Identification, please
After spending the better part of a day and a night at the microscope, I have counted all the recruits to my Ny-Ålesund settlement plates! They are turning out to be just as interesting as I had hoped.
The first thing I noticed about the plates was that they were much more densely populated than their Longyearbyen counterparts. I found some of the same animals in both locations, but there were also a number of new morphotypes in Ny-Ålesund. I found a couple different bryozoans that I hadn't seen in Longyearbyen, so I was very pleased.
Whenever I'm counting the organisms on my plates, I just separate them into morphotypes, which means I put them in categories with temporary names. Then later, I have to try and identify each morphotype. Sometimes, you can send specimens or pictures of your morphotypes to a taxonomic expert for help, but in this case, the taxonomic experts came to me. Yep, a number of scientists flew into Ny-Ålesund today, and among them were a bryozoan expert and several others familiar with Arctic hard-bottom fauna.
When I approached the bryozoan expert, a dear Russian woman, to ask for her help, she readily agreed to have a look at my plates. I fully expected that she might have to take some time to compare my specimens to published literature, but when I showed her one of my samples, she was able to identify four morphotypes right off the bat. I was astounded! I have been on expeditions with Russian scientists before, and I am always amazed at the volume of their taxonomic knowledge. Maybe taxonomy is stressed in the Russian universities, or maybe there's just a culture of expertise there. I can't really say, but I certainly appreciate the results.
The bryozoan expert was extremely helpful to me, and I'll continue to show her morphotypes as long as she's willing to tolerate the interruptions. Today reinforced for me the reason why I travel: there is sometime so powerful about being in the same room with a colleague from a different country. Sure, I could have sent out e-mails to 50 people who work on bryozoans, and maybe some of them would have answered, but to be physically present in the same room with a colleague, sharing the excitement of a new specimen, experiencing the sum of two different cultures in each other's behavior, having a real conversation with someone from across the world - there is nothing like that. Nothing.
The first thing I noticed about the plates was that they were much more densely populated than their Longyearbyen counterparts. I found some of the same animals in both locations, but there were also a number of new morphotypes in Ny-Ålesund. I found a couple different bryozoans that I hadn't seen in Longyearbyen, so I was very pleased.
Whenever I'm counting the organisms on my plates, I just separate them into morphotypes, which means I put them in categories with temporary names. Then later, I have to try and identify each morphotype. Sometimes, you can send specimens or pictures of your morphotypes to a taxonomic expert for help, but in this case, the taxonomic experts came to me. Yep, a number of scientists flew into Ny-Ålesund today, and among them were a bryozoan expert and several others familiar with Arctic hard-bottom fauna.
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| One of the bryozoans found on my settlement plates in Ny-Ålesund, magnified 40 times. |
The bryozoan expert was extremely helpful to me, and I'll continue to show her morphotypes as long as she's willing to tolerate the interruptions. Today reinforced for me the reason why I travel: there is sometime so powerful about being in the same room with a colleague from a different country. Sure, I could have sent out e-mails to 50 people who work on bryozoans, and maybe some of them would have answered, but to be physically present in the same room with a colleague, sharing the excitement of a new specimen, experiencing the sum of two different cultures in each other's behavior, having a real conversation with someone from across the world - there is nothing like that. Nothing.
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