3rd annual black gill cruise

This year’s black gill research cruise was held on Thursday, October 19. This is the third year UGA Skidaway Institute scientist Marc Frischer has hosted this cruise, designed to both gather data for his ongoing research, but also to bring various stakeholders together on a common cause. We had beautiful weather and a greata cruise.

Chief Scientist Marc Frischer welcomes the science party aboard the cruise.

Launching the trawl net for the first 15-minute drag.

Sorting the shrimp from the by-catch.

Georgia DNR marine fisheries manager Pat Geer.

Savannah State grad student Ashleigh Price keeping some of the catch alive for future experiments. .

Researchers field testing a new app for tracking black gill.

 

Skidaway Institute intern wins research prize

An undergraduate student who conducted her research at the University of Georgia Skidaway Institute of Oceanography will attend a prestigious international science conference as a reward for winning the Outstanding Research Paper in the Savannah State University’s Bridge to Research program.

Candilianne Serrano Zayas’ paper was chosen from 10 others and tied for first place. She will attend the international science conference sponsored by the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography meeting in Granada, Spain, in February 2015.

Zayas is a rising junior and biology major at the Universidad Metropolitana in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Her research project studied the microbiological community present in dolphins.

“One of the reasons this is important is because bottlenose dolphins are a marine sentinel species,” Zayas said. “This means that their health can be indicative of the health of the overall environment, which in the case of dolphins is our coastal waters.”

Zayas believes what made her project special was that it involved both field and lab work, and it created an interesting and important relationship between human health and animal health. “You don’t need to take a molecular biology class to understand how it works, so it makes it so much easier to explain to different audiences.”

Zayas worked in the lab of Skidaway Institute professor Marc Frischer, who praised her and her mentors.

“The combination of a good student, an appropriate project and, most importantly, a stellar mentor shoots these students to the stars,” Frischer said.

Zayas was mentored by SSU graduate student Kevin McKenzie, who is also a member of the Frischer research team. Zayas echoed Frischer’s praise. “Kevin took the time to explain it all to me, even two or three times, and he taught me everything I did on this project,” she said.

In the 2013, McKenzie mentored another REU student who also won this prestigious award. Kristopher Drummond, an SSU student and star football player for SSU, has continued the research he started and plans to continue his studies.

Zayas says she plans to complete her bachelor’s degree in Puerto Rico and then attend graduate school.

Zayas shared the first place honor with SSU student Darius Sanford, who worked at Gray’s Reef National Marine Sanctuary and who will also attend the ASLO meeting.

Launched in 2009, the SSU Bridge to Research in Marine Sciences program is a National Science Foundation-funded Research Experience for Undergraduates program. The SSU program has proven successful in inspiring under-represented student populations to pursue degrees and careers in science and technology-based research fields.

“African-Americans are greatly underrepresented in the ocean sciences,” SSU professor Tara Cox explained. “Of the 28 students who have completed the program, 20 are African-American.”

The seven-week 2014 Bridge to Research program began with field trips and classroom work covering research basics. The students then took a two-day research cruise on Skidaway Institute’s Research Vessel Savannah. They then were paired with a mentor at one of the participating organizations—Savannah State University, UGA Skidaway Institute of Oceanography, Gray’s Reef National Marine Sanctuary or Georgia Tech-Savannah. During this partnership, they conducted research and then presented it at a public forum.

Skidaway Institute completes merger with UGA

Skidaway Institute of Oceanography is now a part of the University of Georgia (UGA.)

The merger of the Skidaway Institute of Oceanography with the University of Georgia, effective July 1, was initiated by the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia as part of Chancellor Hank Huckaby’s efforts to streamline operations and was approved by the board in January. It is expected the new alignment between the institute and the university will enhance the research efforts of both the Skidaway Institute and UGA’s marine and coastal programs.

“This historic merger creates new opportunities in research, instruction and outreach while facilitating collaboration among University System of Georgia institutions,” said UGA President Jere W. Morehead. “I appreciate the vision and leadership of Chancellor Huckaby and the board of regents as well as the dedication of Dr. Libby Morris, Dr. Jim Sanders and the many other university officials who have worked to bring these institutions together.”

A land-grant and sea-grant university with statewide commitments and responsibilities, the University of Georgia, is the state’s oldest, most comprehensive and most diversified institution of higher education. With its main campus in Athens, UGA enrolls a student body of nearly 35,000 students in a wide range of academic disciplines.

