Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution -
Woods Hole, MA

	Dr. Rebecca Gast My research has the overall theme of molecular protistan ecology, and includes analyses of the genetic diversity, detection, distribution and abundances of protists (algae and protozoa) in the extreme marine environments of the Antarctic and the Arctic. The goal of this work is to help further our knowledge regarding the function of the microbial food web in these ecosystems. The purpose of my lab’s participation in this research expedition onboard the Nathaniel B. Palmer is to examine the protistan diversity in water, ice and slush of the Ross Sea, Antarctica during the late austral spring and early austral summer seasons for comparison with information we collected previously in the mid to late austral summer. We are pursuing both genetic analyses and enrichment culture (which will be described more fully in our web updates) to determine what protists are present at this time, whether they are related to ones previously detected, and conduct enrichment and grazing experiments to better understand how protists have adapted to growth in the extreme cold.
	Mark Dennett I am a Research Specialist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution with a primary focus in microbial ecology. I have been to the Antarctic several times before. In fact, I have been to sea on the N.B. Palmer more than any other ship. On previous trips to the Ross Sea I have been quantifying seasonal changes in the rates of herbivory and bacterivory by nano- and microplankton along with their abundance and distribution as part of the JGOFS/AESOPS program. On the Antarctic peninsula, I was part of 2 GLOBEC cruises studying the distribution of krill. On this cruise I will help with the processing of water and ice samples for molecular sequence identification of marine protists along with coordinating our over-the-side water and ice coring operations.
	Dawn Moran I am a research assistant in Dr. Rebecca Gast's molecular protistan ecology lab. My main responsibility is to isolate, maintain and describe the lab's protistan culture collections. Presently, our main collection consists of Antarctic protists collected from two previous cruises. We use these protists to compare with and support field data, gain a better understanding about the physiology of psychrophillic and psychrotolerant protists and to observe the ecological roles and relationships that these protists play in their communities. On this cruise I will be establishing mixed and clonal protistan enrichment cultures from water, ice and slush environments. I will also be isolating single cells to archive photos and the corresponding 18s ribosomal DNA sequences of protists from their natural environments. Picking protistan cells from their in situ environments allows us to characterize protists which do not easily grow in culture. We hope to gain a greater understanding of Antarctic marine protistan diversity by combining these molecular and morphological techniques. Temple University - Philadelphia, PA
Temple University - Philadelphia, PA
	Dr. Robert Sanders I'm an ecologist who studies planktonic organisms in marine and fresh waters. My research emphasis is on protists (algae and protozoa) and invertebrates. Recent work has focused on the effects of ultraviolet radiation on ciliates and flagellates, the ecological role of mixotrophic phytoplankton that are both photosynthetic and bacterivorous, and the utilization of protozoa as food by zooplankton. On this research trip I will be working with colleagues to examine bacterivory and carnivory by protists and the ways that UV radiation affects growth and feeding of these single-celled organisms. This is my second trip to Antarctica with the Woods Hole / USC group. More information about my research, including some pictures from our last voyage to the Southern Ocean can be found at http://astro.temple.edu/~sanders1. University of Southern California - Los Angeles, CA
University of Southern California - Los Angeles, CA
	Dr. David Caron Dave was unexpectedly not able to join this trip to the Southern Ocean, but we are sure he is here in spirit. His research interests are reflected by the projects of the USC group and the other projects described on this website.
	Dr. Astrid Schnetzer I am a Postdoc in Dr. David Caron’s lab at the University of Southern California. Much of my current focus is on combining traditional microscopy with a molecular approach (ribosomal DNA sequence) to investigate how crustaceans (copepods or shrimp) shape the community structure of protists (microalgae and protozoa). The goal is to create the link between genetic species identification and the ecological role that individual protistan species/groups play in marine food webs. Copepod predation can have a major effect on the community structure of protistan assemblages. On this cruise I hope to learn about protistan diversity in open water, slush and ice and to better understand how Ross Sea copepods make a living by preying on them.
	Julie Rose Hi! I’m a fourth year PhD student in Dave Caron’s lab at the University of Southern California. My main research interest is protistan ecology, and my thesis project investigates the effects of temperature on Antarctic protists. While on this cruise, I want to examine Antarctic microbial food webs in early spring, to see who is eating who, and how fast bacteria and small algae are being eaten. As you can see from the other pages on this site, we have a culture collection of Antarctic protists at WHOI and USC, and I’m also interested in culturing some of the larger Antarctic protists on this cruise (can you believe we consider 0.1 mm large???) This is my first time down to Antarctica, and I’m really excited to see this amazing place.
	Rebecca Schaffner I am a technician in Dr. Dave Caron’s lab at USC. On this cruise, I will be involved in studying the microbial communities found in the waters and ice of the Ross Sea using flow cytometric techniques. I will primarily operate a piece of equipment called a portable FlowCam©, which measures the size and fluorescent characteristics of plankton and takes a digital photographic image of particles as they pass through the flow stream of the instrument. It is capable of imaging particles from 0.005mm to 0.2mm in diameter, which covers almost the entire size ranges of the species we are interested in studying. I will also use the FacsCalibur flow cytometer to study the size, abundance, and fluorescence of smaller plankton, including bacteria. I am excited to be going on my first Antarctic cruise.
	Matt Travao I am a research technician in Dr. David Caron’s lab at the University of Southern California. My work there is mainly in the field of molecular biology. I work with the cloning and sequencing of microbial DNA for the purpose of identification. With this information I am able observe community structure and changes in microbial diversity over time. This is my objective for this cruise. We are on our way to collect water samples in the Ross Sea to observe what organisms live in different locations, and how a community in one location will change over time.