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August 31, 2004

Highlights

• Ken Able was honored to receive the 2004 Oscar Elton Sette Award, presented by the Marine Fisheries Section of the American Fisheries Society at their annual meeting, August 2004, in Madison, Wisconsin. The award is given annually to an individual for outstanding lifetime contributions to marine fisheries through research, teaching and administration.
• After being impressed during a recent visit to the COOLroom, a group from the South East Atlantic Coastal Ocean Observing System (SEACOOS) has invited Josh Kohut and Janice McDonnell to speak at their outreach workshop in Raleigh on September 28th through 30th. Josh and Janice have been identified as individuals doing exemplary outreach work related to ocean observing systems. They will give 20 minute talks discussing the audience of their outreach efforts, how they have developed relationships with these groups and challenges they have faced along the way. Congratulations Josh and Janice!
• Joanna Burger directed the biology sampling component of a multi-disciplinary tripartite expedition (June-Aug 2004) to assess possible radionuclide contamination of coastal and marine organisms at Amchitka Island, where three underground nuclear tests were conducted in 1965-1971 by the AEC. This was part of the Consortium for Risk Evaluation with Stakeholder Participation (CRESP) Amchitka Project, directed by Charles Powers (PI of EOHSI). Burger directed the terrestrial sampling team, a University of Alaska Diving Team (headed by Steve Jewett), and an Aleut subsistent team headed by Bob Patrick of the Aleutian/Pribilof Island Association (APIA). Michael Gochfeld served as the Health and Safety Officer for the expeditions and participated in the biological sampling. The first expedition investigated geology and bathymetry, the second collected biological specimens, and the third collected fish as part of a NOAA Trawl survey. Samples of kelp, invertebrates, fish, and seabird were obtained and will be prepared for radionuclide analysis. The project is funded by the Department of Energy, under a letter of agreement signed also by the State of Alaska, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and APIA.
• Judith Weis was an invited speaker at the 6th International Congress on the Biology of Fish (Aug. 2004), in Manaus , Brazil. Judith spoke at a session on Behavior, Physiology and Toxicology Interactions on "Underlying mechanisms and ecological consequences of altered predator/prey behavior in a polluted population of mummichogs."
• Alan Robock was quoted in a Trenton Times article entitled "A blue moon on the rise" on July 27, 2004. He was also quoted in the August 13, 2004 issue of Science, in a story by Richard Kerr on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Workshop he attended in Paris in July. In the article, entitled "Three Degrees of Consensus," Alan Robock explains how our current climate modeling and observation research points toward a sensitivity of the climate system to global warming that will result in substantial climate change during the current century and significant impacts on human life on the planet.
  

Meetings Attended

• Alan Robock presented an invited talk on "Use of observations from the Mt. Pinatubo eruption to estimate climate sensitivity" at the IPCC Working Group I Workshop on Climate Sensitivity, Paris, France, July 26-29, 2004.
• John Reinfelder gave a talk at the Fifth International Symposium on Inorganic Carbon Utilization by Aquatic Photosynthetic Organisms, St Sauveur, Quebec, August 2004. "The role of the C4 pathway in carbon accumulation and fixation in marine diatoms." Reinfelder, J.R., A.J. Milligan, and F.M.M. Morel.
• Liz Sikes attended the Organic Geochemistry Gordon Conference (August 18-13) and presented 2 posters:
  Sikes E. L., Uhle M., , Nodder S., and Howard M. Distribution and sources of organic matter to the Hauraki Gulf, New Zealand using molecular characterization and carbon isotopic analysis of sedimentary lipids.
  Uhle M., Sikes E. L., Nodder S., and Hage M. Source and diagenetic status of organic matter in the Hauraki Gulf, New Zealand using the distribution and carbon isotopic composition of amino acids.
• Peter Rona co-organized, co-chaired, and presented a paper (read for him due to a schedule conflict) in the session, Recent Developments in Marine Minerals, held 26 August at the 32nd International Geological Congress in Florence, Italy.
• Rick Lathrop was invited to participate in a workshop on Coastal Landscape Indicators held by the Heinz Center for Science, Economics and the Environment in Washington D.C. on Sept 2 & 3, 2004.
• The following presentations were given by John Dighton and his colleagues on collaborative research at the following meetings during the summer, August 2004:
  Mycological Society of America
  Nitrogen deposition effects on pine ectomycorrhizal fungal communities identifying potential indicator species. Tuininga, A. R., Huskins, R. E., Dighton, J., Gray, D. M. & Belton, T. (poster).
  Ecological Society of America
  Impacts of atmospheric deposition on New Jersey pine barrens forest soils and ectomycorrhizal communities. Dighton, J., Tuininga, A. R., Gray, D., Huskins, R. E. & Belton, T. (oral)
  Nitrogen deposition effects on ectomycorrhizal communities: A comparison between two soil types. Huskins, R. E., Tuininga, A. R., Dighton, J., Gray, D. M., Belton, T. (oral)
  Elevated nitrogen effects on oak mycorrhizae. Tuininga, A. R., Archibald, J., Van Horn, M. M., Huskins, R. E., Dighton, J., Belton, T. (oral)
  Response of Pinus rigida to an experimental ectomycorrhizal diversity gradient in unsterilized soils. Baxter, J. W., Dighton, J. (oral).
  Ericaceous control of phosphorus availability following fire: interactions between ectomycorrhizal pitch pine (Pinus rigida) and ericoid mycorrhizal blueberry plants (Vaccinium angustifolium). Mullin, B. C., Tuininga, A. R., Dighton, J., Van Horn, M. M., Huskins, R. E., Vargas, A. M. (poster).
• Ximing Guo was invited as an overseas panelist and attended the panel meeting of the Life Science Division of the National Science Foundation of China, Beijing, July 23 - August 3, 2004.
• Ximing Guo attended the International Congress of Zoology meeting held in Beijing, August 23 - 27, 2004. He chaired the symposium on "Molluscan Systematics, Evolution and Population Genetics." He and his colleagues (Yongping Wang, Haiyan Wang, Lingling Wang, Huiping Yang and Ning Gong) presented five technical papers at the meeting.
• Scott Glenn with Carolyn Thoroughgood, of the University of Delaware, organized the first meeting of the MidAtlantic Regional Association of the Integrated Ocean Observing System (MARA), Aug. 24-25.

