| Date |
News Item |
Jan.
2007 |
Congratulations
to Jihong Dai (PhD with Dr. Sun), Rosalynn Lee (PhD with Dr.
Joye), Xiaozhen Mou (PhD with Dr. Hodson) and Eric Porterfield
(MS with Dr. Binder) for completion of their advanced degrees
in December 2006. Theses and dissertations can be viewd from
the UGA
electronic library. |
Jan.
2007 |
The Georgia
Coastal Ecosystems (GCE) Long Term Ecological Research project,
with directors Drs. Tim Hollibaugh and Merryl Alber (UGA)
and Steve Pennings (U Houston), has been awarded funding from
the National Science Foundation for its second 6-year cycle. The
GCE is focused on understanding how changes in factors such
as climate change, sea level rise, and human alterations of
the landscape will affect the marsh and estuarine ecosystems
of Georgia coast. Over 60 participants are currently
involved in GCE research and educational programs, representing
14 academic institutions and agencies. |
Jan.
2007 |
Drs. Samantha Joye
and Karen Kalanetra are co-authors on a paper published in the
journal Nature (doi:10.1038/nature05457)
that documents the presence of giant sulfur oxidizing bacteria
fossils in Neoproterozoic deposits from China. Previously, these
600 million year old fossils were interpreted as metazoan embryos,
providing the earliest evidence for multicellular life. While
other fossils in this deposit likely are the remains of early
metazoans, the most abundant fossils appear to be bacterial
in origin. |
Jan.
2007 |
Dr.
Adrian Burd has been awarded a Faculty Early Career Development
Program (CAREER) grant by the National Science Foundation.
This grant is for research that will further his work on modeling
processes that affect the vertical particle flux in the ocean,
and for integrating aspects of his research into science education
from middle school to graduate levels. The vertical particle
flux plays an important role in determining the depth distributions
and cycling of carbon and nutrients within the oceans. Improving
our understanding of what determines this flux will, among
other things, help us make better predictions of how the oceanic
carbon cycle will be affected by climate change. |
Nov.
2006 |
Dr.
William Miller has received funding from NASA under the North
American Carbon Project to quantify the significance of
solar-induced photochemical reactions on carbon cycles, CO2
and CO exchange in the South Atlantic Bight and Mid-Atlantic
Bight coastal waters. He will use satellite derived
ocean color data (SeaWIFS) and parameterized photochemical
efficiency spectra to quantify the impact of photochemistry
on coastal dissolved organic carbon. |
Nov.
2006 |
Congratulations
to Xiaozhen Mou for winning the Department's Excellence in Research
Award and to Briana Ransom and Jennie Seay for winning the Department's
Excellence in Teaching Awards for graduate students this year. |
Oct.
2006 |
Dr. Mary Ann Moran
and colleagues have discovered a bacterial "switch gene" that
controls whether or not marine plankton convert a sulfur compound
to dimethylsulfide, which rises in the atmosphere, where it
can affect the earth's temperature, or remain in the sea, where
it can be used as a nutrient. These findings are published in
the Oct 26, 2006 issue of Science
Magazine and as a news release from the National
Science Foundation. |
Aug
2006 |
Congratulations
to Marine Sciences graduate students Sara Cooley (PhD)
and Lisa Wandzell (MS) and Ecology graduate student Sylvia Schaefer
(MS) for completion of their advanced degrees in Summer 2006.
Theses and dissertations can be viewed from the UGA
electronic library. |
June
2006 |
Biology
students from a local high school (Cedar Shoals High School)
spent a weekend at the UGA
Marine Institute on Sapelo Island studying marine microbes
with Dr.
Mary Ann Moran. The students are enrolled in an AP Biology
class, and used the opportunity to learn about microbiology
and genomics. The trip was funded by NSF and the Gordon and
Betty Moore Foundation.
|
May
2006 |
Congratulations
to Paul McKay, a PhD graduate student in physical oceanography,
for winning the Outstanding Student Paper Award for his presentation
at the 2006 Ocean Sciences Meeting in Hawaii. His presentation
describing the heat and salt fluxes in the Duplin River was
recognized as among the best of a strong group of student presenters
and sets an example for the American Geophysical Union membership. |
May
2006 |
Dr.
Christof Meile is spending part of the summer as a Fellow
at the Hanse
Institute for Advanced Study in Delmenhorst, Germany.
