| Summary: | Krill are widely recognised as the linchpin of the global ocean food web. Remarkably, very little is known about the diet of krill themselves. The mystery of the krill diet has led Molly Jia, an Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS)/University of Tasmania PhD student, to embark on at least two unexpected research journeys.The quest for an ecosystem model giving shape to the beginnings of a Southern Ocean food web in winter has brought Molly to the business end of her thesis, due in December. Building such a model requires an understanding of the diet of Antarctic krill and other lower food chain species. Molly identified a clear gap in the research, particularly in the underpinning influences of winter diets. She joined the 2012 SIPEX-2 (Sea Ice Physics and Ecosystem eXperiment) voyage into the Southern Ocean to collect winter samples. The voyage was funded by the Australian Antarctic Division and the Antarctic Climate & Ecosystem Cooperative Research Centre.
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