MBARI Expedition #465

Expedition goal: By pairing video, acoustic, eDNA, and traditional trawl measurements of biological communities around the Monterey Accelerated Research System (MARS) site, our expedition seeks to 1) compare the strengths and weaknesses of these different technologies in order to improve our ability to measure life in the sea and 2) integrate these results to gain a greater understanding of the spatial and temporal variability of vertically migrating populations around MARS.

Expedition dates: May 30 – June 4, 2019

Ship: R/V Western Flyer, R/V Rachel Carson, NOAA R/V Reuben Lasker

Research technology: 3G Environmental Sample Processor long-range autonomous underwater vehicle (LRAUV), acoustic and tracking Wave Glider, bioluminescence LRAUV, Echosounder, i2MAP AUV, ROV Ventana, Saildrone, spray glider

Expedition chief scientist: Francisco Chavez

MBARI researchers and collaborators will use underwater acoustics and video, traditional ship trawls/net tows, and environmental DNA (eDNA) to examine the variability in time and space of the daily vertical migration of copepods, krill, and fish, within Monterey Bay. These animals—called the diel vertical migrators (DVMs)—swim up to the surface each night and back down to depth at dawn as part of their feeding habits in Earth’s largest migration.

Scientists will also compare the ability of these diverse methods to capture information about these ecologically important groups, illustrating how different data types, as well as sampling from autonomous platforms, can give us a fuller picture of the behavior, identity, and variability of these populations. Through acoustic and eDNA data, scientists will also capture the accompanying variability of their predators (marine mammals detected through acoustic and eDNA data) and prey (phytoplankton and microzooplankton through eDNA data).