I have known for some time that I wanted to be involved in coral research. I love diving underwater and entering that vibrant, alien-like world. I am naturally overcurious, passionate, and determined to solve the mysteries of our world’s threatened ecosystems. Chasing those extraordinary experiences has always been my thing, so when my supervisor pitched … Continued
The expanding reach of humankind has plunged far into the unknown, which is also home to the largest ecosystem on the planet. Throughout parts of the seafloor are untapped sources of rare earth metals including gold, silver and copper, and more importantly sulfide, zinc, manganese, and cobalt. These resources are necessary ingredients in manufacturing the … Continued
One of the main goals of the Perth Canyon research cruise is to locate and collect a variety of marine organisms that are living down at great depths, in particular deep-sea corals. But what are deep-sea corals and why are researchers so interested in them? Deep-sea corals are widely distributed within the earth’s oceans and … Continued
The weather was too rough for deploying any instruments today. But the science team continued to work on experiments in the lab. Molecular ecologist Dr. Iliana Baums and graduate student Danielle Young worked into the late hours to complete a four-day experiment on deep-sea corals that were collected on the first ROV dive. Corals live … Continued
The research team onboard was very excited to begin scientific underwater surveys and sample collections with remotely operated vehicle (ROV) Global Explorer MK3 this morning. The primary objective for this ROV dive is to collect live deep-sea corals of two different species for molecular ecologist Iliana Baums and graduate students Danielle Young and Arielle Anderson. … Continued
