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PROGRAMME INFO |
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Nature offers a window on global natural history. Each week Mark Carwardine rubs shoulders with animals and experts, providing a unique insight into the natural world, the environment, and the magnificent creatures that inhabit it.
nhuradio@bbc.co.uk |
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LISTEN AGAIN 30 min |
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PRESENTER |
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"What I enjoy most about Nature is the incredible variety of subjects. One week we could be fishing for zooplankton off the coast of Iceland and the next we could be hunting for fossils in Dorset. We're also very fortunate in meeting many of the world's experts - all of whom are really passionate about their subjects. It's good being able to bring all of these experiences into one programme that truly explores the natural world."
Mark Carwardine |
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PROGRAMME DETAILS |
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Zooplankton
This spring, biologists, chemists and physicists are gathering on the Royal Research Ship "Discovery", to hunt for zooplankton in the Irminger Basin, between Iceland and Greenland.
The aim of the cruise is to study the factors affecting the abundance and lifecycle of important zooplankton species, principally a copepod called Calanus Finmarchicus.
In the winter, these copepods live in deep, protective water, and then time their return to the warmer upper ocean to coincide with the spring bloom of microscopic plant growth (phytoplankton), allowing them to feed and reproduce. But climate change could affect this synchrony, by altering ocean currents (moving zooplankton to unsuitable environments whilst they hibernate) or by affecting the seasonality of plant growth.
Mark Carwardine joins the crew onboard the Discovery, where state of the art equipment will help the scientists form a clearer understanding of why copepod abundance has been in the decline over the past 30 years.
Fish, whales and almost all other animals in the North Atlantic depend, directly or indirectly, on copepod zooplankton as their food resource. They are crucial to the marine ecosystem. Long term monitoring of zooplankton in the upper ocean imay indicate that change is on its way, and that fish stocks are about to decline further.
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RELATED LINKS
Previous Discovery Trips
Virtual Copepods
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