Human and Natural Effects

Kathy Conlan is helped with a glove of her dive suit beside a dive hut.

Andrew Thurber © Canadian Museum of Nature

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Kathy Conlan preparing for a dive with the help of Stacy Kim, Cape Chocolate, McMurdo Sound, Antarctica.

This multidisciplinary activity involves many collaborators from around the world. It investigates the change in benthic (bottom-dwelling) communities of animals in polar and other low temperature aquatic environments. These results help understand the diversity and dynamics of benthic marine life and help predict responses to factors such as climate warming, introduction of contaminants, and the impacts of fishing practices.

Principal investigator: Kathy Conlan.

Additional Resources

Australian canyon study: Shirley Sorokin, South Australian Research and Development Institute
http://www.sardi.sa.gov.au/staff_profiles/
aquatic_environment/marine_environment__and
__ecology/shirley_sorokin

Australian crustacean time-series study: Sabine Dittmann, Flinders University
http://www.flinders.edu.au/people/sabine.dittmann

Beaufort Sea research: Steve Blasco, Geological Survey of Canada
https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/trailblazers/steve-blasco/3477

Alec Aitken, University of Saskatchewan
http://artsandscience.usask.ca/profile/AAitken

Antarctic research: Stacy Kim, Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, California State
University
http://www.mlml.calstate.edu/faculty/stacy-kim