The participants of “ForBio Marine Course Greenland” represent a highly diverse group. This is our presentations of ourselves through our favourite organisms (“things”):

Near the end of the Greenland Adventure, full of unforgettable experiences and close to collapse of exhaustion after long days of sampling and sorting, our Arctic explorers took a few minutes of their precious time to write about themselves and which organism made them head North, up till latitude 69 degrees.

Andreas Altenburger (University of Copenhagen): 

The aim of my project is to investigate the embryonic development of animals in the phylum Kinorhyncha. During the course I use the possibility to collect several kinorhynch species and try to make them reproduce.

 

Anne Helene Tandberg (Institute of Marine Research, Tromsø):

Amphipods from the genus Metopa are my favourite animals. This is a photo of Metopa alderi, who, just like its “cousin” Metopa groenlandica has been found here; they both live inside mussels. I love the way the tiny details help us determine which species we look at, and that they have found such clever ways of living – nice and cozy inside another animal…

 

Christiane Todt (University Museum of Bergen):

My special interest are molluscs, and especially the shell-less and worm-shaped aplacophoran groups. The small solenogaster (or neomeniomorph) on this picture has already gained some fame in 2011 by being featured as “Greenland neomeniomorph” in a publication in  the journal Nature (480: 364–367) – but it has no valid name yet! We found 10 more specimens – enough to analyze its anatomy and spicule morphology to come up with a proper species description and a scientific name!

 

Daniela de Abreu (University of Gothenburg): 

Yes! Slow moving amphipod. My favorite animal, so far, is Socarnes vahlii, the cutest, most colorful, and slowest amphipod I spotted on the Lithothamnion aggregation samples of Disko Fjord. This guy has the most amazing chromatophore patterns and colors of the crustaceans collected in this trip.

 

Henning Flørenes (University of Bergen): 

Here on Greenland we’ve had a great variety of fauna that are absolutely fascinating. I’m currently working with calcareous sponges that are as amazing as anything you can imagine. My personal favorite is the fabulous Brattegardia nanensi. With its elegant form and lovely network of asconoid tubes, it ranks as the top sponge on my favorite list. It’s known to be around the Disko Island area so I’ve had the great opportunity to get a specimen and take a closer look at it.

 

Inga Meyer-Wachsmuth (Stockholm University): 

My favorite animal didn’t show up, but there were a few close relatives that were unexpectedly colorful. This is a possibly undescribed species of Acoela of less than a mm length, with a beautiful red coloring. It was found with the Lithothamnion aggregations.

 

                                                                    Jakob Thyrring (Aarhus University): 

I am working with blue mussels as they are ecological important species. I will investigate how this species that are susceptible to expand their current distribution range will influence the Arctic ecosystem structure and function.

 

Jenny Egardt (Gothenburg University): 

I am a PhD student working with biodiversity and habitat change as a measurement of human impact in shallow marine coastal areas. In Disko, I am interested in learning more about arctic species and their abundance, and compare video footage taken during this course with footage from two years ago to see if the habitats are still the same.

 

Jeroen Brijs (Gothenburg University): 

I’m doing a PhD on gastrointestinal motility and blood flow in fish, specifically shorthorn sculpin (Myoxocephalus scorpius). I have captured a few here in Greenland to examine their stomach contents to determine what prey species they feed on so that I have a better understanding of their feeding ecology as this will assist me in understanding the digestive processes which occur within this fish species.

 

Josefin Sefbom (Gothenburg University): 

I am investigating population genetic patterns of the diatom Skeletonema marinoi – a common and important bloom-forming primary producer found in many coastal waters.

 

 

 

Mari Heggernes Eilertsen (University of Bergen): 

For my PhD I will be working on several different animals, but at the moment my favorite animal is a small calcareous sponge called Sycon abyssale, which is found in the deep North Atlantic and Norwegian Sea. Interestingly it is also found in shallow waters (<100 m) in Norwegian fjords, and I will use genetic analyses to establish if these populations are the same species and investigate the geneflow between populations, especially across the Greenland-Iceland-Faroes ridge, which is believed to be a major barrier to dispersal for deep-sea organisms.

 

Mette Møller Nielsen (Aarhus University): 

                                                                  I am a PhD student from Aarhus University, Denmark working with kelps. Kelps are widely distributed and highly productive and they are important organisms in coastal zones where they form key habitats. They act as substrate for sessile organisms as well as shelter and nursery area for fauna in general, thereby stimulating biodiversity.

 

Arom Mucharin (Aarhus University): 

This small (ca. 3mm long) juvenile of Cucumaria frondosa (Gunners, 1767) we found in the Lithothamnion samples is really cool! I have been working with sea cucumbers in Thailand and in Denmark for some time now, but usually the specimens I deal with are much larger!!!

 

 

 

Peter Funch (Aarhus University): 

The penis worm Priapulus caudatus from the mud outside the habour of Qeqertarsuaq (Godhavn), Greenland, was one of the best finds of this course for me. Together with my students in Aarhus I investigate symbiotic bacteria that live in the gut of these creatures.

