Q&A with a Marine Biologist

I have been very fortunate while working on this blog to have gotten the opportunity to interview, not one, but two professionals working with the UT Marine Science Department. 

My first interview with Dr. Erdner can be viewed below--and if you have not had the opportunity to look at it, I highly recommend it!  My second interview was with Dr. Fuiman, who is currently studying seals in Antarctica.  Since my interview with him was conducted via email, I have decided to format this post as a true Q&A rather than the way that I have formatted my previous posts.

Q: What advice would you give readers who wish to become marine biologists?
If you really want to become a marine biologist, stay focused on your goal.  It takes a lot of time to fulfill the coursework requirements, and those requirements can be difficult.  But stick with it and your effort will be rewarded by having a career you truly enjoy.

Q: Take us through a typical day as a marine biologist, if there is such a thing as a "typical" day?
There is no single "typical" day.  The job has many different kinds of typical days.  Right now, for instance, I am conducting research on seals in Antarctica.  My typical day is to arrive at my office by 7:30 am and spend half an hour going through emails (like this one).  Then I might go into the field for 5 or 6 hours to collect data.  When I return to the office, I'll work at the computer on the data I just collected.  On another day here I might need to go into the field to catch a seal and move it to a different location so we can study how it navigates.  When I am not doing field work and I am back at the University, one kind of typical day would start at my desk at 8 am.  Between then and 6:00 pm, I would spend a lot of time working on the computer.  That includes handling email, analyzing data, and writing scientific papers or research proposals.  I would also meet with my graduate students and research assistants to discuss their research projects and help them through their questions.  Or, I might spend a few hours working in the laboratory.  On another typical day, I might be attending an international scientific conference to listen to presentations by colleagues on their research.

Q: Is there a particular topic in marine science that is seeing breakthrough research currently?
There are many areas of marine science that are making big breakthroughs.  In fact, I suspect all areas have a "cutting edge" where the research is especially exciting.  New technologies are playing a big part.  For example, autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) are allowing oceanographers to collect data from all the world's oceans much faster and more efficiently.  "Bio-logging" is a new field of research in which sophisticated instruments containing many different kinds of sensors are attached to animals, such as seals, whales, and large fishes, to collect data about the animals and their habitats.  New instruments and methods in molecular biology and genetics are helping to understand marine organisms and their populations.  These are just tips of the iceberg (sorry, I couldn't resist).

Q: What are you researching in Antarctica?

By Photographer: Giuseppe Zibordi via Wikimedia Commons

Here in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica, our team of researchers are investigating the possibility that Weddell seals navigate underwater using Earth's magnetic field.  Weddell seals live where the sea surface is frozen solid from shore to shore with only a few cracks or holes.  Being mammals, they must locate the cracks or holes so they can breathe.  These dives generally last 15-20 minutes and the seals travel up to one and a half kilometers from the hold before they return to the hole.  So the question is, how does a seal who has chased fish one and a half kilometers from a breathing hole and 300 m below the ice-and-snow-covered surface (where it is totally dark) find its way to a very small hole in the ice?  We think they need a compass, and that requires the ability to sense Earth's magnetic field.  We are testing this by conducting carefully designed experiments and monitoring the behavior of the seals.



Q: What advice would you give readers who want to protect the ocean?  What about people who do not live on the coast?
The first step toward protecting the ocean is understanding why the ocean is worth protecting.  Think back to the time of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and all the impacts that spill had on society.  That was a relatively short-term disaster (compared to climate change or more subtle but progressive deterioration of the oceans), but it serves as an example of how important the oceans are to us and what we lose when we don't care for them.  My favorite way to be reminded of how important the oceans are is by listening to or reading Science and the Sea (www.ScienceAndTheSea.org).

Special Thanks: 
I would like to thank both Dr. Erdner and Dr. Fuiman for taking the time to get in touch with me and share their experience.  They are both very busy and taking on great work, and I am very grateful to have had such interesting and knowledgeable people contribute to this blog!