Roots of the Sea

MIT-WHOI Joint Program Ph.D. student Cynthia Becker paddles her kayak into the mangroves of St. John, US Virgin Islands to collect water samples and study the microorganisms residing in mangrove environments. Under the direction of her advisor, WHOI microbial ecologist Amy Apprill, Becker is investigating how reef systems and microorganisms recover from extreme weather events. Events like Hurricanes Irma and Maria, which battered these mangroves in September, 2017, just two months after this photo was taken. This project is part of a larger collaborative study of soundscapes and larval recruitment on St. John, along with WHOI scientists Aran Mooney and Joel Llopiz. (Photo by Cynthia Becker, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)