![]() ![]() |
|
|||||
|
||||||
![]() ![]() |
||||||
Daily Journal Questions Participants
Sponsored by:
|
Background
This research effort is looking at how the larval forms of some marine animals move between Antarctica and South America. By using plankton nets, we will look for larvae actually moving across the Drake Passage - one of the roughest bodies of water in the world. Because larvae are so small and the Drake Passage is so big, this will be like looking for a needle in a haystack. However, we have found larvae in the Drake Passage on previous cruises in 2000, 2001 and 2004. Once we get back home, we will use genetic (DNA) tools on larvae and adults collected in Antarctica and South America to determine if animals in both locations are closely related. The best explanation for how these areas stay closely related is that larvae, not the adults, move long distances. In order to collect adults to investigate their DNA, we will use several different pieces of equipment to sample the shallow sea floors around the tip of South America and around Antarctica, at depths up to around 200 meters (around 600 feet). To collect the larvae forms, we will use plankton nets in the much deeper waters of the Drake
|
|||||
|