changes occurring on our door step.

Twitter: @cleyshon 

Link to Scholar list of publications

Hosted by Ethan Wrigglesworth

Episode and show notes produced by Ben Toulson and Ethan Wrigglesworth

#ExeterMarine is an interdisciplinary group of marine related researchers with capabilities across the scientific, medical, engineering, humanities and social science fields. If you are interested in working with our researchers or students, contact Michael Hanley or visit our website!

Scientists at Sea Podcast – Climate Change, Turtles, and Bivalves

Ben Toulson Leave a comment

Show Notes

In this episode Ethan and Ben discuss the latest Climate Change Report released by the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), with Professor Annette Broderick and Dr. Paul Butler. As well as covering key points of the report, Annette and Paul tell us about how climate change is a significant aspect of their current research.

 

About our guests:

Annette Broderick – Professor of Marine Conservation

Profile

Annette’s research investigates the exploitation of marine vertebrates, with a primary focus on marine turtles. The thermal environment is particularly important for turtles, so the potential effects of climate change could have a big impact on these populations. Listen to the episode to find out more.

If you’re interested in turtle conservation, Annette runs a long-term field study in northern Cyprus which takes on volunteers each year, you can find out more here

 

“The most biodiverse habitats in the world that we have are on the reefs, we’re going to lost those systems undoubtedly I think by 2040/2050 we’ll be talking about corals reefs and how beautiful they were.”

 

 

 

Dr. Paul Butler – Honorary Senior Research Fellow

Profile

Paul’s research is in the field of sclerochronology, focusing in particular on the use of shells from long-lived bivalve molluscs to study the history of the marine environment. Essentially, these molluscs deposit annual increments in their shells (like rings on a tree stump). If a bivalve shell has a known date of death, a timeline of environmental variables can be investigated from that one shell, including seawater temperature and the origin of water masses. This can be of particular interest when studying climate change. Have a listen to the episode and take a look at Paul’s profile for more information.

 

 

Want to know more about sclerochronology and some intriguing clam facts? Sarah Holmes, PhD Researcher, wrote an excellent blog about this a few months ago, you can read it in full here.

 

 

Arctica islandica, one of Paul’s study species
Photo – Hans Hillewaert

 

 

“Our longest chronology, which goes for 1300 years, is for waters of the north coast of Iceland… essentially we’ve got a temperature record… over the past 1000 years it shows a declining temperature up to about 150 years ago and then it shows a rapid increase“

 

 

What is the IPCC?

The IPCC was established 30 years ago by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) to provide a scientific view of climate change and its potential environmental and socio-economic impacts.

What is the IPCC Climate Change Report?

In December 2015 the Paris climate agreement was signed whereupon countries agreed that they would keep global temperatures “well below two degrees C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 degrees C”. The UN asked the IPCC to produce a special report to assess the feasibility of keeping global temperature rises to a maximum of 1.5C.

Scientists are nominated by governments and international institutions. In this particular report there we 91 lead authors from 40 countries which reviewed 6,000 references. This work is unpaid.

Where do we stand right now?

Currently we are on track to reach 1.5C warming between 2030 and 2052, and 3C by 2100.

If we hit just 2C warming, this could have serious impacts, here are just a handful:

  • Almost all coral reefs will be destroyed.
  • The arctic will have summers with no ice at least once a decade.
  • Huge numbers of animals and plants will become extinct.
  • Low-lying coastal regions, such as Bangladesh, will suffer from sea level rise.

 

“One of the key messages that comes out very strongly from this report is that we are already seeing the consequences of 1°C of global warming through more extreme weather, rising sea levels and diminishing Arctic sea ice, among other changes,” said Panmao Zhai, Co-Chair of IPCC Working Group I. – IPCC Press Release

 

There has been extensive coral bleaching already due to sea temperature rise
Photo – Acropora

Can we avoid this?

Yes, but we have just 12 years to turn it around and serious change is required. You can read more about that here.

