Jesse Bausell, Ph.D. candidate, University California, Santa Cruz

This particular cruise seeks to expand our understanding of the diurnal zooplankton migration. In order to increase their odds of survival, zooplankton commonly spend their daylight hours hiding in the darkness of the deep ocean, ascending thousands of meters to the ocean surface at night to graze on phytoplankton. They return undetected to the abyss before daybreak if all goes according to plan. In terms of cumulative distance traveled, this is the largest animal migration on the planet; due to the indispensability of these tiny critters marine to food web as a whole, it is arguably the most important. Despite all this however, we know surprisingly little about the diurnal zooplankton migration or how our activities may be impacting it. Read Jesse’s full report.