Office of Marine Programs
University of Rhode Island
Narragansett Bay Campus
Narragansett, RI 02882-1197
Phone: 401-874-6211
Fax: 401-874-6486
Email: OMP@gso.uri.edu
Examination of Phytoplankton Biodiversity
Teacher: Normand
Dubois
Date: March 28, 2007
Hello everyone!
Good night’s sleep as usual.
At 0630, our position was 41o 21”N, 71 o W. Air
temp 6.7 o C (60 o F)
Water 5.1 oC (47.8 o F).
Salinity 33%; we are definitely in different seas.
We finished sampling the last station @ 0735.
Land ho @ 0900 … could barely made out land on the
horizon. This was the area of Point Judith and the West
Passage of Narragansett Bay.
Captain waited out the tide a short while.
Arrived at the URI dock at 1130
Yesterday, Mike McCabe asked, "Is it harder for organisms underwater to go through photosynthesis than it is for organisms above the water?"
Well Mr. McCabe, I asked Dr. Rynearson the question you posed, and she said that about half of the world's photosynthesis happens in the oceans, and about half of that is carried on by diatoms. How "hard" it is depends on your point of view. If an organism is in its optimum environment light, (temperature, salinity, and other factors are the best), then the organisms will be the most productive in terms of carrying out photosynthesis.
