News
Marine Biology Field Courses
Register now to our Program in Marine Biology 2012!
The new course program of the HYDRA Institute for Marine Sciences for 2012 is now open for online registration. Students and other persons interested can choose from eight courses with four different topics. The excursions run for a period of ten days and take place at the HYDRA Field Station on the Island of Elba, Italy. All courses are suitable for certified SCUBA divers. Participants without diving experience participate in an integrated diving course leading to an internationally recognized SCUBA diver certificate. The course "Methods of Underwater Research" can only be booked by certified divers. All courses are structured according to the requirements of the ECTS program and are accepted by many universities.
Springs of Life in the Dead Sea
First Scientific Diving Expedition finds high microbial diversity
Expedition leader Dr. Danny Ionescu retrieves the first samples from freshwater springs at the bottom of the Dead Sea
425 metres below sea level, in the middle of the desert, ten times saltier than the world’s oceans lies the Dead Sea – one of the most hostile places on our planet. A team of researchers from Israel and Germany led by microbiologist Dr. Danny Ionescu from the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Bremen dived there for the first time for a systematic scientific exploration of unusual features: freshwater springs on the bottom of the Dead Sea. Where you would expect nothing than mud and bizarre structures made from pure salt crystals – and overall just a few hundred bacteria per liter of water there is more life than previously thought. The first analyses showed that a huge variety of microorganisms thrive right where the springs enter the salt-saturated waters of the Dead Sea. In October 2011 there will be the next mission to these salty depths to investigate how organisms can exist under these extreme conditions. For the divers the conditions are extreme as well. Outside temperatures of 45 °C, 30 percent of salinity and toxic sulfide in the springs pose potential risks. Up to 50 kilogram of weights are needed to immerse a person. Danny Ionescu from MPI Bremen and Christian Lott from HYDRA dive without the usual neoprene suit, but full-face masks and communication systems are a must to protect the scientists under water and connect them to their colleagues at the surface. Be ready to get an up-date on the findings of the next mission by the end of October ...
Check the website of the MPI in Bremen for the full press release.
Watch our underwater video...
Thanks for support with special equipment to:
and 
New TV Documentary 2. September on ARTE:
Follow the HYDRA staff in to the abyss
Adventurous voyage with spectacular images and new discoveries in deep-sea research
Copyright: Bayerisches Fernsehen
LEBEN AM LIMIT - Geheimnisse der Tiefsee
LA VIE EXTREME - Les mystères des abysses
(LIFE AT THE LIMIT - Secrets of the deep)
on ARTE, Friday, 2. September 2011, 21.45 Uhr
The film will be repeated the next morning, 03.09.2011, 9h55
and will be available on-line at ARTE.tv for the following week.
Leben am Limit / La vie extrême
(Deutschland, 2011, 52mn)
Bayerisches Fernsehen
Regie: Florian Guthknecht
on ARTE.tv
New insights into the habitats of the River Alpenrhein
HYDRA presents the report of the three-year research program
On behalf of the „Internationale Regierungskommission Alpenrhein“ from 2009 to 2011 HYDRA examined the biological communities of one of the largest alpine rivers. With this study not only the last gaps in our knowledge about the River Rhine fauna could be closed, the team also explored the deficits and the potential for improvements of the river's habitats. The research report was published in July 2011* and provides important information for future water protection control and river development on this regulated and over-exploited mountain river.
* Rey, P., Werner, S., Mürle, U., Becker, A., Ortlepp, J. & J. Hürlimann: Monitoring Alpenrhein. - Basismonitoring Ökologie. Herausgeber: Internationale Regierungskommission Alpenrhein (IRKA), Projektgruppe Gewässer- und Fischökologie. 150 S. St. Gallen 2011.
You can download the full report (in German only):
http://www.alpenrhein.net/Publikationen/tabid/68/Default.aspx
Message in a Bottle
Students of the Gymnasium Muttenz, Ch, release Message Bottle N° 292 of Jay Little's Message Bottle Project and the Plastiki organisation.
More Information at our Facebook-Site and at Plastiki
Co-evolution of an ancient worm-bacteria symbiosis discovered
Beaches around Elba are stuffed with sun-seekers and bathers during summer months. Yet, hidden under their feet lie scientific secrets still to be unveiled...
More than half of the body of the flatworm Paracatenula is made up by bacterial symbionts. The bacteria and their host are thought to have co-evolved in this symbiosis for over 500 Million years.
