WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:03.010 Why do I love mud? Well, doesn’t everybody love mud? 2 00:00:04.280 --> 00:00:08.140 A box core is a contraption that consists 3 00:00:08.190 --> 00:00:13.170 of a box on a frame and when it’s deployed 4 00:00:13.220 --> 00:00:15.230 it goes down, and when it hits the 5 00:00:15.240 --> 00:00:18.120 ocean floor, the actual box is able 6 00:00:18.130 --> 00:00:19.260 to sink into the sediment. 7 00:00:20.060 --> 00:00:22.050 And then when it’s lifted out, 8 00:00:22.060 --> 00:00:23.280 there’s a triggering mechanism 9 00:00:24.040 --> 00:00:27.030 that releases a spade that goes down 10 00:00:27.070 --> 00:00:29.190 and covers the bottom of the box. 11 00:00:29.200 --> 00:00:33.290 And, so, what you get is a box full of the mud 12 00:00:34.030 --> 00:00:36.160 and it stays undisturbed so it keeps 13 00:00:36.170 --> 00:00:39.030 the layering that it had at the ocean floor 14 00:00:39.060 --> 00:00:43.000 and we’re able to look at the different layers for different organisms. 15 00:00:44.230 --> 00:00:46.080 All the things that are living in the mud 16 00:00:46.090 --> 00:00:48.270 are very important to all of the things 17 00:00:48.280 --> 00:00:51.000 living on the mud because that’s what they eat. 18 00:00:51.050 --> 00:00:53.160 A lot of the infauna, the critters that live in the mud, 19 00:00:53.170 --> 00:00:55.100 they’re eating the leftover nutrients. 20 00:00:55.110 --> 00:00:56.290 They’re eating the things that are falling 21 00:00:57.000 --> 00:00:59.150 to the ocean floor that the other critters have missed 22 00:00:59.160 --> 00:01:02.130 and so they serve a really important purpose 23 00:01:02.140 --> 00:01:07.290 of just recycling those nutrients to become food for other trophic levels. 24 00:01:09.280 --> 00:01:13.150 When the box core gets on the deck is when our real work begins. 25 00:01:13.210 --> 00:01:16.160 We do three replicates at each station. 26 00:01:16.220 --> 00:01:21.130 We remove the box and put on a fresh box and redeploy it. 27 00:01:21.230 --> 00:01:24.140 And then we go through and start dealing with the samples, so, 28 00:01:24.160 --> 00:01:27.290 depending on the depth and the type of substrate, 29 00:01:27.300 --> 00:01:31.040 we end up with anywhere from twenty to forty 30 00:01:31.050 --> 00:01:32.290 centimeters of mud but we’re just actually 31 00:01:33.000 --> 00:01:34.240 taking that top ten centimeters. 32 00:01:35.010 --> 00:01:38.000 And so we take that and sieve it in a 33 00:01:38.010 --> 00:01:42.230 300 micron mesh sieve and 300 microns is pretty small, 34 00:01:42.240 --> 00:01:46.100 so we’re keeping most of the small critters still. 35 00:01:47.260 --> 00:01:49.070 Then we also end up with any types of 36 00:01:49.080 --> 00:01:51.180 little pebbles or shells or anything like that 37 00:01:51.230 --> 00:01:53.120 and then that’s all that we keep. 38 00:01:53.190 --> 00:01:57.100 We put those in containers with formalin 39 00:01:57.200 --> 00:02:01.190 and then those get boxed up and that’s what I’ll be looking at at home. 40 00:02:03.220 --> 00:02:05.270 We’re trying to look at the community 41 00:02:05.280 --> 00:02:08.140 structure of the Chukchi Borderlands. 42 00:02:08.210 --> 00:02:12.100 The benthic team is comprised of the box coring, 43 00:02:12.110 --> 00:02:16.090 and the trawling, and then the ROV also did benthic dives. 44 00:02:16.140 --> 00:02:20.290 And so with those three very different methods 45 00:02:21.000 --> 00:02:23.240 we’re able to come up with a bigger picture of what’s going on. 46 00:02:23.250 --> 00:02:26.070 So, the box core’s actually taking a 47 00:02:26.140 --> 00:02:29.070 cookie cutter chunk of the sediment. 48 00:02:29.110 --> 00:02:32.150 It’s a quarter meter square so it’s not a very big area, 49 00:02:32.170 --> 00:02:34.240 and we’re studying what’s living in the sediment, 50 00:02:34.250 --> 00:02:37.240 and so although we do get some stuff that is living on top, 51 00:02:37.250 --> 00:02:39.250 we’re actually able to look at what those 52 00:02:39.260 --> 00:02:42.180 critters are that are burrowing into the sediment 53 00:02:42.190 --> 00:02:43.190 because they’re really important. 54 00:02:43.210 --> 00:02:46.220 They keep oxygen flowing into that top layer. 55 00:02:47.070 --> 00:02:48.260 Once you get down to those lower layers, 56 00:02:48.270 --> 00:02:51.000 and those worms aren’t down there burrowing, 57 00:02:51.050 --> 00:02:53.080 it just becomes very anoxic and there’s 58 00:02:53.090 --> 00:02:55.270 not really very much life down there. 59 00:02:56.100 --> 00:02:59.110 So we’re looking at what’s in the mud and also 60 00:02:59.120 --> 00:03:01.290 looking at different nutrients that are in the sediment. 61 00:03:02.100 --> 00:03:05.060 And then the trawl, they’re doing a larger area 62 00:03:05.070 --> 00:03:07.100 and just scooping all the critters off 63 00:03:07.110 --> 00:03:09.220 that are living on the bottom and so they’re 64 00:03:09.230 --> 00:03:13.220 able to look at a broader scale what’s living down there. 65 00:03:14.090 --> 00:03:16.140 And the ROV’s really neat because 66 00:03:16.150 --> 00:03:18.250 it’s able to actually cruise around 67 00:03:19.030 --> 00:03:23.060 and see what those animals are doing in their natural habitat. 68 00:03:27.230 --> 00:03:29.050 It’s a lot of mud. 69 00:03:29.070 --> 00:03:30.070 It’s an insane amount of mud. 70 00:03:30.080 --> 00:03:33.080 Everybody calls us the mud girls because 71 00:03:33.090 --> 00:03:36.100 we end up completely covered in mud head to toe 72 00:03:36.130 --> 00:03:38.070 and then the whole deck is just covered in mud. 73 00:03:38.080 --> 00:03:39.140 They love us here. 74 00:03:41.140 --> 00:03:43.110 But thankfully we’ve had lots of help and 75 00:03:43.130 --> 00:03:44.280 usually there’s a bunch of people 76 00:03:44.290 --> 00:03:46.140 that are willing to come out and help us. 77 00:03:46.290 --> 00:03:48.090 They make it fun. 78 00:03:48.220 --> 00:03:50.040 It’s a good time. We have a good time. 79 00:03:50.200 --> 00:03:52.200 What’s better than playing in the mud, I mean, really?