Antarctic Zooplankton
Karin Beaumont
When
I was 7 years old I entered a competition advertised on ‘Simon Townsend’s
Wonder World’ that involved designing a scientific experiment to be undertaken
in Antarctica. The person who designed the best experiment would be awarded a
trip to the great white continent. This sparked my interest in Antarctica and
I duly designed an experiment. However, the competition was cancelled… I can’t
remember why, possibly due to legal issues. Thereafter, I retained an interest
in Antarctica and it was my dream to visit the continent. My love of the
outdoors and spirit of adventure from an early age, as well as concern for the
future of our natural environment, led me to undertake a degree in Applied
Science in Natural Resources Management at the Roseworthy campus, University
of Adelaide 1992-94. This largely involved undertaking science of a
terrestrial nature, such as land management issues across a wide range of
disciplines from biology and chemistry to remote sensing and economics.
Towards the end of my degree, I applied for an honours scholarship at the
Institute of Antarctic and Southern Ocean Studies (IASOS), University of
Tasmania, and was successful. This sparked the beginning of my Antarctic
science career, and my switch from terrestrial to marine science.
I met Dr Graham Hosie at the Australian Antarctic Division, who enthused me about zooplankton. As a result he became the main supervisor of my honours project determining the degree to which small copepods had been under-sampled and under-valued in the marine system. I obtained a first class honours that led me to obtaining an Australian Postgraduate Award and the beginning of my PhD.
My PhD research involved spending two summers on the Antarctic continent (4 and 8 months respectively) investigating planktonic interactions and particulate flux in Ellis Fjord, east Antarctica. The broader aim of this research is to contribute to understanding the role of zooplankton in the sequestration of atmospheric carbon in the oceans and thereby their role in regulating global climate. Conducting a PhD is full of challenges under normal circumstances but, particularly, if undertaking research in Antarctica. There is always the ‘A’ (Antarctic) factor: where things often don’t work the way one expects due to extremes of weather, coupled with inaccessibility to facilities and the extensive logistics required to conduct the research. This often extends the time involved in completing a PhD because much of the time is spent collecting samples without time for analysis. The sample analysis usually occurs back in Australia when one cannot readily re-visit the study site to investigate further questions that the results have posed. Once my scholarship had ceased I had to undertake part-time employment while finishing my PhD, which I finally completed, graduating in August this year.
I am currently unemployed and am writing research grants and papers from my thesis. From a personal perspective, I have a partner and family and therefore do not wish to live away from Hobart. This restricts employment opportunities as, upon completion of the PhD, one is expected to pursue postdocs overseas for a couple of years prior to obtaining work in Australia. My attempt to bypass this is by writing collaborative proposals with researchers overseas that will enable me to undertake short visits to their institutions while undertaking most of the research in Hobart, with the exception of Antarctic field-work. Time will tell if this strategy is successful!
Working in Antarctic science can involve much sacrifice and may not be financially rewarding (unless you are prepared to spend more than 12 months on the continent). However, the reward is feeling that you are contributing to something exciting and that you have an interest in – it is not just a job, it is part of your life (and, like most things, this can be both positive and a negative). It is exciting to be working on issues of global importance and I also like the international cooperation involved in Antarctic work. Of course, the Antarctic field-work means time away from family and friends, and hard work (often working up to 16 hours a day). Yet, the Antarctic environment and the creatures that inhabit it are fascinating, and attempting to fathom their ecology is intriguing. These microscopic creatures function in an environment that is largely free from human influence, but play a major role in determining future climate that will affect our way of life.