As Harald Gruber from the University of Vienna and colleagues report in the online pre-publication of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences small marine flatworms of the genus Paracatenula are stuffed with sulfur-oxidizing bacteria. Many species of these worms are found in sands in front of tropical and subtropical beaches. A common feature they share is that they don’t have a mouth. They don’t eat. Instead, bacterial partners live inside the worm in an organ, called the trophosome. The researchers found that over 50% of the worm’s biomass is actually contributed by the symbionts. Moreover, molecular identification analyses showed, that every worm species harbours its own bacterial species and that the phylogeny of worms and symbionts is congruent for 15 different worm species from the Mediterranean, the Red Sea, the Caribbean and Australia! Harald and colleagues state that this group of flatworms has been in a partnership since the divergence from other flatworms more than 500 Million years ago. They see the small “backyard sand“ worms to be “the oldest known mutualistic bacteria–metazoan symbiosis, likely dating back to the early evolution of bilaterian diversity in the late Ediacaran/early Cambrian.“
Published online before print June 27, 2011, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1105347108 PNAS June 27, 2011
Check out the original paper by Open Access download:
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2011/06/22/1105347108
Marine biology courses at HYDRA become official
part of university curriculum
New course modules started in 2011: Diving as a scientific method
in cooperation with University of Tübingen
For more information see the registration site or write an e-mail to ifm
hydra-institute.com .
SCUBA instructors recieve certification on Elba
Instructor exam of the German Association of Diving Instructors great success
The HYDRA Institute for Marine Siences congratulates Stefan Häusler, Vincent Kohl and Matthias Schneider to their successful examination as Instructor *. We also thank Nico Hüttmann and Andreas Lenich for their efforts as lecturers and certifiers.
The official examination according to EN/ISO 24802-2 for Instructor Level 1 of the German Association of Diving Instructors (VDTL) took place at the HYDRA field station on Elba from May 11 to May 14. The board of certifiers with it's director Nico Hüttmann had ideal weather and sea conditions during the tests of the theoretical and practical knowledge and capabilities of the candidates. Stefan Häusler, Vincent Kohl and Matthias Schneider are now recognized to train and certify scuba divers for VDTL/Cedip. Before the instructor exam there was a 3-days dive medicine seminar led by Dr. Andreas Lenich as a preparation and a refreshment course for the candidates, the examiners and HYDRA staff.
Easter Documentary Special on TV:
Shark encounters in South-Africa with German actress Wolke Hegenbarth
2-part extended version of "The Beauty and the Shark" on Bavarian Television
There will be an extended version (2 x 30 min) of our TV documentary on sharks in South-Africa on air which was shown with great success on First German Channel ARD last year.
„Die Schöne und der Hai“, part 1
Easter Sunday, 24 April 2011, 16.00 h, BR
„Die Schöne und der Hai“, part 2
Easter Monday, 25 April 2011, 16.00 h, BR
More info on our Documentation Unit webiste.
Around the World in one Week:
new 5-part documentary series on ARTE
For part 3 „Canada“ (Wednesday, 23 March, 19.30h) and part 4 „Atlantic Ocean“ (Thursday, 24. March, 19.30h) together with Florian Guthknecht (BR) we were facing hundred thousands of salmons in roaring rivers, went after sea lions and elephant seals, tracked down Giant Octopus and Wolfeel and were "embraced" by humpback whales.
„Expedition 50 Grad – Auf dem Breitengrad der Extreme“
(Expedition 50 degrees – Latitude of Extremes)
(1): Central Asia. Monday 21 March 2011, 19.30 Uhr, (repeated Monday 28 March, 14 h) on ARTE
(2): Kamtchatka. Tuesday 22 März 2011, 19.30 Uhr, (repeated Tuesday 29 March, 14 h) on ARTE
(3): Canada. Wednesday 23 March 2011, 19.30 Uhr, (repeated Wednesday 30 March, 14 h) on ARTE
(4): Atlantic Ocean. Thursday 24 March 2011, 19.30 Uhr, (repeated Thursday 31 March, 16 h) on ARTE
(5): Europe. Friday 25 March 2011, 19.30 Uhr, (repeated Friday 01 April, 16 h) on ARTE
more info on www.arte.tv
Better spawning grounds for the "Salmon-of-Lake Constance"
HYDRA starts Interreg IV programme for the conservation of lake trout
Although the species preservation of lake trout was achieved, these salmonids still do not meet with good conditions for their reproduction in the tributaries of Lake Constance. By order of the IBKF (Internationale Bevollmächtigtenkonferenz für die Bodenseefischerei), a team of scientists, which is directed by HYDRA, researches in five chosen rivers with spawning activities. Within the next three years, analyses in the rivers Goldach, Bregenzerach, Leiblach, Argen and Rotach should fill existing gaps of knowledge about migration and reproduction. Aim: Optimizing of renaturation actions for the benefit of a natural reproduction of these impressive fish.
