Project HotMess: The first global project on the impacts of multiple stressors on rocky shore communities

Ramesh Wilson

University of Oxford

 

Throughout January 2024, my fieldwork, generously supported by the Challenger Society, has taken me across the Antarctic peninsula, and the sub-Antarctic islands. The goal of my fieldwork has been to scout suitable sites to extend the scope of my PhD (Project HotMess), which investigates the impacts of warming and sewage pollution on rocky shore communities.

Project HotMess: The first global project on the impacts of multiple stressors on rocky shore communities
Warming and sewage pollution represent a global, and local level stressor respectively. Unfortunately, marine research typically does not consider the combined impacts of stressors on community composition, and even less so at different spatial scales. As a result, my PhD aims to develop a simple, replicable method, that can be done globally. 

The experiment uses black and white plastic squares placed along global rocky shore coastlines, at different proximities to a pollution source. The black plates simply heat up under the sun, producing a very simple, passive warming treatment, in combination with different pollution densities.  

I wanted to take this experiment that we initiated in Brighton, and scale it up wherever we could. It’s likely that the impacts of warming and pollution will be different in different biogeographic contexts - spurred on my local weather patterns, species compositions etc. To do so, I spent the first year of my PhD recruiting over 20 collaborators globally to repeat the experiment. I conducted lots of research to provisionally determine key sites that would be appropriate to install my experiment across the Southern Ocean. However, the lack of transparency in monitoring and reporting pollution data across these regions, as well as a lack of rocky shore research in general, meant that I would need to find these sites for myself.

Why Antarctica?

To date, I have recruited collaborators and had replicates installed across all continents - all continents except Antarctica (from here on, including South Georgia and the sub-Antarctic islands). Installing replicates in Antarctica offers incredible insights into arguably the most remote region on Earth. Some key points of note include:

• The opportunity to be the first experimentally manipulated, in-situ intertidal experiment ever conducted in Antarctica
• Glacial retreat is unveiling new rocky shore habitats
• Extremely high biotic variability across the intertidal
• Unique coastal biome:

1. Seasonal ice scouring
2. High UV radiation
3. Amplified variations in temperature and salinity seasonally

HotMess is only just starting, and currently in its first year of data collection and global collaboration. In the years to come I hope that we continue to recruit more collaborators and install across more sites, to capture local community responses all across Antarctica, and across the globe. But first of all - we have to get to Antarctica…

On board the MS Fram: a day-in-the-life

I was invited by the project, Penguin Watch, to accompany their research efforts in Antarctica for the entire month of January. Penguin Watch, a research project originated in the University of Oxford by Dr. Tom Hart (now Oxford Brookes University), has placed time-lapse cameras across Antarctica and the sub-Antarctic, to monitor the phenology of +90 penguin colonies, in response to climate change pressures. Maintenance of these cameras and retrieval of data has been facilitated by a network of expedition cruise operators, of which the Penguin Watch team join as guest scientists. This permits access to Antarctic sites annually, in exchange for providing lectures and seminars throughout the excursion. Alongside the Penguin Watch team, I joined the Hurtigruten MS Fram as a guest scientist.

Morning and afternoon landings

Caption: Various project work, including camera servicing, benthic microalgae sampling, drone flight retrieval, and colony density estimation.

On landing days, we would do both a morning and afternoon landing. Our mornings typically consisted of a fairly early start (early for me at least) - at around 6am. After a quick breakfast in the crew mess, we’d then go and get on all of our gear, and pack up all our various equipment. On top of servicing Penguin Watch’s cameras and retrieving time-lapse imagery data, Penguin Watch works collaboratively with other scientists across the globe, to facilitate their projects in Antarctica. As such, we had several additional projects to support by collecting data and samples. This included:

• Benthic microalgae readings of freshwater lakes
• Freshwater zooplankton samples
• Freshwater pollution readings
• Penguin guano samples
• Drone images of penguin colonies and freshwater lake thermal gradients
• Pollen trap set-up
• Avian influenza (H5N1) reporting and documentation of suspected/confirmed cases

Upon reaching a landing site, we would catch the zodiac boat to conduct an initial scouting survey with the members of the MS Fram Expedition Team. The initial scout would involve determining the most appropriate embarkment site for guests, ideally with even terrain and minimal immediate wildlife, as well as conducting visual surveys of mortality and suspected HPAI cases - the latter is particularly necessary both to prevent guest landings on infected sites and mitigate dispersal, but also to report such suspected cases to IAATO (International Association of Antarctic Tour Operators), to facilitate decision making on whether a particular site is potential unsuitable for landings altogether.

Once landed, myself and the other Penguin Watch team member would then get on with our research tasks for the day. This massively differed day-to-day, depending on several factors - primarily whether Penguin Watch has a camera set up at a site. If on the rare occasion this was not the case, we would still try to ensure a colony drone survey was conducted of penguin colonies and seals. Furthermore, the drone surveys used a thermal imaging drone, allowing us to identify deceased individuals among colonies. Throughout our work, several biosecurity measures were in place, including:

• Boot and clothing disinfection before and after each landing
• No equipment placed on the ground (or on a disinfected tarp)
• Compliance with IAATO guidelines on wildlife proximity and biotic sampling

HotMess site scouting
During each respective landing, I would keep an eye out for potential HotMess candidate sites. The expedition went across four regions: 1) The Falklands; 2) South Georgia; 3) South Orkney; 4) Antarctic peninsula - in total, we were able to land on 18 sites across these regions to conduct our project work. Each region was incredibly different from the last: either by climate, wildlife, or heritage value. What was incredibly noticeable however, was the further South we went, the more pristine it felt. As a result, it was earlier on in the trip, where I discovered ideal candidate sites to install my experiment, due to the presence of sewage effluents along some rocky shores. Notably, two key sites emerged:

• Carcass Island (Falklands)
• Grytviken (South Georgia)

Both sites had a clear presence of coastal sewage. This is largely due to higher tourism levels as well as more consistent annual maintenance of these regions, necessitating a staff population. The presence of higher levels of nitrates and phosphates was verified using in situ probes, as well as biotic indicators - namely, high levels of benthic microalgae, indicative of local pollution. These sites provide an invaluable opportunity to install my experiment.

Unfortunately, HPAI cases spreading across the Southern Ocean may (appropriately) limit access to these regions in years to come. However, I am confident that within the year, I shall be able to install one site in at least Carcass Island (access and permits pending), with infrastructure in place to install in South Georgia also, should access allow it.

Evening activities
Every evening, the Expedition Team would host a number of activities - ranging from ecological lectures and recaps to historical discussions, species ID workshops, and even musical demonstrations! As part of my role as a guest scientist, I gave discussions at the end of each region of travel, recapping the work myself and Penguin Watch have done, as well as general recap on the flora and fauna the guests may have encountered.

On top of this, I led a couple of workshops to identify plankton in some freshwater lake samples. Anytime we encountered a freshwater lake on our trip, we took zooplankton samples for a collaborator, but reserved some of the freshwater to get under the microscope and show guests the unseen diversity of life in polar lakes!

Evenings also consisted of a lot of data back up, disinfecting, and the occasional attempt at yoga with the Expedition Team (which eventually phased out after we simply could not stay upright during rough waves).

I am incredibly grateful for being awarded the Challenger Society Travel Award. It has given me an invaluable opportunity to expand the scope of my PhD, as well as gain more practical fieldwork and lecture experience. Furthermore, I have been able to contribute to a variety of research projects across the southernmost region of the world. I hope my work can bring increased awareness of the necessity to protect rocky shore coastlines, particularly in the face of a both global and local change.