A gold-covered ant specimen used for SEM photography
For many years, I worked in the world of taxonomy, classifying marine invertebrates (marine organisms that lack a vertebral column) and curating them. Taxonomy is basic science...understanding the diversity of the species that exist on earth and describing them. It was a fascinating world being surrounded by experts in the field and archives filled with organisms from various parts of the world and multiple depths of the ocean, from intertidal starfish to deep ocean amphipods.
I started by looking at literature on amphipoda (multiple-legged crustaceans) and other marine invertebrates, including their diversity in and around oceanic waters. The next step was being able to identify them based on their characteristic body features. This involved sorting through jars of material mixed with sand, gravel and seaweed and later looking at the organism under a microscope. This stage was the most exciting just after the specimens had arrived from a marine expedition...it was when the colours and features were the most vibrant. What I didn’t enjoy much was seeing specimens with eggs...female amphipods with their egg sacs full made me sad, in a way.
Procedures to preserve these specimens were also important to learn. Specimens are preserved in specific preservatives (such as formalin or ethanol) based on what type of tissue they have, the existence of an exoskeleton/shell or whether they were going to be used for further genetic studies.
If a new species/genera were discovered, one specimen was designated the holotype or the single physical example of that species and a few others were designated paratypes or the example of specimens that best represent that species. These were carefully preserved in the archives. Sometimes, the holotype was put under a light microscope, and illustrated by the scientist describing the specimen. On other occasions, a specimen was chosen to be covered in gold leaf and then photographed using a scanning electron microscope (SEM). These illustrations and photographs were then used in journal articles when describing the discovery and characteristics of the new species.
One had to be extremely careful when handling the SEM specimens. I loved visiting the room where these SEM specimens were kept. They held me in awe….their beauty, their perfection... almost like pieces of art or jewellery sitting there covered in gold.
This experience taught me many things; the health of one small organism can tell you about the health of the entire habitat; sharing ideas amongst peers increased my own education and knowledge in the taxonomy of marine organisms and made the experience much more enjoyable.
And having open access to online catalogues and journal articles, published with our findings, allowed our learning to be shared across geographies. To think all of this started with microscopic marine organisms that are now helping educate scientists and students around the world about their life on earth and hopefully, teaching us how to preserve their habitats and help them thrive.
- Arundathi Bopiah, Master Teacher