A Changing Antarctica: Studies from the Field

The New
England Aquarium’s Visitor Education Manager Johanna Blasi worked with a team
from Rutgers University recently aboard a research vessel to study the delicate
balance of ecosystems with organisms that rely on each other for survival using
cutting edge technology. In Antarctica, microbes help transform nutrients,
phytoplankton feed krill and krill feed penguins and whales. With temperatures
rising rapidly there, the interactions are changing so they looked at how the
dynamics might determine the future of this icy continent.