The Skidaway Institute is an internationally recognized research institution located on a 700-acre campus on Skidaway Island, 16 miles southeast of Savannah. It was created in 1967 by the Georgia General Assembly and operated as a stand-alone institution for four years before coming under the responsibility of the university system. With the merger, the institute’s executive director, Jim Sanders, now reports to the UGA’s Office of the Provost.

“Combining the intellectual and physical resources of the Skidaway Institute with those of the University of Georgia will strengthen an area of research whose impact extends far beyond the coast,” said Libby Morris, interim senior vice president for academic affairs and provost. “Our students and the state we serve will undoubtedly benefit from the synergies that this merger has created.”

According to Skidaway Institute executive director Jim Sanders, in addition to strengthening pre-existing collaborations with UGA researchers, the merger creates new opportunities for cross-disciplinary research with faculty in units such as the College of Engineering.

“Also, we expect Skidaway Institute to continue to maintain the historically strong relationships with other university system institutions, such as Georgia Tech and Savannah State,” Sanders said.

UGA already has a strong presence on the Skidaway Institute campus. The UGA Marine Extension Service Aquarium provides educational programs for approximately 18,000 students annually. The Marine Extension Service Shellfish Laboratory is also located on the Skidaway campus.

Congratulations…

… to Skidaway Institute tech Tina Waters! She won a student poster award at the ASLO meeting held in New Orleans last month. The title of her winning poster is:

MOLECULAR PROFILING OF ZOOPLANKTON GUT CONTENT USING PNA-PCR AND DENATURING HIGH PERFORMANCE LIQUID CHROMATOGRAPHY (PNA-PCR-DHPLC)

LaGina M. Frazier, Gustav-A. Paffenhöfer, and Marc E. Frischer all collaborated with Tina and were cited on the poster. In addition to being a valued member of the Skidaway Institute science team, Tina is a grad student at Savannah State.

Regents Align Skidaway Institute of Oceanography with UGA

Atlanta — January 8, 2013

The Board of Regents approved today aligning the Skidaway Institute of Oceanography (SkIO) with the University of Georgia (UGA).

“The new alignment between the institute and the university will streamline operations and enhance the research efforts of both SkIO and UGA’s excellent marine and coastal programs,” said Houston Davis, the University System’s chief academic officer and executive vice chancellor.

Davis said that the change is part of Chancellor Hank Huckaby’s efforts to streamline the University System of Georgia’s operations. He said that the change will become effective July 1, 2013.

The Institute has 65 employees who conduct cutting-edge oceanographic research on both a regional and global scale. The Institute also provides research-based educational opportunities to students from other University System institutions and from around the world.

The University of Georgia has a staff of about 20 who provide classes for as many as 18,000 students from elementary to high school each year at Skidaway. The university also has a site on Sapelo Island for site-based research and instruction of undergraduate and graduate college students in its marine program.

“In addition to enhancing research conducted by UGA, this change provides a synergistic environment that is sure to benefit both Georgia Tech and Savannah State University who also conduct important coastal research at Skidaway,” added Davis.

The Georgia General Assembly chartered Skidaway in 1967 after philanthropist Robert Roebling donated the land to the state. The Institute operated as a stand-alone institution for four years before coming under the responsibility of the University System.

High school students spend a day on the water

A group of students from Johnson High School in Savannah spent last Friday on a mini-research cruise on board the Research Vessel Savannah. It was part of a joint project among the local school system, Savannah State University and Skidaway Institute.

A photographer from the local CBS affiliate, WTOC-TV, went along. Here is a video of the trip.

Spring In Barrow April 23 – May 4, 2011

23 April 2011

Dr. Marc Frischer

Hi All, it’s back to Barrow Alaska for another sampling adventure.  As I’ve discussed before in this blog, the intent of our project is to reach a new and quantitative understanding concerning how microbes (bacteria and phytoplankton) may respond to climate induced changes in the Arctic.

