Profile – Helium Zone

My CV

Education:

Lots of schooling in Canada, a little bit in Australia, and now I m in Ireland
Qualifications:

Marine biology (pretty much saving the ocean while playing with sea creatures)
Work History:

I SCUBA dove and sailed around Canada for a very long time!
Current Job:

PhD research in deep-sea coral reef ecology

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My research focuses on deep-sea coral gardens and reef habitats that line the Irish continental shelf. Did you know that we have corals in Ireland? There’s lots! Here’s an Irish submarine canyon wall teeming with Lophelia pertusa (our main type of reef building coral here in Ireland). (Image courtesy of the Marine Institute from the NUI Galway‐led cruise CE11006)

We know very little about these coral habitats, so my job is to find out as much as possible so that we can better manage fisheries and other industries that utilize these.

I currently work with many different types of very odd looking, but interesting, deep-sea urchins. Here’s a few examples of my little (actually, they can get quite big!) guys. Sea urchins are also found in shallow-water environments; you might even have seen some of these (similar, but different species) in rock pools or even while swimming in the sea.

This is where things get a little bit technical. With deep-sea video data I quantify sea urchin population densities, determine habitat associations (where they prefer to feed, reproduce, live, etc), and investigate factors that might drive these choices. I m particularly interested in studying their interaction with other animals in deep-sea coral reefs, like their predators (fish, crabs, and octopus) and competitors (other sea urchins). I explore these interactions mostly via video observations. I also study sea urchin feeding ecology via stable isotope and gut content analyses (yes, I essentially study their poop), these help me understand what they like to eat and what nutrients they actually use to manufacture their tissues.

Since I work in very deep environments (1000 – 3000 m) that exceed the maximum diving depths of humans (people can only dive to a maximum of 120 m with SCUBA, a Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus) I have to send robots deep down to collect my sea urchins. Victor 6000 (a French robot) is one of the robots that I use to collect sea urchins. Here’s this gentle giant carefully picking up some of my sea urchins from the sea floor. (Image courtesy of Ifremer, BOBECO cruise 2011) (Left image – courtesy of Ifremer, BOBECO cruise 2011; right image – courtesy of the Marine Institute from the NUI Galway‐led cruise CE11006)
My Typical Day

That’s a tricky one! A typical day at sea: I collect sea urchins and record videos of the deep-sea floor; Day in the chemistry lab: I play with chemicals and loud equipment that swallow up my hard earned samples! Day in the video lab: watch deep-sea videos and listen to really loud music allllll day! Day in the office: I read and write about the deep-sea.. and listen to some pretty good tunes for inspiration
What I'd do with the prize money

You’ve probably heard this saying before “today’s children are tomorrow’s future”. It’s true! A child’s education is a critical investment in our planet’s future so this is why I m going to donate all the money from this contest to Little Urchins

My Interview
- How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
  
  Enthusiastic, curious, hard-working
  
  What did you want to be after you left school?
  
  I wanted to study (marine biologist) or help sick (marine mammal vet) marine animals. A minor fainting spell at the vet clinic made me realize that I wasn’t cut out to be a vet! Though funny enough, I now dissect sea creatures all the time!
  
  Were you ever in trouble at school?
  
  No way, I was so shy and quiet back then… ;)
  
  Who is your favourite singer or band?
  
  It changes on a weekly basis.. this week I like Macklemore, the Knife, Emma Louise, Metric, Swedish House Mafia, Ellie Goulding, and Calvin Harris
  
  What's your favourite food?
  
  hmmm… mashed potatoes? marzipan? it’s a tough one.
  
  What is the most fun thing you've done?
  
  Dove with great white sharks and polar bears, surfed with dolphins (that was here in Ireland!) and dugongs, and swam with sea turtles
  
  If you had 3 wishes for yourself what would they be? - be honest!
  
  Do they have to be realistic? (1) breathe under water (oh wait, we can already do that with SCUBA), (2) fly (hmm, we can do that too! so I guess that leaves me with just one to fulfill: (3) I wish everyone would love the sea as much as I do so that they would want to protect it too
  
  Tell us a joke.
  
  Why are dolphins cleverer than humans? Because within 3 hrs they can train a human to stand at the side of a pool and feed them fish!

Work photos:

My favourite part about being at sea is sitting in this dark room and watching the sea floor. It can be a long 4 hrs shift, but we tolerate it since this is where the magic happens! we sometimes (quite often!) stumble upon coral reefs and coral gardens that have never been seen before!

Solitary corals and reefs like these (Image courtesy of Ifremer, BOBECO cruise 2011)

In these reefs and gardens we also find some very cool animals, like the sea cucumber that I m proudly holding in this picture

And this tiny nudibranch (it’s a sea slug! it looks nothing like land slugs right?) (Image courtesy of Ifremer, BOBECO cruise 2011)

Sometimes we get visitors that swim up to the boat

AND sometimes I get to leave the lab/office to play with my friends… but I still end up involved in my PhD work somehow! Here’s me dressed up as robot Victor 6000