 

Peter Kohnert (Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich):

 I do my PhD on the evolution and phylogeny of pteropods, my main interest is the sampling of specimens of Limacina helicina and its predator Clione limacina (see picture), generally known as “sea angel”. Besides that I enjoy exploring the diversity of arctic gastropods in general.

 

Maria Perpétua Scarlet (Gothenburg University): 

The small (10-13 length), fragile bivalve shells of the species Ennucula tenuis, are beautiful, olive-yellowish or brown in color outside and nacreous inside; tho specimen was dredged at 50 m depth on mud of Eqalunguit, Disko Fjord.

 

 

Sandra Lage (Stockholm University):  

Ceratium fusus found in the surroundings of Disko Island, is my favorite organism of the day. You can find them everywhere, from Tropics to the Arctic, the marine and fresh waters teem with life; a so tiny…microscopic life that ultimately all trophic chains depends on. While most of these species of phytoplankton and cyanobacteria are harmless, there are a few that create potent toxins given the right conditions, and this are the ones that I have been always fascinated about.

 

Edited by: Sandra Lage (Stockholm University) and Christiane Todt (University Museum of Bergen)

Waking up bright and early Monday morning we all eagerly awaited a call from the captain of Porsild on whether we would be able to go on our sampling trip to Disko Fjord or once again have to change our plans due to bad weather. The call came and like a child on Christmas morning our eyes glistened with hope.

Yes! We are going!

The weather was even good enough to take the small speedboat with us, so three brave guys dressed up in teletubby-like survival suits, which are one size that really fits no one.

We were told this little boat would be slightly faster than Porsild, and as we steamed out of the harbor doing approximately 5 knots it raced passed us at the speed of light with the mighty Johannes at the helm.

On the Porsild we were all taken by the beautiful scenery, large icebergs and steep cliffs that plunged into the sea made almost every moment a Kodak one. The sea was calm and not a single whale spotted so the trip was somehow uneventful in this matter.

For our speedboat crew the story however was quite the opposite. Having arrived hours ahead of Porsild, our brave boys decided to do some fishing. This resulted in them catching not one, not two, but six large cods which we later prepared for dinner with the only spices at our disposal, salt and beer.

They also had a taste of the Inuit everyday life when a curious seal approached the boat. Quicker than any gunman in the wildest of the west, Johannes reached for his rifle and that seal is now swimming happily in the eternal seas.

At the arrival of Porsild we all met up for some sampling of blue mussels. Oddly enough, the only one of us who actually works with this organism was still at the Arctic Station having us do his dirty-work for him. What a clever Dane he is, that Jakob.

    

Sorting mussels

So, after replicating sampling grids and sorting and cleaning mussels until our fingers were the same temperature as the surrounding water we headed to a nearby village, population of 50.

Half of us were to spend the night on Porsild and the other half were camping on land and therefore had packed both warm sleeping bags and thermal mattresses. The “campsite” turned out to be a house where government officials stay while visiting the area so needless to say, our campers was not particularly uncomfortable in their palace with a panorama view of the fjord and surrounding mountains.

After a good night on board Porsild being gently rocked to sleep by the sea we woke up to the smell of fresh coffee ready for an exciting new day in Disko Fjord.

First on the agenda(after collecting our campers) was to go look for a radioactive hotspring, not to worry though, it was not radioactive enough to make us glow in the dark. Even for the crazy German Andreas who walked barefoot.

This spring is homeothermic and thus never freezes. This creates a very unique environment that allows species like orchid and Angelica to grow in an otherwise harsh environment. Rumor has it that the vikings used to smoke Angelica and further the Inuits have a tradition of using it for producing an alcoholic beverage.

So, armed with GPS-coordinates and survival suites very suitable for boat rides in the arctic (but definitely not for long walks) we were put to shore within a short walking distance from this elusive spring. Or so we thought.

Apparently our captain didn’t care much for those coordinates. This could either have been a miscommunication (none of us speak Inuit very well) or he just felt we needed some exercise (he was probably right considering the high amount of potatoes and gravy in our diet up here…), because we ended up walking up and down moss-covered hills for about one kilometer before reaching said spring.

Finally there, everybody was on their hands and knees taking pictures from all kind of weird angles of Angelica, gypsum fluorite precipitation on rocks and withered orchids. Surprisingly enough, the orchids were no longer flowering at this time a year – but what do a bunch of marine biologists know about that stuff anyway.

   

Photographing Angelica can be tricky                    Gypsum fluorite precipitation

Back on the boat we had a very quick cup of coffee and then off we went for the next agenda of the day, Lithothamnion sampling!

Lithothamnion are coralline red algae which creates either crusts on rocks or globular aggregations on the seafloor. These globular Lithothamnion were of particular interest due to their importance in creating unique habitats for meiofauna…

So tune in on our blog tomorrow for more exiting scientific facts about this topic.

Written by: Mette (Aarhus University) & Jenny (Gothenburg University)

Porsild is the research vessel of Arctic Station and our workplace when we go out for collecting samples. 

