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Good evening.
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We're pleased to have you join us
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for our annual Seaside Chat Speaker Series,
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about ocean topics associated
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with Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary,
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and the Gulf of Mexico.
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This year we are also part
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of the National Marine Sanctuaries Webinar Series,
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hosted by NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries,
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as well as the OneNOAA Science Seminar Series.
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During the presentation,
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all attendees will be in listen-only mode.
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You are welcome to type questions for the presenter
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into the questions box,
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in the bottom of the control panel,
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on the right-hand side of your screen.
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This is the same area you can let us know
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about any technical issues you may be having.
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We will be monitoring incoming questions
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and technical issues,
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and will respond to them, as soon as we can.
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We are recording this session,
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and we'll post the recording
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to the National Marine Sanctuaries
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and Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary websites.
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We will notify registered participants via email
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when these recordings are available.
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And in the handouts pane of the control panel,
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we have provided a PDF of a 2019 paper,
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on the importance of rhodoliths.
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Suzanne Fredericq is the primary author,
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and Emma Hickerson, Research Coordinator
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at Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary,
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is a co-author on that paper.
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I am Kelly Drinnen, Outreach Specialist
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with Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary,
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and I'll be facilitating today's webinar,
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from Dickinson, Texas.
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With me this evening, is Leslie Whaylen Clift,
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our Constituency Affairs Coordinator,
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who is joining us from Galveston, Texas.
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Leslie will be helping me
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with backend administration of this webinar.
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NOAA manages a system of marine protected areas,
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called National Marine Sanctuaries,
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that are found throughout the coastal United States.
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National marine sanctuaries are special ocean areas,
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set aside by Congress, to protect for future generations.
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They're like national parks and national forests,
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but underwater.
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The National Marine Sanctuary System
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consists of 15 marine protected areas,
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that encompass more than 600,000 square miles
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of marine and Great Lakes waters,
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from Washington state to the Florida Keys,
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and from Lake Huron to American Samoa.
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The system includes 14 national marine sanctuaries,
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and the Papahānaumokuākea and Rose Atoll
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Marine National Monuments.
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The NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries
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is mandated to conduct research, monitoring,
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and resource protection, education, outreach,
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and of course, management of America's underwater treasures,
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to preserve them for future generations.
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National Marine Sanctuaries are also living classrooms,
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where people can see, touch, and learn,
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about the nation's Great Lakes and ocean treasures.
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Today's Seaside Chat Series is hosted by
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Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary,
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the only national marine sanctuary in the Gulf of Mexico.
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This sanctuary consists of three banks,
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or small underwater mountains,
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that are home to some of the healthiest coral reefs
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in the world,
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an amazing algal-sponge community,
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and deep reef habitats,
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featuring an abundance of black coral.
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In January of this year,
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the sanctuary also published a final rule for expansion,
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which will add portions of another 14 reefs
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and banks to the sanctuary.
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In the process of exploring
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additional banks in the Northwestern Gulf of Mexico,
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researchers have repeatedly encountered
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pockets of algal nodule habitat in the deeper reef areas.
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In addition, during a live broadcast expedition, in 2019,
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scientists encountered a relatively large reef area,
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covered in crustose coralline algae, that you see here.
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Extensive sampling of these macro algae
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has resulted in an innovative approach
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to exploratory research for the discovery, identification,
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and classification of algal diversity.
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In addition, research into the importance of algal nodules
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in the lifecycle of algae,
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has revolutionized preconceived ideas
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about the ecological importance
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of this unexplored ecosystem.
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Today, we welcome Suzanne Fredericq, Professor of Biology,
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at University of Louisiana at Lafayette,
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to talk about these remarkable algae,
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and what she's been learning about them.
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Suzanne Fredericq received a bachelor's degree in zoology
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from the University of Ghent, Belgium, in 1980.
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A master's degree from George Mason University,
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with research done at National Museum of Natural History,
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at the Smithsonian Institution, in biology, in 1984,
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and a PhD in botany,
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from the University of North Carolina,
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at Chapel Hill, in 1988.
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She then did eight years of postdoctoral work,
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at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian,
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University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,
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and Duke University,
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before joining the faculty at the University of Louisiana,
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at Lafayette, in 1996,
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where she is now a professor of biology.
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She has a passion for the biodiversity
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of marine red algae, worldwide,
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and is here tonight, to present to you all.
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Welcome, Suzanne.
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And I'm handing the presentation over to you-
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Yeah. Can you hear me?
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I can hear you now, yes, thank you.
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Yeah, what-
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thank you so much...
Oh, I can see
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your presentation, and we see you,
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you're ready to go.
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Very, thank you.
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So thank you so much, Kelly,
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for inviting me to talk, this evening,
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about the remarkable algae of Flower Garden Banks.
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I will focus on the marine macroalgae,
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also called seaweeds
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and some of which you see here, on these slides.
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And I'm gonna put emphasis on the algal nodules,
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because they're so important in the ecosystem
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of the Flower Garden Banks.
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Our research group is here,
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located at University of Louisiana, in Lafayette,
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and since 1998,
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we have been conducting collection surveys of seaweeds
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on the hard banks of pinnacles on the continental shelf,
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offshore Louisiana and Texas.
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And the habitats we typically collect algae in,
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are called mesophotic habitats
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and they are deeper than 40 meters depth,
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and mesophotic means middle light habitats,
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because light doesn't, of course, go very deep,
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not more than 100 meters.
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So, for algae to grow and photosynthesize,
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they of course, need the light.
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So, below that zone, where the photosynthesis cannot go on,
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you're not gonna find the algae.
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So this is, of course, is in contrast with a lot of animals,
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who can live much deeper in the Flower Gardens
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and everywhere else.
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So the mesophotic coral ecosystems,
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as is the Flower Garden Banks,
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they are really remarkable habitats,
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and they are very hot right now,
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because there are a lot of books
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that have been describing the different habitats worldwide,
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a lot of papers have been written.
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So it's all very interesting.
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And before starting,
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I would very much like to start with the acknowledgments,
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right off the bat.
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I thank the National Science Foundation
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for our work on those rhodoliths.
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Where's my-
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It doesn't-
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On the rhodoliths, what you see here.
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I think it might be here (mumbling)
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And then also,
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very much, would like to thank Jason White,
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and Eric Glidden,
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who were wonderful in handling the collection
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of those nodules, and all the algae,
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using the ROV, aboard the R/V Manta,
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which is the research vessel of the Flower Garden Banks.
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Of course, we would like to thank, Emma Hickerson,
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G.P. Schmahl, Marissa Nuttall,
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because they are so interested in the algae too,
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in the coralline algae,
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and have been extremely supportive of our research.
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And I also want to thank Kelly Drinnen, again,
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for inviting me to talk.
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Then, there's a whole group of phycologists,
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those are people who study the algae at the university,
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and you see most of those names here are my collaborators.
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They are all the names, here of former PhD students,
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and we still continue to collaborate very much.
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So several of them are still here at university,
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with, being in instructor positions, etc.
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The main point I would like to make
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is that when after you've seen this presentation,
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that you become more aware
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of the enormous contribution of the algae,
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in both the East and West Flower Garden Banks,
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and especially of the algal nodules, what you see here.
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My, I don't know why my,
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yeah, here, yeah.
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All the nodules what you see here,
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this little circular, kind of little stones,
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and a lot of pink,
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because-
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but some can have different colors too.
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They have some green, browns, orange, etc.
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And those pink nodules are actually
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formed predominantly by a group of red algae,
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that are calcified and are called coralline algae.
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So those are red algae that are calcified,
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and some of those form those little nodules,
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and others are just crystals, coralline.
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So, those we will seek are really at the basis
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of the health of the ecosystem,
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in the Flower Garden Banks.
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We can see that there's a lot of other,
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black corals and such,
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they are all attached to those nodules, a lot of them.
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We have sponges and, for example also here,
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that big barrel sponge that's been spawning.
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Everywhere you see, there is competition for space,
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and what's good space is the fact
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that those nodules are hard substrata,
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so it's very easy for benthic organisms
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which live at the bottom, to attach to them.
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So, we can see there's a great diversity,
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maybe in this slide, there are 20 different species,
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of those rhodoliths.
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And when we go a little deeper, we see that,
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those little rhodoliths or those little algal nodules,
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I should call them, basically are replaced by,
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those, more platforms, consolidated substrata.
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But we see that amongst the corals
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and so, all of that pink is also crustose coralline algae.
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So, we see crustose coralline algae,
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as really encrusting all free-living algae nodules,
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and we see it's all over the place,
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below the hermatypic coral zones.
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So the big balls of corals that we see,
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that get there close to 15 meters.
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No, 15 or 20 meters from the surface,
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below that coral zone, the hermatypic coral zone,
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we see all those rhodoliths.
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So it's very important.
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And you might ask,
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why study those deepwater mesophotic macroalgae,
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in the Flower Garden Banks?
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We can see this,
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but you see, why do we have that diversity?
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And, for many people, they all look the same.
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All that thing could be the same,
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but in fact, they consist of all different species,
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from different genera, different families, etc.
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And I'm gonna put the emphasis on the algal nodules,
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or the rhodoliths, and the name says it,
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rho-do-lith, the red stone.
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And because they're all, they're unattached,
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we can call them the rolling stones.
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So they are very important substrata,
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hard substrata, and they also consolidate substrata.
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And those rhodoliths, or those algal nodules,
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are crucial components of the photosynthetic community,
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00:12:56.000 --> 00:12:58.475
that produces oxygen,
266
00:12:58.475 --> 00:13:03.475
and also provides food to a whole suite of herbivores,
267
00:13:04.227 --> 00:13:06.967
like herbivorous fish or molluscs,
268
00:13:06.967 --> 00:13:09.710
and they also provide canopy and shelter,
269
00:13:09.710 --> 00:13:13.230
for invertebrates and vertebrates.
270
00:13:13.230 --> 00:13:16.630
So they're very important in the ecosystem.
271
00:13:16.630 --> 00:13:19.480
So, they also, those rhodoliths or algal nodules,
272
00:13:19.480 --> 00:13:22.950
also contribute to major ecosystem functions,
273
00:13:22.950 --> 00:13:25.200
such as carbon cycling,
274
00:13:25.200 --> 00:13:29.530
and they form structurally complex habitat frameworks,
275
00:13:29.530 --> 00:13:32.176
all of which are rhodoliths together,
276
00:13:32.176 --> 00:13:35.240
that associates with high biodiversity.
277
00:13:35.240 --> 00:13:37.650
I've been to a lot of places, all over the world,
278
00:13:37.650 --> 00:13:41.070
but I never seen the amount of biodiversity
279
00:13:41.070 --> 00:13:44.440
of those algal nodules that we find
280
00:13:44.440 --> 00:13:46.220
in the Flower Garden Banks
281
00:13:46.220 --> 00:13:47.850
and in the other hard banks in the northwest
282
00:13:47.850 --> 00:13:50.693
Gulf of Mexico, it's really extraordinary.
283
00:13:51.880 --> 00:13:53.120
So, it's also very important,
284
00:13:53.120 --> 00:13:55.800
because we talk about the Flower Gardens,
285
00:13:55.800 --> 00:13:56.830
the coral reefs,
286
00:13:56.830 --> 00:13:58.960
that coral larval settlement
287
00:13:58.960 --> 00:14:02.010
is chemically mediated by the coralline algae,
288
00:14:02.010 --> 00:14:06.843
which are composed of high biogenic calcite,
289
00:14:08.549 --> 00:14:11.293
that is very sensitive to decreases in ocean pH.
290
00:14:14.666 --> 00:14:16.530
So there is the calcite,
291
00:14:16.530 --> 00:14:19.274
this coralline algae, likes to calcify,
292
00:14:19.274 --> 00:14:22.000
the major crowd consists of calcite,
293
00:14:22.000 --> 00:14:25.990
and those are the only algae that produce,
294
00:14:25.990 --> 00:14:26.960
actually, calcite.
295
00:14:26.960 --> 00:14:28.400
Most of the calcium carbonate
296
00:14:28.400 --> 00:14:31.127
is found in the other polymorph, aragonite.
297
00:14:31.127 --> 00:14:35.476
But we see, that in some of those calcium rhodoliths,
298
00:14:35.476 --> 00:14:37.140
we have both.
299
00:14:37.140 --> 00:14:40.170
So, the fact that they are so sensitive,
300
00:14:40.170 --> 00:14:43.680
the calcite's sensitive to decreases in ocean pH,
301
00:14:43.680 --> 00:14:45.840
those corallines and those rhodoliths,
302
00:14:45.840 --> 00:14:49.160
may be the first indicators of ocean acidification.
303
00:14:49.160 --> 00:14:52.977
By having calcium carbonate, this dissolve,
304
00:14:52.977 --> 00:14:55.120
and the solution of calcium carbonate,
305
00:14:55.120 --> 00:14:59.000
with, of course, resulting negative effects,
306
00:14:59.000 --> 00:15:01.390
on a variety of biotic interactions,
307
00:15:01.390 --> 00:15:04.440
and because all those calcified organisms
308
00:15:04.440 --> 00:15:06.933
will probably not be able to withstand much,
309
00:15:07.880 --> 00:15:10.833
too much of the ocean acidification.
310
00:15:11.750 --> 00:15:13.040
But, I have to say,
311
00:15:13.040 --> 00:15:17.883
they are extremely difficult to identify, taxonomically.
312
00:15:18.904 --> 00:15:22.510
It's much easier to identify the fleshy algae,
313
00:15:22.510 --> 00:15:25.480
but those little corallines are extremely difficult,
314
00:15:25.480 --> 00:15:28.490
because so many look the same from the outside.
315
00:15:28.490 --> 00:15:31.290
But like with all the macroalgae,
316
00:15:31.290 --> 00:15:35.370
it's the inside of the organisms that we like to look at.
317
00:15:35.370 --> 00:15:39.460
So what we want to work up, in the Flower Garden Banks,
318
00:15:39.460 --> 00:15:42.820
what we have begun, is studying the biodiversity,
319
00:15:42.820 --> 00:15:44.400
the taxonomy and systematics,
320
00:15:44.400 --> 00:15:46.943
and those other evolutionary relationships,
321
00:15:48.972 --> 00:15:51.270
of all those corallines,
322
00:15:51.270 --> 00:15:54.050
and we have described a lot of species,
323
00:15:54.050 --> 00:15:55.430
also the biogeography.
