Foraminifera (forams) : Part of the amoeboid family, which are unicellular microorganisms.These amoeboids are planktonic. Foram's are aquatic and have a shell, or a "test". Typically they are formed by separate chambers. The particular foraminifera (I will get their scientific name later)I was working with were 4 to 5 chambers with a "mouth".
An undergraduate, Kevin, was my submentor in the Sea Floor Sediment group. Kevin is a geology major and has traveled around the world (not always for research). For his final, as a graduate, he studies this specific polar foraminifera. The Sea Floor Sediment group drills cores into the sediments at the bottom of oceans. The cores are taken back to the lab and dissected for foraminifera. Foraminifera can tell past climates in specific geographical locations (there are 275,000 species) and oceanic productivity. Oil companies rely on forams to discover where oil is.
The polar foraminifera are separated into two categories: benthic, bottom dwellers, and planktonic, surface dwellers. Benthic are rarer because their habitat, the bottom is smaller than of the planktonics. Benthic are flatter and shinier. Planktonic are more bulbous. My job at the Sea Floor Sediment group was to find these forams in the cores and determine if they were benthic or planktonic. Microscopes are needed for this process because of their micro size.
The name of the polar foraminifera me and Kevin were studying: Neogloboquadrina pachyderma
2 comments:
Laine,
WOW! I don't know what to say besides, wow. Your tour of BPRC was incredible, and Ed and I were both blown away by how immersed and educated you were! You are soaking it all in, and yes, it does seem like you learn a new field every day.
So, were those images actually from the microscope? It is incredible that in one field things as small as those tiny plankton and as large as glaciers can be studied under one roof. An incredible field of study.
Since you are meeting so many different folks from specific areas, have you found area that you more and more interested in? Are you finding that certain kinds of people gravitate to certain fields of study?
Thanks Laine!
Ryan
Yes they are from the microscope. The archives and rock repository are pretty cool. All the fields are interesting to me.
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