Presented by Karen Wishner, Professor of Oceanography, Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island

Ocean oxygen minimum zones (OMZs), large midwater regions of very low oxygen, are expanding as a result of climate change. Zooplankton, important components of midwater food webs and biogeochemical cycles, are strongly affected in their vertical and horizontal distributions by the OMZ oxygen gradients. Ocean oxygen loss (deoxygenation) may cause major unanticipated changes to midwater ecosystems. I will discuss scientific results from recent expeditions to the Eastern Tropical Pacific OMZ and some preliminary efforts, with ADRI researcher Mark Ballora, to ensonify these data for use in undergraduate teaching.