Although there is a very strong consensus among scientists that the world’s climate is changing (For more information, see the footnote at the bottom of this posting.), particularly in the Polar Regions, our understanding of how the organisms will respond is quite limited.  At the base of the food web are the microbes and these are the primary focus of our investigations. These tiny organisms are responsible for at least half of the oxygen production (and consumption) on the planet, almost all of the nutrient regeneration, and are the food that support the diet of everything including, to name a few,  fish, seals, whales, and humans.  In other words, it’s very important that we understand how these microscopic organisms will respond to ongoing climate change, especially here in the Arctic.

To answer these questions we are visiting the Arctic three times a year in the winter, spring, and summer, to make measurements of a large number of microbial parameters and to conduct experiments that will help us understand how the microbes may be affected by climate change.  We are sampling at different seasons to account for the astounding amount of seasonal variation that occurs naturally during a year.  We can’t sample in the fall because that would interfere with whaling activities that are an important cultural component of the community in Barrow Alaska where our studies are being conducted.

Our team includes scientists from the Skidaway Institute of Oceanography, the University of Georgia, and the Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences.  In addition, on this trip a middle school teacher (Lolli Garay) from the Red School in Houston, Texas and an artist (Adriane Colburn) from the University of Georgia are joining us in an effort to help communicate and share information about our efforts and results outside of the science community.

This springtime trip will be the fourth in our 3-year project and the second (and last) time during this project that we will sample during the spring.

The Trip – Saturday 23 April, 2011

Although this is our fourth trip to Barrow Alaska and so a lot of what we are doing is starting to become routine, it still took a lot of planning to get ready for this trip.  Since our return in February from our last trip, in addition to processing the winter samples, we’ve been busy planning and organizing the logistics for this trip.  Victoria Baylor took charge of most of this effort.

My graduate student from Savannah State University, Zac Tait, is also planning to start some new experiments related to his thesis research, so that took some additional planning efforts.

Finally we were ready.  This time we took a different route through Chicago to travel the 6,000 plus miles to Barrow.

Map of route from Savannah GA to Barrow, AK.

This route gets us to Barrow in a single day, but what a day!  The way back will be worse though, with a 10-hour layover in Anchorage and another 5-hour layover in Chicago.  But the route wasn’t without benefits as we were able to get a Chicago Hotdog for lunch.

Lunch at Gold Coast Hot Dogs in Chicago’s O’Hare airport.

Unfortunately, Zac lost his luggage along the way.  Besides his clothes, Zac packed a number of important pieces of equipment in his bag so we’re really hoping it’s not lost forever.  We made it to Barrow’s Will Rogers airport after a spectacular flight over Alaska’s Northslope passing over the frozen Yukon River and following the pipeline into Prudhoe Bay.

Alaska’s North Slope from the air.

Alaska pipeline from the air.

We arrived in Barrow in the early evening on Saturday but as we stepped off the plane it was immediately apparent how different it was compared to the winter.  First of all, it was sunny!  Last time we were here the sun was just appearing after 3 months of being absent.  Although there was light, it was perpetual twilight time.  Today there was 18 hours of sun and its light from about 2 am to 11:30 pm and on May 11, a week after we depart the sun will be up for 24 hours a day until the next sunset on August 1^st.  Its also considerably warmer though still well below freezing.  Right now its -4°F (-20°C).  There are also other very visible changes.  The sea ice is beginning to break-up and is piled-up on the beach as a result of past storms.  The snow on the streets is also beginning to melt (because of all the sunlight) and the roads are dusty rather than snowy.

Other evidence of the long winter are several ice and snow carvings that have appeared around town, some rivaling Mount Rushmore but with a more Arctic theme.

Ice carvings in downtown Barrow.

Polar bear ice carving along the coastal road.

But, despite the change of season returning to Barrow was a bit like coming home.  We were picked-up at the airport by Tony Kaleak and Frantz Brower who are members of our logistic support group, UMIAQ.  Tony and Brower (no one calls him Frantz) updated us on the recent gossip and many organizational changes that have occurred since we were last in town and got us checked in to our living and working quarters.  The rest of the group won’t arrive until tomorrow evening so we set about surveying our equipment and space and planning for the next day.

Around 8pm we called it quits got some dinner at our favorite Barrow restaurant “Arctic Pizza” and tried to sleep.  It was tough though since the sun didn’t set until 11:30 and rose again around 2am.

• To view a statement from leading scientists from 18 different scientific organizations regarding the scientific consensus for climate change, please vist: http://www.ucsusa.org/assets/documents/ssi/climate-change-statement-from.pdf