324
00:15:55.430 --> 00:15:58.100
So one of those particular species
325
00:15:58.100 --> 00:16:00.560
that we find in the Flower Garden,
326
00:16:00.560 --> 00:16:04.430
whether they relate to, in other parts of the world,
327
00:16:04.430 --> 00:16:05.850
and the Gulf of Mexico.
328
00:16:05.850 --> 00:16:08.150
So it's very interesting,
329
00:16:08.150 --> 00:16:11.563
and it really is all-encompassing, basically.
330
00:16:12.850 --> 00:16:15.310
So the Flower Garden Banks,
331
00:16:15.310 --> 00:16:17.633
they're all hard banks,
332
00:16:18.530 --> 00:16:22.550
and they are found on the top of salt domes,
333
00:16:22.550 --> 00:16:24.535
but what's very interesting,
334
00:16:24.535 --> 00:16:29.450
is that all throughout the northwestern Gulf here,
335
00:16:30.780 --> 00:16:32.690
we have different hard banks,
336
00:16:32.690 --> 00:16:35.330
but it's only in the East and the West Flower Gardens,
337
00:16:35.330 --> 00:16:40.320
that those salt domes are basically topped by corals.
338
00:16:40.320 --> 00:16:45.030
All the others are mostly topped by those rhodoliths.
339
00:16:45.030 --> 00:16:46.692
And, but it's also very interesting,
340
00:16:46.692 --> 00:16:50.400
it's that they are found, those hard banks,
341
00:16:50.400 --> 00:16:53.280
all of those, in offshore here, in Louisiana,
342
00:16:53.280 --> 00:16:54.790
in the vicinity of areas
343
00:16:54.790 --> 00:16:58.250
of intensive oil and gas exploration.
344
00:16:58.250 --> 00:17:01.780
Those banks surmount salt dome slopes,
345
00:17:01.780 --> 00:17:05.050
where the strata trap the hydrocarbons.
346
00:17:05.050 --> 00:17:06.000
And that's where,
347
00:17:06.000 --> 00:17:08.514
that's why they're always in the vicinity
348
00:17:08.514 --> 00:17:11.003
of the oil and gas exploration.
349
00:17:12.050 --> 00:17:15.560
The salt domes are nearly 100% pure salt,
350
00:17:15.560 --> 00:17:18.690
with tiny fractions of calcium sulfate.
351
00:17:18.690 --> 00:17:22.290
And, if underground water dissolved the salt away,
352
00:17:22.290 --> 00:17:24.700
the remaining calcium sulfate
353
00:17:24.700 --> 00:17:27.710
forms a somewhat insoluble barrier,
354
00:17:27.710 --> 00:17:29.070
that is then acted upon
355
00:17:29.070 --> 00:17:32.670
by anaerobic sulfate-reducing bacteria,
356
00:17:32.670 --> 00:17:36.340
which then convert the calcium sulfate,
357
00:17:36.340 --> 00:17:41.153
to calcium carbonate, which is calcium carbonate,
358
00:17:42.040 --> 00:17:45.613
and there is such an enormous amount
359
00:17:45.613 --> 00:17:50.613
of calcium carbonate in those hard banks,
360
00:17:50.661 --> 00:17:54.910
all over the northwestern Gulf,
361
00:17:54.910 --> 00:17:56.470
because it started,
362
00:17:56.470 --> 00:17:59.600
a lot from the conversion of calcium sulfate.
363
00:17:59.600 --> 00:18:03.360
So, the bacteria obtain the carbon necessary
364
00:18:03.360 --> 00:18:06.340
to reduce the calcium sulfate to limestone,
365
00:18:06.340 --> 00:18:07.760
which is calcium carbonate,
366
00:18:07.760 --> 00:18:10.418
from those petroleum hydrocarbons,
367
00:18:10.418 --> 00:18:15.393
that accumulate in pockets along the salt dome banks,
368
00:18:16.360 --> 00:18:17.830
and the edge.
369
00:18:17.830 --> 00:18:21.110
And it is in the banks' caprock slopes and peaks,
370
00:18:21.110 --> 00:18:25.510
that are then covered by those free-living, unattached,
371
00:18:25.510 --> 00:18:26.847
benthic algal nodules.
372
00:18:26.847 --> 00:18:28.490
That's what we see here,
373
00:18:28.490 --> 00:18:31.167
and that are, then also called rhodoliths,
374
00:18:31.167 --> 00:18:32.417
'cause they're red stone.
375
00:18:33.750 --> 00:18:36.200
And, we see that those rhodoliths
376
00:18:36.200 --> 00:18:39.950
are predominantly accreted by crustose corallines.
377
00:18:39.950 --> 00:18:43.840
Which are also called the CCA, crustose coralline algae,
378
00:18:43.840 --> 00:18:46.500
that precipitate calcium carbonate
379
00:18:46.500 --> 00:18:48.340
in their organic cell walls.
380
00:18:48.340 --> 00:18:51.560
So the whole area is already saturated
381
00:18:51.560 --> 00:18:53.270
with calcium carbonate,
382
00:18:53.270 --> 00:18:58.150
and on top of that, you have all those calcified algae,
383
00:18:58.150 --> 00:18:59.620
the coralline algae.
384
00:18:59.620 --> 00:19:04.235
So it's a very rich area for calcified algae,
385
00:19:04.235 --> 00:19:06.540
And common in the rhodolith beds,
386
00:19:06.540 --> 00:19:08.660
because you have those individual rhodoliths,
387
00:19:08.660 --> 00:19:10.940
and then they form big aggregations,
388
00:19:10.940 --> 00:19:14.330
called rhodolith bed or the aragonite nodule beds.
389
00:19:14.330 --> 00:19:17.863
We found them both in the West and East Flower Gardens,
390
00:19:18.810 --> 00:19:23.270
below the zone of the hermatypic corals,
391
00:19:23.270 --> 00:19:25.010
and what we've seen,
392
00:19:25.010 --> 00:19:28.850
is that most of the very interesting depths,
393
00:19:28.850 --> 00:19:31.890
are at 50 to 80 meters depth.
394
00:19:31.890 --> 00:19:35.550
And that's where we see all those wonderful nodules,
395
00:19:35.550 --> 00:19:38.340
and you can see, there is some are green,
396
00:19:38.340 --> 00:19:40.110
because some of those nodules
397
00:19:40.110 --> 00:19:42.620
are gonna be covered by green algae,
398
00:19:42.620 --> 00:19:45.770
by spongy green algae, by coralline algae,
399
00:19:45.770 --> 00:19:48.670
by all the types of red algae, etc.
400
00:19:48.670 --> 00:19:51.770
Very diverse, and it's probably here
401
00:19:51.770 --> 00:19:54.400
to 10 different species in that little site.
402
00:19:56.640 --> 00:19:58.730
So it's very interesting,
403
00:19:58.730 --> 00:19:59.990
and we see that often,
404
00:19:59.990 --> 00:20:02.360
they're interspersed with a little bit of sand,
405
00:20:02.360 --> 00:20:05.546
but mostly, once you get into those rhodolith beds,
406
00:20:05.546 --> 00:20:09.850
basically they dominate the bottom,
407
00:20:09.850 --> 00:20:12.780
and they are so important in the hard substratum,
408
00:20:12.780 --> 00:20:16.193
because a lot of animals need to attach to hard substratum.
409
00:20:17.245 --> 00:20:20.188
And there they are, those rhodoliths to attach to.
410
00:20:21.290 --> 00:20:23.663
And here is a shot, this is really wonderful,
411
00:20:25.200 --> 00:20:28.470
where we see the big, large, fleshy algae,
412
00:20:28.470 --> 00:20:32.700
and also intermingled with all those other little nodules,
413
00:20:32.700 --> 00:20:35.370
because they attach to those nodules.
414
00:20:35.370 --> 00:20:38.680
Then we have also brown algae, we've got green algae,
415
00:20:38.680 --> 00:20:40.405
it's extremely diverse.
416
00:20:41.684 --> 00:20:45.001
And here too, we have, when we want,
417
00:20:45.001 --> 00:20:48.053
when we see an alga we want,
418
00:20:49.293 --> 00:20:53.126
there is the manipulator arm of the ROV
419
00:20:54.343 --> 00:20:56.900
focuses on a particular alga
420
00:20:56.900 --> 00:21:00.050
and then sucks it out and put it into a basket.
421
00:21:00.050 --> 00:21:03.220
And then we can, once it comes on board ship,
422
00:21:03.220 --> 00:21:07.100
we can then take it and work from there.
423
00:21:07.100 --> 00:21:09.420
But you see here, right away,
424
00:21:09.420 --> 00:21:13.100
you can see that there is a little nodule,
425
00:21:13.100 --> 00:21:14.513
this is a coralline alga,
426
00:21:15.528 --> 00:21:18.680
and on top, is a completely different crustose alga,
427
00:21:18.680 --> 00:21:21.119
but that has nothing to do with corallines.
428
00:21:21.119 --> 00:21:24.150
So there is a lot of mixtures going on.
429
00:21:24.150 --> 00:21:26.020
Because there's so much competition for space,
430
00:21:26.020 --> 00:21:27.941
once there is a nodule,
431
00:21:27.941 --> 00:21:32.938
everyone is gonna wanna, basically settle on it.
432
00:21:34.867 --> 00:21:38.629
And here we see a lot of nice green ones,
433
00:21:38.629 --> 00:21:43.605
but everything is full of those nodules, those rhodoliths.
434
00:21:45.010 --> 00:21:48.140
And we see that also, with the rhodoliths,
435
00:21:48.140 --> 00:21:50.775
we have a whole bunch of fleshy algae,
436
00:21:50.775 --> 00:21:54.770
wonderful greens and here too,
437
00:21:54.770 --> 00:21:58.100
they are lowered then in the basket.
438
00:21:58.100 --> 00:21:59.600
A great big variety.
439
00:21:59.600 --> 00:22:02.620
Seems a little rhodolith here, it's a coralline,
440
00:22:02.620 --> 00:22:04.380
and on top, it's a green alga,
441
00:22:04.380 --> 00:22:05.580
and then on top of that,
442
00:22:05.580 --> 00:22:08.210
you have more fleshy algae.
443
00:22:08.210 --> 00:22:11.010
So it's really a very dynamic system,
444
00:22:11.010 --> 00:22:12.730
and they can roll.
445
00:22:12.730 --> 00:22:15.160
So sometimes, they roll if there is enough current there,
446
00:22:15.160 --> 00:22:17.630
and then of course it flips,
447
00:22:17.630 --> 00:22:20.720
and then it continues to grow upside down.
448
00:22:20.720 --> 00:22:22.393
They're very dynamic.
449
00:22:23.670 --> 00:22:27.087
And this is here the first poll question.
450
00:22:28.220 --> 00:22:29.053
Kelly?
451
00:22:30.210 --> 00:22:33.780
Okay, yes. We have a poll question for everyone.
452
00:22:33.780 --> 00:22:36.070
We wanna see if you've been paying attention.
453
00:22:36.070 --> 00:22:37.250
We wanna hear the answer,
454
00:22:37.250 --> 00:22:40.280
What are mesophotic habitats?
455
00:22:40.280 --> 00:22:44.084
Are they deepwater, light-dependent ecosystems,
456
00:22:44.084 --> 00:22:47.580
deepwater, light-independent ecosystems,
457
00:22:47.580 --> 00:22:50.320
shallow, light-dependent ecosystems
458
00:22:50.320 --> 00:22:53.803
or shallow, light-independent ecosystems?
459
00:22:55.620 --> 00:22:58.290
So, go ahead and make your selections.
460
00:23:01.640 --> 00:23:03.820
We'll give you about 30 more seconds.
461
00:23:03.820 --> 00:23:06.720
About half of the people have responded at this point.
462
00:23:08.270 --> 00:23:10.520
Suzanne, they're definitely favoring one answer
463
00:23:10.520 --> 00:23:11.890
over the rest.
464
00:23:11.890 --> 00:23:13.170
Okay.
465
00:23:13.170 --> 00:23:15.820
We'll let you know what that is, in just a minute.
466
00:23:15.820 --> 00:23:19.178
Yeah, they're, it sounds like they've been listening.
467
00:23:19.178 --> 00:23:21.570
(Suzanne chuckling)
468
00:23:21.570 --> 00:23:23.760
Okay, we're up to 70% voting,
469
00:23:23.760 --> 00:23:25.983
we'll give it another 10 seconds, or so.
470
00:23:27.640 --> 00:23:29.990
Get your votes in now.
471
00:23:29.990 --> 00:23:33.053
What are mesophotic habitats?
472
00:23:35.470 --> 00:23:37.860
Alright, we're gonna close the poll now,
473
00:23:37.860 --> 00:23:39.760
and share the results,
474
00:23:39.760 --> 00:23:43.010
and it looks like 54% of the people responded
475
00:23:43.010 --> 00:23:47.583
that these are deepwater, light-dependent ecosystems.
476
00:23:50.960 --> 00:23:53.293
And we're back to you, Suzanne.
477
00:23:53.293 --> 00:23:56.360
Okay, so, we continue then.
478
00:23:56.360 --> 00:23:58.320
So, once we get all those nodules,
479
00:23:58.320 --> 00:24:00.253
you see here, for example,
480
00:24:02.580 --> 00:24:04.420
you can see that they're all attached,
481
00:24:04.420 --> 00:24:07.590
the fleshy algae are attached to the nodules, etc.
482
00:24:07.590 --> 00:24:10.760
And a lot of those algae are completely new for the Gulf.
483
00:24:10.760 --> 00:24:12.460
They are absolutely extraordinary.
484
00:24:13.318 --> 00:24:15.020
There are some gelatinous ones,
485
00:24:15.020 --> 00:24:17.520
there are hard ones and they all grow together.
486
00:24:17.520 --> 00:24:19.380
So, and these are all the rhodoliths,
487
00:24:19.380 --> 00:24:20.687
and those are probably here,
488
00:24:20.687 --> 00:24:22.230
six different species of rhodoliths.
489
00:24:22.230 --> 00:24:23.063
You might think they all the same,
490
00:24:23.063 --> 00:24:24.420
they are not.
491
00:24:24.420 --> 00:24:27.720
And then, we bring those, live, to the lab,
492
00:24:27.720 --> 00:24:30.620
and then we have it to further study.
493
00:24:30.620 --> 00:24:32.403
It's really fantastic.
494
00:24:33.340 --> 00:24:35.053
And there are actually two,
495
00:24:36.000 --> 00:24:40.090
we found that there are two major categories of rhodoliths,
496
00:24:40.090 --> 00:24:42.390
of those algal nodules.
