Trabalhar um
cruzeiro científico tem uma agenda muito diversificada: ir até à área de
estudo, recolher informação nas várias estações de estudo (úteis para todos
colegas do cruzeiro: por exemplo, uns colegas estão mais interessados na
vertente acústica e compreender a abundância dos organismos usar sonares,
outros colegas é imperativo recolher amostras dos animais para se estudar a
fisiologia, biologia, ecologia...e no nosso caso, a presença e quantidade de
contaminantes nesses animais. Nestes últimos dias, entre a “normal” ausência de
bom tempo, tivemos obrigações primárias a fazer: ir buscar colegas que estavam
em Terra a trabalhar com os pinguins e os lobos marinhos.
Todos eles estão a colaborar connosco, de um modo ou de outro, no nossos projetos. Aliás, tivemos logo a oportunidade de ir para o laboratório pois o Ian tinha bicos das lulas que encontrou na dieta dos lobos marinhos (obtidas através das fezes que os lobos marinhos fazem na praia quando regressam do mar). Os lobos marinhos comeram principalmente a lula Slozarczykovia circumantarctica, aquela que já tínhamos encontrado nas redes. Interessante foi compreender que, dos peixes consumidos, Gymnoscopelus nicholsi parece ter sido o favorito para os lobos marinhos. Isso é muito interessante, pois nós encontrámos outras espécies de peixe mais abundantes, particularmente Gymnoscopelus braueri e Electrona antarctica. O nosso trabalho de biólogos marinhos tem sido principalmente entre trabalhar em Terra ou num cruzeiro científico. A grande diferença que sentimos entre trabalhar num cruzeiro científico e em terra, é que em terra possuímos um contato direto com os pinguins e focas, e os restantes animais. Nos cruzeiros científicos, as sensações são complementares, onde apanhamos nas redes animais que não vimos...mas ter pinguins a cm marca-nos muito!
Working in a research cruise has a wide number of issues to deal with in the cruise agenda: get to the research área, collect information from the research stations within it (useful ot all colleagues: for example, some colleagues are more interested in the abundance and distribution patterns of marine organisms using acoustic tecnhiques (e.g. sonar) whereas for other colleagues collecting samples of the animals is imperative so that it is possible to study their physiology, biology, ecology...and in our case, the amount of contaminants in these animals. In these last couple of days, between the “normal” absence of good weather, we had a very improtant task to do: get our colleagues in various islands in the archipelago that have been working with penguins and seals.
Firstly, we went to get Phil Trathan, a well known
scientist that works with penguins that spent the last two months at a colony
of chinstrap epnguins Pygoscelis antarctica at Laurie Island (part of South
Orkneys). When we went ot pick him (and Kat, his brilliant field assistant) up,
he was with a gigantic smile! His GPS tracking work went well and was happy. He
was one of m PhD supervisors, so it was really nice to see him again, in these
circunstances. I and José were the lucky one´s to go and pick them up, via zodiacs
(quick boats excellent for this type of work). The conditions were initially not ideal, as
the waves were high closer to the colony, so we waited a few hours until we got
thumps up to go. We spent most of the time transporting equipment between the
small Hill where they stayed and the zodiacs, but it was well worth it. The
sounds of the penguins, smell of the penguins colony (yes, pretty strong but
reminded us of the “old times”), the
proximity of them to us,...everything was magical. So nice being cm away from
chinstrap and antarctic fur seals...
Then, we went to pick up Ian Staniland, another
well known colleague that works with Antarctic fur seals Arctocephalus gazella,
at the Island of Powell (another Island from the South Orkneys). This time, we
had no opportunity to go and help them. Our cruise friends Rokas, Tracey and
Dan did go and had the responsability of helping them with their equipment.
Finally, we went to pick up the last scientists at
Signy Island, where the British Research Base is located. We picked up Norman
Ratcliffe (and his team), tyhat has been working with chinstrap and gentoo
penguins too. While in there, I had the chance to be with Stacey Adlard, my
colleague of Winter 2009 at Bird Island Research Station when I studied wandering
albatrosses and gentoo penguins. She is working now at Signy Island J We exchanged equipments and
gear. We had the chance to see a bit of the surroundings of the base, which was
nice too. With the weather deteorating, we returned back to the RRS James Clark
Ross.
All of them
collaborate with us, in one way or another. Indeed, as soon as we had the
opportunity to go the laboratory, Ian Staniland gave me his squid beaks found
in the Antarctic Fur Seal scats during his study. I can say now that Antarctic
fur seals ate Slosarczykovia circumantarctica, the same one we found in our
nets. Interesting noticing that within the fish consumed by Antarctic fur
seals, Gymnoscopelus nicholsi seemed to have been the favourite prey. Such
result is surprising as in our nets we found Gymnoscopelus braueri and
Electrona antarctica, with G. nicholsi occuring in high numbers only seldomly.
A clue to such difference: G. nicholsi can reach big sizes (and nicely
nutritious) and therefore Antarctic fur
seals were possibly smart in chosing them.
Our job as marine biologists has been mostly
working on land (mostly in Antarctic islands) or in research cruises. The
biggest difference between them is that on land we possess a stragiht, direct
contact with larger, bigger, adored animals, such as penguins or seals. In
research cruises, we have the unique opportunity of learning more about whales
and smaller organisms that we find in the nets.
Overall, both are greta feelings, and both ways to study the marine
environments are extremely useful... but it is so nice being close to the
penguins ;)
Jose Xavier & Jose Seco
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