Newsday reporter Jennifer Smith blogs dispatches from Toolik Lake, Alaska about science underway at the research station, including the work of researcher Amanda Koltz on predatory spiders.
Nature creates its own density column in marine systems, which is extremely important for the triggering of the spring bloom of phytoplankton. Phytoplankton are an important food source for all organisms- from microscopic zooplankton to large marine mammals such as walrus and whales. The different salinities (and therefore, different densities) of water help to stabilize the water column (by limiting