| Highlights | Meetings Attended | New Grants | Publications | Student News | Let's Welcome | Archives |

October 31, 2005

Highlights

• Kay Bidle has moved on to the tenure-track faculty (as of 1 September 05). His new lab is located in room 307 and office in room 305C. Students, post-docs, and faculty who may be interested in using Kay's facilities, and incorporating some of his techniques into their research projects are encouraged to stop by and meet with him. His lab is focused on microbial ecology, phytoplankton physiology and mortality, virology, molecular evolution and ecology, biogeochemistry, ecosystem processes, the structure and function of microbial food webs. They use a variety of molecular biology, biochemistry and imaging (microscopy, flow cytometry) techniques to address cellular strategies in phytoplankton and marine bacteria that are relevant to these topics. ( 2-6555, ext. 393)
• Ken Able and Mark Wuenschel and other Rutgers University Marine Field Station personnel have been collaborating with NJDEP personnel to evaluate bluefish cohort distribution in space and time on several cruises along the coast of New Jersey. This is part of a larger project that is occurring from New York to Florida.
• Chris Uchrin was appointed a member of the Pathogen Model Evaluation Group for the USEPA's New York Harbor Estuary Modeling Project (2005-present).
• Lee Kerkhof will be serving as an external reviewer for the National Science Foundation’s Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) program at Palmer Research Station in Antarctica in November 2005.
• Ximing Guo was appointed to the advisory board of Aquaculture, an international journal published by Elsevier.

Meetings Attended

• Ken Able was an invited keynote speaker at the recent 6th International Symposium on Flatfish Ecology, Maizuru, Japan, October 20-25, 2005. His talk was entitled: "Progress in understanding coastal flatfish habitat dynamics."
• Ken Able (co-authors J.C. Lamonaca and G.P. Sakowicz) gave a talk entitled "Scale formation in fishes: useful markers for the larval-juvenile transition?" at the 29th Annual Larval Fish Conference, July 2005, Barcelona. Also at the Barcelona meeting was a poster presentation by K.W. Able, M.C. Sullivan, J. Hare and H. Walsh, "What can time series of glass eel stages tell us about the status of the American eel (Anguilla rostrata)?"
• Stacy Hagan, Ken Able and Steve Brown presented "Invasion and removal of Phragmites influences growth and production of mummichog, Fundulus heteroclitus" at the October 2005 meeting of the Estuarine Research Federation, Norfolk, Va.
• Ken Able was invited to speak at a symposium in Quebec City, Canada honoring Bill Leggett on his retirement, on 28-30 October 2005. His topic was Diversity of Fish Movements Along an Estuarine Gradient: Examination of Ultrasonically Tagged Fish in a Passive Listening Array.
• Costa Vetriani contributed an invited seminar entitled "Chemosynthetic processes and energy metabolism in hydrothermal vent bacteria" to the Symposium on Marine Extremophiles held in Riva del Garda, Italy, on September 24, 2005, and an invited lecture entitled: "Volcanoes and bacteria at the bottom of the ocean" at the University of Rome, Italy, on September 26, 2005.
• Jim Ammerman presented a talk entitled "Seasonal Phosphorus Limitation on the Louisiana Shelf: A Result of Nitrogen Loading from the Mississippi River?" at the EPA Mississippi River Basin Nutrients Science Workshop in St. Louis, Oct. 4-6, 2005.
• Jim Ammerman attended a meeting of the ORION Sensor Committee in Washington, DC, Oct. 19-21, 2005.
• Jennifer Francis gave an invited presentation entitled, "Data fusion meets Arctic change: Teachings from wise elder sensors" at the NASA Terra Data Fusion Workshop, Williamsburg, VA, Aug. 2005.
• Ken Able was an invited keynote speaker at the recent 6th International Symposium on Flatfish Ecology, Maizuru, Japan, October 20-25, 2005. His talk was entitled: "Progress in understanding coastal flatfish habitat dynamics."
• Ximing Guo served on a USDA NRI panel on Animal Genomics. The panel meeting was held in Washington DC, October 24-27, 2005.
• Lee Kerkhof attended a workshop on the use of Molecular Biological Tools for field implementation during bioremediation hosted by the Department of Defense (DoD)- Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP).
• Alan Robock attended the annual meeting of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR), Boulder, Colorado, October 3-5, 2005, where he serves as Member Representative from Rutgers.
• Peter Rona and Karen Bemis presented a talk and a poster on their progress and plans with reference to, "Acoustic imaging of hydrothermal plumes and diffuse flow," at the NSF Ridge 2000 program Community Meeting in Vancouver, Canada, 31 October to 2 November 2005.
• Peter Rona presented an invited lecture, "The science behind the IMAX film, Volcanoes of the Deep," at the Bruce Museum of Science and Art in Greenwich, Connecticut on 6 November.
• John Reinfelder attended the Estuarine Research Federation Meeting, October 19, 2005, Norfolk, VA. He gave a talk, "Speciation and Transport of Mercury and Other Trace Metals in the Hudson River Buoyant Plume."
• Alan Robock gave the following invited presentation: Global Warming and New Jersey Water Resources (New Jersey Environmental Leaders Meeting, Princeton University, October 12, 2005).
• Alan Robock attended a WMO Ozone Assessment Author`s Meeting, Boulder, Colorado, October 14-16, 2005. He is a co-author of the chapter on ozone in the 21st century in the forthcoming report.
• Christopher Uchrin chaired and organized the Student Poster Session at the NJWEA's 90th Annual Conference in Atlantic City, May 4, 2005.
• Lily Young, as a member of the Scientific Advisory Board, attended the SERDP (Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program) Program review meeting on October 18, 2005.

