Deep Sea Biology SIO 277 Instructor Lisa Levin Contact llevin ucsd edu 534 3579 Room 2236 Sv call before visiting Tues Thurs 11 00 12 20 in Vaughan 100 Website TBA Series of 20 lectures 70 min w discussion Assigned readings on electronic reserve prior to each lecture also some book chapters Texts Gage and Tyler Deep Sea Biology Koslow The Silent Deep Student Requirements Read assigned papers before each lecture Attend each lecture Student Cruise Oct 27 Mid term assignment Challenger Forward early Nov Select a specific topic in deep sea biology read about subject identify unanswered problem issue write hypothesis based research proposal 5 page max Abstract due Oct 25 Proposal due Nov 27 Oral presentation of proposal in a symposium during final exam week Course Evaluation Grading S U unless otherwise requested Take Home Mid Term Assignment 25 Challenger challenge http 19thcenturyscience org HMSC HMS C INDEX index linked htm Written Research Proposal 40 Oral Presentation 25 Participation in Discussion Cruise 10 Reading for Oct 2 4 Oct 2 Physical Environment Gage and Tyler 1991 Chapter 2 Oct 4 Faunal Composition depth zonation Carney R S Zonation of deep biota on continental margins 2005 Oceanogr and Mar Biol An Annual Review 43 211 278 Gage and Tyler 1991 Skim through images on pages 61 162 Orientation The global ocean Most of the Earth is Ocean and most of that is Deep Sea Percent distribution of earth s surface assessed in vertical relief Hypsographic curve Defining the deep sea 200 m beyond the shelf break or 1000 m hard core Definitions can be important much human impact is 1000 m Zonation Terminology meters 200 Continental Shelf 500 Upper Slope Epipelagic euphotic Bathyal Mesopelagic disphotic 1000 Lower Slope Bathypelagic aphotic 3000 Benthopelagic Continental Rise 4000 6000 Abysss Hadal Distribution of Land and Ocean Depths Continental Margins Abyss History Before Exploration Socrates 600 BC The beginning of wisdom is to know that one knows nothing Aristotle 300 BC The ocean deep sea is a frontier to be explored 180 spp recorded from the Aegean Sea Pliny 50 BC The deep sea is an inferior world All we know of it is all there is to be known Posidonius 1 BC Mediterranean Sea is 2000 m deep History of Deep Sea Biology Eric Mills Problems in Deep Sea Biology an historical perspective In The Sea Vo 8 the deep sea edited by G Rowe 1983 book on reserve Tony Koslow Chapter 1 in The Silent Deep The rise of deep sea Exploration Early paradigms pp 8 22 Chapter 2 On the shoulders of giants The Challenger Expedition pp 23 39 The beginning 1 John Ross 1818 1819 Baffin Bay deep sea clamm 4 samples from 850 to 2000 m crustaceans corals shellfish worms basket start from nearly 2000m 2 James Clark Ross 1841 1847 Tasman Sea Antarctic fauna to 750 m Noted similarity with high latitude fauna and concluded uniform cold temperature at seafloor 3 Harry Goodsir 1845 Davis Strait Arctic fauna dredged to 550 m Edward Forbes 1815 1854 Described marine faunas of European Seas Described major biogeographic provinces from Arctic to Mediterranean and Caspian seas Vertical zonation of benthos established the science of marine benthic ecology pattern in species distributions Aegean Sea to 420 m unfortunate focus Unproductive waters little in deep water Ignored work of earlier scientists Azoic Hypothesis 1859 life absent 550 m 300 fathoms Deep sea is Dark Cold High Pressure Stagnant and anoxic How could life survive Azoic Hypothesis Attacked by G C Wallich 1860 13 starfish recovered from a sounding line at 1260 fathoms 2300 m in the N Atlantic off Greenland 1861 Allman and Milne Edwards 15 species recovered from a broken telegraph cable in the Mediterranean between Sardinia and N Africa at 2300 m including stony coral Yet the azoic paradigm persisted John Jeffreys 1861 1868 Shetland Island dredging to 311m 204 species Osprey 51 ft sailing vessel No auxillary power Hemp lines for dredging Azoic theory in question 7 Otto Torell 1861 1865 a Benthic fauna at 2560m off Spitzbergen 8 Michael Sars and G O Sars 1864 1868 a Dredging to 550 m in Norwegian fjords b 427 species of invertebrates including asteroids and crinoids connections to fossil record Azoic theory in question 9 L F de Portales L Agassiz 1867 1868 dredged fauna off Grand Bahama Bank to 1555 m depth 10 W B Carpenter C Wyville Thomson H M S Lightning 1868 Dredged fauna to 1189 m N E Atlantic Deep water temperatures low 0 8 5oC Beginning of Big Science Government funding Networking Politicking Manipulating the public s imagination Wyville Thompson and William Carpenter HMS Lightening 1868 North of Scotland between Shetlands and Faroes Dredged 10 d of 6 wk at sea To 1180 m Abundant life everywhere relict species Brisingid starfishes Hexactinellid sponges Arctic outflows and NA Deep Water 0oC separated by a ridge from warmer 6 4oC Gulfstream influenced Atlantic waters Fauna varied with water temperature H M S Porcupine 1869 70 First ship specifically equipped for oceanographic studies in deep water first fully organized oceanographic expedition Carpenter and Thomson chief scientists West of Ireland dredged to 2700 m South of England France 4450 m Mediterranean Sea w of Spain Recovered all major groups mollusks crustaceans echinoderms sponges stalked crinoids banks of Lophelia pertusa primitive urchins Living fossils 1st use of protected thermometer Led to hypothesis of density driven deep water circulation W Thompson H M S Challenger 1872 1876 Beginning of modern oceanography Institutional collaborative multidisciplinary C Wyville Thomson Expedition leader 4 naturalists Murray Buchanan von WillimoesSuhm Moseley 1 artist Wild 3 5 years 68 890 n miles 362 stations 40 time spent in ports 19th century equivalent of the US space program in 20th century Challenger Expedition Evolved from a one page proposal Objectives To map 1 Global patterns of deep water circulation 2 Chemistry of world s oceans 3 Geology of the deep sea floor 4 Distribution abundance origin of deep sea organisms Determine chemical composition of seawater physical conditions of the deep sea characteristics of sediment deposits distribution of organic life H M S Challenger 226 ft corvette Dredging equipment Winch Dredging platform Accumulators safety springs Beam trawl H M S Challenger Natural history laboratory Primordial ooze Origin of life from inanimate matter Bathybius haeckelii primordial ooze Missing evolutionary links between fossil and modern organisms Bathybius haeckelii 1868 76