Since most plankton is smaller than we can see, they must be looked at using a microscope. They are usually strained from the water using fine mesh nets or sieves with tiny holes. Typical plankton nets have a round opening and look like a funnel that leads into a collection bucket at the end of the net. The nets are
One of the simplest biological samplers, zooplankton nets are made in a wide variety of styles and sizes. The two nets in the MARMAP Bongo vertical-haul net system explained here each have a mouth diameter of about 25 cm.
Arctic Ocean Biodiversity is a Census of Marine Life project aimed at coordinating research efforts examining the diversity in each of the three major realms: sea ice, water column and sea floor, including fish, mammals & birds. This program will consolidate what is known and fill remaining gaps in our knowledge: it leads the Arctic Ocean diversity cluster within the
Windows to the Universe offers information on plankton. Also associated are resources on other ocean life, marine ecology, and human impacts of marine environments.
The CIMSS/UW-Madison Global and Regional Climate Change course for G6-12 science teachers has been translated to Spanish and is now available online. The translation was done by Juan Botella, a native Spanish speaker who teaches high school science in Madison, WI and a former PolarTREC teacher. Read more about Juan here: http://www.polartrec.com/member/juan-botella
NBC Learn, in partnership with the National Science Foundation, explores the impact that climate change is having on our planet. In this video, IARC's Dr. Katey Walter Anthony and IARC affiliate Dr. Vladimir Romanovsky are interviewed about permafrost, methane, and their impacts on the environment. Viewers are given an explosive demonstration.
In this video adapted from KUAC-TV and the Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, learn how one-celled organisms in permafrost may be contributing to greenhouse gas levels and global warming. Investigate how soil microbes, once thought to be dormant in cold temperatures, may actually be actively decomposing organic matter throughout the Alaskan winter and contributing significant amounts of
The Permafrost Observatory was established at Barrow under the auspices of the International Arctic Research Center (IARC). The observatory was established to compare present permafrost temperatures with those obtained during the 1950s and early 1960s by Max Brewer.
With credit to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, this interview with Dr. Timothy Shank explains the importance of hydrothermal vents to the survival of deep sea organisms in the Arctic. The link will open a page with Dr. Shank's video as well as his biography.