497
00:24:42.390 --> 00:24:45.700
One, that are biogenic in origin,
498
00:24:45.700 --> 00:24:46.540
and those are formed
499
00:24:46.540 --> 00:24:48.720
by the crustose coralline algae themselves,
500
00:24:48.720 --> 00:24:52.663
so, basically, it's everything that you see,
501
00:24:52.663 --> 00:24:54.790
in those little nodules,
502
00:24:54.790 --> 00:24:57.360
are formed by the crustose corallines.
503
00:24:57.360 --> 00:25:01.083
And you see, here too, those are different species,
504
00:25:02.361 --> 00:25:05.320
and those are, with all those knobs and stuff,
505
00:25:05.320 --> 00:25:08.870
those are, typically, biogenic ones.
506
00:25:08.870 --> 00:25:11.630
And Joe Richards, who's was a former student of me,
507
00:25:11.630 --> 00:25:13.870
and who's now here at post-doc,
508
00:25:13.870 --> 00:25:17.050
his specialty is corallines,
509
00:25:17.050 --> 00:25:21.017
and he, basically he took one of those little spines,
510
00:25:24.698 --> 00:25:27.440
and cut them open with a razor blade,
511
00:25:27.440 --> 00:25:29.360
and then opened it up,
512
00:25:29.360 --> 00:25:31.220
and you see that this here,
513
00:25:31.220 --> 00:25:33.036
with the scanning electron microscope,
514
00:25:33.036 --> 00:25:35.920
you see there are all those little cells,
515
00:25:35.920 --> 00:25:37.750
and surrounding those cells,
516
00:25:37.750 --> 00:25:39.190
it's all gray, and so, well,
517
00:25:39.190 --> 00:25:42.950
that's all the calcium carbonate in the form of calcite.
518
00:25:42.950 --> 00:25:46.708
And then you see, interspersed, those openings,
519
00:25:46.708 --> 00:25:50.787
which were the basic, the conceptacles,
520
00:25:51.939 --> 00:25:55.130
the fruiting bodies of that species.
521
00:25:55.130 --> 00:25:57.610
But here we have, what is very interesting,
522
00:25:57.610 --> 00:25:59.680
we have another polymorph of calcium carbonate,
523
00:25:59.680 --> 00:26:01.060
called aragonite.
524
00:26:01.060 --> 00:26:03.725
So we have here the main...
525
00:26:03.725 --> 00:26:07.580
Calcium carbonate is the calcite,
526
00:26:07.580 --> 00:26:12.460
and inside those empty conceptacles,
527
00:26:12.460 --> 00:26:15.710
or fruiting structures, we have aragonite.
528
00:26:15.710 --> 00:26:17.541
So, it's very interesting.
529
00:26:17.541 --> 00:26:21.690
And that's a typical biogenic rhodolith
530
00:26:21.690 --> 00:26:24.260
and they belong in the three orders of the coralline algae.
531
00:26:24.260 --> 00:26:26.873
We find them in both the three orders.
532
00:26:28.690 --> 00:26:31.090
And then we have the other group,
533
00:26:31.090 --> 00:26:33.939
which are called the autogenic rhodoliths,
534
00:26:33.939 --> 00:26:38.939
and they are rhodoliths with a non-coralline core.
535
00:26:39.302 --> 00:26:42.290
So it's different from the biogenic rhodoliths,
536
00:26:42.290 --> 00:26:46.590
which are formed by the corallines themselves.
537
00:26:46.590 --> 00:26:49.149
And the autogenic ones, it's different,
538
00:26:49.149 --> 00:26:52.100
it's a piece of rubble,
539
00:26:52.100 --> 00:26:54.860
a piece of calcium carbonate rubble,
540
00:26:54.860 --> 00:26:57.738
that become secondarily,
541
00:26:58.763 --> 00:27:03.763
basically settled by either green or corallines,
542
00:27:04.250 --> 00:27:06.998
or little animals
543
00:27:06.998 --> 00:27:09.540
or other crustose algae.
544
00:27:09.540 --> 00:27:11.333
So that's different, so that was-
545
00:27:12.260 --> 00:27:14.730
so that then became calcium carbonate,
546
00:27:14.730 --> 00:27:17.430
and that then gets settled.
547
00:27:17.430 --> 00:27:18.980
And we see here that we-
548
00:27:18.980 --> 00:27:20.770
so whenever we see greens,
549
00:27:20.770 --> 00:27:23.595
and so those are gonna be green algae,
550
00:27:23.595 --> 00:27:25.330
those are gonna be,
551
00:27:25.330 --> 00:27:27.591
they are growing on autogenic rhodoliths.
552
00:27:27.591 --> 00:27:29.707
We have here too brown ones,
553
00:27:29.707 --> 00:27:32.520
but you see some of those with those little spikes,
554
00:27:32.520 --> 00:27:36.280
those are gonna be the biogenic rhodoliths.
555
00:27:37.380 --> 00:27:38.590
And there is a great variety
556
00:27:38.590 --> 00:27:40.720
of those biogenic and autogenic rhodoliths.
557
00:27:40.720 --> 00:27:41.860
You see those spikes?
558
00:27:41.860 --> 00:27:45.320
Those are the biogenic ones,
559
00:27:45.320 --> 00:27:46.700
and the others,
560
00:27:46.700 --> 00:27:48.970
are gonna be the autogenic ones.
561
00:27:48.970 --> 00:27:51.810
And you see, they completely grow together,
562
00:27:51.810 --> 00:27:52.910
in those rhodolith beds,
563
00:27:52.910 --> 00:27:57.310
so, that's a biogenic one and along other algae.
564
00:27:57.310 --> 00:27:58.720
This is a little Halimeda,
565
00:27:58.720 --> 00:28:02.750
it's a green alga that also produce calcium carbonate,
566
00:28:02.750 --> 00:28:07.299
in aragonite form and then once it breaks off,
567
00:28:07.299 --> 00:28:10.210
it can contribute to calcareous sand.
568
00:28:10.210 --> 00:28:12.970
So everything is very dynamic,
569
00:28:12.970 --> 00:28:17.970
in those fantastic, kind of, mesophotic habitats.
570
00:28:21.326 --> 00:28:23.362
So, after we were,
571
00:28:23.362 --> 00:28:27.997
we could go to the Flower Gardens,
572
00:28:27.997 --> 00:28:32.490
we were able to collect an alga here,
573
00:28:32.490 --> 00:28:36.840
that turned out to be Mesophyllum erubescens.
574
00:28:36.840 --> 00:28:38.100
And that's so interesting
575
00:28:38.100 --> 00:28:41.540
because that species was never found
576
00:28:41.540 --> 00:28:43.010
in the northwestern Gulf.
577
00:28:43.010 --> 00:28:45.050
It is found in Brazil
578
00:28:46.160 --> 00:28:50.407
especially in all the banks in the northwestern Gulf
579
00:28:50.407 --> 00:28:51.240
but we had not,
580
00:28:51.240 --> 00:28:53.510
we had not no material in the Flower Gardens,
581
00:28:53.510 --> 00:28:56.770
and here it is, here it shows with SEM
582
00:28:57.875 --> 00:29:02.760
how the reproductive structures are situated where they are
583
00:29:02.760 --> 00:29:05.190
and how the plant basically grows.
584
00:29:05.190 --> 00:29:06.800
And what is so interesting
585
00:29:06.800 --> 00:29:10.820
is the fact that we have those salt domes,
586
00:29:10.820 --> 00:29:14.410
and when we look in Brazil,
587
00:29:14.410 --> 00:29:19.410
so, there too, you have those salt domes,
588
00:29:19.413 --> 00:29:24.413
and a lot of the oil explorations.
589
00:29:24.434 --> 00:29:28.777
While there is a lot of similarities
590
00:29:28.777 --> 00:29:33.720
between the algae we find in those rhodolite beds in Brazil
591
00:29:33.720 --> 00:29:36.690
and in those of the northwestern Gulf,
592
00:29:36.690 --> 00:29:38.453
because there's all that sulfate,
593
00:29:39.440 --> 00:29:42.450
which then converts into calcium carbonate.
594
00:29:42.450 --> 00:29:47.150
And there, we find the greatest, in those two areas,
595
00:29:47.150 --> 00:29:50.884
the greatest diversity in rhodolith.
596
00:29:50.884 --> 00:29:55.884
Very different from what we find in the coast of Ireland
597
00:29:56.170 --> 00:29:59.500
or the coast of Brittany, in France,
598
00:29:59.500 --> 00:30:00.780
or the Mediterranean.
599
00:30:00.780 --> 00:30:03.683
We don't see that great diversity as we see here.
600
00:30:05.318 --> 00:30:06.482
So, we've talked,
601
00:30:06.482 --> 00:30:07.673
and we wrote a little paper
602
00:30:07.673 --> 00:30:11.060
about the range extension of that species,
603
00:30:11.060 --> 00:30:14.633
with the first times found in the sanctuary.
604
00:30:15.850 --> 00:30:18.560
And also, we continue, you can see,
605
00:30:18.560 --> 00:30:20.720
so you would think those are all the same things,
606
00:30:20.720 --> 00:30:22.690
no, they're all different,
607
00:30:22.690 --> 00:30:26.320
because when we do the sequencing,
608
00:30:26.320 --> 00:30:28.799
the DNA sequencing of it,
609
00:30:28.799 --> 00:30:33.770
we found that there were three different species
610
00:30:33.770 --> 00:30:36.940
that we found in the northwestern Gulf,
611
00:30:36.940 --> 00:30:39.910
and that was the first time too,
612
00:30:39.910 --> 00:30:44.340
that that genus was found in the Gulf, as a whole.
613
00:30:44.340 --> 00:30:46.649
So we see it, it's like the Red Sea,
614
00:30:46.649 --> 00:30:48.740
we have the New Zealand,
615
00:30:48.740 --> 00:30:50.920
but it was never described,
616
00:30:50.920 --> 00:30:53.610
or it was never reported from the Gulf
617
00:30:53.610 --> 00:30:55.270
and we have that three,
618
00:30:55.270 --> 00:30:57.150
we described that three new species.
619
00:30:57.150 --> 00:31:00.940
Really fascinating for the diversity
620
00:31:00.940 --> 00:31:02.469
as it is tremendous.
621
00:31:02.469 --> 00:31:05.593
And then we're also interested in describing of new species
622
00:31:05.593 --> 00:31:08.570
and this is one that is close to the heart
623
00:31:08.570 --> 00:31:09.790
of Emma Hickerson,
624
00:31:09.790 --> 00:31:12.047
and she alerted us to that.
625
00:31:12.047 --> 00:31:15.213
And it is indeed, absolutely extraordinary.
626
00:31:16.100 --> 00:31:17.640
It's, they are not rhodoliths,
627
00:31:17.640 --> 00:31:20.170
they are not, they are coralline algae,
628
00:31:20.170 --> 00:31:22.640
but they are not rhodoliths, they are not nodules,
629
00:31:22.640 --> 00:31:26.090
they are not appressed to a hard substratum,
630
00:31:26.090 --> 00:31:28.549
but in fact, what you see here,
631
00:31:28.549 --> 00:31:32.390
is they are very flaky and fragile,
632
00:31:32.390 --> 00:31:35.930
and when you look underneath that area here,
633
00:31:35.930 --> 00:31:40.110
the living parts of the alga,
634
00:31:40.110 --> 00:31:42.985
you see here, you can see,
635
00:31:42.985 --> 00:31:46.277
that those are the older part of that alga.
636
00:31:46.277 --> 00:31:51.107
So basically it dies out and up above it,
637
00:31:51.107 --> 00:31:54.765
you get the new alga growing.
638
00:31:54.765 --> 00:31:59.480
It's really very special, we think.
639
00:31:59.480 --> 00:32:03.430
And because of that, we are naming it after Emma Hickerson,
640
00:32:03.430 --> 00:32:04.350
as a new species,
641
00:32:04.350 --> 00:32:09.013
of a genus that was never reported in the Gulf.
642
00:32:09.930 --> 00:32:11.970
So we see here for example,
643
00:32:11.970 --> 00:32:16.530
this is the upper part of some of those little blades here,
644
00:32:16.530 --> 00:32:19.060
these little dots are the reproductive structures
645
00:32:19.060 --> 00:32:20.330
and this is the underside,
646
00:32:20.330 --> 00:32:23.210
you can see it's already white,
647
00:32:23.210 --> 00:32:24.527
but then on top of it,
648
00:32:24.527 --> 00:32:27.328
you get those new layers being formed,
649
00:32:27.328 --> 00:32:31.075
and that's, that often forms a depth
650
00:32:31.075 --> 00:32:35.100
of those algal platforms.
651
00:32:35.100 --> 00:32:36.078
Very interesting.
652
00:32:36.078 --> 00:32:38.302
And here we see how they actually
653
00:32:38.302 --> 00:32:42.106
are attaching to the bottom.
654
00:32:42.106 --> 00:32:47.056
So this is that species we're calling after, Emma.
655
00:32:48.253 --> 00:32:52.500
But then we have, we found other species in the same genus,
656
00:32:52.500 --> 00:32:55.930
which are also new, we still have to describe,
657
00:32:55.930 --> 00:32:57.670
and you see it's a little bit more rigid,
658
00:32:57.670 --> 00:33:00.013
it's not as flaky as the other one.
659
00:33:00.910 --> 00:33:03.960
And when we look at where they all come out,
660
00:33:03.960 --> 00:33:07.686
we see that there are six species that we found,
661
00:33:07.686 --> 00:33:10.740
of that Crustaphytum in the Gulf
662
00:33:10.740 --> 00:33:13.490
and they all are distinct species,
663
00:33:13.490 --> 00:33:18.347
in addition to the one from, we named after Emma.
664
00:33:18.347 --> 00:33:23.347
So what we see here is Joe Richards,
665
00:33:23.540 --> 00:33:28.540
who has sequenced all of those species from the Gulf,
666
00:33:28.920 --> 00:33:30.530
those are just Gulf species,
667
00:33:30.530 --> 00:33:32.820
and we see there's a whole bunch of new one,
668
00:33:32.820 --> 00:33:36.687
a spinoff that are being, that's the right bit,
669
00:33:37.617 --> 00:33:40.230
but that's all in press now,
670
00:33:40.230 --> 00:33:44.550
and this is only from the Gulf of Mexico,
671
00:33:44.550 --> 00:33:46.905
including the Flower Gardens
672
00:33:46.905 --> 00:33:50.748
and then other parts of the Gulf.
