Meyer-Kaiser lab

Another day, another specimen. Friends, this is science. The ultimate sponge book! I'm working with an intern right now to identify all the species that I collected from stones in the Arctic deep sea last summer. I had been analyzing hard-bottom communities in the Fram Strait for years and even written papers on the distribution patterns of sponges, soft corals, and anemones on dropstones and a boulder reef in the area, without being able to name most of the species. I came up with my own descriptive names to call them - flat white sponge, bulb-tipped clump, splotch. But those colorful morphotype descriptors were just not going to cut it. Now that I have some physical specimens, we're seizing the chance and figuring out the proper names. One of the biggest challenges in identifying specimens is gathering reference materials. Some taxonomists enjoy writing reference books, while others choose to publish their results in individual papers. Some taxa are extremely wel...

I recently saw a meme online that said "Ages 18-25 are like playing a video game where you've skipped the tutorial and you're just sort of running around with no idea how anything works." I sympathize with the author's sentiment, but I also suspect they're not a scientist. Because in science, the feeling of running around and figuring out how things work does not end at age 25. Allow me to explain. I'm currently working with an intern to identify the specimens I collected last summer from the Arctic. There are sponges and soft corals from  stones in the deep sea  and a couple unknown species that settled on moorings . We're using any and all scientific literature we can get our hands on, but there's no magic bullet - or even comprehensive guide - for identifying species. You have to do the hard work yourself. And when you've got a wide range of diverse phyla, each with its own unique anatomy and terminology, it definitely feels like you'r...

Petra's meer cat My adopted German grandmother, Petra , loves giving things away. If she likes it, she likes giving it to someone else even more. Recently, she gave me a postcard with a picture of a meer cat and the caption (in German) "I'm breathing. It's not going to get any more productive than that today." Friends, I have been like that meer cat this weekend, because after leading a team in the Arctic for two weeks, I am tired . Over the past several years, I've had to learn the value of rest. Of taking time off  to be human. I'm pretty good about connecting with the communities around me and celebrating friends' accomplishments ; these things help me connect to my humanity. I create art . I entertain visitors . I use natural lulls in my work to breathe and reconnect to the world around me. But in the past year, since I started my tenure-track position at WHOI , I've realized those strategies aren't going to cut it anymore. If ...

"It seems to me that the natural world is the greatest source of excitement, the greatest source of visual beauty, the greatest source of intellectual interest. It is the greatest source of so much in life that makes life worth living." - Sir David Attenborough One day earlier this week, I stood barefoot in the shower at the marine lab, washing down the plankton net with warm water. We had just returned from Teisten , and I wanted to make sure I rinsed the salt off before the net dried. As I lifted the fabric and manuevered the hose, I couldn't help but think about the last time I had washed a plankton net in a field station shower. It was in Palau . And the time before that was in Antarctica . And the time before that was in Oregon. All at once, my brain was circling the world, embracing all the places on this blue planet that I love the most. I am incredibly grateful for this crazy, intense, geographically-scattered life that I lead. You know, I'm at a pretty u...

Right now, I am sitting in my team's lab on the bottom floor of the Kings Bay Marine Lab in Ny- Ålesund. I'm the only one in the building. The rushing water from the the aquarium room provides accompaniment for my thoughts, but I'm not thinking very much tonight. For the first time since we got here, I don't have to make any plans for tomorrow. I don't have to check the weather or prepare gear or stress about whether we'll have enough sample jars. We are done.  Altogether, we sampled 8 stations. At each one, we conducted a CTD cast to measure the temperature and salinity of the water column, collected 3 plankton tows and 4 sediment grabs . We sorted the plankton into larvae and holoplankton, and we sub-sampled meiofauna (very small animals), macrofauna (medium-small animals), and environmental factors from the sediment. We collected scavengers from traps in the harbor 4 different times. All that effort means we're going home with 10 casts worth of CTD...

Recovering the sediment grab. Photo by Marine Ilg. "So they're currently in alien terrain, surrounded by millions of the most vicious creatures on the planet: Humans." - Fantastic beasts and where to find them by J.K. Rowling Recovering the plankton net. Photo by Marine Ilg. The wind has been calming down over the last few days, so my team and I used the opporunity to go back out on Teisten . We were hoping to sample some stations a little farther away from shore, near the middle of the fjord, so that we could access greater water depths, up to 200 m. The forecast showed calm wind, and the harbor was relatively free of sea ice, so we saw our chance and took it! We had a very productive day on Teisten . The sampling team with Teisten and the marine lab in the background. Left to right: me, Marine, Erlend, Xiaoshou, and Hongju. Not pictured: Sam Laney. By the end of the day, we had conducted CTD casts, plankton net tows, and sediment grabs at 3 different ...

"Uh, Kirstin," Erlend peaked his head around the corner, "Do you still have friends on Helmer Hanssen ?" I paused and then smiled. "Yes, I think so." In all likelihood, I knew several people on board the large research ship in the fjord, but it had been at least a year since I last saw them . "Well, they are coming to the dock at 9," Erlend informed me. I was excited! For the last several years, the Helmer Hanssen has been used to study marine ecosystems in the polar night. The project is headed by J ørgen Berge, a professor at the University of Troms ø who is a powerhouse of Arctic research . In fact, the Marine Night project is what brought me to Ny- Ålesund for the first time as a student in 2015. I decided to take a break from my work and see if I could catch up with the  Helmer Hanssen  scientists when they came to the dock.  Helmer Hanssen at the dock in Ny-Ålesund After getting permission to board the ship, I headed straight ...