Lake trout can reach a length of almost one meter, for their spawning redds they need at least one square meter of well-oxygenated, loose gravel in the river (photo: S. Werner).
Miriam Weber awarded Science Communication prize
HYDRA member receives third prize for "Intelligible Science"
of the Helmholtz Zentrum Geesthacht
Young Researchers present their Science
Every two years the Helmholtz Zentrum Geesthacht assigns the GKSS Prize “Intelligible Science“ to young scientists who can proof their ability to present their special research topic in an easily comprehensible way to an audience of non-scientists. This year the first prize with a sum of 2.500 Euro was awarded to the physicist Stefan Krause, who is developing a new hard drive technology. The neurobiologist Dominik Paquet won the second prize of 1.500 Euro with a presentation on Alzheimer's disease of zebra fish. Miriam Weber, lecturer and research coordinator at the HYDRA Field Station on Elba took the jury and the audience "On The Track of the Coral Killer" and told about her science on the effect of sediments on corals as a detective story. She won the third prize of 1.000 Euro. The prize for science communication is awarded every two years to applicants from all over Germany. More information on the website of the Helmholtz Zentrum Geesthacht (www.gkss.de).
Marine Biology Field Courses
Register now to our Program in Marine Biology 2011!
The new course program of the HYDRA Institute for Marine Sciences for 2011 is now open for online registration. Students and other persons interested can choose from eight courses with four different topics. The excursions run for a period of ten days and take place at the HYDRA Field Station on the Island of Elba, Italy. All courses are suitable for certified SCUBA divers. Participants without diving experience participate in an integrated diving course leading to an internationally recognized SCUBA diver certificate. The course "Methods of Underwater Research" can only be booked by certified divers. All courses are structured according to the requirements of the ECTS program and are accepted by many universities.
VDTL Instructor Examination on Cyprus
HYDRA dive officers now certified as instructor trainers according to EN/ISO
The dive centre Oceanworld Cyprus, run by Nico Hüttman, provided space and manpower for the VDTL SCUBA Instructor* to **** exam in November in Greece. VDTL is the German Association of Diving Instructors within the European CEDIP. In total six examinees and four examiners spent an intensive and exciting week together. Finally the VDTL is proud to have two freshly certified instructors*, one instructor **, one instructor*** and Andrea Werner and Boris Unger from HYDRA as instructors **** . Our Dive officers Andrea and Boris are now certified instructor trainers for all levels up to SCUBA instructor according to the EU normative 14413-2. Congratulations !!!
Posidonia Day
On October 8th a very special event was taking place at the beach of Fetovaia: The Seagrass Day, la Giornata della Posidonia.
The HYDRA Institute for Marine Sciences in cooperation with the bar Pino Solitario and the Acquario dell'Elba was inviting the children of the island and interested visitors to delve into the world of the seagrass meadow Posidonia oceanica, the most important shallow-water ecosystem of the Mediterranean Sea.
HYDRA and Aquario dell'Elba staff were kept busy all day long by crowds of children, their teachers and parents around aquaria with pieces of sea grass meadows and typical marine creatures. The direct observation and contact to live organisms normally hidden under the Sea was followed with awe, and myriads of questions and stories of personal experience, by the youngest and the old. A lecture with a video projector presentation was giving additional informations about the ecological interrelations within this important biotope. The visitors were specially attracted by the possibility to immerse themselves into the fascinating microcosm of the seagrass meadow using the six brand new microscopes provided by our partner ZEISS.
The Posidonia Day was a very successful test for the international science outreach initiative "School on the Beach" launched by HYDRA and its partners.
Coastal Cleanup Day
HYDRA in action!
On September 25, 2010 the international Organisation Oceanconservancy called for worldwide action at the beaches - the Coastal Cleanup Day - and HYDRA followed...