New Grants

• Scott Glenn was awarded two Office of Naval Research Grants, one for $666,666 to purchase 9 new autonomous underwater gliders and the other for $97,447 to help support the new expanded glider lab.
• John Reinfelder, Allen Milligan (Oregon State University) and Kay Bidle (Co-PI), “Collaborative Research: Regulation of the C4-CO2 Concentrating Mechanism in Marine Diatoms by CO2, Light, and Nutrients.” National Science Foundation, Ocean Sciences, Biological Oceanography; OCE-0526365, $434,860; 3 yrs.
• Lee Kerkhof and Jorge Corredor (University of Puerto Rico) have been awarded a grant from the Department of Energy to investigate active microbes in the Orinoco River plume. $1.3 M, (2006-2009).
• Max Häggblom, Donna Fennell, Lisa Totten, Kevin Sowers (Center for Marine Biotech.- Univ. of Maryland) and Lee Kerkhof have been awarded a grant from the Department of Defense (DoD)-Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP) to investigate microbially mediated dehalogenation of organohalide mixures in contaminated sediments. $1.9 M, (2006-2010).
• Christopher Uchrin (P.I.), R. Lathrop and H.C. Ahn, ''Examination and Transfer of Hydrologic and Hydraulic Data Collected in Soil Conservation Districts.'' NJDEP through New Jersey Department of Agriculture State Soil Conservation Committee, $140,000, (01/01/05-12/31/06).
• Christopher Uchrin (P.I.) and M.A. Gallo, ''Rutgers Air Compliance Center." U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, $320,000, (renewal, 10/01/05-9/30/06).
• Ken Able and Mark Sullivan,"Slipping away? What can glass eel stages tell us about the decline of the American eel (Anguilla rostrata) in Middle Atlantic Bight estuaries?" New Jersey Sea Grant, $120,629.
• NOAA/National Estuarine Research Reserve's Land Acquisition and Construction. Enhancing facilities within the Jacques Cousteau National Estuarine Research Reserve: Laboratory renovation at the Rutgers University Marine Field Station. $200,800.
• NOAA’s Cooperative Marine Education and Research, Western Atlantic bottlenose dolphin, Tursiops truncatus, stock identification and conservation management in the Middle Atlantic Bight. $29,045.
• NOAA’s Cooperative Marine Education and Research. "Are sand ridges on the inner continental shelf essential fish habitat? Evaluating the potential effects of habitat alterations." $38,866.

