During the past two weeks, PhD students of seven different nationalities have participated in the first scientific diving course ever conducted in Sweden, at Kristineberg. Through the newly established scientific diving organization, the Lovén Centre and the University of Gothenburg has provided the course with the equipment and the staff possible to conduct the course.
During the weeks, the focus has been on utilizing different documentation techniques for obtaining data of the shallow marine environments accessible with SCUBA diving. Training in under water digital camera photography, under water stereo-videography and image handling software has kept the students busy both under and out of the water.
-To learn these techniques during a university course is a unique opportunity. A course like this has never been organized before in Europe, and to train our scientific diving skills in the environment outside of Kristineberg has been amazing, largely due to the excellent equipment and facilities provided by the research station." says Leon Green, student.
The students have had the opportunity to test documentation techniques in different projects involving the ecology and organisms in the waters of the Gullmar Fjord. The work has been diverse and projects have included monitoring of fish diversity, coverage of fouling organisms on macro algae and counting the coral coverage of different habitats, and other subjects as well.
- The course has been great for meeting other research students with common and diverse interests all united by diving. Seeing the different projects other people work with have opened my eyes about new techniques and potential collaborations." - Diana Deyanova, student.
Contact: Maria Asplund, diving activity supervisor
Maria.asplund@gu.se
031 786 95 26
Picture above: Nicole Schwartz, PhD student employed at the University of Oldenburg, uses a photo frame attached to a digital camera to photograph coral coverage at 15 meters depth at Blåbergsholmen, just outside Kristineberg.
Photographer: Ronny Wiegeltt, University of Rostock