Kyra has been a member of the Video Lab team since 1996, where she annotates video and images captured by MBARI’s ROVs and AUVs. The Video Lab identifies and describes the organisms and geological features in our vast video archive, providing many MBARI scientists and their collaborators with data and images integral to their efforts to understand ocean science. Our custom-built Video Annotation and Reference System (VARS) streamlines the annotation process and allows for efficient searching of our extensive deep-sea database, which contains over 11 million+ expert observations. This wealth of information has contributed to more than 550 peer-reviewed publications. Data and images are also publicly accessible through the MBARI Deep-Sea Guide. Currently we are focusing on developing innovative machine learning techniques to facilitate the analysis of our rapidly expanding video repository.

Kyra’s primary interest is in midwater biology, including jellies, cephalopods, fish, and crustaceans. She particularly enjoys participating in research expeditions at sea. In addition, Kyra oversees the video editing for MBARI’s YouTube channel which features over 500 deep-sea video productions, has gained more than 275K subscribers, and amassed over 90 million views. The Video Lab collaborates closely with the Sci Comm group to share MBARI’s groundbreaking research, including discoveries like an unusual new sea slug and the mysteries of the Octopus Garden.

  • Burford, B.P., Schlining, K.L., Reisenbichler, K.R., Robison, B.H., (2018). Pelagic shrimp play dead in deep oxygen minima. PLoS ONE, 13: . https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0207249
  • Sherlock, R. E., Walz, K. R., Schlining, K. L., Robison, B. H., (2017). Morphology, ecology, and molecular biology of a new species of giant larvacean in the eastern North Pacific: Bathochordaeus mcnutti sp. nov.. Marine Biology, 164: 20. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00227-016-3046-0
  • Haddock, S.H.D., L.M. Christianson, W.R. Francis, S. Martini, C.W. Dunn, P.R. Pugh, C.E. Mills, K.J. Osborn, B.A. Seibel, C.A. Choy, C.E. Schnitzler, G.I. Matsumoto, M. Messié, D.T. Schultz, J.R. Winnikoff, M.L. Powers, R. Gasca, W.E. Browne, S. Johnson, K.L. Schlining, S. von Thun, B.E. Erwin, J.F. Ryan, and E.V. Thuesen (2017). Insights into the biodiversity, behavior, and bioluminescence of deep-sea organisms using molecular and maritime technology. Oceanography, 30: 38-47. https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2017.422
  • Schlining, K., S. von Thun, L. Kuhnz, B. Schlining, L. Lundsten, N.J. Stout, L. Chaney, and J. Connor (2013). Debris in the deep: Using a 22-year video annotation database to survey marine litter in Monterey Canyon, Central California, USA. Deep Sea Research I, 79: 96-105. 
  • Lundsten, L., K.L. Schlining, K. Frasier, S.B. Johnson, L. Kuhnz, J. Harvey, G. Clague, and R.C. Vrijenhoek (2010). Time-series analysis of six whale-fall communities in Monterey Canyon, California, USA. Deep-Sea Research Part I, 57: 1573-1584.
  • Lundsten, L., C.K. Paull, K.L. Schlining, M. McGann, and W. Ussler III (2010). Biological characterization of a whalefall near Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. Deep-Sea Research Part I, 57: 918-922.
  • Stein, D.L., J.C. Drazen, K. Schlining, J. Barry, and L. Kuhnz (2006). Snailfishes of the central California coast: Video, photographic and morphological observations. Journal of Fish Biology, 69: 970-986.
  • Schlining, K.L., and J.D. Spratt. 1999. Assessment of the Carmel Bay spot prawn, Pandalus platyceros, resource and trap fishery adjacent to an ecological reserve in central California. In The Biodiversity Crisis and Crustacea: Proceedings of the Fourth International Crustacean Congress, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, July 20–24, 1998.
  • Schlining, K.L. 1999. The spot prawn (Pandalus platyceros Brandt 1851) resource in Carmel Submarine Canyon, California: Aspects of fisheries and habitat associations. M.S. Thesis, California State University, Stanislaus.