Publications

• Able, K.W. 2005. A reexamination of fish estuarine dependence: evidence for connectivity between estuarine and ocean habitats. Est. Coast Shelf Sci. 64: 5-17.
• Able, K.W., M.J. Neuman and H. Wennhage. 2005. Ecology of the adult and juvenile stages: distribution and dynamics of habitat associations. pp. 164-184. In: R.N. Gibson (editor), Flatfishes: Biology and Exploitation Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, U.K.
• Francis, J.A., E. Hunter, J. Key, and X. Wang, 2005: Clues to variability in Arctic minimum sea ice extent. Geophys. Res. Lett. (in press).
• Francis, J.A., E. Hunter, and C.-Z. Zou, 2005: Arctic tropospheric winds derived from TOVS satellite retrievals. J. Clim., 18, 2270-2285.
• Goodrow, S. M., R. Miskewitz, R. I. Hires, S. J. Eisenreich, W. S. Douglas, J. R. Reinfelder. 2005. Mercury emissions from cement-stabilized dredged material. Environ. Sci. Technol. (online Sept 28, 2005)
• Grothues, T.M., K.W. Able, J. McDonnell and M.M. Sisak. 2005. An estuarine observatory for real-time telemetry of migrant macrofauna: design, performance and constraints. Limnology and Oceanography Methods 3: 275-289.
• McGuinness, L. M., M. Salganik, L. Vega, K.D. Pickering, and L.J. Kerkhof. 2005. Replicability of Bacterial Communities in Denitrifying Bioreactors as Measured by PCR/T-RFLP Analysis. Env. Science and Tech. (in press).
• Nemerson, D.M. and K.W. Able. 2005. Juvenile sciaenid fishes respond favorably to marsh restoration in Delaware Bay. Ecological Engineering. 25: 260-274.
• Overpeck, J.T., M. Sturm, J.A. Francis, D.K. Perovich, M.C. Serreze, and 16 others, 2005: Arctic system on trajectory to new, seasonally ice-free state. Eos Trans., 86. (this paper was picked up by over 200 public media outlets)
• Perez-Jimenez J., C. DeFraia and L.Y. Young. 2005. Arsenate Respiratory Reductase Gene (arrA) for Desulfosporosinus sp. strain Y5. Biochem. Biophys. Res. Comm. (in press).
• Rhine E.D., E. Garcia-Dominguez, C.D. Phelps and L.Y. Young. 2005. Environmental Microbes Can Speciate and Cycle Arsenic. Environ. Sci. Technol. (in press).
• Rhine E.D., C.D. Phelps and L.Y. Young. 2005. Anaerobic Arsenite Oxidation by Novel Denitrifying Isolates. Environ. Microbiol. (in press).
• Serreze, M.C. and J.A. Francis, 2005: The Arctic amplification debate. Clim. Dyn. (in press).
• Uchrin, C.G., J.G. Hunter, S.S. Park, and T.M. Vadas, 2005. ''In-situ Measurement of Macrophyte Photosynthesis and Respiration in Shallow Lakes,'' J. Environ. Engrg., ASCE., 131:315-319.

Student News

• David Gruber has been selected by the British Council to be one of five U.S. delegates at the international summit: "Climate Change & Its Impact on Cities" in Bern, Switzerland from November 21-25, 2005.

Let's Welcome

Please welcome Dr. Jian Wang to IMCS! He will be working with Jennifer Francis on Arctic climate issues. Dr. Wang received his PhD from Old Dominion University in the field of satellite remote sensing of marine productivity in the Arctic. (Room 203 Blake, Tel. 2-3120)