At the other end of the world

Germany's most modern research vessel "Sonne" is once again under Oldenburg command: an international team led by Prof. Dr Meinhard Simon and Prof. Dr Peter Schupp is at sea until 27 February to investigate the bacterial and sponge communities in the Pacific.
40 scientists from Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands and New Zealand are currently investigating the biodiversity of bacteria in the water column and the biological diversity of sponges in the south-west Pacific around New Zealand. Last year, a large part of the research team was already travelling with the sun in the Pacific - including mainly scientists from the Institute of Chemistry and Biology of the Marine Environment (ICBM) at the University of Oldenburg. The research objectives are divided into two areas: On the one hand, the biodiversity of the bacterial communities in the water column between the surface and the sea floor and in the surface sediment will be investigated. This work is a continuation and supplement to corresponding investigations in the Pacific last year. On the other hand, the biodiversity of animals living on the sea floor, in particular sponges, but also corals, starfish and sea cucumbers, is being investigated. One of the scientists' most important tools is the ROV Kiel 6000 diving robot, which can work at depths of up to 6,000 metres. It will take samples from the seabed at 23 stations between 29°S and 60°S. With their investigations on the ship and later in the home laboratories, the researchers want to find out more about the biodiversity of the sponges, their associated microorganisms and how they communicate chemically with each other. What inhibitory effect do they have on bacteria and what antifeedant properties do they possess? These questions are also at the centre of interest. "We already know that the microorganisms in the sponges produce special active substances that may be suitable for certain applications in medicine, such as antibiotics. We want to find out more about this," says sponge expert Schupp. With the SO254 expedition, the scientists are exploring another area in the world's largest ocean. Together with the Sonne expedition last year, this will result in a "comprehensive exploration of the Pacific that, as far as we know, has never been done before in this form", says expedition leader Simon. Of the 40 scientists on the expedition team, 24 are from the "Sonne's" home institute, the ICBM. Nine scientists belong to the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel. Other partners are the Braunschweig Leibniz Institute DSMZ-German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures GmbH, the University of Munich (LMU), ETH Zurich and the research institutes NIWA from New Zealand and NIOZ from the Netherlands. Further up-to-date information can be found on the ICBM at Sea blog.