Ruben Escribano

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Ruben Escribano Center for Oceanographic
Research in the eastern South Pacific
(COPAS) Database Pacific Regional Node of OBIS
(ESPOBIS, www.ron.udec.cl) administrated by
COPAS new data on zooplankton from the Humboldt
Current region new zooplankton data from coastal
and shelf break areas off Ecuador now available
from OBIS. Cruises 2007 collections in the
eastern South Pacific in the central/southern
region off Chile. Time series data and samples
from 2002 up to date are available. Taxonomic
analysis of samples is an ongoing task and the
list of species not previously reported for the
region is gradually increasing. Ruben
participated in the Polarstern cruise in the
Atlantic region during October-November 2007
specific aim was to identify species from a wide
range of calanoid families to submit for
barcoding . Outreach activities Our web sites
reporting zooplankton data are increasingly
getting attention from public. The number of hits
for the Spanish site was 12,264 and that of
English (available from October 2007) was 2,412
Presentations During 2007 two oral
presentations were made in Chilean national
congresses reporting our link with CmarZ and
zooplankton data base.
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Ruben Escribano (Continued) Education and
training November 15-30, an international course
on automatic recognition of zooplankton using
digitalized images and ZooImage software was
carried out at our Marine Biology Station-Dichato
with Dr. Phil Culverhouse from Plymouth
University, UK. The course was sponsored by our
Austral Summer Institute VIII, University of
Concepcion and COPAS Center. Work planned for
2008 Zooplankton surveys in northern Chile and
in the central/southern region. A spatial survey
covering coastal and oceanic areas off Concepcion
(36 S), including deep sampling (gt700 m) using a
Tucker Trawl Net is currently underways (05-20
March 2008) onboard the Chilean Navy Vessel Vidal
Gormaz. A new project funded by the Chilean
Commission for Science and Technology for field
work, hiring students, training and acquisition
of a ZooScan device for automatic counting and
recognition of zooplankton. Four seasonal
zooplankton surveys will be supported during
2008-2010. The project will also provide funding
to support sampling and taxonomic analysis,
complemented with molecular tools (DNA
barcoding), in collaboration with CmarZ project.
We expect to establish the terms for training
one of our students in DNA barcoding at
University of Connecticut during this year. The
work will be focused on species from the eastern
South Pacific, which is a vast region poorly
studied in terms of zooplankton.
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• Ahmet Kideys
• Middle East (Eastern Mediterranean, Black and
  Caspian Seas) zooplankton studies
• Activities until March 2008
• In this subproject, regular sampling and analyses
  from both the southern Caspian and southern Black
  Sea continued. Data were included in a database
  program (different groups of plankton between
  2002 and up to now). Additionally, extra
  samplings of zooplankton during different cruises
  from the Sea of Marmara for copepod species were
  undertaken during 2007. As a result, a few more
  publications were produced (where CMarZ
  acknowledged).
• One interesting question was the fate of
  copepods when they are transported from the Black
  Sea to the Marmara with the strong surface
  current.
• In October 2005 spatial distribution of live and
  dead Acartia clausi and A. tonsa was studied in
  the Black and Marmara Seas and near the Marmara
  Sea inlet of the Bosphorus, for this aim.
• Decreased abundance of A. clausi and A. tonsa
  from the Black Sea towards the Marmara Sea, as
  well as observed mass mortality of A. clausi in
  the Marmara Sea near the Prince Islands indicate
  that the Marmara Sea Acartia populations are
  forming upon the recruitment from the Black Sea
  (Hubareva et al, 2007).
• Future plans
• During 2008, sampling will continue at one
  regular station in the Black Sea and several
  stations at irregular intervals in the Sea of
  Marmara.

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• Webjorn Melle (Institute of Marine Research,
  Norway) and Peter Wiebe (Woods Hole Oceanographic
  Institution)
• G.O. Sars survey (Period 3)
• Cape Town to Antarctica to Namibia (19 Feb 29
  Mar 08)
• AKES (Antarctic Krill and Ecosystem Studies) is
  IMRs project to investigate target strength and
  abundance of krill (Euphausia superba) and the
  abundance and the pelagic fish and squid in the
  Bouvetøy area. The main objectives are
• to evaluate the links between the krill
  resources and distribution in the area and
  Bouvetøya based mammals and birds
• to study krill biology and ecology
• to establish TS (Target strength the ability of
  an organism to reflect sound) for krill and ice
  fish
• to study aggregations of krill, fish and
  plankton relative to the hydrography
• to compare aggregations and abundance of krill
  and plankton relative to hydrography in
  Antarctica and Nordic Seas
• stomach contents and feeding behavior of krill
  and fish.
• In addition the fishing vessel "Saga Sea" fishing
  krill commercially will also be used as a
  platform to study krill swarms.

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Webjorn Melle and Peter Wiebe (Continued)
Sampling stations and activities from GO Sars
cruise
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Webjorn Melle and Peter Wiebe (Continued)
Sites from GO Sars cruise
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Sigi Schiel and Astrid Cornils Alfred Wegener
Institute for Polar and Marine Research On 26
October, RV Polarstern began its first leg of the
24th Antarctic cruise from Bremerhaven, Germany
to Cape Town, South Africa with 43 scientists on
board. Among these were 26 zooplanktologists from
11 nations. Zooplankton nets (MOCNESS-10 5
nets with 333 µm mesh site, MOCNESS-1, 9 nets
with 333 µm mesh size, maxi MultiNet 9 nets with
150 µm mesh size) were deployed at 9 Stations
including 4 deep sea hauls reaching to a maximal
depth of 5110 m. The samples won were partly
evaluated directly on board. 60,000 Animals were
sorted and 473 species determined. A
journalist and a photographer of the German
scientific journal GEO also joined the cruise
(see http//www.geo.de/_components/GEO/article/spe
cials/polarstern/index.html
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Sigi Schiel and Astrid Cornils Alfred Wegener
Institute for Polar and Marine Research
POLARSTERN XXIV-1
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