GMGI, OceanX Team Up in Indonesia
This spring, researchers from GMGI have been stationed off the coast of Indonesia, participating in research expeditions aboard OceanX’s state-of-the-art research vessel, the OceanXplorer. Research Scientist Matt Harke, Ph.D., Senior Research Associate Jennifer Polinski, and Research Scientist Tim O’Donnell partnered with the OceanX team and Indonesian collaborators to incorporate genomic techniques into work being conducted along the coast of Indonesia’s largest island, Sumatra.
During the first leg of the mission, Matt collaborated with an international team of microbiology and geological scientists to document and sample hydrothermal vents located north of Weh Island, Sumatra. Both shallow and deep vents were sampled and explored using a combination of CTD casts, SCUBA, sub, and ROV (remotely operated vehicle) dives. Environmental data and video footage were collected as well as water, sediment, and rock samples to characterize the biology present at each site and their similarities.
Legs two and three shifted the focus to combining and comparing environmental DNA (eDNA) biodiversity assessments with traditional fisheries diversity surveys, in partnership with OceanX and Konservasi Indonesia. Jennifer joined for the month-long second leg, and Tim is currently onboard for leg three.
Their sampling and analysis activities include collecting eDNA water samples from various depths, ranging from the surface to over 4700 m, and using a variety of equipment aboard the OceanXplorer. They’ve completed ROV (remotely operated vehicle) dives to conduct surveys and collect samples, SCUBA dives to take video footage for fish biodiversity, sub dives and BRUVS (baited underwater visual surveys) to document who comes for a snack while a bag of bait fish were deployed for an hour, megafauna surveys in the helicopter, and sequencing eDNA that has been extracted from the water.
The datasets generated onboard represent the most extensive genomic analysis conducted along the coast of Sumatra and generate baselines for future work to build off and conduct comparisons.
Check out some images from GMGI’s time aboard the OceanXplorer below.
