NEW ZEEPS 06 Explorers
Amy R. Baco-Taylor, Ph.D.
Visiting Investigator, Biology Department
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
PI and Co-Voyage Leader
Amy Baco-Taylor received a B.S. in marine biology and a B.S. in molecular biology from Florida Institute of Technology. She then moved to the University of Hawaii, where she completed her Ph.D. in oceanography, studying the succession and phylogenetics of invertebrates associated with deep-sea whale skeletons. Amy is now a Visiting Investigator at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Her current research includes projects on whale fall and sunken wood ecology as well as on seamount invertebrates, particularly deep-sea corals. Her general research interests are the ecology and evolution of benthic marine organisms. Amy has participated in 34 research cruises including numerous submersible and ROV dives.
Amy’s free time is devoted to her 14-month old daughter. She also enjoys any outdoor activity, particularly hiking, scuba diving, and wildlife photography.
Angelo F. Bernardino
PhD Candidate, Biological Oceanography
University of Sao Paulo
Angelo Bernardino is a PhD student from University of Sao Paulo – Brazil, but now he is working as a research scholar at Dr. Craig Smith’s lab at University of Hawaii. Angelo’s research interest is focused on ecology of large organic parcels at the deep-sea floor. In his PhD, he will compare communities found at whale carcasses, wood- and kelp-falls with those colonizing cold seeps on the NE Pacific. In this cruise, he assisted in most sampling and processing activities. This was the first international cruise which he had the opportunity to participate and the RV Tangaroa was the largest ship he has ever sailed. The work experience acquired in the cruise and the chance of learning so many different things from each cruise participant was amazing to him. Angelo was really excited with New Zealand waters, especially when 60 knot winds were blowing on our heads!
David Bowden
Post doctoral benthic ecologist
NIWA, Wellington
David has recently arrived at NIWA from the UK to work on the development of seabed imaging methods and the subsequent ecological analysis of video and still images. On the Seeps voyage his main roles are to operate the various underwater camera systems, including DTIS (the deep-towed imaging system), and to keep photographic records of specimens brought to the surface by conventional sampling gear. His real work, however, will begin on return to shore when he will be responsible for making sense of the thousands of still images and many hours of video tape we bring back from the seep sites. David completed his PhD on benthic recruitment processes while working for the British Antarctic Survey and spent two and a half years in, on, and diving under the ice, so sending cameras to the seabed from the comfort of the Tangaroa is something of a luxury. When not at work, he’d rather be sailing.
Tyler will be assisting with the preparation and preservation of specimens and samples on this November’s cruise. He received his bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Virginia in 2004, and now resides in Northern Virginia where he holds a glamorous office position while he seeks his Dream Job (this is it). In his spare time, he enjoys reading and riding bicycles and boards.
Dr. Jens Greinert
Marine Geologist and Geochemist
Marie Curie Fellow at Gent University (Belgium) working at GNS Science, New Zealand
Jens main work was dedicated to the visual seafloor observations and flare mapping providing the base for the underwater navigation and online logging of observations. For this he adapted a software program he started to develop 6 year ago, to link to the available position information of the ship and the towed device provided by the ships data system. He also run the CTD and took care of the echo sounder systems to find and map bubbles in the water column, the best remote proof for active seepage.
Jens has been carrying out seep research for 11 years and worked in the West Pacific offshore North and South America, in the Atlantic, North Sea, Black Sea, Sea of Okhotsk, offshore Japan and now offshore New Zealand. He received his Diploma in Geology and Palaeontology in Braunschweig (Germany) before he started his carreer as a marine geologist at the GEOMAR Research Centre in Kiel (Germany).
Jens will be CO-PI of a 10 weeks cruise with the German RV SONNE in January to March 2007 to study some of the seep sites found on this survey in more detail.
Peter Hill is an Electronics and Software engineer who designed DTIS, the Deep Towed Imaging System that provided all the underwater still photos and video footage for the New Zeeps voyage. He has a long history of successful design and development for equipment used in the unforgiving oceanographic research environment. He has co-authored several papers relating to instrument design. Outside work Peter enjoys cycling, running, diving, photography, movies and theater.
Lisa Levin, PhD
Scripps Institution of Oceanography
Co-Principal Investigator
Dr. Lisa Levin is a Professor and Researcher at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, at UC San Diego in La Jolla CA. She studies communities of animals that live in the mud, salt marshes, estuaries, the continental shelf and the deep sea. Her research themes include adaptation to stressful environments, the study of food webs, ecosystem-level effects of plant invasions and connectivity of coastal populations. Her focus on this expedition was the small creatures that inhabit the sediment and rocks of cold seeps. She will describe the animal composition and lifestyles, and use biochemical markers to examine which organisms are relying on chemosynthesis for their nutrition. Dr. Levin lives with her husband, David Checkley, who is also a Scripps professor, her daughter Laura (age 14) and her yellow lab, Holly, and writes often to her son Garen (age 18) who attends Northwestern University. Going to sea is one of her favorite activities.
