This summer marks year two of a three-year ASU BIOS study designed to expand understanding of how ocean eddies might be affecting coral reefs, as well as what role eddies may have played in reef accretion and overall functioning in the past.

Now in its eighth year, BIOS-SCOPE is a multi-institutional, multi-disciplinary initiative that annually gathers scientists from Bermuda, Europe, the United Kingdom and the United States to explore fundamental questions about the ocean’s biogeochemical cycles and how diverse communities of marine microbes influence the carbon cycle and other fundamental processes and, ultimately, the planet’s ability to sustain life. An overarching goal of the project is to form and foster collaborations across scientific disciplines, an aspect that enables the team to advance their understanding of the interactions of organisms and compounds at various scales, across both time and ocean depths. Along the way, the principals and collaborators of BIOS-SCOPE (Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences – Simons Collaboration on Ocean Processes and Ecology) have formed professional bonds and friendships that add value to the work. On the eve of the program’s eleventh cruise from ASU BIOS – with 18 scientists and two marine science technicians on board, Currents spoke with BIOS-SCOPE Co-Principal Investigators and adjunct faculty Craig Carlson (University of California, Santa Barbara) and Stephen Giovannoni (Oregon State University) and Investigator Rachel Parsons (ASU BIOS Microbial Ecology Laboratory) about the project’s past, present and future.

A newly described coccolithophore species, Calciopappus curvus was recently found in 2020 in the Sargasso Sea near Bermuda by scientists affiliated with the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences, a unit of the Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory at Arizona State University (ASU BIOS). This newly named species has also been observed prior to its discovery off Bermuda in water samples from far-flung locations as the North Atlantic to tropical and subtropical regions of the Mediterranean, the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Ocean.

Jurassic Park’s Dr. Ian Malcolm was right. Against seemingly impossible odds, life often does “find a way.” Fictional dinosaurs notwithstanding, creatures large and small display impressive abilities to adapt to changing conditions. Sometimes, though, the changes are so rapid and profound that “life” starts losing its way. Sometimes, “life” needs a hand.

More than three dozen physical and social scientists, artists, communicators and others gathered at ASU BIOS (or joined online) in mid-September to share ideas and plan future efforts to improve the understanding of wildfires and their impacts on oceans and other global environments, including society.

Research conducted as part of the multi-year, multi-institutional BIOS-SCOPE (Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences – Simons Collaboration on Ocean Processes and Ecology) project is shedding light on how the end products of cellular metabolism, called metabolites, could be used to track future changes in the marine environment.

BIOS took the stage at the Bermuda Economic Development Department’s (EDD’s) Technology Innovation Award program, receiving the first-place award in the “Most Innovative Youth Project or Program” category for its “Innovation for the Environment” course offered during summer 2022.

On October 24 and 25, BIOS introduced 42 primary and middle school teachers to a suite of education opportunities being offered through the Institute’s Mid-Atlantic Robotics IN Education (MARINE) program. The MARINE program workshops were coordinated through the annual Bermuda Union of Teachers conference, which includes professional development opportunities for teachers in the Bermuda Public School system during the fall half-term break.

Each year, the University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System (UNOLS), which coordinates and serves the U.S. Academic Research Fleet—including the BIOS-operated research vessel Atlantic Explorer—holds a meeting for all of the ships’ technical support groups. The RVTEC (Research Vessel Technical Enhancement Committee) meetings provide a forum for discussions about best practices and “foster activities that enhance technical support for sea-going scientific programs.”

Through the generous support of a philanthropic sponsor, two BIOS Bermuda Program alumni are continuing to develop valuable scientific laboratory techniques and research skills outside of the Institute’s annual summer internship program. Jihad Muhammad, 22, and Marcus Rewan, 21, are working as part-time research interns through the BIOS Curriculum Enrichment Program.