673
00:33:50.748 --> 00:33:55.099
And what we see is that there are like here,
674
00:33:55.099 --> 00:34:00.099
over 20 species completely, species that we have
675
00:34:00.605 --> 00:34:02.970
recognized and characterized,
676
00:34:02.970 --> 00:34:06.410
instead of maybe the four or five that were shown,
677
00:34:06.410 --> 00:34:08.273
that were listed before in the Gulf,
678
00:34:08.273 --> 00:34:11.402
so it's really an explosion of diversity,
679
00:34:11.402 --> 00:34:14.296
that we are looking at
680
00:34:14.296 --> 00:34:18.403
and it's probably another 30 or 40 new species
681
00:34:18.403 --> 00:34:19.990
that are waiting to be described.
682
00:34:19.990 --> 00:34:22.120
It's absolutely extraordinary,
683
00:34:22.120 --> 00:34:26.080
that great biodiversity of those coralline algae.
684
00:34:26.080 --> 00:34:27.960
And also when we were,
685
00:34:27.960 --> 00:34:32.670
when I was invited by Emma and Marissa to be on the trip,
686
00:34:32.670 --> 00:34:36.090
it was for deep water survey,
687
00:34:36.090 --> 00:34:38.970
but I saw those little mounds there.
688
00:34:38.970 --> 00:34:39.830
And, Tom...
689
00:34:41.871 --> 00:34:46.280
(pages rustling)
690
00:34:46.280 --> 00:34:49.440
Yeah, Tom Bright, I'm sorry, mentioned
691
00:34:49.440 --> 00:34:52.167
that this was all built those mounds,
692
00:34:52.167 --> 00:34:56.991
by little fish, little sand tilefish.
693
00:34:56.991 --> 00:35:01.978
And he builds a little dome and then lives inside
694
00:35:01.978 --> 00:35:04.420
and attracts females, etc.
695
00:35:04.420 --> 00:35:06.360
And we saw them, it's absolutely extraordinary,
696
00:35:06.360 --> 00:35:08.220
'cause I didn't know what those were,
697
00:35:08.220 --> 00:35:09.689
and he mentioned it.
698
00:35:09.689 --> 00:35:13.780
And you see there too, those mounds are so diverse,
699
00:35:13.780 --> 00:35:18.190
all different parts of the corallines and all the algae,
700
00:35:18.190 --> 00:35:21.950
and every time you see those, I forgot to say,
701
00:35:21.950 --> 00:35:25.110
those laser points that means it's,
702
00:35:25.110 --> 00:35:27.430
this is of 10 centimeters.
703
00:35:27.430 --> 00:35:29.140
So we see the rest is kind of flat
704
00:35:29.140 --> 00:35:30.990
and suddenly we have those little mounds
705
00:35:30.990 --> 00:35:35.420
that were built by that little fish.
706
00:35:35.420 --> 00:35:37.900
So they are really ecosystem engineers,
707
00:35:37.900 --> 00:35:38.733
then we can say
708
00:35:38.733 --> 00:35:41.970
and it's like beautiful cathedrals (chuckling),
709
00:35:41.970 --> 00:35:43.333
and basically nothing.
710
00:35:44.610 --> 00:35:48.450
And also, what we found is that those rhodoliths
711
00:35:48.450 --> 00:35:52.600
are often very closely associated with other invertebrates,
712
00:35:52.600 --> 00:35:56.380
for example, as soon as we saw that big conch
713
00:35:56.380 --> 00:35:58.680
and as soon as we came close,
714
00:35:58.680 --> 00:36:01.584
we saw first that there was an octopus,
715
00:36:01.584 --> 00:36:06.584
who was there resting in a little ledge inside.
716
00:36:06.607 --> 00:36:09.567
And as soon as we came close,
717
00:36:09.567 --> 00:36:14.567
he came out of it's little rhodolith bed, as we can see.
718
00:36:14.967 --> 00:36:17.790
And you could see on those tentacles,
719
00:36:17.790 --> 00:36:21.015
there were actually some of those rhodoliths attached to it.
720
00:36:21.015 --> 00:36:26.015
And, we don't know exactly what he was doing,
721
00:36:26.055 --> 00:36:28.480
but it's like he was
722
00:36:28.480 --> 00:36:31.063
because a lot of algae grew on those rhodoliths,
723
00:36:31.063 --> 00:36:33.020
and there were a lot of herbivorous fish,
724
00:36:33.020 --> 00:36:36.600
it seemed and so perhaps he's attracting them,
725
00:36:36.600 --> 00:36:38.870
and just waiting to catch it.
726
00:36:38.870 --> 00:36:40.730
So it's all very interesting.
727
00:36:40.730 --> 00:36:42.846
We don't know all the answers of course,
728
00:36:42.846 --> 00:36:47.015
but as soon as we came close up,
729
00:36:47.015 --> 00:36:50.400
he moved out of that hiding place,
730
00:36:50.400 --> 00:36:55.331
and then right on top of those little rhodoliths
731
00:36:55.331 --> 00:36:57.450
and the conch.
732
00:36:57.450 --> 00:36:59.930
So this is very interesting,
733
00:36:59.930 --> 00:37:04.090
and probably some people may know better what it means.
734
00:37:04.090 --> 00:37:08.474
But we see here too, you see all those coralline algae,
735
00:37:08.474 --> 00:37:12.567
green algae and this is most consolidated platforms,
736
00:37:13.544 --> 00:37:16.610
and at the bottom, you have the rhodoliths.
737
00:37:16.610 --> 00:37:20.610
And you see, full and full of algae diversity.
738
00:37:20.610 --> 00:37:22.963
So now we are at another poll question.
739
00:37:24.382 --> 00:37:25.780
Yes, we are.
740
00:37:25.780 --> 00:37:27.870
You all did so good on the first one,
741
00:37:27.870 --> 00:37:29.650
the majority of you got the right answer,
742
00:37:29.650 --> 00:37:32.350
let's see how you do on this next one.
743
00:37:32.350 --> 00:37:34.960
What are rhodoliths?
744
00:37:34.960 --> 00:37:39.920
Are they biogenic algal nodules, autogenic algal nodules,
745
00:37:39.920 --> 00:37:43.683
important ecosystem engineers, or all of the above?
746
00:37:47.880 --> 00:37:50.430
Let's see how closely you've been paying attention.
747
00:37:55.120 --> 00:37:57.560
Well, it looks like there's a-
748
00:37:57.560 --> 00:37:59.120
and Suzanne, there's a whole bunch
749
00:37:59.120 --> 00:38:00.340
who're heading for one direction,
750
00:38:00.340 --> 00:38:02.520
but other few answers out, on others,
751
00:38:02.520 --> 00:38:05.070
so let's see how we do overall.
752
00:38:05.070 --> 00:38:07.410
We'll give it about another 20, 30 seconds.
753
00:38:07.410 --> 00:38:09.893
We're up to 70% voting right now.
754
00:38:11.480 --> 00:38:13.193
Keep on voting folks.
755
00:38:15.110 --> 00:38:17.450
Do you think it's biogenic algal nodules,
756
00:38:17.450 --> 00:38:21.450
autogenic algal nodules, important ecosystem engineers,
757
00:38:21.450 --> 00:38:24.340
or all of the above?
758
00:38:24.340 --> 00:38:26.580
About five more seconds,
759
00:38:26.580 --> 00:38:28.243
and then we'll close the poll.
760
00:38:31.660 --> 00:38:35.480
And the results are in.
761
00:38:35.480 --> 00:38:39.660
88% responded "all of the above",
762
00:38:39.660 --> 00:38:41.160
and that would make you correct.
763
00:38:41.160 --> 00:38:43.130
Suzanne has covered all of those topics,
764
00:38:43.130 --> 00:38:46.044
and the answer is all of the above.
765
00:38:46.044 --> 00:38:46.877
Yeah.
766
00:38:46.877 --> 00:38:48.710
Alright. Back to you, Suzanne.
767
00:38:48.710 --> 00:38:50.130
Okay (chuckling)
768
00:38:50.130 --> 00:38:52.503
So what we see here is that,
769
00:38:53.420 --> 00:38:55.330
in addition to those rhodoliths,
770
00:38:57.881 --> 00:39:01.640
those non-attached nodules and coralline algae,
771
00:39:01.640 --> 00:39:03.960
we can see that there's also-
772
00:39:03.960 --> 00:39:07.670
those coralline algae also can consolidate substrata,
773
00:39:07.670 --> 00:39:11.450
hard substrata in areas that were a little bit deeper,
774
00:39:11.450 --> 00:39:14.160
we found then the rhodolith zone.
775
00:39:14.160 --> 00:39:17.573
And here you can just see here, this little area,
776
00:39:18.630 --> 00:39:19.963
it is, here is-
777
00:39:21.070 --> 00:39:22.062
oh no, where's my-
778
00:39:22.062 --> 00:39:22.895
Yeah.
779
00:39:25.360 --> 00:39:26.973
You can see, that it's a...
780
00:39:29.200 --> 00:39:30.621
I'm looking for my...
781
00:39:30.621 --> 00:39:32.340
I cannot find my...
782
00:39:32.340 --> 00:39:35.929
Right now your cursor's on the top right photo.
783
00:39:35.929 --> 00:39:37.650
It's, I don't see it,
784
00:39:37.650 --> 00:39:39.840
but anyway, that's where I want, top right.
785
00:39:39.840 --> 00:39:43.860
You see there are pinks, those are one,
786
00:39:43.860 --> 00:39:45.620
that's one species of coralline,
787
00:39:45.620 --> 00:39:47.930
another one is another species of coralline,
788
00:39:47.930 --> 00:39:49.210
the bright red, it's not a coralline,
789
00:39:49.210 --> 00:39:51.440
but it's a crustose algae,
790
00:39:51.440 --> 00:39:53.367
in the Peyssonneliacae.
791
00:39:53.367 --> 00:39:56.670
We have a whole bunch of pinks.
792
00:39:56.670 --> 00:40:00.960
All different species, all competing for space
793
00:40:00.960 --> 00:40:03.650
and often growing on top of one another.
794
00:40:03.650 --> 00:40:06.100
And we see here too, underneath,
795
00:40:06.100 --> 00:40:08.360
we see those are all Peyssonneliacae
796
00:40:08.360 --> 00:40:11.270
on those major platforms that we see.
797
00:40:11.270 --> 00:40:16.270
And they also keep all that hard substratum together,
798
00:40:16.350 --> 00:40:18.991
as compacted, so that the algae grow
799
00:40:18.991 --> 00:40:23.980
basically from one alga to the next one.
800
00:40:25.230 --> 00:40:28.470
And so they all cover that hard substratum
801
00:40:28.470 --> 00:40:30.523
and become part of the hard substratum.
802
00:40:30.523 --> 00:40:35.493
And here we see too, we have a lot of little ledges etc.
803
00:40:35.493 --> 00:40:37.866
And then you see a hole with a fish
804
00:40:37.866 --> 00:40:41.501
and so that were hiding in there underneath.
805
00:40:41.501 --> 00:40:46.487
And all around it, you see again, those fleshy algae,
806
00:40:47.690 --> 00:40:51.950
and those coralline algae and crustose algae.
807
00:40:51.950 --> 00:40:54.370
So everywhere you go it's a bit different
808
00:40:54.370 --> 00:40:56.100
and that makes it so fascinating,
809
00:40:56.100 --> 00:40:57.800
because there's one algae here,
810
00:40:57.800 --> 00:41:02.180
were not found in certain areas, in the Flower Gardens
811
00:41:02.180 --> 00:41:03.080
but here they are.
812
00:41:04.240 --> 00:41:08.348
So every spot we see, is so rich in algae
813
00:41:08.348 --> 00:41:10.065
and they're all so different.
814
00:41:10.065 --> 00:41:11.660
I like what we see here too,
815
00:41:11.660 --> 00:41:16.600
some consolidated outcroppings where we have corallines,
816
00:41:16.600 --> 00:41:20.843
we have Peyssonneliacae, all the crustose algae, etc.
817
00:41:21.800 --> 00:41:24.600
And here, too, those outcroppings,
818
00:41:24.600 --> 00:41:26.110
and you see at the bases here,
819
00:41:26.110 --> 00:41:28.810
we have those rhodoliths, those nodules,
820
00:41:28.810 --> 00:41:31.820
and here we can see again, we have some nodules,
821
00:41:31.820 --> 00:41:34.080
those are the autogenic ones,
822
00:41:35.060 --> 00:41:38.872
and here are some probably, a biogenic one.
823
00:41:38.872 --> 00:41:42.110
And we see that on the autogenic one,
824
00:41:42.110 --> 00:41:43.893
we have in this case, a coralline,
825
00:41:43.893 --> 00:41:47.220
it's gonna grow over it's little nodule,
826
00:41:47.220 --> 00:41:51.970
and basically attach to another nodule next.
827
00:41:51.970 --> 00:41:56.930
And so little by little, we see that they become attached,
828
00:41:56.930 --> 00:42:01.182
and form, become part of the consolidated,
829
00:42:01.182 --> 00:42:04.000
kind of substratum.
830
00:42:04.000 --> 00:42:05.020
So it's very interesting.
831
00:42:05.020 --> 00:42:06.270
And then you see here on top,
832
00:42:06.270 --> 00:42:09.003
you have the little green nodules,
833
00:42:09.003 --> 00:42:11.720
and other green, all growing on top of one another.
834
00:42:11.720 --> 00:42:13.130
It's really fascinating.
835
00:42:13.130 --> 00:42:16.070
And then you're gonna have the little fish,
836
00:42:16.070 --> 00:42:18.210
who prefer this little alga to eat,
837
00:42:18.210 --> 00:42:20.420
herbivorous fish and then another one here.
838
00:42:20.420 --> 00:42:24.376
And so everything is, looks very healthy,
839
00:42:24.376 --> 00:42:29.223
and that's just feeds a lot of that entire ecosystem.
840
00:42:30.240 --> 00:42:33.180
So, when did we become actually aware
841
00:42:33.180 --> 00:42:35.522
of the importance of the rhodoliths, of those nodules,
842
00:42:35.522 --> 00:42:40.490
for the biodiversity in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico,
843
00:42:40.490 --> 00:42:44.320
the mesophotic habitats, and also for alga ecology?