We used the Coastal Clean-up Day as an occasion to combine already existing year-round activities at natural, less accessible beaches with low touristic impact in the vicinity of the HYDRA Field Station on Elba and integrate them into this world-wide environmental project. Thus we were not only collecting garbage but also journaling detailed information by the standards of Oceanconservancy. The data are submitted to the worldwide database of the organization thus giving precious information to governmental authorities and scientific institutions.
This is a project in cooperation with Giovanni Mortula a private nature enthusiast who collects garbage at Le Tombe beach all year round; the HYDRA "Summer-Team" who was collecting and journaling the garbage at Le Tombe during the Coastal Cleanup Day and accomplished the sea transport to the accessible beach of Fetovaia; the association Costa del Sole with Sergio Galli who supported the project; the City Council of Campo nell'Elba taking care of the final disposal of the collected garbage by the initiative of Giovanni Lupi.
Meeting of International Experts on Elba
Interdisciplinary Workshop on Marine Sand
Abstract of the program:
"The aim of the workshop is to bring together experts in their field in an intimate and intensive working atmosphere and to open participation to a limited number of junior scientists and outstanding students. In a two-week hands-on workshop all participants should have any possibilities to share knowledge, to learn and teach, to develop new views and to integrate their own capabilities into a broader interdisciplinary framework. Some of the invited scientists have been in the field for well more than 30 years, so another aspect is the transfer of experience as well as maybe unconventional thoughts to the next generation of researchers.
The HYDRA Field Station provides the logistics on Elba and organizes, with the kind support of the Park Authority of the National Park Tuscan Archipelago and the Municipality of Campo nell’Elba, access to the protected area of the Island of Pianosa and set up a field camp."
As a scientific outreach event on April 29 there was a "Day of the Sand" at the Beach of Fetovaia to involve local people of Elba, especially children into the activities of the workshop. More than 250 students from 8 classes from Elba and from the mainland where gathering at the beach listening to the secrets of life in the sands...
For more information click here.
It's shark time!
Two of our big television productions are on air in one month!
showing soon:
Die Schöne und der Hai - La belle et les requins - The Beauty and the Shark
05 July 2010, 20:15h ARD/First German Television.
Riesenhaie - Sanfte Giganten - De si gentils requins - Basking Sharks - Gentle Giants
was on air Friday, 2 April 2010, 19.30 h on ARTE. Will be repeated soon on Bayerisches Fernsehen/Bavarian TV.
Die Schöne und der Hai - La belle et les requins - The Beauty and the Shark
Premiere show was on Friday, 16 April 2010, 19.30 h and 23 April 2010, 14.00 h on ARTE.
The Making-of "Die Schöne und der Hai"
was on air 4 May 2010, 17.00 h on Bayerisches Fernsehen/Bavarian TV.
Symbiosis is everywhere
Synopsis of chemoautotrophic symbioses of marine animals published
What do have deep-sea volcanoes, sunken whale carcasses and the shallow-water sand bottoms around the Island of Elba have in common? All these habitats habor a rich community of animals that evolved an obligate relationship with bacteria and thus can gain their nutrition independantly from sunlight, so-called chemosynthetic symbioses.
Nicole Dubilier, Claudia Bergin (both MPI Bremen) and Christian Lott (HYDRA) report in the latest issue of Nature Reviews Microbiology at least 7 animal taxa in which such an intimate relationship with bacteria has been established. It is an extraordinary efficient concept that enables the animals, that have reduced their digestive organs completely or in parts, to gain energy from reduced sulfur compounds or methane, with the help of their little inhabitants. The first discovery of these until then unthinkable life strategies dates 30 years back. In the late 1970s the "Black Smokers", effusions of hot mineral-rich water in the deep-sea of the Galapagos Rift were found, covered with enormous numbers of giant tubeworms and clams. Soon after clams and worms from shallow-water sand bottoms were described, living also in symbiosis with sulfur-oxidizing bacteria. Nicole Dubilier's Symbiosis Research Group at the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Bremen, Germany, studies the symbioses of mussels, clams, snails and worms from deep-sea habitats like Mid-Atlantic Ridge volcanoes, methane seeps, whale-falls and sunken wood. In her group Christian Lott investigates the symbiosis of gutless oligochaetes from sand bottoms around the Island of Elba.
Photo bottom left: MPI/A.Blazejak
Reference:
Symbiotic diversity in marine animals: the art of harnessing chemosynthesis
Nicole Dubilier, Claudia Bergin and Christian Lott
Nature Reviews Microbiology, Vol 6, Oct 2008, 725-740