Between me and the seafloor there is about 4,000 m of water. A barrier for scientists who want to understand the biology of the water column all the way down to the deep-sea floor, harder and harder to penetrate with increasing depth. Nevertheless, the beginnings of deep-sea research are already a century behind us. The foundation of deep-sea investigations was laid by the Challenger Expedition and the German Deep-sea Expedition. My great-great grandfather Franz Eilhard Schulze was involved in the analysis of these expeditions. He worked on the sponge fauna of the deep sea worldwide. When presenting results from her projects, Dorte Janussen, the sponge expert for this voyage, often refers to his work which is still an important reference for her work today.

It is nice to see that careful scientific work does last for so many years, and it is almost intimidating to imagine that more than 100 years later one of Franz Eilhard Schulze’s main achievements in life, the assessment and understanding of the deep-sea fauna, is far from being completed.

For me personally it is very special to contribute a small part to the continuation to my great-great-grandfather Franz’s life achievements. I analyse the fauna of the water column, but the plankton in the surface water will eventually die off. It will sink to the deep-sea floor, where it might be eaten by a sponge, and in that way the circle of life closes in two ways.

Mark Olischläger, Alfred Wegener Institute



Photos: M. Olischläger and John Kitchener, Australian Antarctic Division

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Mark, the great-greatgrandson of deep-sea pioneer Franz Eilhard Schulze
Location: not applicable

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Franz Eilhard Schulze, pioneer in deep-sea research and great-great-grandfather of the plankton specialist Mark Olischlaeger
Location: not applicable