844
00:42:44.320 --> 00:42:49.233
So because it happened after April 20, 2010,
845
00:42:51.180 --> 00:42:53.920
when the BP/Deepwater Horizon oil spill
846
00:42:53.920 --> 00:42:57.070
spilled over 200 million gallons of crude oils
847
00:42:57.070 --> 00:43:01.430
in the vicinity of our research sites,
848
00:43:01.430 --> 00:43:05.040
and this is where there was the,
849
00:43:05.040 --> 00:43:08.750
it blow up the Deepwater Horizon,
850
00:43:08.750 --> 00:43:12.313
that was second bank, this was one of our area,
851
00:43:12.313 --> 00:43:15.406
another one was Ewing Bank,
852
00:43:15.406 --> 00:43:19.597
and this was very badly impacted by the oil spill.
853
00:43:21.630 --> 00:43:25.910
Because Ewing Bank, which before the oil spill
854
00:43:25.910 --> 00:43:30.064
was so diversity-rich for rhodoliths and other species,
855
00:43:30.064 --> 00:43:32.200
looked like a graveyard,
856
00:43:32.200 --> 00:43:36.580
when we first revisited the site in December 2010.
857
00:43:36.580 --> 00:43:37.840
You can see,
858
00:43:37.840 --> 00:43:41.080
while all those rhodoliths were teaming with life,
859
00:43:41.080 --> 00:43:43.580
pre-oil, it looked very healthy,
860
00:43:43.580 --> 00:43:46.680
now they look dead, were bleached, and bare.
861
00:43:46.680 --> 00:43:48.360
And, it's-
862
00:43:48.360 --> 00:43:50.050
so that's all we found,
863
00:43:50.050 --> 00:43:53.623
so we brought them to the lab, just to get something back,
864
00:43:54.640 --> 00:43:58.613
and we put those kind of, dead looking rubble,
865
00:43:59.800 --> 00:44:02.790
in the lab, in microcosms and water
866
00:44:04.079 --> 00:44:06.860
that was collected from the same area
867
00:44:06.860 --> 00:44:09.150
we got those nodules from.
868
00:44:09.150 --> 00:44:11.580
And then what happened after a couple of weeks,
869
00:44:11.580 --> 00:44:13.620
we would see, like we see here,
870
00:44:13.620 --> 00:44:17.909
that some of those dead-looking rhodoliths,
871
00:44:17.909 --> 00:44:22.909
suddenly became, again completely covered by algae,
872
00:44:23.002 --> 00:44:27.845
that looked exactly the same as that was in the-
873
00:44:27.845 --> 00:44:31.320
that was appearing in the Gulf before the oil spill.
874
00:44:31.320 --> 00:44:36.320
So that would then be an autogenic rhodolith and those two.
875
00:44:36.560 --> 00:44:38.020
So we say how is that possible,
876
00:44:38.020 --> 00:44:42.030
all those things we did not see in the field,
877
00:44:42.030 --> 00:44:45.260
but they all grew out of those surface
878
00:44:45.260 --> 00:44:47.810
of those dead-looking rhodoliths.
879
00:44:48.660 --> 00:44:51.900
So that's where I became so interested in that
880
00:44:51.900 --> 00:44:53.443
because before that oil spill,
881
00:44:54.310 --> 00:44:56.410
none of the people in our lab
882
00:44:56.410 --> 00:45:00.840
were interested in crustose corallines,
883
00:45:00.840 --> 00:45:04.250
but afterwards, we saw, my gosh, it's so interesting,
884
00:45:04.250 --> 00:45:08.260
and we really concentrated a lot of efforts
885
00:45:08.260 --> 00:45:10.915
in understanding them.
886
00:45:10.915 --> 00:45:13.691
So, Thomas Sauvage, who was also
887
00:45:13.691 --> 00:45:15.463
a former grad student,
888
00:45:16.559 --> 00:45:19.823
what he did, he did environmental sequencing
889
00:45:19.823 --> 00:45:23.942
inside those rhodoliths, autogenic rhodoliths,
890
00:45:23.942 --> 00:45:28.920
and he recovered a great diversity of photosynthetic taxa,
891
00:45:30.700 --> 00:45:35.070
in the interior of, in this case, six autogenic rhodoliths,
892
00:45:35.070 --> 00:45:38.306
as well as from the other calcareous substrata.
893
00:45:38.306 --> 00:45:42.525
And what he found is that you see all of that
894
00:45:42.525 --> 00:45:45.441
it was teeming with, basically,
895
00:45:48.555 --> 00:45:53.555
finding of diversity of a whole bunch
896
00:45:53.980 --> 00:45:58.980
of macroalgae and also micro, small, and the big ones.
897
00:45:59.083 --> 00:46:03.840
So that's what made us think that those rhodoliths
898
00:46:03.840 --> 00:46:05.620
even do they looked dead,
899
00:46:05.620 --> 00:46:09.110
were actually marine biodiversity hotspots
900
00:46:09.110 --> 00:46:12.022
that may function as seed bank,
901
00:46:12.022 --> 00:46:14.120
for the diversity of those algae,
902
00:46:14.120 --> 00:46:16.459
because they were not there in the field,
903
00:46:16.459 --> 00:46:17.877
we bring them home
904
00:46:17.877 --> 00:46:21.559
and suddenly we get all those algae
905
00:46:22.969 --> 00:46:27.353
and photosynthetic algae in our tanks.
906
00:46:28.860 --> 00:46:32.309
And then, that was for the autogenic algae
907
00:46:32.309 --> 00:46:33.640
and then the biogenic one,
908
00:46:33.640 --> 00:46:34.473
those are the one
909
00:46:34.473 --> 00:46:37.900
with all those weird little spines, tubercles.
910
00:46:37.900 --> 00:46:40.302
There too, we found the same thing,
911
00:46:40.302 --> 00:46:44.420
that there was plenty of life inside the cells
912
00:46:44.420 --> 00:46:46.633
of this biogenic one you see here.
913
00:46:46.633 --> 00:46:51.020
Those are the cells' interior, that's all calcite,
914
00:46:51.020 --> 00:46:53.690
calcium carbonate, and they just...
915
00:46:53.690 --> 00:46:58.330
Sherry Krayesky, was also a former PhD student,
916
00:46:58.330 --> 00:47:00.610
she found all those weird things,
917
00:47:00.610 --> 00:47:03.230
inside those biogenic ones,
918
00:47:03.230 --> 00:47:07.470
so the autogenic one should bring diversity,
919
00:47:07.470 --> 00:47:10.420
because, of course, you can have all those,
920
00:47:10.420 --> 00:47:11.910
in all those crevices.
921
00:47:11.910 --> 00:47:14.280
And so within that autogenic rhodolith,
922
00:47:14.280 --> 00:47:15.980
you can find a whole bunch of things,
923
00:47:15.980 --> 00:47:19.631
within the biogenic ones they can only grow,
924
00:47:21.190 --> 00:47:24.770
we get structures where only in the cells itself
925
00:47:24.770 --> 00:47:26.087
of the coralline.
926
00:47:27.126 --> 00:47:31.920
And so we found those after the oil spill.
927
00:47:31.920 --> 00:47:34.760
So there too, we said that the interior
928
00:47:34.760 --> 00:47:36.377
of those biogenic rhodoliths,
929
00:47:36.377 --> 00:47:39.350
are also marine diversity hotspots,
930
00:47:39.350 --> 00:47:42.110
that, perhaps, may function as resting stage,
931
00:47:42.110 --> 00:47:43.823
as it was for microalgae.
932
00:47:44.684 --> 00:47:45.960
These are those.
933
00:47:45.960 --> 00:47:48.293
And in order to confirm that,
934
00:47:49.472 --> 00:47:52.610
Sherry Seif, was able to pull out
935
00:47:52.610 --> 00:47:55.300
some of those weird stages
936
00:47:55.300 --> 00:47:58.233
and was able to link them,
937
00:47:59.424 --> 00:48:04.358
in with mature, basically type of dinoflagellate algae,
938
00:48:06.150 --> 00:48:11.150
called Prorocentrum, that were swimming in the aquarium.
939
00:48:11.370 --> 00:48:13.890
So, based on DNA sequences,
940
00:48:13.890 --> 00:48:17.020
she could show that actually those weird stages
941
00:48:17.020 --> 00:48:18.538
that we see here,
942
00:48:18.538 --> 00:48:23.255
were actually part of the life stage of dinoflagellate,
943
00:48:24.623 --> 00:48:26.670
in particular the Prorocentrum,
944
00:48:26.670 --> 00:48:29.241
because you see the DNA was exactly the same.
945
00:48:29.241 --> 00:48:34.230
So those lived in calcium carbonate-lined cells
946
00:48:34.230 --> 00:48:37.210
so those are the hard, we call them the endolithic stage.
947
00:48:37.210 --> 00:48:41.290
Lithic is like a stone inside, that we see here.
948
00:48:41.290 --> 00:48:44.451
And we were able to link those stages inside,
949
00:48:44.451 --> 00:48:48.370
with the free-living stages.
950
00:48:48.370 --> 00:48:51.130
So that was really, very exciting.
951
00:48:51.130 --> 00:48:53.480
And then to confirm even further,
952
00:48:53.480 --> 00:48:55.930
she picked those weird stages,
953
00:48:55.930 --> 00:49:00.520
and did TM on it and you can see it's very young,
954
00:49:00.520 --> 00:49:04.015
because they don't have a real cell wall yet and so...
955
00:49:04.015 --> 00:49:08.510
But it has a lot in common with the TM shots,
956
00:49:08.510 --> 00:49:12.380
where the structure is not those dinoflagellates.
957
00:49:12.380 --> 00:49:14.090
So this is really nice,
958
00:49:14.090 --> 00:49:17.540
that we could see that there are those microalgal stages
959
00:49:17.540 --> 00:49:19.754
that nobody knew about,
960
00:49:19.754 --> 00:49:24.754
that are found in those rhodoliths.
961
00:49:24.900 --> 00:49:26.940
And then she looked more and more
962
00:49:26.940 --> 00:49:31.311
in different types of biogenic rhodoliths
963
00:49:31.311 --> 00:49:36.270
and everywhere, we see different kind of stages.
964
00:49:36.270 --> 00:49:40.049
So a lot of them, we haven't been able to link yet
965
00:49:40.049 --> 00:49:43.146
with a certain microalgal stage
966
00:49:43.146 --> 00:49:46.840
but that's all gonna happen.
967
00:49:46.840 --> 00:49:49.153
So, we have another polling question.
968
00:49:52.730 --> 00:49:53.800
Yes, we do.
969
00:49:53.800 --> 00:49:55.870
And here we go, folks.
970
00:49:55.870 --> 00:49:59.352
The interiors of rhodoliths can be important
971
00:49:59.352 --> 00:50:03.290
diversity- rich ecosystems, as are their exteriors.
972
00:50:03.290 --> 00:50:05.263
True, or false?
973
00:50:06.268 --> 00:50:09.440
Oh, there's a definite leaning on this one, also, Suzanne,
974
00:50:09.440 --> 00:50:11.820
we've got some good votes coming in.
975
00:50:11.820 --> 00:50:12.653
Okay.
976
00:50:12.653 --> 00:50:13.975
Good votes.
977
00:50:13.975 --> 00:50:15.453
We're about halfway there.
978
00:50:16.340 --> 00:50:18.530
Keep voting, folks.
979
00:50:18.530 --> 00:50:20.760
Oh, I can tell you all have been paying attention.
980
00:50:20.760 --> 00:50:23.093
They've been listening, Suzanne, they really have.
981
00:50:27.237 --> 00:50:29.400
We're gonna go ahead and close the poll
982
00:50:30.332 --> 00:50:34.689
and 99% think that is a true response.
983
00:50:34.689 --> 00:50:36.590
And I would say they're correct.
984
00:50:36.590 --> 00:50:37.920
Right, Suzanne?
985
00:50:37.920 --> 00:50:39.253
Absolutely. Yeah.
986
00:50:41.300 --> 00:50:43.753
So each of those rhodoliths
987
00:50:43.753 --> 00:50:48.000
is actually an ecosystem by itself
988
00:50:48.000 --> 00:50:51.970
and then at the individual level, the individual rhodolith.
989
00:50:51.970 --> 00:50:54.200
And then we have all those rhodolith beds
990
00:50:54.200 --> 00:50:58.720
and so on the big level, we have another ecosystem.
991
00:50:58.720 --> 00:51:00.920
That's why it's so interesting
992
00:51:00.920 --> 00:51:03.800
and we were not aware of it,
993
00:51:03.800 --> 00:51:07.693
we only became aware of it because of that oil spill.
994
00:51:09.467 --> 00:51:12.880
So, and now we find them so interesting
995
00:51:12.880 --> 00:51:15.580
probably the most exciting algae
996
00:51:15.580 --> 00:51:18.330
in the whole northwestern Gulf.
997
00:51:18.330 --> 00:51:20.320
So what did we learn,
998
00:51:20.320 --> 00:51:23.370
is that that environmental sequence as already said,
999
00:51:23.370 --> 00:51:25.560
demonstrate the importance of rhodoliths
1000
00:51:25.560 --> 00:51:28.775
for microalgal ecology and biodiversity
1001
00:51:28.775 --> 00:51:31.203
in those deepwater habitats.
1002
00:51:32.290 --> 00:51:35.930
And then, that the interiors of those rhodoliths
1003
00:51:35.930 --> 00:51:38.833
are marine biodiversity hotspots,
1004
00:51:38.833 --> 00:51:42.997
and also that, even though many of the macroalgae,
1005
00:51:42.997 --> 00:51:47.102
the large front of the macroalgae are still not present,
1006
00:51:47.102 --> 00:51:48.800
offshore Louisiana,
1007
00:51:48.800 --> 00:51:52.330
offshore the western-most banks, offshore Louisiana,
1008
00:51:52.330 --> 00:51:54.450
the cryptic microscopic stages
1009
00:51:54.450 --> 00:51:56.533
are present inside rhodoliths
1010
00:51:56.533 --> 00:51:59.856
and this has potentiality of regeneration in the field,
1011
00:51:59.856 --> 00:52:02.050
which we haven't seen much of it.
1012
00:52:02.050 --> 00:52:07.050
So happily, the oil spill did not reach the Flower Gardens,
1013
00:52:07.400 --> 00:52:11.660
so they stayed very healthy and full of diversity,
1014
00:52:11.660 --> 00:52:14.700
whereas offshore Louisiana, where we all,
1015
00:52:14.700 --> 00:52:17.193
where we went back in,
1016
00:52:19.140 --> 00:52:22.313
where close to where we are, close to Lafayette,
1017
00:52:23.180 --> 00:52:25.190
it's still very sad,
1018
00:52:25.190 --> 00:52:29.330
and when we go, we barely can see anything alive.
