Dr. Fisher participated
in a cruise sponsored by the MMS and the BBC, with Dr. Harry Roberts from LSU
as Chief Scientist. Harry's main objective was to locate new seep sites in the
Gulf of Mexico, and we obtained frozen samples for our population genetics studies
and physiological investigations as well as bringing back a full load of live
mussels, tubeworms, and assorted little friends to our aquariums. Dr. Fisher
dove with the BBC camera man as a guide to the seep sites we know so well, and
the footage was used in the deep sea installment of the BBC series, "The
Blue Planet".
Sue Carney participated in a cruise to the Gulf of Mexico with Rick Coffin and Ken Grabowski from the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) as chief scientists. Other participants included scientists from NRL, Texas A & M University, UNC Chapel Hill, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, UC Santa Barbara, Florida State, and U Mass. The main objective of the cruise was to collect hydrate samples. Vestimentiferan blood and tissue samples were collected for our current blood physiology and population genetic studies.
This was our last cruise from a grant
funded by the National Science Foundation, to study temporal change in biology
of hydrothermal vent systems. We visited our RIDGE
observatory site on the Endeavour segment of the Juan de Fuca Ridge on the RV
Atlantis with the research submarine ALVIN.The
Penn State group included 2 graduate students (Derk and Ish) and two undergraduates
from our lab, Julie Knisel and Sarah Howlett. In addition KT O'Toole (of "What's
in the News" fame) joined us as our PSU REVEL coordinator and to film segments
for her PBS children's news show. We finished up our in-situ studies, recovered
our thermistor arrays, and made several community collections using our new
Bushmastser and Chimneymaster collection nets. We also got our Alvin water sampler
working like never before and used it to characterize the chemical conditions
around the tubeworms at our study sites. As a side line, we lost, found, fixed
and then used a fancy water sampler for NASA, and brought them back a nice set
of samples.
This cruise was once again host of the REVEL
program for secondary school science teachers. This year, 3 secondary school
science teachers from Pennsylvania participated along with 5 others from Washington
and New York states. Although our research here and the REVEL program are temporarily
done, we have grant spending to bring both back to the Juan de Fuca Ridge.
As last year,this cruise originated in Manzanillo Mexico, a port we are getting to know well. The Penn State contingent for this cruise included Drs. Fisher and Schaeffer, two grad students (Erin and Derk), and Melanie Freeman, an undergraduate working in our lab. We again used the deep submersible ALVINfor our dives on the East Pacific Rise at about 9·N. This was the last NSF cruise in the collaborative project with Dr.Lauren Mullineaux of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Dr. Charles Peterson of UNC Chapel Hill. We finished up the field-work proposed for this grant spending large parts of most dives collecting basalt larval settlement blocks we had deployed on previous cruises. We also re-visited an experiment we began during our last cruise to see if mussel moved to newly cleared vent sites would inhibit tubeworm recruitment. Alas, the mussels ran off, however, we did collect fine data on community recruitment and growth over the one-year period of the experiment. All an all, an excellent cruise and fine end to the project.
For More Information Contact: cfisher@psu.eduThis cruise was to our RIDGE observatory site on the Endeavour segment of the Juan de Fuca Ridge on theRVAtlantis with the research submarine ALVIN. This was part of a long term study, funded by the National Science Foundation, to study temporal change in geology and biology of hydrothermal vent systems. Six scientists from PSU were joined by collaborators from UC Davis, San Francisco State Univ., Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the Univ. of Southampton, UK, the Univ. of Vienna, NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratories, and the Univ. of Washington. We monitored our established growth stations, downloaded data from the thermistor arrays we had in place and redeployed them, establishing several new growth stations. We also collected samples for studies of molecular ecology and nutritional interactions. Additionally, this cruise once again hosted the REVEL program, a very exciting new outreach program for secondary school science teachers. This year 3 secondary school science teachers from Pennsylvania were included in this cruise and program. The REVEL program presented a live website during the cruise, so folks at home could follow the adventure while it happened!
