“Zoogliding into the Future…”

Talk Summary: “Continuity of traditional shipboard sampling methods is essential for quantifying the emergence of long-term trends in zooplankton populations from intrinsic variability. This is especially true in dynamic ocean regions like Eastern Boundary Current upwelling ecosystems.  However, mechanistic understanding of the causality underlying changes in zooplankton populations requires novel approaches that sample the organisms on the scale of their natural ambit – i.e., the scales on which they encounter prey, predators, and mates in the ocean water column.  Toward this end, at SIO we have developed the fully autonomous Zooglider that incorporates a shadowgraph imaging Zoocam, a dual-frequency active acoustic Zonar, and a passive acoustic hydrophone to record the soundscapes of the zooplankton environment.  This presentation will address some of the surprises Zooglider has uncovered in both the California Current System and the western Mediterranean Sea, diving between 400 m and the sea surface. These include vertical thin layers of highly concentrated organisms that alter predator-prey interactions; abrupt changes in zooplankton behavior and community structure across hydrographic fronts; and influences of a submarine canyon on some types of zooplankton.  Our analyses often depend on applications of advanced Machine Learning methods. As we are living in turbulent times, I will also touch on small-scale fluid discontinuities uncovered by Zooglider and their possible consequences for planktonic organisms.”

Coffee and snacks provided!