Microbial Stowaways: Exploring Shipwreck Microbiomes in the Deep Gulf of Mexico

Microbial Stowaways: Exploring Shipwreck Microbiomes in the Deep Gulf of Mexico
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Mission Overview

Stowaways hide aboard a vessel as a means of (free) transportation. During a nine-day expedition on board the R/V Point Sur, scientists from the University of Southern Mississippi, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, and the Naval Research Laboratory discovered and characterized two unexplored, wooden-hulled shipwrecks in the Gulf of Mexico, and studied the microbial stowaways living secretly on and around them, to explore how shipwrecks shape the microbial biodiversity of the deep sea.

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Recent Updates

Image of a plate found at Site 15470.

Solving Not One But TWO Mysteries: Assembling the Puzzle Pieces from Two Deepwater Shipwrecks in the Gulf of Mexico

As the Microbial Stowaways project fieldwork comes to a close, we reflect on what we discovered over the past week.

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The stern of the shipwreck at Site 15470 captured by ROV Odysseus.
Dancing in the Dark
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ROV Odysseus being deployed while carrying an acoustic lander with attached microbial recruitment experiments for deployment on the seafloor.
The Expedition May be Ending, But This is Only the Beginning
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Structure of shipwreck visible on scanning sonar (display at top right) while ROV operator Paul Sanacore prepares to collect a sediment core with the manipulator arm.
Positioning for Science
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Mission Logs
Mission Logs
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Image Gallery
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Background Information
Background Information
Meet the Explorers
Meet the Explorers
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