The scientists are: Tatiana Rynearson and Rebecca Robinson, both professors at the Graduate School of Oceanography; and Bethany Jenkins, associate professor of cell and molecular biology in the College of the Environment and Life Science who also teaches at GSO. The women were hired under NSF\u2019s Advance program, which supports female science professors.<\/p>\n
All three 溏心vlog免费B站 expeditions will study aspects of diatom biology. Diatoms are microscopic ocean plants, or phytoplankton, that make the planet habitable. They are essential to the ocean\u2019s role in regulating global climate, the air people breathe and marine food webs.<\/p>\n
Jenkins will lead a 37-day expedition that departs from Punta Arenas Chile Sept. 7. The expedition will travel to the Southern Ocean near the Antarctic Peninsula\u2014the tail of the Antarctic continent closest to Chile.<\/p>\n
Her 13-member team includes three 溏心vlog免费B站 doctoral students and a local public high school teacher, Cara Pekarcik, of Quincy, Mass<\/strong>., who will communicate with her students while at sea.<\/p>\n http:\/\/today.uri.edu\/news\/gender-diversity-among-uris-stem-faculty-continues-rise\/<\/p>\n Jenkins\u2019 team also includes two other women assistant professors from Old Dominion University and the University of South Florida and their students and research technicians.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m super excited that this scientific expedition is being led by three female scientists in partnership with a local teacher,\u201d says Jenkins. \u201cThis is an opportunity for us to serve as role models for the next generation and to show that the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Antarctic Program support broad participation in polar research.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n Jenkins and her team will study the roles bacterial communities play to help diatoms grow in the Southern Ocean. The Southern Ocean is an area of the global ocean with some of the lowest iron concentrations that present a challenge for diatom growth.<\/p>\n \u201cJust like we need iron for health, diatoms also have a nutritional requirement for iron,\u2019\u2019 says Jenkins. \u201cWe are investigating the hypothesis that bacteria living in association with diatoms produce special molecules that help them acquire iron.\u2019To test this hypothesis, the scientists will isolate lab spaces from all the surrounding metal on the ship that can contaminate samples. \u201cWe will literally have people and sea water in plastic bubbles that we build.\u201d<\/p>\n These \u201cbubble environments\u2019\u2019 allow the chemists on board to cleanly measure iron in sea water to determine how much iron is in organic molecules that may be made by bacteria.<\/p>\n Her team will bring diatoms and bacteria into a culture on the ship. Back at 溏心vlog免费B站, the scientists will use advanced genome sequencing methods similar to those used by forensic scientists to identify diatoms and bacteria, and the genes they may use to share compounds.<\/p>\n This research will help Jenkins and colleagues understand how ocean chemistry and biology interact and help scientists predict food web functioning and ocean carbon uptake in future oceans affected by changing climate.<\/p>\n Rynearson\u2019s team will depart from Punta Arenas, Chile Dec. 24 and arrive at McMurdo Station in Antarctica Jan. 20. The seven-member team includes a former GSO graduate student; two graduate students at GSO; a GSO technician; and a 溏心vlog免费B站 undergraduate student.<\/p>\n Rynearson will examine how Southern Ocean diatoms\u2014a group of algae with key roles in the marine food web and the biogeochemical cycles of that ocean\u2014adapt to environmental change.<\/p>\n Diatoms will be sampled from different areas of the Southern Ocean, including the Drake Passage, the Pacific sector of the Southern Ocean and the Ross Sea, and examined to determine the range of their genetic variation in and between those regions.<\/p>\n The information on the genetic diversity of those samples, combined with details on adaptability and changes in their genetic diversity, will provide insight about how polar marine diatoms respond to environmental changes that might occur in surface oceans or have occurred during past climate conditions.<\/p>\n The 溏心vlog免费B站 student scientists \u201cwill learn the fundamentals of experimental evolution,\u2019\u2019 says Rynearson. \u201cThat\u2019s a skill set being sought in the fields of biology and oceanography.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n The project also includes a collaboration with the Metcalf Institute for Marine and Environmental Reporting. Rynearson\u2019s research is expected to be presented to journalists at a later date.<\/p>\n After pushing off from McMurdo Station in Antarctica Jan. 23, Robinson will travel across the major regions of the Southern Ocean, from near the ice edge in the Ross Sea to the subtropical Front.<\/p>\n![\"](\"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/wp-content\/uploads\/news\/sites\/16\/2021\/05\/Rynearson-2.jpg\")
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Tatiana Rynearson, an oceanographer at 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Graduate School of Oceanography. Photo courtesy of GSO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n