1019
00:52:29.330 --> 00:52:31.590
And it's the same with crustaceans,
1020
00:52:31.590 --> 00:52:34.503
where we, a person who does crustaceans,
1021
00:52:35.460 --> 00:52:39.520
and also one who studies molluscs.
1022
00:52:39.520 --> 00:52:43.170
And there too, those crustaceans,
1023
00:52:43.170 --> 00:52:47.250
and of molluscs have not increased either,
1024
00:52:47.250 --> 00:52:49.800
after 12 years now.
1025
00:52:49.800 --> 00:52:53.393
So this is kind of, scary a little bit.
1026
00:52:54.613 --> 00:52:56.690
So also what we have learned,
1027
00:52:56.690 --> 00:52:59.330
is that those life history stages,
1028
00:52:59.330 --> 00:53:02.430
that are, that go inside those rhodoliths,
1029
00:53:04.660 --> 00:53:06.512
those life history stages of macroalgae
1030
00:53:06.512 --> 00:53:10.700
may be much more common than is currently understood,
1031
00:53:10.700 --> 00:53:14.650
because a lot of those macroalgae form blooms,
1032
00:53:14.650 --> 00:53:16.420
and there's a lot of bloom-forming algae,
1033
00:53:16.420 --> 00:53:17.640
where do they they come from?
1034
00:53:17.640 --> 00:53:18.473
We don't know.
1035
00:53:18.473 --> 00:53:20.910
Well, I think some of them
1036
00:53:20.910 --> 00:53:25.867
may very well come from hiding to those rhodoliths.
1037
00:53:27.850 --> 00:53:32.100
So this is also very interesting for future research.
1038
00:53:32.100 --> 00:53:34.290
And we know those rhodoliths are very important
1039
00:53:34.290 --> 00:53:37.130
in understanding algal community cycling,
1040
00:53:37.130 --> 00:53:40.280
to just completion of life cycle
1041
00:53:40.280 --> 00:53:42.020
and then also for resilience
1042
00:53:42.020 --> 00:53:44.993
and so, very interesting.
1043
00:53:44.993 --> 00:53:49.610
And that the environmental sequencing
1044
00:53:49.610 --> 00:53:50.960
what it has done,
1045
00:53:50.960 --> 00:53:54.244
opened the door to assess the universality
1046
00:53:54.244 --> 00:53:56.850
of those endolithic stages
1047
00:53:56.850 --> 00:53:58.940
of bloom-forming macroalgae,
1048
00:53:58.940 --> 00:54:02.210
that span many different phyla
1049
00:54:02.210 --> 00:54:03.970
or divisions, as they're also called,
1050
00:54:03.970 --> 00:54:08.563
very high-level roles in marine ecosystems worldwide.
1051
00:54:09.770 --> 00:54:13.200
So we can ask, how do actually-
1052
00:54:13.200 --> 00:54:16.040
what is the dynamics of those stages,
1053
00:54:16.040 --> 00:54:19.810
those weird life history stages of this macroalgae,
1054
00:54:19.810 --> 00:54:21.350
inside a rhodolith?
1055
00:54:21.350 --> 00:54:24.980
This is for the surface of the rhodolith
1056
00:54:24.980 --> 00:54:27.460
and you peel, you cut it off,
1057
00:54:27.460 --> 00:54:30.490
and then you see all those cells,
1058
00:54:30.490 --> 00:54:33.326
that has a weird stage in it.
1059
00:54:33.326 --> 00:54:34.659
And those cells-
1060
00:54:36.419 --> 00:54:37.618
I don't see it again.
1061
00:54:37.618 --> 00:54:38.742
Just a minute.
1062
00:54:38.742 --> 00:54:41.286
Oh, where there was a little arrow that was on some stages
1063
00:54:41.286 --> 00:54:43.610
and look some of those weird stages,
1064
00:54:43.610 --> 00:54:44.443
like these three stages,
1065
00:54:46.102 --> 00:54:49.550
and you see there everyone has basically every hole,
1066
00:54:50.580 --> 00:54:53.980
every cell interior has one of those weird stages.
1067
00:54:53.980 --> 00:54:57.710
And surrounded the whole of the cell,
1068
00:54:57.710 --> 00:55:01.090
again, we see it's all calcium carbonates.
1069
00:55:01.090 --> 00:55:06.090
So we still don't know exactly what the point of entry is,
1070
00:55:06.580 --> 00:55:10.183
inside that interior of the rhodolith, and how they get out.
1071
00:55:11.840 --> 00:55:15.810
But, so we think, so that we still don't know.
1072
00:55:15.810 --> 00:55:18.504
So what I'm gonna to say is purely speculative
1073
00:55:18.504 --> 00:55:20.011
at this time.
1074
00:55:20.011 --> 00:55:24.023
So we speculate that biogenic rhodoliths species
1075
00:55:26.230 --> 00:55:28.610
because coralline algae,
1076
00:55:28.610 --> 00:55:31.160
a lot of them slough off off their surface layer.
1077
00:55:31.160 --> 00:55:33.590
So they have a surface layer
1078
00:55:33.590 --> 00:55:36.670
that it can be immediately, wipe it off,
1079
00:55:36.670 --> 00:55:40.353
it disappears and it could be that because of that,
1080
00:55:40.353 --> 00:55:43.110
with all that type of tissue,
1081
00:55:43.110 --> 00:55:44.570
that's now open to the elements,
1082
00:55:44.570 --> 00:55:47.665
maybe it can harbor those populations
1083
00:55:47.665 --> 00:55:52.585
of those macroalgae that are not there permanent
1084
00:55:53.560 --> 00:55:57.910
but perhaps are transient life history stages.
1085
00:55:57.910 --> 00:56:01.360
So that this, perhaps this is true.
1086
00:56:01.360 --> 00:56:05.670
And then once those stages can then make blooms,
1087
00:56:05.670 --> 00:56:08.415
once they are released in the water column
1088
00:56:08.415 --> 00:56:11.670
from the interior of the rhodolith,
1089
00:56:13.370 --> 00:56:17.080
because remember, they are rolling stones,
1090
00:56:17.080 --> 00:56:21.320
so they often they can, there's a lot of abrasion,
1091
00:56:21.320 --> 00:56:25.890
so they roll and some parts can also slough off like that.
1092
00:56:25.890 --> 00:56:27.634
And perhaps like that,
1093
00:56:27.634 --> 00:56:31.940
all those weird stages become part of the rhodolith,
1094
00:56:33.940 --> 00:56:37.510
and then the rhodolith, the coralline forms,
1095
00:56:37.510 --> 00:56:40.100
which goes on top of it.
1096
00:56:40.100 --> 00:56:42.880
So that's perhaps what happens.
1097
00:56:42.880 --> 00:56:46.230
And also, you see here, where there's the arrows,
1098
00:56:46.230 --> 00:56:49.210
we see those big holes.
1099
00:56:49.210 --> 00:56:53.510
Like those are actually pit connections, openings,
1100
00:56:53.510 --> 00:56:57.260
who basically connect the different cells.
1101
00:56:57.260 --> 00:57:00.550
And those openings are like the same size
1102
00:57:00.550 --> 00:57:03.650
of those microalgal stages.
1103
00:57:03.650 --> 00:57:05.817
So maybe they can go through,
1104
00:57:05.817 --> 00:57:08.570
they can travel through those pit connections.
1105
00:57:08.570 --> 00:57:09.760
We don't know.
1106
00:57:09.760 --> 00:57:13.053
And alternatively, also we see here,
1107
00:57:14.680 --> 00:57:18.360
what is this, oh, we see here there's rhodoliths
1108
00:57:18.360 --> 00:57:20.490
with a whole bunch of holes in it.
1109
00:57:20.490 --> 00:57:22.330
And those can be borers
1110
00:57:22.330 --> 00:57:26.320
it can be animals that bore into the calcium carbonate,
1111
00:57:26.320 --> 00:57:28.047
and those too, those borers,
1112
00:57:28.047 --> 00:57:29.830
could also be responsible
1113
00:57:29.830 --> 00:57:34.110
for releasing those microalgal stages by opening burrows,
1114
00:57:34.110 --> 00:57:37.390
and then releasing those microalgal stages
1115
00:57:37.390 --> 00:57:38.900
to the water column.
1116
00:57:38.900 --> 00:57:42.010
And that too is really fascinating,
1117
00:57:42.010 --> 00:57:43.930
because of the coupling
1118
00:57:43.930 --> 00:57:47.680
of bentho and planktonic type of life histories
1119
00:57:48.987 --> 00:57:51.823
and how this all is so important,
1120
00:57:53.360 --> 00:57:54.970
based on those rhodoliths.
1121
00:57:54.970 --> 00:57:56.400
So they are really-
1122
00:57:56.400 --> 00:58:00.393
we think completely fascinating organisms from that.
1123
00:58:01.386 --> 00:58:05.688
And so this we did on the rhodoliths,
1124
00:58:05.688 --> 00:58:08.890
more westward from Louisiana hard banks.
1125
00:58:08.890 --> 00:58:11.920
So we would like to conduct research too,
1126
00:58:11.920 --> 00:58:14.710
to see whether the same phenomenon occurs in the rhodoliths
1127
00:58:14.710 --> 00:58:16.830
on the Flower Garden Banks.
1128
00:58:16.830 --> 00:58:19.270
And so this is all on the agenda
1129
00:58:19.270 --> 00:58:22.920
but it takes much time to do all the research
1130
00:58:22.920 --> 00:58:27.180
and we couldn't do it, for the most part of 2020,
1131
00:58:27.180 --> 00:58:29.857
so hopefully later in the summer
1132
00:58:29.857 --> 00:58:33.630
and so we can continue doing all our research.
1133
00:58:33.630 --> 00:58:35.270
So if you do research,
1134
00:58:35.270 --> 00:58:36.920
we like to do the Flower Gardens,
1135
00:58:37.966 --> 00:58:42.040
it's to continue our biodiversity research,
1136
00:58:42.040 --> 00:58:45.490
but evolutionary relationship research
1137
00:58:45.490 --> 00:58:48.473
about geography of all those mesophotic algae
1138
00:58:48.473 --> 00:58:50.020
in the Flower Gardens,
1139
00:58:50.020 --> 00:58:52.183
and we will do that of course,
1140
00:58:53.680 --> 00:58:58.430
in collaboration with, Emma Hickerson and Marissa Nuttall.
1141
00:58:58.430 --> 00:59:01.020
So there's so much to do
1142
00:59:01.020 --> 00:59:03.620
and also future research what is needed,
1143
00:59:03.620 --> 00:59:05.250
what would be really interesting to do,
1144
00:59:05.250 --> 00:59:07.810
is study these historical samples,
1145
00:59:07.810 --> 00:59:10.030
to assess shifts in communities,
1146
00:59:10.030 --> 00:59:12.400
and then the effects of global warming,
1147
00:59:12.400 --> 00:59:16.161
and ocean acidification on these calcifying organisms
1148
00:59:16.161 --> 00:59:18.787
and those crustose corallines.
1149
00:59:18.787 --> 00:59:20.540
And also what would be interesting
1150
00:59:20.540 --> 00:59:23.200
is to study the contribution of the rhodoliths,
1151
00:59:23.200 --> 00:59:26.090
in understanding large-scale ecosystem processes
1152
00:59:26.090 --> 00:59:29.835
such as community structure, biogeochemical cycle,
1153
00:59:29.835 --> 00:59:32.670
and also to unravel the whole complexity
1154
00:59:32.670 --> 00:59:35.680
of that whole rhodolith ecosystem.
1155
00:59:35.680 --> 00:59:38.910
At individual level, one rhodolith at a time
1156
00:59:38.910 --> 00:59:40.670
or at the whole community level,
1157
00:59:40.670 --> 00:59:43.920
in those big rhodolith beds.
1158
00:59:43.920 --> 00:59:45.540
And also look at the interactions
1159
00:59:45.540 --> 00:59:49.060
between microbes and predator-prey interaction,
1160
00:59:49.060 --> 00:59:51.000
symbiotic associations,
1161
00:59:51.000 --> 00:59:52.910
characterizations of the transport
1162
00:59:52.910 --> 00:59:54.780
of nutrients and energy, etc.
1163
00:59:54.780 --> 00:59:56.687
So there's so much to do
1164
00:59:56.687 --> 00:59:59.490
when we just look at those rhodoliths
1165
00:59:59.490 --> 01:00:03.670
and they are very easy to keep
1166
01:00:03.670 --> 01:00:05.390
when we want to do DNA sequencing,
1167
01:00:05.390 --> 01:00:09.350
because we can just keep them in some silica gel,
1168
01:00:09.350 --> 01:00:11.793
or some cat litter, what we see in that blue,
1169
01:00:13.070 --> 01:00:18.070
and we keep it, it's okay for years we can have them.
1170
01:00:18.070 --> 01:00:19.720
So that's how we can always go back
1171
01:00:19.720 --> 01:00:21.600
what happened 10 years ago.
1172
01:00:21.600 --> 01:00:25.620
We can sequence it and we're gonna get nice DNA sequences,
1173
01:00:25.620 --> 01:00:29.960
to then compare with the sequences from other species
1174
01:00:29.960 --> 01:00:32.697
or from the same species from other areas and so.
1175
01:00:32.697 --> 01:00:34.490
And we keep them alive.
1176
01:00:34.490 --> 01:00:37.933
So basically, this is what I wanted to convey,
1177
01:00:41.510 --> 01:00:46.127
is that those algae in the Flower Garden Banks,
1178
01:00:46.127 --> 01:00:49.310
are so fascinating to study
1179
01:00:49.310 --> 01:00:51.650
and because also they are those,
1180
01:00:51.650 --> 01:00:53.439
especially those coralline algae,
1181
01:00:53.439 --> 01:00:55.389
are so important to the whole ecosystem
1182
01:00:56.829 --> 01:01:00.090
of the whole Flower Garden Banks.
1183
01:01:00.090 --> 01:01:02.790
So that's what I wanted to say.
