The IPY project SYSTCO
About 50 scientists got together in Cape Town in November 2007 to participate in an unusual expedition which was to last until February 2008. The expedition was so special because part of the scientific party was going to work in the water column and the other on the seafloor. During the preparation phase there were more than enough sceptic voices, warning to put researchers from these two very different worlds together on the same deck.
The aim of the expedition SYSTCO was to find a plankton bloom, follow its track and, after the cells had died off, document the fate of the so-called marine snow until its arrival on the deep-sea floor in 4500 m depth, and find out how the benthic communities reacted to this nutrient pulse. This process is called bentho-pelagic coupling. It is particularly interesting in the deep sea because marine snow is the only source of energy for the abyssal benthos (with the exception of chemosynthetic environments such as hydrothermal vents.) This can mean that global climate change has especially direct effects on the deep-sea floor.
In spite of bad weather and substantial loss of time due to difficult logistics, the expedition was successful in the end. The fact that we could prove that, with everybody determined to cooperate, it is very well possible for plankton and benthos specialists to work on the same deck was not the least part of this success story. It was an inspiring experience for everybody! One of the planned stations was sampled before and after a plankton bloom, and with very sensitive probes an increase of biological activity in the sediment was actually measured in situ. Selected organisms from the abyssal seafloor are now investigated with a suite of different methods to find out how organic snow changes feeding behaviour.