He is collaborating with the Biogeosciences Group at the Alfred-Wegener
Institute Bremerhaven, working on mechanistic paleo-proxy
development, through modeling trace element incorporation
in foraminiferal carbonate as a function of seawater composition
and vital effects. The isotopic and elemental composition
of foraminiferal shells (Globigerina bulloides, picture
by G. Nehrke, AWI) depends on the environmental conditions
encountered during their growth and can serve as geochemical
proxies for paleo-environmental conditions such as changes
in temperature, pCO2, seawater salinities, or other (a)biotic
parameters.
|
May
2006 |
Dr.
Mandy Joye, Dr. Vladimir Samarkin and Ph.D. student Marshall
Bowles, are participating in a month-long research cruise
to the Gulf of Mexico on board the R/V
Atlantis. They will use the deep
submergence vessel Alvin to document the linkages between
deep-water oil and gas deposits and the diversity and abundance
of chemosynthetic communities. The research begins on
May 7 and Alvin will dive to depths up to 3,500 meters to
examine the diversity of life along seepage faults. The cruise
will be featured on the Ocean
Explorer web site run by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA) and will include live daily "cruise
casts" that will include educational materials. |
March
2006 |
Congratulations
to Adair Johnson and Matt First for receiving this year's Outstanding
Teaching Assistant award from the University of Georgia. These
awards recognize the fact that their teaching performance ranks
in the top ten percent of all TA's serving the University. |
January
2006 |
Dr. Tim Hollibaugh
on board the RV Laurence M. Gould has been working at the
LTER Palmer station in Antarctica. This collage of photos
shows the microbial ecology and biogeochemistry research that
is aimed at understanding the role played by microbes (principally
bacteria) in the ocean carbon cycle. A microbiologist's
view of the polar ocean: phytoplankton and zooplankton exist
mainly to supply bacteria (small orange cells) with dissolved
organic carbon, composed of sugars, amino acids, proteins
and other compounds. Hollibaugh loads a filter cartridge
with microbial DNA from a seawater sample to determine the
types of bacteria present. Duplantier (Williamsburg VA) titrates
a seawater sample to measure the concentration of oxygen dissolved
in the water, Luo (VIMS) examines bacteria using the epifluorescence
microscope and Middaugh (Anchorage AK) and undergrad Joann
Kelly measure bacterial growth rates.
|
January
2006 |
Congratulations
to Marine Sciences graduate students Charles Budinoff (MS) and
Gary LeCleir (PhD) for completion of their advanced degrees
in Fall 2005. Theses and dissertations can be viewed from the UGA
electronic library. |
November
2005 |
Dr.
Nat Weston, a recent Ph.D. recipient from UGA Marine Sciences,
and Dr.
Mandy Joye, published a paper this week in the Proceedings
of the National Academy of Science, USA (10.1073/pnas.0508799102) reporting
a variable temperature response of different microorganisms
involved in organic carbon degradation. Complex organic matter
is recycled in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems by several
microorganisms which cooperate metabolically to recycle organic
matter into its inorganic building blocks. A variety
of factors influence microbial activity, including temperature,
and Weston and Joye show that variable temperature effects
on microbial functional groups effectively decouple organic
matter recycling, leading to labile dissolved organic matter
accumulation. This paper is featured on the National
Science Foundation News web site. |
November
2005 |
Dr.
Adrian Burd has been accepted as a participant in the
2006 NSF Antarctic Field Biology course in "Integrative
Biology and Adaptation of Antarctic Marine Organisms". The
course allows scientists with no prior experience of work
in the Antarctic to learn about the issues and problems of
conducting scientific research there. A further aim of the
course is to provide an environment for new ideas and research
avenues in the region. |
November
2005 |
Dr.
Christof Meile has been recently awarded a grant from
the Department of Energy to investigate the spatial and temporal
dynamics of subsurface microbial colonies using biomic cell
simulators and porous medium reaction-transport models. This
research is a collaboration with Drs. P. Ortoleva, K. Tuncay
and D. Gannon at the Center of Cell and Virus Theory, Indiana
University at Bloomington. |
November
2005 |
Dr.
Christof Meile has received funding by Georgia Sea Grant,
NOAA to develop a multi-dimensional reactive transport model
for assessing groundwater transformations and nutrient dynamics
at the land-ocean interface. The proposed work will
investigate the role and potential for mitigation and removal
of nutrients during their passage through the subsurface,
precluding eutrophication of the coastal ocean. |
August
2005 |
Dr.
Mandy Joye is the director of a new research project supported
by the National Institute for Undersea Science and Technology
to study the abundance and activity of microorganisms in seafloor
gas hydrates in the Northern Gulf of Mexico. The research
team headed by Joye includes Dr. Ian MacDonald from Texas
A&M Corpus Christi and Dr. Joe Montoya from Georgia Tech.
