site.btaBulgarian Antarctic Expedition Begins Full Scientific Operations on Livingston Island

The main work of the 34th scientific expedition has begun after the opening of the St. Kliment Ohridski Bulgarian Antarctic base on Livingston Island, the Bulgarian Antarctic Institute (BAI) reported on Wednesday.

In the area of South Bay on Livingston Island, the international team of scientists, with the help of the expedition’s logistics team, is collecting samples for several scientific projects. These include U.S. biologists working in the field of marine mammal ecophysiology - Asst. Prof. Emily Sparrow and doctoral student Ariel Leahy. They are taking samples from various species of seals, but the main focus of their research is the leopard seal, about which very little is known worldwide.

Assoc. Prof. Simona Georgieva from the Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences is collecting samples from various vertebrate and invertebrate organisms to study parasite diversity in extreme habitats and to study their life cycles.

Dr Borislava Margaritova from Sofia University is studying the concentration and distribution of heavy metals in the tissues of Antarctic fish.

Portuguese marine ecologists - Prof. Jose Xavier and Senior Assistant Dr. Jose Seco - are investigating pollutants and pathogens that cause diseases in Antarctic birds. Fieldwork and laboratory analysis of the collected samples at the Bulgarian base continue.

At the end of December, scientists from the Bulgarian and international teams who will work in various scientific fields are expected to arrive aboard the Bulgarian naval research vessel Sv. Sv. Kiril i Metodii (RSV 421), BAI announced earlier this month. The ship departed for Antarctica on 7 November from Varna.