Hands-On Post-Calibration of In Vivo Fluorescence Using Open Access Data: A Guided Journey from Fluorescence to Phytoplankton Biomass
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: The goal of this activity is to help students become acquainted with key procedures in oceanographic data acquisition, processing, validation, and management. These skills are learned through using sensor-based underway fluorescence and discrete chlorophyll a (Chl-a) measurements. By encompassing a wide range of skills necessary for oceanographic research—from at-sea operations, to precise lab work, to data management—this activity showcases the diverse learning opportunities that oceanography offers for educating science and engineering students. This activity highlights the critical, yet often overlooked, steps required to process and validate high-resolution data from autonomous sensors, such as those mounted on ocean observing platforms (e.g., research vessels, moorings, gliders), before utilizing them to investigate relevant oceanographic processes. It offers students the opportunity to develop proficiency in the various steps of managing open-access data from diverse sources, while also introducing them to the principles of findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable (FAIR) data practices in scientific research (Wilkinson et al., 2016). Additionally, it familiarizes them with the requirements of the Open-Source Science Initiative (OSSI) for open, transparent, accessible, inclusive, and reproducible science. Emerging mandates that make funding availability contingent on open data managing and sharing procedures make the skills delivered in this activity essential for researchers and technicians (Kaiser and Brainard, 2023).
Source: Oceanography
Authors: Pierre Marrec, Amanda Herbst, Stace Beaulieu, Susanne Menden-Deuer
Language: English
Subfield: Information Systems
Field: Computer Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $500
Awards: LTER: Scales of Variability in Ecosystem Dynamics and Production on the Changing Northeast U.S. Shelf (NES II), LTER: Linking Pelagic Community Structure with Ecosystem Dynamics and Production Regimes on the Changing Northeast US Shelf, REU Site: SURFO-Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships in Oceanography, PREDATION BY MICROZOOPLANKTON (MZ) IS THE SINGLE LARGEST LOSS FACTOR OF MARINE PRIMARY PRODUCTION (PP) AND ALTERS THE ABUNDANCE AND SIZE SPECTRUM OF PARTICLES IN THE WATER COLUMN. MZ CONSUME LIVING CELLS AND SINKING AGGREGATES AND SERVE AS PREY TO VERTICALLY MIGRATING METAZOANS. OUR HYPOTHESES ARE 1) MZ PREDATION OF PP IMPACTS RATES OF EXPORT PRODUCTION THROUGH ALL 5 PATHWAYS PREDICTABLY AND 2) HIGH RATES OF PREDATION YIELD LOW CARBON EXPORT RATES. WE PROPOSE TO QUANTIFY PREDATION EFFECTS ON PP PARTICLE ABUNDANCE AND SIZE DISTRIBUTION AS A FUNCTION OF CO-OCCURRING ENVIRONMENTAL AND BIOLOGICAL CONDITIONS (I.E. ECOSYSTEM/CARBON CYCLING STATES (ECC)) TO GAIN A MECHANISTIC AND PREDICTIVE UNDERSTANDING OF THE CARBON FLOW IN THE EUPHOTIC ZONE AND BELOW. WE WILL PROVIDE ESSENTIAL DATA DESCRIBED IN THE IMPLEMENTATION PLAN AND ADDRESS ELEMENTS OF SCIENCE QUESTIONS 1&2. WE WILL IDENTIFY LINKAGES AMONG PREDATOR MEDIATED CARBON FLOWS ENVIRONMENTAL DRIVERS AND EXPORT PRODUCTION WHICH ARE CRUCIAL FOR DEVELOPING A) THE DIAGNOSTIC AND PROGNOSTIC RELATIONSHIPS NECESSARY TO ADDRESS SQ3 AND B) THE PREDICTIVE MODELING FRAMEWORK TO ACHIEVE KEY GOALS OF THE EXPORTS MISSION.
OpenAlex ID: W4411799727