It’s a 15m long and 5m wide vessel that can transport 12 passengers and three crew members during daytrips. Eight people can stay over-night on board.

Prior to sampling we plan which stations we are going to visit and which sampling gear will be needed. This has to be done with care as space on the ship is limited so we only want to take equipment that is absolutely necessary.

In order to get an overview over the marine biodiversity around Disko Island, Porsild takes us to places such as Disko Fjord and deeper waters south of Qeqertarsuaq.

On board we use several sampling tools and two winches. The larger winch has a 400m wire and a lifting capacity of two tons. The smaller winch has a wire length of 800m and is mainly used for lighter sampling such as with the plankton net.

Written by: Andreas (Natural History Museum, Denmark)

 

 

 

Woke up bright and early on day 6 of the ForBio Marine Course in Disko Island, Greenland to the beautiful sight of blue skies and the sun reflecting off the icebergs in the bay.  After a delicious breakfast the group divided up to tackle multiple tasks, which included activities such as sorting samples gathered on the Porsild trip, identifying multitudes of exciting species and a trip to an intertidal area outside the village.  After weaving our way past bands of fearsome sledge dogs aka ‘wolves’, the band of intertidal researchers arrived in a premium location for investigating life in the rocky pools, blue mussel communities and macroalgae. To observe macroalgae communities, a brave (and slightly crazy) Danish researcher (Mette Möller Nielsen) snorkeled around the coast in water with a temperature of around 3°C with icebergs as her companions.  As a safety precaution a rope was attached to her and held by a shore person, this technique was later dubbed as ‘orca fishing’ as she closely resembled a seal in her wetsuit, fortunately for her no orcas were sighted. The blue mussel expert present (Jakob Thyrring) was jubilant as the area had thousands of blue mussel specimens, which will be important for his research on understanding climatic changes in Greenland. Meanwhile, another enthusiastic researcher (Peter Kohnert) had discovered a ‘gold-mine’ of nudibranchs which will probably take the better part of the rest of the decade to identify…..but he was excited nonetheless. Once sampling had finished we enjoyed a slice of frozen bread with herring and a hot steamy cup of coffee in the sunshine whilst enjoying the beautiful views.

    

“Orca-fishing” with human bait…                            Sampling phytoplankton from the shore.

 

In the afternoon more identification of amazing arctic species ensued and terms such as chaetae, papillae, dactylus, subchela and rostrum were thrown around with abandon interrupted by the occasional cheer once someone had successfully identified one of the many cryptic species.  A small party attempted to catch some arctic fish species and phytoplankton at an amazing location dominated by large cliffs, icebergs, the occasional whale and beautiful tundra-like vegetation. Unfortunately the level of expertise in the fishing department was not quite up to scratch resulting in a catch of one piece of seaweed and little else, luckily we are here for at least another two weeks and can work on our techniques.  The phytoplankton scientists had more success, getting a large haul of the microscopic organisms.  Satisfied with our sampling success for the day we headed back to enjoy a delicious meal of local lamb and exciting presentations given by members of the team.

 

Till tomorrow,

Jeroen Brijs (Gothenburg University) and Jakob Thyrring (Aarhus University)

The first day of sampling did not go exactly as planned, which is more the rule than the exception when it comes to marine sampling.

Due to bad weather and some technical issues with the boat it was not safe to go as far out to sea as we wanted to, but instead we stayed near the harbor in Qeqertarsuaq and took samples there. With the triangular dredge we got some macroalgae (kelps), including one beautiful species with circular holes in the leaves. This alga is a common species here, but it was new for most of the students attending the course. The roots of the kelp are a habitat for many small animals, which we picked out by hand when we got back to the lab. We also sampled mud with associated fauna, most of which was sieved on deck to wash out the animals. Some of the mud however was taken back to the lab undisturbed to look for meiofauna, small fragile species that would be crushed or lost in the sieving process. In addition to the benthic sampling we took plankton samples with a plankton-net that was dropped down to approximately 25 meters and pulled slowly back to the surface. This turned out to be not very successful probably due to high seas and small manoevering space.

   

Mette shows the “holey” kelp.                                  Seaweedy and muddy catch. 

 

The most abundant animal groups in the benthic samples this day were polychaetes (bristle worms) and amphipods (crustaceans). When we started looking at the samples under the dissection microscope the diversity of polychaete families and species were much higher than expected, and to begin with nearly every new specimen represented a new family. It was, however, very challenging to identify the polychaetes to species for many groups, because the literature and keys that are available usually only include European or Scandinavian species, but with a combination of keying and googling for local Greenlandic fauna we managed to identify a large proportion of the material.

 

 

The student group is very varied, with PhD students in fields ranging from neurotoxins and fish physiology to population dynamics and meiofaunal taxonomy. Although everyone has their own little project during the course, we all chip in with the general identification work and compiling species lists of the collected material. Even our fish physiologist, Jeroen, got to identify some polychaetes, and he was fascinated to see that what only looks like small, boring worms to the naked eye are in fact beautiful creatures when you get them under the microscope.

Written by Mari (University of Bergen) and Inga (Stockholm University)