They will use in situ bioreactor deployments to sample gas
hydrates and characterize the microbial community to determine
the rates of microbially-mediated carbon and sulfur transformations. |
August
2005 |
Congratulations
to Marine Sciences graduate students Liliana Velasquez (MS),
KiRyong Kang (PhD) and Nat Weston (PhD) for completion of their
advanced degrees this year. Theses and dissertations can be
viewed from the UGA
electronic library. |
August
2005 |
Dr. Wei-Jun Cai
has recently been awarded a grant from the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to study carbon fluxes
in the US eastern continental shelves and another one from NOAA
to study air-sea CO2 flux in the Antarctic Oceans. For more
information please visit his web
site. |
April
2005 |
Vice Admiral (ret) Conrad C. Lautenbacher,
Jr., Ph.D., Undersecretary of Commerce and NOAA's Chief
Administrator tours the Marine Sciences Building with UGA
President Michael Adams and the heads of UGA's marine and
atmospheric programs. Dr. Lautenbacher was on campus on
Earth Day, April 22, 2005 to present the inaugural Boyd
Distinguished Lecture entitled "Stewardship of Coastal and
Ocean Environments." From left to right: William Miller
Director, UGA Marine Institute; Dr. James T. Hollibaugh,
Chair Department of Marine Sciences and Director School
of Marine Programs; Dr. Conrad C. Lautenbacher, Jr.(NOAA);
Dr. Michael F. Adams, President UGA; Dr. Mac Rawson, Director
Georgia Sea Grant College Program; Dr. Randal Walker, Director
Marine Extension Service; and Dr. David Stooksbury, State
Climatologist. |
March
2005 |
Congratulations
to the Oconee High School Ocean Sciences Bowl team for defending
their 1st place Georgia and South Carolina regional championship.
The team, coached by OHS teacher Vicki Soutar with tutorial
sessions hosted by Marine Sciences faculty Drs. Daniela Di Iorio
and Wei-Jun Cai, consists of Michael Cai (captain), Brian Kennedy,
Dillon Harper, Patrick Martin and Sarvesh Garimella. In 12 rounds
of play, they only lost one game in a tie breaker and then went
on to win the championship. The team received an all expenses
paid research trip, funds toward a Hood College research trip
and an all expenses paid trip to compete for the National
Ocean Science Bowl Championship in Biloxi , Mississippi
in April. |
February
2005 |
Dr.
Daniela Di Iorio has received the Faculty Early Career
Development Program (CAREER) award by the National Science
Foundation to further her hydrothermal vent research and to
integrate it at all levels of education. Long-term monitoring
of the buoyancy driven flow and temperature fluctuations from
a black smoker vent field on the Endeavour segment of the
Juan de Fuca Ridge (with a newly designed acoustic scintillation
instrument built in collaboration with industry) will be carried
out in order to understand changes in heat flux as a function
of tides and seismic activity. |
February
2005 |
UGA graduate student
Jen Fisher has been selected to receive an Outstanding Student
Paper Award for her presentation in the Hydrology Section of
the American Geophysical
Union, Fall 2004 meeting. An upcoming publication in EOS
will feature a summary of her research carried out with Marine
Science faculty Dr. Tim Hollibaugh on arsenic cycling in Mono
Lake, CA. |
| January 2005 |
UGA faculty Dr.
Tim Hollibaugh together with PhD candidate Gary LeCleir and
research technician Matthew Erickson are participating in
the 2005 cruise to Palmer
Station Antarctica from Dec 28, 2004 - Feb. 6, 2005 .
They will be conducting experiments on ammonia oxidizing bacteria
from the research vessel Laurence
M. Gould. A daily 'picture of the day' illustrates the
deployment of a profiling reflectance radiometer instrument
to collect data on light levels at different depths for understanding
and modelling primary productivity in the water column.
|
| January 2005 |
Mangroves
are woody plants which live between the sea and the land in
tropical and subtropical intertidal zones and are very productive,
providing shoreline protection as well as habitat for a diverse
array of fish, invertebrate and bird species. UGA Marine Scientist Mandy
Joye, along with Candy Feller, from the Smithsonian
Environmental Research Center, and Karen McKee, from the USGS
National Wetlands Research Center, are presently conducting
research on oceanic and fringing mangrove islands on the northeastern
coast of Panama to examine the effects of nutrient over-enrichment
on carbon and nutrient cycling by plants and microorganisms
in mangrove ecosystems. This Biocomplexity research project,
which inculdes UGA graduate student Rosalynn Lee, has developed
a 'virtual
tour' of a mangrove island. |
| December
2004 |
The genome of
a bacterium isolated from Georgia coastal waters is the subject
of a paper in the December 16 issue of Nature (432:910-913)
and is also highlighted as a National Science Foundation press
release. Dr.
