August 14, 2000

Highlights

• Ken Able and colleagues Bob Cowen (University of Miami), and Mike Fahay (National Marine Fisheries Service-Sandy Hook Laboratory) participated in a submersible cruise (submersible Delta) from 5-10 July 2000. The objectives of this effort were to complete a one year long evaluation of the effects of scallop dredging on juvenile fish habitat on the continental shelf off the coast of New Jersey.
• Gary Taghon, Clare Reimers, Charlotte Fuller and others were aboard the R/V Henlopen last week to obtain a suite of in-situ profiles using voltametric and traditional microelectrodes in the vicinity of LEO-15. The Henlopen was on a 3-point anchor to keep the ship steady during tripod deployments. The tripod also carried a current meter, video cameras and lights. Divers were scheduled to be in the water each day to collect sediment cores, and a continuous
  pCO2 system supplied and operated by Bob Key (Princeton) was deployed. Antje Rusch (Max-Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Bremen Germany) was also aboard to do in situ hybridization studies.
• "We have been funded by NSF for 5 years on a new Biocomplexity grant to study the evolution of phytoplankton - we will open a web site on this when Emmeline returns from vacation on 22 August." Paul Falkowski
• Ken Able is involved in a reevaluation of the nursery role paradigm, an important concept that is frequently a focal point in research, conservation, and management of marine resources. The focus is on fish and decapod crustacean associations with wetland (marsh, mangrove, and sea grass) habitats. This study is expected to last one more year with meetings at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis headquarters in Santa Barbara, California.
• Ken Able is completing his participation on a National Research Council committee that has been focusing on "Improving the collection, management, and use of marine fisheries data." Results from this committee will be published by the National Academy Press.
• Lee Kerkhof along with Max Haggblom and Donna Fennell were recently awarded a 4-year grant from the Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP) for studies on the enhancement of anaerobic microbial dechlorination of dioxins and dibenzofurans in marine and estuarine sediments.

Meetings Attended

• Bonnie McCay participated in a workshop on Public Interest Law and Community-Based Property Rights, in Arusha, Tanzania, August 1-4, 2000. The workshop brought together environmental and human rights lawyers and others concerned about how national and international policies for natural resource and wildlife management affect resource-dependent and adjacent communities, and how such communities can be more effectively involved in conserving natural resources and wildlife. The geographical focus was sub-Saharan Africa.

Seminars

• August 16, 2000, 10:30-11:30AM, Alampi Room: Seminar by Dr. Robert Chant, Institute of Marine & Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University, "Tidal asymmetries, secondary circulation and mixing in stratified estuaries." (candidate for Physical Oceanography position)
• August 17, 2000, 3:00PM, Alampi Room: Seminar by Dr. Elisabeth L. Sikes, School of Environmental & Marine Sciences, University of Auckland, "Old radiocarbon ages in the southwest Pacific Ocean during the last glacial period and the deglaciation."

Let's Welcome

• We are joined this week by Ondrej Prasil, a microbiologist from Czech Republic working with Paul Falkowski.
• Mario Giordano, from the University of Ancona is visiting IMCS through the end of October - he is working on molecular biology of nitrogen metabolism.