Dr. Jeroen Ingels joins team of internationally renowned researchers to study the impact of collecting minerals from the deep sea.

FSUCML's Dr. Jeroen Ingels recently recorded an episode for the podcast, Laboratory News with Phil Prime, on his research of meiofauna, nematodes, and loggerheads.

An international team led by FSUCML's Dr. Jeroen Ingels found that more than double the number of organisms than previously observed live on the shells of these oceanic reptiles, raising important questions about loggerhead sea turtle ecology and conservation. This ground-breaking study has been picked up by media outlets world-wide! Click the link below for a list of publications.

National Geographic covers FSUCML's Dr. Jeroen Ingels and his research on meiofauna epibiont work revolving around sea turtles.

There is a world of life on the backs of loggerhead sea turtles, and it’s more abundant and diverse than scientists knew. An international team led by Florida State University researchers found that more than double the number of organisms than previously observed live on the shells of these oceanic reptiles, raising important questions about loggerhead sea turtle ecology and conservation.

From 27 September to 3 November we were very fortunate to have Gabriella Ella Pantò as a visiting graduate student at the FSU coastal and marine lab! Originally from Sicily, she recently finished her MSc studies in the international program Ocean and Lakes in Belgium. A long-lasting collaboration between the Marine Biology Research Group at Ghent University and Dr. Jeroen Ingels, resulted in Gabriella joining the NOAA Ocean Exploration funded #HydroSMAC cruise on the RV Point Sur in the Gulf of Mexico, exploring the deep sea, and spent three weeks afterwards helping Dr. Jeroen Ingels identify meiofauna samples.

Ocean deoxygenation has become a topic of increasing concern because of its potential impacts on marine ecosystems, including oxygen minimum zone (OMZ) expansion and subsequent benthic effects. We investigated the influence of oxygen concentration and organic matter (OM) availability on metazoan meiofauna within and below an OMZ in bathyal sediments off Costa Rica, testing the hypothesis that oxygen and OM levels are reflected in meiofaunal community structures and distribution. Mean total densities in our sampling cores (400–1800 m water depth) were highest with 3688 ind.

The Florida State University Coastal and Marine Laboratory, on the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) coast in north Florida, is a beautiful place. It is not uncommon there to see ospreys and bald eagles eyeing the coastline, pelican formations flying low, dolphins churning the water in a feeding frenzy or sharks cruising the shallows seeking out their next meal. It is also a place where a clear view of the horizon when standing on the beach is the rule, rather than the exception.

FSUCML faculty member Dr Jeroen Ingels published an article in Nature Climate Change Today, titled: “The Scientific Response to Antarctic Ice-Shelf Collapse”. The short paper briefly reviews what we know about the ecology of sub-ice-shelf ecosystems and highlights the knowledge gaps that exist in ice-shelf ecosystem ecology. The article suggests that in order to advance our understanding 1) rapid-response research efforts are needed once ice-shelf collapse occurs, and 2) the international scientific community needs to use advances in marine technology to investigate ice-shelf systems before collapse occurs. With rapid environmental change continuing, international collaboration and moving towards prediction of ecosystem change is essential to inform policy and conservation. This article was written following an NSF-funded workshop that was held at the Florida State University Coastal & Marine Laboratory in November 2017; co-authors Prof. Richard Aronson (Florida Institute of Technology) and Prof. Craig Smith (University of Hawaii at Manoa) were the co-organizers of the workshop, which was attended by nearly 40 scientists. For more information on the workshop and outreach https://marinelab.fsu.edu/labs/ingels/outreach/polar-academy

FSU Coastal and Marine Laboratory scientist Jeroen Ingels and a team of researchers found that communities of microscopic organisms called meiofauna don’t change much when faced with both rising carbon dioxide levels and higher temperatures. That’s in contrast to larger organisms, which have previously shown to be largely affected by changes in environment.