Submitted by Anonymous on Wed, 05/02/2007 - 23:00
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Ask Ms. Prevenas

hi mrs. prevenas! whats up!( get it?poles ,up? sorry, lame joke)? any way, iwas wondering, how much diversity in life have you seen?

iheard(well, read actually)that you were babysitting seal pups. bet that was cool(another lame joke).

any ways, stay warmCool! kieran w.

Fri, 05/04/2007 - 08:21

Maggie Prevenas

Aloha Kieran! 
Heard a lot about the diversity of life, eh?
 
Yes. We have seen many different creatures on this mission. This past week we have been looking at the phytoplankton and seeing what kinds of 'autotrophs' there are and where they live in the water column. There are 'autotrophs' that live attached to the bottom of the Bering Sea ice, and they are also found throughout the water. Some of the scientists check to see how much chlorophyll is in the water and can judge how productive an area is by that amount.
 
There are groups that are looking at all kinds of zooplankton. Some of the pictures they have taken I have put into my journal. there is a wide variety of zooplankton, even little larvae of some of the fish and crab are counted as zooplankton.
 
Then we have looked at birds,fish, and mammals too. So yes we have seen quite a diverse bunch of organisms.
 
warmly, 
 
Mrs. P