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Living Lab Radio on CAI

SLIDESHOW: Photos Celebrate Beauty and Importance of Ocean Microbes

By Alecia Orsini
Published January 7, 2015 at 12:54 PM EST
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Tiny Giant #5: Last flight of the sea butterfly. This pteropod, Limacina helicina, is a tiny marine snail that swims using feet that have been modified into wings. Pteropods are often referred to as “sea butterflies”.";s:
Credit: Laura Lubelczyk, Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in collaboration with Dr. Erica Goetze, University of Hawaii
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Tiny Giant #5: Last flight of the sea butterfly. This pteropod, Limacina helicina, is a tiny marine snail that swims using feet that have been modified into wings. Pteropods are often referred to as “sea butterflies”.";s:
Credit: Laura Lubelczyk, Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in collaboration with Dr. Erica Goetze, University of Hawaii
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Tiny Giant #1: Foundation of marine food web. Chain-forming diatoms from the genus Thalassiosira often initiate the early spring phytoplankton bloom.
Credit: Laura Lubelczyk, Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences with funding provided by NASA
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Tiny Giant #1: Foundation of marine food web. Chain-forming diatoms from the genus Thalassiosira often initiate the early spring phytoplankton bloom.
Credit: Laura Lubelczyk, Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences with funding provided by NASA
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Tiny Giant #18: Beauty belies danger. A close-up of the dinoflagellate, Protoceratium reticulatum. Some dinoflagellates can cause potentially toxic 'harmful algal blooms' or 'red tides'.
Credit: Laura Lubelczyk, Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences with funding provided by NASA
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Tiny Giant #18: Beauty belies danger. A close-up of the dinoflagellate, Protoceratium reticulatum. Some dinoflagellates can cause potentially toxic 'harmful algal blooms' or 'red tides'.
Credit: Laura Lubelczyk, Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences with funding provided by NASA
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Tiny Giant #11: Fall harvest. Phytoplankton are microscopic plant-like organisms at the base of marine food webs. Floating at or near the surface of the sunlit ocean, phytoplankton display thousands of morphological variations.
Credit: Dr. Peter Countway, Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences with funding provided by the National Science Foundation
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Tiny Giant #11: Fall harvest. Phytoplankton are microscopic plant-like organisms at the base of marine food webs. Floating at or near the surface of the sunlit ocean, phytoplankton display thousands of morphological variations.
Credit: Dr. Peter Countway, Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences with funding provided by the National Science Foundation
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Tiny Giant #3: Bioengineering a solar panel. Light-harvesting green chloroplasts are distributed throughout the cylindrical diatom Coscinodiscus.
Credit: Dr. Peter Countway, Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences with funding provided by the National Science Foundation
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Tiny Giant #3: Bioengineering a solar panel. Light-harvesting green chloroplasts are distributed throughout the cylindrical diatom Coscinodiscus.
Credit: Dr. Peter Countway, Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences with funding provided by the National Science Foundation
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Tiny Giant #8: Summer bloomers. Unlike many dinoflagellates that bloom in spring, Ceratium are summer bloomers.
Credit: Dr. Peter Countway, Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences with funding provided by the National Science Foundation
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Tiny Giant #8: Summer bloomers. Unlike many dinoflagellates that bloom in spring, Ceratium are summer bloomers.
Credit: Dr. Peter Countway, Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences with funding provided by the National Science Foundation

Marine microbes support the entire ocean food chain, provide the oxygen we breathe, and may even help soften the blow of climate change. They're also gorgeous.

The exhibit “Tiny Giants: Marine microbes revealed on a grand scale” is a collection of photographs that highlight the surprising beauty of some of the ocean's smallest inhabitants. The photos were taken by scientists at Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Science in East Boothbay, Maine.

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Alecia Orsini
Alecia Orsini is an award winning independent filmmaker and multi-media professional. She joined the team at WCAI in March of 2012 as a part time host. She became the Special Projects Assistant for Development department, where she coordinated events, volunteers and managed member engagement. As the Development Associate she continues to bring more meaningful connections to WCAI's members, fostering donor support of the station. Alecia also continues to fill in as host for Weekend Edition and All Things Considered.
See stories by Alecia Orsini