The report finds that limiting global warming to 1.5°C would require “rapid and far-reaching” transitions in land, energy, industry, buildings, transport, and cities. Global net human-caused emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) would need to fall by about 45 percent from 2010 levels by 2030, reaching ‘net zero’ around 2050. This means that any remaining emissions would need to be balanced by removing CO2 from the air.

“Limiting warming to 1.5°C is possible within the laws of chemistry and physics but doing so would require unprecedented changes,” said Jim Skea, Co-Chair of IPCC Working Group III. – IPCC Press Release

You can read the IPCC Climate Change Press Release in full here.

 

Hosted by Ethan Wrigglesworth

Episode and show notes produced by Ben Toulson

#ExeterMarine is an interdisciplinary group of marine related researchers with capabilities across the scientific, medical, engineering, humanities and social science fields. If you are interested in working with our researchers or students, contact Michael Hanley or visit our website!

 

Scientists at Sea Podcast – The Stingray Episode: with Ethan Wrigglesworth and Molly Meadows

Ben Toulson Leave a comment

In this episode, we get to know our regular presenters a little better. Ethan and Molly talk to Ben, the producer, about the work they have been doing as Masters by Research students for the past two years. Under the supervision of Dr. Lucy Hawkes, Molly and Ethan have been working closely with Dr. Owen O’Shea at the Cape Eleuthera Insitute (CEI) in the Bahamas, to study the stingrays in the local waters.

 

 

Molly and Ethan worked with two data deficient species of stingray; the Southern Stingray, and the Caribbean Whiptail Ray  The main focus of the research was to investigate the rays’ diets. This involved two methods; stable isotopes analysis and stomach content analysis (you can learn more about them in the podcast).

 

Ray team just after having caught a southern stingray along a sandbar. (Ethan first on left, Molly, second from right).

 

Why does this matter?

Well, as Molly and Ethan put it:

Molly holding the tail of a Caribbean whiptail ray presenting the large venomous barb.

 

 

 

“To understand about the diet is actually to understand general ecology… within an ecosystem, what a predator feeds upon… has a great impact on the population sizes of the prey, and there’s a huge amount of energy moving up in that food chain”

 

 

 

 

 

 

How might such research be applied? Well, in the Bahamas there is no legislation for the protection of mangroves.

 

“In the Bahamas, there’s lots of these mangrove creeks, and plenty of fish use them as nursery habitats because they offer a lot of shelter within the roots… stingrays occupy these systems as well… they feed on worms, crabs and things within the sea floor, so they use the mangroves a lot to find (their) food.”

 

You can find out more about why mangroves are so important here.

 

“Beaches are very popular in terms of tourist economy, so (mangroves) get destroyed quite a lot”

 

While the stingrays rely on the mangroves for food, it seems they also offer plenty to the mangroves themselves. To find out exactly what they offer, take a listen to the episode.

 

A free diver going face to face with a large Caribbean Whiptail Ray

 

 

 

You can also find out about some skills you might not know existed, like stingray herding!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Highschool/Island school student Jake holding a southern stingray during sampling procedures

 

Getting Started with Marine Science

Molly and Ethan initially honed their marine biology skills and interests as undergraduates here at the University of Exeter’s Penryn Campus, studying Zoology and Conservation Biology and Ecology respectively. In their final year they undertook a field course to Eleuthera Island in the Bahamas, this sewed the seeds of their Masters by Research. Click the links to find out more.

 

 

Here is a bonus link mentioned during the episode, enjoy! Household items reviewed for science

 

Videos courtesy of CEIBahamas

Hosted by Ethan Wrigglesworth and Molly Meadows

Episode and show notes produced by Ben Toulson

#ExeterMarine is an interdisciplinary group of marine related researchers with capabilities across the scientific, medical, engineering, humanities and social science fields. If you are interested in working with our researchers or students, contact Michael Hanley or visit our website!

 

It’s Stressful Being a Coral! Declining Coral Cover on the Great Barrier Reef

Ben Toulson Leave a comment

Author: Jennifer McWhorter

Jennifer McWhorter is pursuing her PhD in a joint program between the Universities of Exeter and Queensland. Using various climate and ecological modelling techniques, Jen hopes to improve our spatial knowledge of coral reef stressors.

