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680 red copepods...and friends

Tjarnö Marine Station knows no off days. Hence, here we are, all six of us, ready to start another day of hard work right after breakfast.
We are now pretty confident about the plan and set-up of our project; we have a sampling site, the wild and beautiful mudflat area off Indre Tenskör and Tjarnö. We have our model organism, an energetic and charismatic bright red copepod, believed to be Metis ignea. We’re also pretty pleased with our experimental design. Two parts : lab experiment and field (in-situ) experiment. The later one will give more depth to our investigation:  The response of meiofauna to tourism-induced pollutants will be studied on the community level.

The team happy with our homemade Snorkcore™, ready for the field experiment!

This part of the project will bring us once again on-board  and out in the field. We’ll use many plastic cores to evaluate the pollutants impacts on the meiobenthos.

Four days have past since the beginning of our group project. We are getting better at organizing, delegating and planning our various activities. It took a few days to go from the slightly chaotic beginnings to a smooth cruising speed, but we are getting there.  Video filming, script writing, experimental set-up, protocol writing, blog posting….we’re getting good at multitasking !


Sexy planning with sexy tasks...we’re gonna be busyyyy ..!

Among other things, sunday is dedicated to setting up the lab experiment. The pollutants (in various concentrations: 100% or diluted to UE’s “health limit standards) + sediment recipes are elaborated, written down and all Petri dishes are inoculated with our treatment mixtures and model organisms. Now we wait, and from tomorrow we’ll start observing mortality rates.


The experiment is up and running !  Next four days will be mostly dedicated to the analyze of our results...ie.: find the copepods in the sand. 
Lots of efforts are put in the design and production of the equipment needed for the field experiment. Cores needs to be secured on the mudflat in a way that guarantee their resistance to the tide, waves and wind actions, until we get them back (one day later) for analysis in the lab. Material, height, diameter, depth, resistance...all parameters are to be determined  A fun (???) part of the Summer School is the relatively limited equipment available; it asks for a good sense of creativity and problem-solving. But we are working on six brains-power and nothing is impossible for The MOB. Available pieces of pipes, plastic tubes, polystyrene foam...are soon assembled into a SnorkcoreTM. 

Our set-up for the in-situ experiment: snorkcores ready to face waves, tide and wind action ! 
We’re kept busy BUT still manage to enjoy the stunning scenery around the Marine Station. Breakfasts, lunches and dinners are spent overlooking Tjarnö, Saltö and all the little rocky and inhabited islands around. We’re making the most of the Swedish summer and go for a swim/snorkeling at each occasion; the water is clean and there’s a lot of things leaving down there! Fish, shrimps, crabs, ctenophores, sponges and a whole assemblage of algae. Working in such an amazing location sure help to stay sane and relax (for now). 

Tjarnö Marine Biological Laboratory at sunset, in all its glory....
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