oceanographic cruise – Laboratoire LEMAR UMR 6539

The Warmalis 3 oceanographic campaign!

Oceanographic Campaign Warmalis 3: Understanding the Functioning of the Pelagic Oceanic Ecosystem and Ultimately Determining its Influence on Tuna Resources in the Western and Central Pacific Region

The WARMALIS 3 campaign, taking place from September 25 to November 8 aboard the R/V ANTEA, aims to better understand the functioning of the pelagic oceanic ecosystem and determine its influence on tuna resources in the western and central Pacific region, which account for more than 50% of global catches. In particular, the campaign studies intermediate trophic levels (zooplankton and micronecton), which constitute the primary food for all large pelagic species in the Pacific. To achieve this, biological data (micronecton trawls, zooplankton nets, EK80 sonars, and acoustic profilers), as well as physical and chemical data, are collected.

Example of micronecton capture, with gelatinous organisms, small fish, and shrimp commonly consumed by tuna and other top predators (Photo: V. Allain, SPC-IRD).

WARMALIS 3 is the last in a series of three campaigns (2021, 2022, 2023) part of the MICROPAC project (Micronecton in the Pacific, 2021-2023) led by Christophe Menkès (IRD/UMR ENTROPIE) and Valérie Allain (CPS) with partner units: MIO, IMAGO, LEMAR, LOPS, LEGOS, and CLS. After exploring the western and central Pacific from south to north in previous years, the crew is undertaking a 45-day east-to-west traverse along the equator this year.
Four colleagues from LEMAR are on board: Laure Barbin, Jérémie Habasque, Anne Lebourges, and Anaïs Médieu.

Campaign plan for Warmalis 3.

You can follow the ship’s log on the mission blog.

03/12/2023/by sherve@univ-brest.fr

LMI TAPIOCA

thematic partnerships

The host partners of the International Joint Laboratory ‘Tropical Atlantic Interdisciplinary laboratory on physical, biogeochemical, ecological and human dynamics’ (IJL TAPIOCA), the Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (UFPE) and the Universidade Federal Rural de Pernambuco (UFRPE) have a long history of interaction with IRD in marine science. Brazil recently recognized the major importance of the natural resources and mineral stocks along its 7,500 km of coastline (called “Blue Amazon” by the Brazil’s authorities) and TAPIOCA team members are involved in a variety of scientific and academic projects aiming at resolving key question on climate variability, biogeochemical, physical, biological and human interactions in the tropical Atlantic Ocean.

Tapioca brings together nearly 90 scientists and students involved in research projects such as the “Pirata”, “Abraços” or “Mafalda” projects. The laboratory will focus on research areas related to climate change and marine spatial planning. The laboratory will strengthen research in the field and invest in the training of new students.

TAPIOCA’s medium- and long-term objective is to create an inter-university centre of excellence in tropical marine sciences with all the scientists involved.

More information here.

05/10/2018/by sherve@univ-brest.fr

Tropical Atlantic Interdisciplinary laboratory on physical, biogeochemical, ecological and human dynamics

Links between biogeochemical cycles of metals and living organisms

Chibido-thematic, research thematic

Improving our knowledge of the metal cycle in contrasting environments of the world ocean is absolutely necessary for a better understanding of the oceanic biogeochemical cycles of major elements (C, Si, N, S) and the biological carbon pump. LEMAR is internationally recognised in this field, in particular through our strong involvement in the GEOTRACES programme. We combine observations, field or laboratory experiments and modelling. Our originality lies in the combined study of the dissolved and particulate phases, as well as their speciation (redox and organic), in order to better understand the interactions between these two reservoirs, which are fundamental in the metal cycle and yet are still little studied. Our expertise also includes the study of interactions between the metal cycle and plankton, by linking metal speciation to the bioavailability of micronutrients for marine plankton (phytoplankton and bacteria). The integration of omics tools (functional genomics, transcriptomics, etc.) into this theme is currently essential to further investigate the link between biogeochemical cycles of metals and interactions with living organisms. These explorations will continue to be carried out, both during oceanographic missions and in laboratory studies, notably thanks to our numerous international collaborations and our involvement in the future international programme BioGeoSCAPES (‘Ocean metabolism and nutrient cycles on a changing planet’). The strong international momentum of the GEOTRACES programme and the forthcoming BioGeoSCAPES programme now allows us to build and meet the challenge of integrated microbial biogeochemistry projects that require international coordination with a multidisciplinary approach.

05/10/2018/by sherve@univ-brest.fr