Hi! I'm Joanna Hubbard and I will be SCUBA diving from Palmer Station during the austral summer of 1999-2000 with a team of scientists including Drs. Amsler, McClintock, and Baker. I teach 7th grade science at Hanshew Middle School in Anchorage, Alaska. Our school has approximately 850 students in 7th and 8th grades. We team teach, with 90-120 students sharing the same 4-5 core subject (Math, Science, Social Studies, Language Arts) teachers for the whole year. I also help coach Girls Volleyball and Basketball for our school.

I graduated from Dartmouth College with a degree in Environmental Biology as well as in Studio Art. I have previously worked in a molecular genetics lab and in various field stations in Costa Rica and Jamaica.

I have a wide range of interests, but anything science related, especially if it is outdoors, is fascinating. I help band migratory birds in Alaska and enjoy birdwatching anywhere. Playing basketball and ultimate frisbee as well as river rafting, hiking, biathlon, and competing in orienteering meets with my family take up any free time I have. Sometimes I manage to spend some quiet time painting, drawing or playing my flute, but not very frequently. I am a compulsive reader and chocoholic. I love to travel and see new places, both in and out of the U.S. Most recently I have visited Malawi and Tanzania in Africa, and Yosemite National Park in the United States. All beautiful! I can't wait to see the wildlife on the Antarctic Penninsula. Please e-mail or visit this site again to read my journal entries and find out what I am doing in Antarctica. I will be in the field during March and April of 2000.

Location of Palmer Station on the Antarctic Peninsula



Palmer Station, Antarctica. Photograph by S. Shipp, Rice University.

During March and April, the research team members will SCUBA dive in a several kilometer radius around Palmer Station to collect specimens, use the Palmer Station aquarium to stock invertebrates and macroalgae, and work in the laboratory to analyze compounds from the specimens. The team members will travel via Zodiac (a small inflatable motorboat) for dives. Frozen and preserved samples of benthic invertebrates will be returned to the U.S. for further studies. This project is an extension of work conducted on the chemical ecology of marine organisms in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. The investigators identified secondary metabolites and looked at their ecological role in a wide variety of sessile and sluggish antarctic marine invertebrates. In the present project they are focusing on three questions concerning the evolution of chemical defenses. They relate to the costs and benefits of producing defensive secondary metabolites. The marine environment of the Antarctic Peninsula is uniquely suited for these studies.

a) It is an area of abundant macroalgal flora in a distinctive nutrient environment that will allow the investigators to separate effects of carbon and nitrogen limitation. They will test the hypotheses that macroalgae growing with limited carbon (light) will produce higher levels of defensive compounds than those growing in an optimal light environment and that chemical defenses in antarctic macroalgae will include nitrogen-containing compounds.

b) Invertebrate larvae are more accessible at Palmer Station than at McMurdo Station. This will allow the investigators to build on previous studies to answer more specific questions, such as: Are chemical defenses in antarctic invertebrates and macroalgae more abundant in tissues which contain a high energy content? Will invertebrate larvae be chemically defended? and Will lecithotrophic larvae, which have more parental investment per-larva, have better chemical defense than planktotrophic larvae?

c) Previous work from the Ross Sea can be used to make large scale comparisons. The investigators will use it and the information from peninsular organisms to look for differences in macroalgal chemical defense between taxonomic groups and biogeographic areas. They are parcticularly interested in learning which factors affecting different macroalgal populations have the greatest effect on the extent to which certain compounds contribute to the chemical defence of the organism.