 

The above diagram describes the process of coral bleaching followed by mortality. Source: Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA)

 

Similar to humans experiencing a fever, coral reefs undergo similar stress. The more frequent the fever and the longer the fever lasts, the more life threatening it becomes. Sea surface temperatures in the ocean are increasing at an alarming rate due to human inputs of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere (Ekwurzel et al., 2017). In 2016/2017, the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) experienced two back-to-back severe warming events that caused widespread coral bleaching[1]. According to the Australia Institute of Marine Science, hard coral cover on the GBR has declined at a rate that has never been recorded.

 

Figure 2. “Large-scale spatial patterns in change in coral cover and in heat exposure on the Great Barrier Reef, Australia. A, Change in coral cover between March and November 2016. b, Heat exposure, measured in DHW (in degree C-weeks) in the summer of 2016. Map template is provided by Geoscience Australia (Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia) 2018).” Source: Hughes, T. P., et al., 2018

 

In addition to coral bleaching, cyclones and crown-of-thorns sea star outbreaks have been the main cause of decline in coral cover on the GBR within the past four years. The northern area of the GBR is expected to have lost about half of its’ coral cover. This estimate reflects the impacts of two episodes of severe coral bleaching from 2014-2017 and two cyclones.  The central reef has experienced a decline in coral cover from 22% in 2016 to 14% in 2018 due to coral bleaching and the ongoing southward spread of the crown-of-thorns sea star. Even though the southern portion of the GBR was not exposed to the 2016/2017 warming events, coral cover has dropped from 33% in 2017 to 25% in 2018. On the southern reefs, the crown-of-thorns sea star outbreaks appear to be the main cause for the most recent decline.

 

During my last trip to Australia, I assisted in injecting vinegar into the crown-of-thorns sea stars at Lodestone Reef on the GBR. The vinegar kills the sea star within 24 hours potentially reducing their threat to hard, or stony corals. Photo Credit: Chris Jones

 

“Clearly the reef is struggling with multiple impacts,” says Prof. Terry Hughes, Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies. “Without a doubt the most pressing of these is global warming. As temperatures continue to rise the corals will experience more and more of these events: 1°C of warming so far has already caused four events in the past 19 years.”

“Ultimately, we need to cut carbon emissions, and the window to do so is rapidly closing.”

 

—

 

[1] Coral bleaching – Coral bleaching occurs when the relationship between the coral host and zooxanthellae (photosynthetic algae, NOAA), which give coral much of their colour, breaks down. Without the zooxanthellae, the tissue of the coral animal appears transparent and the coral’s bright white skeleton is revealed. Corals begin to starve once they bleach. (GBRMPA)

 

Additional Resources:

Ekwurzel, B., Boneham, J., Dalton, M. W., Heede, R., Mera, R. J., Allen, M. R., & Frumhoff, P. C. (2017). The rise in global atmospheric CO2, surface temperature, and sea level from emissions traced to major carbon producers. Climatic Change, 144(4), 579-590.

Hughes, T.P. & Kerry, J.T. Back-to-back bleaching has now hit two-thirds of the Great Barrier Reef. The Conversation https://theconversation.com/back-to-back-bleaching-has-now-hit-two-thirds-of-the-great-barrier-reef-76092 (2017)

Hughes, T. P., Kerry, J. T., Baird, A. H., Connolly, S. R., Dietzel, A., Eakin, C. M., … & McWilliam, M. J. (2018). Global warming transforms coral reef assemblages. Nature, 556(7702), 492.

Media Release: Two Thirds of the Great Barrier Reef hit by back-to-back mass coral bleaching

Long-term Reef Monitoring Program – Annual Summary Report on coral reef condition for 2017/2018

 

#ExeterMarine is an interdisciplinary group of marine related researchers with capabilities across the scientific, medical, engineering, humanities and social science fields. If you are interested in working with our researchers or students, contact Michael Hanley or visit our website!