Jennifer Morrison
Professional Research Assistant
University of Colorado Health Sciences Center
Jennifer Morrison assisted in the processing of water and sediment samples, as well as the sorting, identifying, cataloging, and preserving of the organisms collected by various methods of direct sampling. She also provided live music entertainment for the other scientists and crew members. She received a B.A. in Biology from the University of Virginia in 2004 and is currently working as a research assistant in the Department of Cardiology at the University of Colorado. Jennifer enjoys playing the guitar, singing, photography, scuba diving, playing softball, and spending time with her husband.
Carlos Neira
Marine Biologist
Scripps Institution of Oceanography
Carlos is involved in the sampling and processing of sediment samples for the study of meiofauna and sediment properties. Carlos received his Ph.D. (Dr. rer. nat.) at the University of Oldenburg, Germany in 1992 with his dissertation on organic carbon cycling by a capitellid polychaete and the role of meiofauna in the degradation of organic matter. He worked in the biochemistry group at the same University until 2000 focusing his research on the effects of reducing conditions on meiofauna distribution in intertidal sediments. He also has focused his interest on meiofauna of oxygen minimum zones, particularly of the southeastern Pacific, and the effects of ENSO-related events on meio- and macrofauna and sediment biogeochemistry.
Currently Carlos is a project scientist at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. His research focuses on biological invasions, specifically investigating the impact of an invasive cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora) on macrofaunal benthic communities in San Francisco Bay. Outside of work Carlos enjoys playing soccer and spending time with his wife and son.
Alan Orpin
Marine Geologist
NIWA Greta Point, Wellington
Alan is helping identify likely seeps sites from marine geophysics and geological information collected from this cruise and from archival information. During the survey he is the unofficial rock identifier, watch leader and works closely with Jens and Arne on sounder, seafloor observation, and GIS information. His interests in seep-related rocks stems from his MSc study at University of Otago that examined seep carbonate (limestone) chimneys from the outermost Otago continental shelf. He is currently working elsewhere on the North Island East Coast examining Holocene sedimentation patterns and anthropogenic impacts adjacent to very muddy rivers, following on from themes developed in his PhD from James Cook University and postdocs at NIWA and the Geological Survey of Canada (Atlantic). Outside of work Alan is a keen cricket player, mountain biker, renovator gone bad, and enjoys cooking and the usual excesses that ensue.
Brian Lee Paavo
PhD Candidate
University of Otago, Marine Science Department
Brian Paavo is a marine invertebrate ecologist originally posted on the voyage to assist with meiofaunal sample collection and processing for his supervisor, Dr. Keith Probert. As often happens on short-handed excursions, everyone became proficient in several areas of deck duties. Consequently the majority of his ship time was spent processing water and sediment samples for methane analysis by Dr. Cliff Law, sulphide and water content analysis for Dr. Lisa Levin, and biscuit samples collected from the galley (sugar and chocolate chip content analysis) in pursuit of his own research interests. He received his B.S. in zoology at the University of Hawai’i Manoa and has recently submitted his PhD thesis work on invertebrate communities near dredge spoil disposal areas of Otago Harbour.
Arne Pallentin
GIS Analyst
National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research Ltd. (NIWA)
Arne Pallentin is operating the SIMRAD EM300 multibeam system on R/V Tangaroa on this voyage, processes the data and is generating GIS outputs.
Arne received an MSc equivalent from the University of Göttingen, Germany in Geology/Palaentology in 1998 studying carbonate petrography. He has a life long interest in cartography, and developed this into a career in Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Current interest is applying GIS techniques to habitat mapping, utilizing multibeam bathymetry and backscatter signals from the multibeam.
Outside of work his main interests are team sports (when not injured), cooking and photography.
Ashley Rowden, PhD
Benthic Ecologist, NIWA
Co-Principal Investigator
Co-Voyage Leader
Ashley Rowden is an Ecologist at the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research in Wellington, New Zealand. He has over 15 years of research experience in the aquatic realm - studying anything from meiofauna to dolphins, on tidal flats to the deep-sea, comprising hours and hours wading in mud to weeks and weeks on the high seas. His interests include: observing, describing and understanding patterns in the marine environment. He is particularly interested in pattern formation and maintenance in benthic 'communities' of soft sediments, complex biogenic substrates, and of habitats such as seamounts, vents and seeps.
When Ashley is not in work he enjoys exploring the New Zealand outdoors with his family and can often be found surfing, swimming and snorkelling.
Kareen Schnabel
Collection Manager, Marine Invertebrates
NIWA Wellington
Kareen Schnabel coordinated the identifying, cataloging, and preserving of organisms, rocks, and sediment that were collected by the various sampling gear and then logged all data in the specimen database. Kareen has received an MSc at the University of Waikato in 2000 and is currently enrolled part-time as a PhD student at the University of Otago where she studies the taxonomy and distribution of galatheid and chirostylid crustaceans in the southwestern Pacific. Kareen has recently taken up the position as Collection Manager of the NIWA Invertebrate Collection and will be in charge of the biological data management and dissemination of the after completion of the voyage. She spends her time outside of work and study in the outdoors and enjoying the city life of Wellington.