1184
01:01:02.790 --> 01:01:03.720
Thank you, Suzanne,
1185
01:01:03.720 --> 01:01:06.280
and we're right at 7:30, so folks,
1186
01:01:06.280 --> 01:01:09.160
I understand we haven't had time for questions yet,
1187
01:01:09.160 --> 01:01:11.890
but Suzanne has agreed to stay on with us
1188
01:01:11.890 --> 01:01:13.430
for another 10 to 15 minutes.
1189
01:01:13.430 --> 01:01:16.130
So, I'm gonna go ahead and do the normal wrap up,
1190
01:01:16.130 --> 01:01:17.470
for those of you that need to leave,
1191
01:01:17.470 --> 01:01:19.130
right now at 7:30,
1192
01:01:19.130 --> 01:01:21.280
and then if you'd like to stay on with us,
1193
01:01:21.280 --> 01:01:24.423
Suzanne will answer questions for another 10 to 15 minutes.
1194
01:01:26.116 --> 01:01:28.960
So Suzanne, I'm gonna to grab the control back from you
1195
01:01:28.960 --> 01:01:31.036
to show my slides again.
1196
01:01:31.036 --> 01:01:32.720
Do I need to do anything? No...
1197
01:01:32.720 --> 01:01:34.670
No, just hang out there, one second,
1198
01:01:34.670 --> 01:01:36.820
and we'll be right back to you in a moment.
1199
01:01:39.010 --> 01:01:41.320
Depending on the number of questions we have left
1200
01:01:41.320 --> 01:01:42.153
at the end,
1201
01:01:42.153 --> 01:01:44.760
after we get Suzanne to answer a few of them,
1202
01:01:44.760 --> 01:01:46.380
we will attempt to get more answered
1203
01:01:46.380 --> 01:01:47.530
after the webinar ends
1204
01:01:47.530 --> 01:01:51.350
and if we do, we will email out those responses to everyone.
1205
01:01:51.350 --> 01:01:52.870
Please, also remember to check out
1206
01:01:52.870 --> 01:01:55.860
the links we've shared with you in the chat box
1207
01:01:55.860 --> 01:01:57.449
throughout the course of the webinar,
1208
01:01:57.449 --> 01:02:01.430
we've provided the link to Suzanne's seaweeds lab,
1209
01:02:01.430 --> 01:02:04.230
as well as to some photos of more rhodoliths
1210
01:02:04.230 --> 01:02:05.770
and things at some of the banks
1211
01:02:05.770 --> 01:02:08.053
in our expansion areas of the sanctuary.
1212
01:02:09.020 --> 01:02:12.130
And don't forget we have a PDF of that one paper out there,
1213
01:02:12.130 --> 01:02:16.350
about rhodoliths as a biodiverse ecosystems,
1214
01:02:16.350 --> 01:02:18.120
as biodiversity hotspots,
1215
01:02:18.120 --> 01:02:20.490
I think was the wording in the paper.
1216
01:02:20.490 --> 01:02:24.223
So that's also available in the handout pane of our webinar.
1217
01:02:25.070 --> 01:02:25.903
Thank you for attending
1218
01:02:25.903 --> 01:02:28.640
this Seaside Chats presentation on Remarkable Algae
1219
01:02:28.640 --> 01:02:31.380
of Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary.
1220
01:02:31.380 --> 01:02:34.060
The image on this slide shows the algal nodule habitat
1221
01:02:34.060 --> 01:02:36.810
full of colorful reef fish from Bouma Bank,
1222
01:02:36.810 --> 01:02:38.180
one of the new expansion areas
1223
01:02:38.180 --> 01:02:41.017
for Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary.
1224
01:02:41.017 --> 01:02:44.060
This is the last of our Seaside Chats presentations
1225
01:02:44.060 --> 01:02:45.749
this year, for 2021,
1226
01:02:45.749 --> 01:02:48.594
but we invite you to check back in with us next January
1227
01:02:48.594 --> 01:02:51.531
at the flowergarden.noaa.gov website
1228
01:02:51.531 --> 01:02:53.240
to see what we'll be offering
1229
01:02:53.240 --> 01:02:56.610
for our 2022 Seaside Chat season.
1230
01:02:56.610 --> 01:02:58.883
We also welcome any feedback or further questions
1231
01:02:58.883 --> 01:03:00.610
and you can submit input
1232
01:03:00.610 --> 01:03:03.310
by replying to the followup email you'll receive,
1233
01:03:03.310 --> 01:03:07.023
or by emailing us flowergarden@noaa.gov.
1234
01:03:07.954 --> 01:03:09.870
Today's presentation has also been
1235
01:03:09.870 --> 01:03:12.830
part of the National Marine Sanctuaries Webinars Series,
1236
01:03:12.830 --> 01:03:15.930
and while Seaside Chats lasts just one month each year,
1237
01:03:15.930 --> 01:03:18.800
our National Webinars series continue throughout the year
1238
01:03:18.800 --> 01:03:20.640
to provide educators with educational
1239
01:03:20.640 --> 01:03:24.060
and scientific expertise, resources and training,
1240
01:03:24.060 --> 01:03:27.170
to support ocean and climate literacy in the classroom.
1241
01:03:27.170 --> 01:03:28.370
Be sure to check the website
1242
01:03:28.370 --> 01:03:30.028
for recordings of past webinars,
1243
01:03:30.028 --> 01:03:32.930
and a schedule of what's to come.
1244
01:03:32.930 --> 01:03:33.770
As a reminder,
1245
01:03:33.770 --> 01:03:36.080
we will be sharing the recording of this webinar
1246
01:03:36.080 --> 01:03:39.210
via the National Marine Sanctuaries webinar archive,
1247
01:03:39.210 --> 01:03:40.820
and also on the Flower Garden Banks
1248
01:03:40.820 --> 01:03:42.610
National Marine Sanctuary website.
1249
01:03:42.610 --> 01:03:45.652
So, we will notify you when those links are available
1250
01:03:45.652 --> 01:03:48.233
for the recordings of this presentation.
1251
01:03:50.160 --> 01:03:51.070
Following this webinar,
1252
01:03:51.070 --> 01:03:52.720
all attendees will also receive
1253
01:03:52.720 --> 01:03:55.590
a PDF copy of a certificate of attendance,
1254
01:03:55.590 --> 01:03:57.720
that provides documentation for one hour
1255
01:03:57.720 --> 01:04:00.640
of professional development for today's presentation.
1256
01:04:00.640 --> 01:04:02.810
If you are an educator outside of Texas,
1257
01:04:02.810 --> 01:04:04.010
please use this certificate
1258
01:04:04.010 --> 01:04:07.010
to help you get your hours approved in your own district.
1259
01:04:07.010 --> 01:04:08.440
For those of you in Texas,
1260
01:04:08.440 --> 01:04:12.080
we have provided our Texas CPE provider number,
1261
01:04:12.080 --> 01:04:15.276
and you will need that to get your credits
1262
01:04:15.276 --> 01:04:17.080
at your school district.
1263
01:04:17.080 --> 01:04:18.730
If you require additional information,
1264
01:04:18.730 --> 01:04:23.170
please contact me, Kelly Drinnen, at flowergarden@noaa.gov
1265
01:04:23.170 --> 01:04:25.680
and I'll be happy to help you out.
1266
01:04:25.680 --> 01:04:27.370
There will also be a short evaluation
1267
01:04:27.370 --> 01:04:28.730
that has questions for you to answer
1268
01:04:28.730 --> 01:04:30.700
following today's presentation.
1269
01:04:30.700 --> 01:04:31.980
Please complete the survey
1270
01:04:31.980 --> 01:04:34.270
immediately after signing off the webinar,
1271
01:04:34.270 --> 01:04:37.080
and it should only take about three minutes of your time.
1272
01:04:37.080 --> 01:04:41.050
We greatly appreciate any feedback you are willing to share.
1273
01:04:41.050 --> 01:04:43.670
Thanks again, to Suzanne for a great presentation
1274
01:04:43.670 --> 01:04:44.580
and for the willingness
1275
01:04:44.580 --> 01:04:46.060
to hang out a little bit longer with us
1276
01:04:46.060 --> 01:04:47.870
and answer some questions,
1277
01:04:47.870 --> 01:04:50.600
and thanks to you all for taking the time
1278
01:04:50.600 --> 01:04:52.270
to join us this evening.
1279
01:04:52.270 --> 01:04:54.820
This concludes the main portion of the webinar.
1280
01:04:54.820 --> 01:04:57.670
We will now go into just a continuation
1281
01:04:57.670 --> 01:04:59.700
with our question and answer period.
1282
01:04:59.700 --> 01:05:01.150
We hope you'll stick with us.
1283
01:05:02.760 --> 01:05:04.150
So, Suzanne, you don't have to worry anymore
1284
01:05:04.150 --> 01:05:05.470
about screen anything.
1285
01:05:05.470 --> 01:05:07.770
I'm just gonna to share questions with you at this time,
1286
01:05:07.770 --> 01:05:10.530
and you can just stay on camera for everybody,
1287
01:05:10.530 --> 01:05:12.483
if you'd like to turn your audio back on.
1288
01:05:14.290 --> 01:05:15.610
Back on?
1289
01:05:15.610 --> 01:05:18.123
Yes. There you are, I hear you now.
1290
01:05:19.520 --> 01:05:21.073
So the first question is,
1291
01:05:24.590 --> 01:05:27.420
Does this represent something like succession
1292
01:05:27.420 --> 01:05:28.720
in terrestrial systems,
1293
01:05:28.720 --> 01:05:30.160
where the rhodoliths are replaced
1294
01:05:30.160 --> 01:05:31.661
by the settlement on top of them,
1295
01:05:31.661 --> 01:05:34.483
or do they persist despite that settlement?
1296
01:05:36.290 --> 01:05:39.873
Well, I think it depends on the type of species.
1297
01:05:41.039 --> 01:05:42.794
Some of them
1298
01:05:42.794 --> 01:05:45.665
(keyboard clicking)
were on top of one another,
1299
01:05:45.665 --> 01:05:47.310
so there is a succession,
1300
01:05:47.310 --> 01:05:50.163
because you mean like the algae,
1301
01:05:51.511 --> 01:05:53.053
are they successional? Yes.
1302
01:05:54.190 --> 01:05:57.900
In spring you're gonna see less algae, fleshy algae,
1303
01:05:57.900 --> 01:06:00.280
than in late summer,
1304
01:06:00.280 --> 01:06:02.840
like when we go September or something,
1305
01:06:02.840 --> 01:06:04.530
end of August, September.
1306
01:06:04.530 --> 01:06:08.230
That's the real peak for the fleshy algae
1307
01:06:08.230 --> 01:06:10.470
in the Flower Gardens.
1308
01:06:10.470 --> 01:06:14.440
But we never, from the pictures, I know that,
1309
01:06:14.440 --> 01:06:18.800
because we haven't really personally been going to those
1310
01:06:18.800 --> 01:06:21.523
in the winter or in the early spring.
1311
01:06:21.523 --> 01:06:24.686
So I've only been in the late summer.
1312
01:06:27.791 --> 01:06:31.625
But from the images that Emma showed,
1313
01:06:31.625 --> 01:06:36.606
there are less fleshy algae in the winter and early spring,
1314
01:06:39.630 --> 01:06:41.500
than in late summer.
1315
01:06:41.500 --> 01:06:44.423
So there is a clear succession, yes.
1316
01:06:45.351 --> 01:06:46.318
Okay.
1317
01:06:46.318 --> 01:06:47.577
Next question-
1318
01:06:47.577 --> 01:06:50.160
Corallines, don't know how they work
1319
01:06:50.160 --> 01:06:53.190
because we don't have many specimens.
1320
01:06:53.190 --> 01:06:56.460
It's very difficult to recognize those corallines
1321
01:06:56.460 --> 01:06:57.800
just from an image.
1322
01:06:57.800 --> 01:07:02.350
As you can see, you have to either extract the DNA from it,
1323
01:07:02.350 --> 01:07:07.350
sequence it or look on the, looking at the anatomy, etc.
1324
01:07:07.956 --> 01:07:12.903
So we don't know whether some, the same rhodoliths
1325
01:07:12.903 --> 01:07:17.546
that we find in the Gulf, in the Flower Gardens,
1326
01:07:17.546 --> 01:07:20.585
in September, October,
1327
01:07:20.585 --> 01:07:24.690
or do we also find in very early on.
1328
01:07:24.690 --> 01:07:28.331
So that, what kind of shape they are in,
1329
01:07:28.331 --> 01:07:30.310
that we don't know.
1330
01:07:30.310 --> 01:07:31.520
Thank you.
1331
01:07:31.520 --> 01:07:32.770
Next question,
1332
01:07:32.770 --> 01:07:34.173
for the rhodoliths,
Yeah.
1333
01:07:34.173 --> 01:07:36.520
For the rhodoliths that are collected
1334
01:07:36.520 --> 01:07:37.640
with the ROV,
1335
01:07:37.640 --> 01:07:40.290
do you keep them in aquaria on board,
1336
01:07:40.290 --> 01:07:41.420
or do you pack them in bags,
1337
01:07:41.420 --> 01:07:43.020
like we saw in your photos there?
1338
01:07:43.020 --> 01:07:45.870
Or how are they kept bring them back to you?
1339
01:07:45.870 --> 01:07:48.849
We bring them in big coolers,
1340
01:07:48.849 --> 01:07:52.680
with some oxygen,
1341
01:07:52.680 --> 01:07:55.035
like when you want to keep fish alive.
1342
01:07:55.035 --> 01:07:59.660
So we bring them in big coolers with oxygen bubbles.
1343
01:07:59.660 --> 01:08:01.440
Once they come on board,
1344
01:08:01.440 --> 01:08:03.473
we have a whole bunch of coolers
1345
01:08:03.473 --> 01:08:05.903
and then we take them to the lab,
1346
01:08:05.903 --> 01:08:09.030
and there we have already those microcosms,
1347
01:08:09.030 --> 01:08:11.270
those big aquarium ready.
1348
01:08:11.270 --> 01:08:15.833
We just need to add the water into and the material.
1349
01:08:16.720 --> 01:08:19.933
And then everything is ready to study.
1350
01:08:21.670 --> 01:08:23.380
Okay.
1351
01:08:23.380 --> 01:08:26.430
We collect them on board, we bring them with us
1352
01:08:26.430 --> 01:08:27.940
back to Lafayette,
1353
01:08:27.940 --> 01:08:32.182
and there we transfer them into microcosms,
1354
01:08:32.182 --> 01:08:36.820
along with the water that each particular alga
1355
01:08:36.820 --> 01:08:40.813
and collection of algae was collected from.
