Transplant experiment at Panarea - 10-16 July 2010

Zvy Dubinsky, Oren Levy, Michal Grossowicz (Bar Ilan University) and Stefano Goffredo, Erik Caroselli and Bruno Capaccioni (University of Bologna) set a coral transplant experiment along a pH gradient inside an underwater volcano crater at Panarea, for studying the effects of ocean acidification on Mediterranean corals.

   
 

This clip documents the transplant experiment in the crater.

 

  
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The hotel room.

 

 Typical Panarea car. Zvy Dubisnky, Michal Grossowicz, Stefano Goffredo and Bruno Capaccioni.
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Some pictures of the surroundings.

 
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The "Pietra Nave", where the corals to be transplanted have been collected.

 

 Stefano Goffredo and Oren Levy prepare for diving. Leptopsammia pruvoti.
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It was very common in the island.

 

 Stefano looking under overhangs.
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Oren Levy with our favourite sampling bucket.

 

 Attaching corals to tiles.
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Epoxy glue.

 

 Erik Caroselli chooses the corals to attach. Waiting to be glued.
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Gluing procedure.

 
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Scientific material.

 

 A completed tile. The ApeCar of the diving center.
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Gone samplin'.

 

 Pelagia nocticula always accompained us in the mission. Panarea underwater...
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...is full of fish.

 

 A Pelagia stuck in an overhang covered by Astroides calycularis.
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Astroides calycularis, one of the transplanted species.

 

 Pelagia again.
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Pietra Nave underwater.

 

 Glass anemone.
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This zooxanthellate Balanophyllia europaea live close to the azooxanthellate Astroides...in the light!

 

 The boxes with tiles inside the crater.
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Fixed directly on the rock.

 

 CO2 bubbles coming out of the crater acidify the surrounding water.
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The whole surroundings are full of gas emissions.

 
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Close to the main emission fluxes, colonies of sulfur bacteria flourish.

 
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A dead jellyfish in the acid crater.

 

 The experiment is set. Bottles and syringes for water analyses.
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Leptopsammia pruvoti in the shadowed tile.

 

 Balanophyllia and Astroides in the lighted tiles.
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Some pictures of the tiles and boxes.

 
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This amount of bubbles identifies the center of the crater.

 
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Water is so acid that you can feel the low pH on your skin.

 
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Some Balanophyllia tiles.

 

 The crater.
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Close to the crater, another violent gas emission exists, and this is also hot! Unfortunately, no temperature gradient exists in this point.

 
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The crater.

 

 Panarea house.
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Some pictures of Panarea.

 
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The volcano of Stromboli in the distance.