Mary Ann Moran, Wendy Ye, and Wade Sheldon are part of
a team of researchers from UGA and seven other institutions
that deciphered the genome of Silicibacter pomeroyi ,
a sulfur-degrading bacterium named after UGA emeritus professor
Lawrence Pomeroy. |
| November
2004 |
Dr. Mary Ann Moran has received a grant by the Gordon
and Betty Moore Foundation in recognition of her outstanding
contributions to the study of marine coastal bacteria.
Read more about her research highlighted in the UGA
News Service. Dr. Moran and her research group are
investigating the ecology of marine bacteria in salt marsh/estuarine
ecosystems in the southeastern US.
|
| November
2004 |
Dr.
Mandy Joye (UGA) and colleagues Drs. Chris Craft (Indiana
U.) and Steve Pennings (U. Houston) have been awarded a
3-year grant from the Environmental Protection Agency to
study the impact of climate change on ecosystems along the
Altamaha, Savannah and Satilla River tidal marshes. Biological
productivity and diversity, nutrient cycling/waste treatment
and carbon cycling will be examined in salt, brackish and
tidal freshwater marshes of each watershed. |
| November
2004 |
Drs. Mandy
Joye and Merryl
Alber (UGA) with colleagues Drs. Mark Hester (U. New
Orleans) and Irv Mendelssohn (Lousiana State U) have been
awarded a 3-year grant from the Environmental Protection
Agency to study the effect of drought-induced stressors,
on key ecosystem processes within tidal salt marshes. Record
droughts in Georgia and Louisiana have induced major alterations
in coastal ecosystems (acute marsh dieback), providing the
opportunity to conduct a natural experiment examining the
consequences of drought-induced plant mortality on a suite
of ecosystem services commonly associated with tidal salt
marshes. |
| November
2004 |
Drs. Charles
Tilburg and Randal
Walker will travel to Busan, South Korea, from November
6 - 12, to present seminars on "Carrying Capacity Modeling
for Environmentally Sound Aquaculture of Fish and Shellfish." They
will participate on a research cruise in Gamac Bay, South
Korea, and meet with officials at the National
Fisheries Research and Development Institute to design
better implementation of aquaculture in this region. |
| September
2004 |
How
can more girls be encouraged to pursue a career in science?
UGA grad student Erinn Howard, who studies coastal marine
bacteria, reviews summer science camps for girls in "Not
your ordinary summer camp," featured in the Summer issue
of the Association
for Women in Science magazine. |
| September
2004 |
Past
and present recipients of the NASA Earth System Science (ESS)
Fellowship and New Investigator Program awards (NIP) will
gather at the University of Maryland to attend the "First
Symposium for the Earth System Scholars Network" from
September 27-29. Attendees, including UGA graduate student
Sarah Cooley, will present their research emphasizing NASA's
current research programs: Climate Variability and Change,
Atmospheric Composition, Carbon Cycle and Ecosystems, Water
and Energy Cycle, Weather, and Earth Surface and Interior. |
| September
2004 |
The Georgia
Coastal Ecosystems LTER project will carry out its quarterly
sampling of physical, chemical and biological water column
properties in the estuaries surrounding Sapelo Island, GA
on the R/V
Savannah from September 20-25. The research cruise will
include the usual high water and low water transects along
the main estuarine channels and this cruise will also include
continuous time series at fixed locations in order to understand
some unusual characteristics in dissolved nutrients. |
| September
2004 |
The
transport and life cycles of blue crabs within Delaware Bay
and on the Mid-Atlantic Bight will be studied by a team of
scientists including UGA faculty member Dr.
Charles Tilburg. Observations of water properties and
blue crab larval concentrations will be made aboard the R/V
Cape Henlopen from September 15-19. |
| August
2004 |
The
Campeche Knolls site is a salt dome with a lava-like flow
of solidified asphalt around its rim. Read
about the chemosynthetic communities discovered by a research
team including UGA grad student Beth Orcutt. (Science, 304,
999, 2004) |
| August
2004 |
Research
at NOAA Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary is learning
more about the fish in this area as well as the environments
that they live in. See a television production of this research
by scientists including UGA grad student Kate Doyle on the
Turner South Channel or on the Project
Oceanica web page. |
July
2004 |
Dr.
Wei-Jun Cai has received four years of funding from the
National Science Foundation to study carbon fluxes in the
southeastern US continental shelf, and three years funding
from NASA to study air-sea CO2 flux and carbon cycling in
the Mississippi River plume. For more information visit
his web
site. |
