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    • Rights: The University of Waikato
    Published 3 December 2007 Referencing Hub media
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    Scientist Julie Hall explains how the MOCNESS (Multiple Opening and Closing Net and Environmental Sampling System) is used to collect zooplankton1. Lisa Bryant from Victoria University discusses the zooplankton samples that were caught.

    Point of interest for teachers:

    • What interesting findings do scientists expect from looking at the bacteria2 sampled in the multicorer?

    Transcript

    JULIE HALL
    Just launching the MOCNESS net, this is a series3 of multiple nets that we’re able to open and close. We’re going to take it down to 1500 metres4 and then bring it back slowly through the water column5 closing nets at different depths so we can actually sample the zoo plankton6 at different depths in the water column. These are the tiny little animals you can hardly see them with the naked eye but these are the food that the fish live on that we’ve been catching in the other nets.

    LISA BRYANT
    There’s a whole lot of little crustaceans7 in here and some jellyfish like creatures called salps. What else is in here? A lot of phytoplankton8. The crustaceans are amphipods – well mainly amphipods and copepods which sort of graze on phytoplankton and eat all sorts of other things.

    1. zooplankton: Tiny shrimp-like animals that drift with water currents.
    2. bacteria: (Singular: bacterium) Single-celled microorganisms that have no nucleus.
    3. series: An electrical circuit layout where components are connected one after the other so that the current passes in a single path through the components.
    4. metre: The base unit of length in the International System of Units (SI).
    5. water column: The vertical section of water between the freshwater or ocean floor and the surface.
    6. plankton: A group of marine organisms including single-celled and multi-celled organisms.
    7. crustaceans: A large group of arthropods, which includes animals such as crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, krill and barnacles.
    8. phytoplankton: Very small plant organisms that drift with water currents and, like land plants, use carbon dioxide, release oxygen and convert minerals to a form animals can use.
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      zooplankton

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      2. Tiny shrimp-like animals that drift with water currents.

      metre

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      3. The base unit of length in the International System of Units (SI).

      crustaceans

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      4. A large group of arthropods, which includes animals such as crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, krill and barnacles.

      bacteria

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      5. (Singular: bacterium) Single-celled microorganisms that have no nucleus.

      water column

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      6. The vertical section of water between the freshwater or ocean floor and the surface.

      phytoplankton

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      7. Very small plant organisms that drift with water currents and, like land plants, use carbon dioxide, release oxygen and convert minerals to a form animals can use.

      series

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      8. An electrical circuit layout where components are connected one after the other so that the current passes in a single path through the components.

      plankton

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      9. A group of marine organisms including single-celled and multi-celled organisms.

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