Craig Smith, PhD
University of Hawaii
Co-Principal Investigator
Craig Smith is a Professor of Oceanography at the University of Hawaii with strong interests in biodiversity, disturbance ecology and chemosynthetic ecosystems in the deep sea. He obtained his Ph.D. from Scripps Institution of Oceanography in 1983, where he became interested in the ecology whale falls at the deep-sea floor. Smith then used a postdoctoral fellowship at Woods Hole Oceanography Institution to explore colonization processes in intertidal communities. Subsequently, he spent four years at the University of Washington, exploring the effects of natural disturbance, mining and radioactive waste disposal on deep-sea communities. He has recently received a Pew Fellowship in Marine Conservation for his conservation work in the vast and poorly understood deep-sea, where high diversity, fragile habitats, and slow recovery rates allow human activities (e.g., trawling and mining) to be especially damaging. Smith has conducted research in Antarctica, mangroves, submarine canyons, and abyssal-plain habitats to obtain a broad perspective on ecological processes natural and stressed marine ecosystems. He also has served as Chief Scientist on 50 research cruises (including 25 ROV/submersible cruises using Alvin, Tiburon, Pisces IV and V, Sea Cliff, Turtle, ATV, Scorpio and a variety of other ROVs and submersibles), and has participated in ~220 submersible and ROV dives.
Darren Stevens
Fisheries biologist
NIWA Wellington
Darren assisted with the processing of sediment and invertebrate samples from a variety of direct sampling techniques, and the processing and identification of fish species from benthic trawls. Darren completed his Master of Science with honors from Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, in 1993. He has been involved with fisheries research for over 10 years and is a regular participant on fisheries trawl surveys. He leads an annual deepwater hoki trawl survey of the Chatham Rise in January each year. Darren is currently studying the diet of deepwater grenadiers and ghostsharks from the Chatham Rise, New Zealand, and Antarctic toothfish and deepsea icefish from the Ross Sea, Antarctica. This includes the study of fish otoliths and cephalopod beaks for prey identification. He has also been involved with a number of age and growth studies on New Zealand commercial fish species, in particular flatfish. When not working Darren is a keen freshwater and saltwater angler and also enjoys keeping tropical freshwater aquarium fish.
Andrew Thurber
PhD Candidate, Biological Oceanography
Scripps Institution of Oceanography
Andrew Thurber is a PhD student at Scripps Institution of Oceanography whose main interest is benthic ecology. The goal of his PhD is to elucidate the role that microbes, both Bacteria and Archaea, in deep-sea metazoan food webs using lipid based techniques. As part of the RV Tangaroa cruise, he spent many a happy day in front of a microscope separating animals from mud for later analysis.
Di Tracey
Deep-sea biologist
NIWA
Di coordinated the identification of all invertebrates to main taxonomic group that were sampled by the various sampling gear and ensured they were catalogued for database entry and preserved. She also ran the fish trawl sampling component of the trip and provided summary updates from the trawl database of station data throughout the voyage.
Di has been studying deep-sea fish for fisheries stock assessment purposes for over 20 years. Lately she has expanded her interests to examine life on specific deep-sea habitats such as seamounts. This research includes studies on coral ageing and growth, as well as the distribution of reef-forming scleractinian corals. I try!! to stay fit and healthy for the many sea voyages that I participate in by practising yoga. Otherwise I enjoy immersing myself in the local art and music scene in Wellington.
Kimberley Weersing
MSc Candidate, Oceanography
University of Hawaii, Honolulu
Kim Weersing assisted in the processing of samples from the epibenthic sled, multicorer, beam trawl, ratcatcher trawl, and grab during the NEW ZEEPS cruise. She obtained her BSc in zoology from the University of Victoria in Canada in 2001. She then worked on several different research projects around North America before settling on a graduate program that satisfied her interests in conservation and marine science. Kim is currently at the University of Hawaii oceanography department working on her thesis project on population connectivity and marine reserve design. Kim is a native of the west coast of the U.S., and she enjoys ethnic cuisine and ultimate Frisbee, both to excess.
Helena Wiklund
PhD Student, Zoomorphology
Goteborg University, Sweden
Helena is a Swedish PhD student working with taxonomy and phylogeny of polychaetes living on whale-falls. She has received an MSc in Zoomorphology at Goteborg University, studying phylogeny of Aphroditiformia, the scale-worm polychaetes. During the cruise with RV Tangaroa, she assisted in the processing and sorting of the collected samples. In New Zealand waters, she was very happy to see albatrosses, whales (living) and vestimentiferans for the first time in her life.
