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expeditions/CReefs 2006/Collection/Plankton
Census
of Marine Life, Census of Coral Reefs Expedition to
French Frigate Shoals (October 2006)
Plankton
Nets
Lead
Scientist: Scott Godwin, Gustav Paulay
Target Habitats: Water column--fore reef,
lagoonal
Target Organisms: Plankton
Description:
Plankton nets sample plankton communities. We propose to
do 10 subsurface tows with a 1 m diameter, 100 um net
to sample local plankton at 5 fore reef and 5 lagoonal
sites. Collected plankton samples will be divided in
half, half fixed in formalin for morphological study
and half fixed in 95% ethanol. Plankton includes taxa
that spend their entire life in the water column (holoplankton),
as well as the larval stages of benthic species (meroplankton).
DNA barcoding techniques provide a novel method for matching planktonic
larval and benthic adult stages. Barcoding plankton samples
will also allow us to estimate what percentage of
the benthic fauna were successfully sampled by providing
an independent estimate of that fauna in their larval stages:
thus the proportion of meroplankter sequences encountered
that are not represented in the benthos is an indication
of how incomplete benthic sampling has been.
Zooplankton
illustration by Mark J. Rauzon.
Back to collection methods
Additional resources
Ship
Logs:
Day-by-day
activities of the expedition.
Journals:
Daily
or semi-daily personal journal entries by
the particpants
in the expedition. These journals do not necessarily reflect
the positions of any of the agencies connected with this
project.
Interviews:
Interviews with expedition participants, scientists,
vessel crew, educators, etc.
Features:
Highlights or special information such as interesting
discoveries, articles or related research.
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