For More Information Contact: cfisher@psu.eduThis cruise was to our hydrocarbon seep study sites in the Gulf of Mexico. The cruise was staged in and out of Port Fourchon Louisiana on the RV Edwin Link with the research submersible Johnson Sea Link II. This cruise was part of a large program funded by the Minerals ManagementService. Seven members of our group went to sea with scientists from Texas A & M Univ., Louisiana State Univ., Univ. of Virginia,UC Davis, and the Univ. of Georgia. We completed our growth studies of the mussels and tubeworms here, took and analyzed water samples from above and beneath the sediments, made collections with our new "Bushmasters" for quantitative ecological analysis, finished the collections for a population genetics study, and collected "iceworms" and other polychaetes for ship-board physiological studies.
For More Information Contact: cfisher@psu.edu This cruise originated in Manzanillo
Mexico and ended in San Diego CA. We used the deep submersible
In September, 1997, this two-leg cruise went to the RIDGE observatory site on the Endeavor segment of the Juan de Fuca Ridge on the RV Atlantis with the manned submersible ALVIN and the ROV JASON. The first leg was supported through the National Science Foundation RIDGE program and the NOAA West Coast National Undersea Research Program, and second leg by the State of Washington (Dr. John Delaney PI). A NOVA camera crew and producer were also aboard to document the cruise. Four members of our group (and four close collaborators from other institutions) participated in each leg of this cruise. We monitored our established growth stations, downloaded the data from the thermistor arrays we had in place and redeployed them. We also established several new growth stations and collected samples for studies of molecular ecology and nutritional interactions. Additionally, this cruise once again hosted the REVEL program, a very exciting new outreach program for secondary school science teachers.
For More Information Contact: cfisher@psu.eduThis two-leg cruise was to our hydrocarbon seep study sites in the Gulf of Mexico. The cruise was staged in and out of Port Fourchon, Louisiana on the RV Edwin Link with the research submersible Johnson Sea Link II. The first leg of this cruise was supported by the NOAA National Undersea Research Program (at UNCW) and the second leg is part of a large program funded by the Minerals Management Service. Six members of our group participated in the first leg and four in the second. We conducted growth studies of the tubeworm and mussel communities, took and analyzed water samples around and below the animals to characterize their habitats and locate the sources of the reduced chemicals they utilize, and collected animals for studies of the population genetics of the animals and to analyze the nutritional interactions among the fauna. An added source of excitement on the cruise was Dr. Fisher's discovery of "iceworms", a new species of polychaete.
For More Information Contact: cfisher@psu.eduIn the Fall of last year Dr. Fisher along with Istvan Urcuyo and Kathleen Scott represented our group in a collaborative cruise, REVEL ROPOS '96, using the R/V Thomas G. Thompson with the ROV ROPOS. It was supported by grants from the NOAA West Coast National Undersea Research Program, by Canada (to Dr. Kim. Juniper), and by the State of Washington (to Dr. John Delaney). During this cruise we monitored and initiated the same kinds of studies described above for this years cruise to the same site, and participated in the first REVEL program.
For More Information Contact: cfisher@psu.eduIn February 1996 Dr. Fisher and Kathleen Scott participated in "Hot '96", a collaborative cruise using the French research vessel Nadir with the deep submersible Nautile, and the American ship RV Wecoma. Dr. Fisher was aboard the Nadir and conducted collaborative studies of vestimentiferan tube growth with the French chief Scientist, Dr. Francoise Gaill. Kathleen Scott was aboard the RV Wecoma where she conducted studies of the physiology of symbionts freshly purified from tubeworms.
For More Information Contact: cfisher@psu.eduIn December 1995 the third and last cruise of an NSF project to study the roles of larval settlement, species interactions and physiological adaptations during colonization of hydrothermal vents was conducted. This was a collaborative project with Dr. Lauren Mullineaux of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Dr. Charles Peterson of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill which utilized the research submersible ALVIN. Drs. Fisher and Schaeffer participated in this cruise with Kathleen Scott and Donna Toleno from our group. During this cruise .... larval settlement blocks were recovered which had been deployed during the previous two cruises of this project. Additionally water samples were taken and analyzed, recording temperature recorders recovered, additional blocks deployed for a renewal grant, and samples taken for molecular probing of block surfaces for free-living tubeworm symbionts. Collaborating scientists from Canada, California, and France also participated in this cruise.
For More Information Contact: cfisher@psu.edu