New Grants

• John Reinfelder and Liy Young received $445,397 from NSF BioGeo Sciences for their project: Microbial Arsenic Mobilization from Newark Basin Shale (10/15/04-10/14/08).
• John Wilkin was awarded $76,936 from NASA for a 3-year collaborative project with Heidi Sosik, J. Trowbridge and S. Lentz of WHOI on "Physical Forcing and Seasonal Variation in Phytoplankton in the Coastal Ocean."
• John Kraeuter was awarded $172,707 from NOAA for his project, "Effects of Auerococcus anophagefferens brown tides in coastal lagoonal systems: Coupling numerical," (9/1/04-8/31/05).
• Norbert Psuty received $9,786 from the National Park Service for his project, " Technical Assistance in the HEP protocols, FINS," (8/17/04-12/31/06).
• Kay Bidle received $428,475 from the National Science Foundation for his project, "Examination of the autocatalytic cell death machinery in marine, planktonic photoautotrophs," (7/1/04-6/30/07).
• John Wilkin received $24,927 from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution for his work on "Physical Forcing and Seasonal Variations in Phytoplankton in the Coastal Ocean," (6/15/04-6/14/05).
• Paul Falkowski received $296,317 from NASA for his research on "Natural Iron Fertilization in the Ocean and Its Impacts on Ocean Nitrogen Fixation and Carbon Cycles," (8/15/04-8/14/07).
• Sybil Seitziner received $36,931 from NOAA, funding CMER: Cooperative Program Base 2004/ Judith Grassle, (9/1/04-8/31/05).
• Sybil Seitzinger was awarded $35,000 from University of New Hampshire for her project, "Understanding the changing carbon, nitrogen and water cycles in the Earth System," (4/14/04-4/14/07)
• Scott Glenn received an award of $120,000 from Johns Hopkins University for his project "An Integrated Wireless Coastal Communications Network," (8/9/04-5/24/05).
• Bob Chant received $316,243 from the State of New Jersey-Department of Transportation for his work on "Circulation and Dispersion in the Passaic River," (7/26/04-6/1/05).
• Jennifer Francis received an award of $78,899 from NASA for her project, "Improving Arctic Energy Estimates by Combing New EOS-Era Products from Multiple Satellites," (7/15/04-7/14/05).
• Ken Able: $293,804 from Public Service Electric and Gas Co. for his project entitled "Patterns and processes in influencing the contribution of natural and restored marshes to the Delaware," (7/1/04-12/31/05).
• Zoe Finkel: $17,172 from Environmental Protection Agency for her work on "Size structure of phytoplankton communities on ecological and geological timescales," (7/22/04-7/21/07).
  

Publications

• Schaefer, J.K., J. Yagi, J.R. Reinfelder, T. Cardona, K.M. Ellickson, S. Tel-Or, and T. Barkay, 2004: Role of the bacterial organomercury lyase (MerB) in controlling methylmercury accumulation in mercury-contaminated natural waters. Environ. Sci. Technol. 38: 4304 ­4311.
• Textor, C., H.-F. Graf, C. Timmreck, and A. Robock, 2004: Emissions from volcanoes, Chapter 7 of "Emissions of Atmospheric Trace Compounds," Claire Granier, Paulo Artaxo, and Claire Reeves, Eds., (Kluwer, Dordrecht), 269-303.
• Robock, A., and P. Forster, 2004: Use of observations from the Mt. Pinatubo eruption to estimate climate sensitivity. Pre-Conference Volume, IPCC Working Group I Workshop on Climate Sensitivity, Paris, France, July 26-29, 2004, 81-83.
• Schneider, S.H., J.R. Miller, E. Crist, and P.J. Boston, (eds.), Scientists Debate Gaia: The Next Century. MIT Press, 377 pp., 2004.
• Tanguy, A., X. Guo and S.E. Ford, 2004: Discovery of genes expressed in response to Perkinsus marinus challenge in eastern (Crassostrea virginica) and Pacific (C. gigas) oysters. Gene, 338:121-131.
  

Congratulations

Best wishes to Ilana and her husband, on the birth of their daughter Ofri-Adi Frank. She was born on August 19, 2004 at 12.55PM, weighing in at 3.560 KG (7.84 lbs).