1356
01:08:40.813 --> 01:08:44.509
So we know that we have no cross contamination,
1357
01:08:44.509 --> 01:08:48.033
that those rhodoliths come along with their own water.
1358
01:08:49.647 --> 01:08:54.360
Have these endolithic life history stages
1359
01:08:54.360 --> 01:08:57.773
of macroalgae been noted in shallow reef rhodoliths?
1360
01:08:59.590 --> 01:09:00.423
That I don't know.
1361
01:09:00.423 --> 01:09:02.190
No, they have not,
1362
01:09:02.190 --> 01:09:05.224
but I haven't looked at shallow reefs
1363
01:09:05.224 --> 01:09:07.965
and we have wonderful reefs
1364
01:09:07.965 --> 01:09:11.010
like even in West Africa and so,
1365
01:09:11.010 --> 01:09:12.043
that are intertidal.
1366
01:09:14.020 --> 01:09:17.700
But nobody, I think has looked at the inside of it.
1367
01:09:17.700 --> 01:09:20.680
So I don't dare to say. We don't know.
1368
01:09:22.130 --> 01:09:23.236
Okay.
1369
01:09:23.236 --> 01:09:25.467
Question about...
Don't know (chuckling).
1370
01:09:25.467 --> 01:09:26.633
That's okay.
1371
01:09:28.480 --> 01:09:31.240
The large-bladed fleshy red algae
1372
01:09:31.240 --> 01:09:32.504
that was in some of your photos,
1373
01:09:32.504 --> 01:09:35.700
what's the taxonomic identity of that red algae?
1374
01:09:35.700 --> 01:09:40.346
Halymenia. Some are, it's a Halymenia.
1375
01:09:40.346 --> 01:09:41.729
A new species (indistinct)
(keyboard clicking)
1376
01:09:41.729 --> 01:09:43.801
with the big blades,
1377
01:09:43.801 --> 01:09:45.772
wonderful red blades.
1378
01:09:45.772 --> 01:09:47.943
It's a bit gelatinous, yeah.
1379
01:09:47.943 --> 01:09:49.610
Wonderful.
1380
01:09:50.460 --> 01:09:54.360
All right, if autogenic rhodoliths are the calcium carbonate
1381
01:09:54.360 --> 01:09:56.466
left after biogenic rhodoliths die,
1382
01:09:56.466 --> 01:09:59.260
or is their origin completely different?
1383
01:09:59.260 --> 01:10:00.510
The origin is different.
1384
01:10:00.510 --> 01:10:03.423
The origin is from what's that stuff,
1385
01:10:03.423 --> 01:10:06.800
it's the rubble that is calcium carbonate.
1386
01:10:06.800 --> 01:10:08.510
And like you remember when I said about
1387
01:10:08.510 --> 01:10:13.510
that salt gets transformed into calcium carbonate
1388
01:10:14.053 --> 01:10:16.400
with the help of bacteria.
1389
01:10:16.400 --> 01:10:20.570
So you have a lot of rubble that already exists
1390
01:10:22.975 --> 01:10:24.910
at the bottom.
1391
01:10:24.910 --> 01:10:27.370
And then it's some of that rubble,
1392
01:10:28.375 --> 01:10:33.375
that gets covered, grown over, by certain corallines
1393
01:10:33.375 --> 01:10:37.323
or some brown algae or some animals.
1394
01:10:38.400 --> 01:10:42.150
Like some soft corals, they can attach to it.
1395
01:10:42.150 --> 01:10:44.430
So those are the autogenic one.
1396
01:10:44.430 --> 01:10:47.620
And so the biogenic one are the ones that are ...
1397
01:10:47.620 --> 01:10:50.320
the rhodoliths that are formed only
1398
01:10:50.320 --> 01:10:53.093
from the coralline algae themselves.
1399
01:10:55.339 --> 01:11:00.339
The other one is rubble that gets covered secondarily
1400
01:11:00.617 --> 01:11:05.421
by corallines or other brown algae crusts.
1401
01:11:05.421 --> 01:11:08.740
But the biogenic one, starts with a couple of cells
1402
01:11:08.740 --> 01:11:10.267
and continue to grow and grow,
1403
01:11:10.267 --> 01:11:12.423
into those biogenic ones.
1404
01:11:13.410 --> 01:11:16.370
And they're always much smaller than the big ball
1405
01:11:16.370 --> 01:11:17.403
the stuff can be.
1406
01:11:18.679 --> 01:11:21.677
Those nodules that are autogenic.
1407
01:11:22.643 --> 01:11:24.170
Okay.
1408
01:11:24.170 --> 01:11:28.192
Do the macroalgal rhodoliths grow in annual layers?
1409
01:11:28.192 --> 01:11:31.130
Is there any way of telling annual growth patterns,
1410
01:11:31.130 --> 01:11:32.810
like in trees and corals?
1411
01:11:32.810 --> 01:11:35.430
I think some people are working on that,
1412
01:11:35.430 --> 01:11:38.980
with some labs, who are the geologists
1413
01:11:38.980 --> 01:11:40.990
and so who are working on that.
1414
01:11:40.990 --> 01:11:45.170
And I think there is, in University of Alabama,
1415
01:11:45.170 --> 01:11:48.430
they are looking at things like that, but I don't,
1416
01:11:48.430 --> 01:11:53.370
I haven't, that's not something that I have followed.
1417
01:11:53.370 --> 01:11:57.680
But they try to see if there is an analogy about that.
1418
01:11:57.680 --> 01:12:00.060
See how all this goes, how old are they?
1419
01:12:01.010 --> 01:12:03.570
Those rings basically, once you...
1420
01:12:03.570 --> 01:12:06.690
So I don't know much about that.
1421
01:12:06.690 --> 01:12:07.794
Okay.
1422
01:12:07.794 --> 01:12:10.310
Sometimes I can see, I don't see.
1423
01:12:10.310 --> 01:12:13.880
Do rhodoliths and crustose coralline algae
1424
01:12:13.880 --> 01:12:17.170
perform similar functions in shallow water environments?
1425
01:12:17.170 --> 01:12:21.240
Can they contribute to neutralizing ocean acidification?
1426
01:12:21.240 --> 01:12:23.180
Yeah, they do,
1427
01:12:23.180 --> 01:12:25.343
because you can have shallow,
1428
01:12:25.343 --> 01:12:28.261
the coralline algae its important everywhere.
1429
01:12:28.261 --> 01:12:33.261
And, but some corallines have more calcite
1430
01:12:33.380 --> 01:12:36.700
and others have more proportion of aragonite
1431
01:12:36.700 --> 01:12:39.300
and they have studies that have been done,
1432
01:12:39.300 --> 01:12:42.549
not from, like in Australia and so
1433
01:12:42.549 --> 01:12:45.832
that showed that those corallines
1434
01:12:45.832 --> 01:12:50.563
that have relatively more aragonite in their cells,
1435
01:12:52.840 --> 01:12:55.568
resist better ocean acidification.
1436
01:12:56.604 --> 01:13:01.469
Those that have more the calcite as part of the limestone,
1437
01:13:03.450 --> 01:13:06.100
they are more sensitive to it.
1438
01:13:06.100 --> 01:13:09.678
So it's difficult to generalize too much
1439
01:13:09.678 --> 01:13:13.627
because they are different types of calcium carbonate,
1440
01:13:13.627 --> 01:13:18.573
some are more sensitive to the acids than others, etc.
1441
01:13:20.137 --> 01:13:24.040
But yeah, I think it's the same
1442
01:13:24.040 --> 01:13:27.630
whether it's very shallow or very deep,
1443
01:13:27.630 --> 01:13:31.853
because those corallines you find at all level,
1444
01:13:32.920 --> 01:13:36.998
but I haven't looked at shallow water rhodoliths,
1445
01:13:38.018 --> 01:13:42.787
except some in the tropical part of Panama.
1446
01:13:47.440 --> 01:13:49.392
And that's so...
1447
01:13:49.392 --> 01:13:51.890
I'm gonna take one more question,
1448
01:13:51.890 --> 01:13:54.688
and that is, is the average thickness of the algae
1449
01:13:54.688 --> 01:13:58.083
on the nodules consistent or does it continually grow?
1450
01:13:59.782 --> 01:14:01.957
It basically can continually grow,
1451
01:14:01.957 --> 01:14:03.253
but they are rolling.
1452
01:14:04.190 --> 01:14:05.680
When we talk about those nodules,
1453
01:14:05.680 --> 01:14:08.890
they roll and then pieces fall off
1454
01:14:08.890 --> 01:14:10.900
and then they continue to grow.
1455
01:14:10.900 --> 01:14:13.450
So that's why they may look all different
1456
01:14:13.450 --> 01:14:16.655
but they all the same thing, the same species
1457
01:14:16.655 --> 01:14:21.640
and then others who look all the same,
1458
01:14:21.640 --> 01:14:23.693
but they all different species.
1459
01:14:24.742 --> 01:14:27.917
So it's very weird and they should keep us busy.
1460
01:14:27.917 --> 01:14:29.760
(Kelly chuckling)
1461
01:14:29.760 --> 01:14:33.420
Such great diverse, I never been in a place like here,
1462
01:14:33.420 --> 01:14:36.790
like the Flower Gardens on those trips
1463
01:14:36.790 --> 01:14:41.258
we went with the ROV, and on those other hard banks,
1464
01:14:42.433 --> 01:14:44.483
closer to Louisiana.
1465
01:14:44.483 --> 01:14:48.950
I never seen anything so rich in diversity of corallines,
1466
01:14:48.950 --> 01:14:50.710
it's absolutely extraordinary.
1467
01:14:52.150 --> 01:14:52.983
Well, Suzanne.
1468
01:14:52.983 --> 01:14:55.543
We're so excited to hear your excitement
1469
01:14:55.543 --> 01:14:57.051
for what you do.
(Suzanne cackling)
1470
01:14:57.051 --> 01:15:00.780
And the expansion areas are this wonderful new horizon
1471
01:15:00.780 --> 01:15:03.443
ahead of us to continue working and studying.
1472
01:15:03.443 --> 01:15:05.890
And we're happy to have you along for the ride.
1473
01:15:05.890 --> 01:15:09.460
Well, we hope so because all of us here,
1474
01:15:09.460 --> 01:15:11.140
in Lafayette,
1475
01:15:11.140 --> 01:15:14.050
we are all so excited about all the algae.
1476
01:15:14.050 --> 01:15:15.400
(Suzanne chuckling)
1477
01:15:15.400 --> 01:15:17.080
Well, hopefully it continues to be
1478
01:15:17.080 --> 01:15:18.340
even more remarkable.
1479
01:15:18.340 --> 01:15:21.330
We learned some amazing new things in the coming years.
1480
01:15:21.330 --> 01:15:24.550
So many new things we still have to describe
1481
01:15:24.550 --> 01:15:26.130
and everything is crazy.
1482
01:15:26.130 --> 01:15:30.400
It's absolutely crazy to have such a rich area.
1483
01:15:30.400 --> 01:15:35.350
And I never knew that before I came to Louisiana in '96.
1484
01:15:35.350 --> 01:15:36.193
I never was,
1485
01:15:37.230 --> 01:15:38.090
I never knew about that.
1486
01:15:38.090 --> 01:15:41.020
But then we had (indistinct) who was the chairman
1487
01:15:41.020 --> 01:15:43.918
in the department of biology, and he had gone,
1488
01:15:43.918 --> 01:15:46.240
he knew the Gulf, very well.
1489
01:15:46.240 --> 01:15:48.930
And so he brought me along on some of those expeditions.
1490
01:15:48.930 --> 01:15:50.480
And then I was, oh my goodness.
1491
01:15:51.722 --> 01:15:55.310
So he completely changed the way we see algae
1492
01:15:55.310 --> 01:15:58.320
based on what we find here in the northwestern Gulf
1493
01:15:58.320 --> 01:16:00.230
and in the Flower Gardens.
1494
01:16:00.230 --> 01:16:05.230
Because all those very interesting phenomenon
1495
01:16:05.556 --> 01:16:08.227
that we found in the rhodoliths,
1496
01:16:08.227 --> 01:16:10.423
after the oil spill,
1497
01:16:11.440 --> 01:16:13.360
we haven't really seen some of those
1498
01:16:13.360 --> 01:16:15.860
in the Flower Garden rhodoliths
1499
01:16:15.860 --> 01:16:18.163
but we had to look at many more things,
1500
01:16:19.320 --> 01:16:20.153
many more-
1501
01:16:20.153 --> 01:16:22.130
Well, I'm sure we're gonna keep you busy
1502
01:16:22.130 --> 01:16:23.880
for a long time to come.
1503
01:16:23.880 --> 01:16:24.858
Yeah.
(both chuckling)
1504
01:16:24.858 --> 01:16:26.900
Thank you so much, Suzanne,
1505
01:16:26.900 --> 01:16:29.060
thank you everyone for joining us this evening
1506
01:16:29.060 --> 01:16:32.300
and staying on for the extra question and answer period.
1507
01:16:32.300 --> 01:16:33.900
We're so excited to have you with us
1508
01:16:33.900 --> 01:16:36.100
and we hope you'll join us for Seaside Chats
1509
01:16:36.974 --> 01:16:39.030
again next year in 2022.
1510
01:16:39.030 --> 01:16:40.061
If you wanna stay in touch with us
1511
01:16:40.061 --> 01:16:41.820
at the Flower Garden Banks,
1512
01:16:41.820 --> 01:16:45.340
we have an email list you can access
1513
01:16:45.340 --> 01:16:48.347
from our website to make sure you keep hearing from us.
1514
01:16:48.347 --> 01:16:49.180
I have.
And Suzanne,
1515
01:16:49.180 --> 01:16:50.890
if you have something to add?
1516
01:16:50.890 --> 01:16:52.800
Yeah. Well, thank you very much
1517
01:16:52.800 --> 01:16:55.520
for listening and for inviting me again.
1518
01:16:55.520 --> 01:16:57.387
So it's been a pleasure.
1519
01:16:57.387 --> 01:16:59.440
It's been a pleasure having you.
1520
01:16:59.440 --> 01:17:01.401
Folks, that concludes today's webinar.
1521
01:17:01.401 --> 01:17:02.817
Thank you very much.
1522
01:17:02.817 --> 01:17:04.159
Thank you.
1523
01:17:04.159 --> 01:17:04.992
(Suzanne chuckling)
1524
01:17:04.992 --> 01:17:09.992
Goodbye.
(keyboard clicking)