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Summary of Summer/Fall 2024 Departmental Achievements

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Awards: 

Professor Samantha Siedlecki 

Prof. Siedlecki was named as a 2024 – 2025 Fullbright Scholar for research in both Italy and South Africa, which has been featured at UConn Today 

 

Professor Hans Dam 

Professor Dam had the honor of giving the Maxilliped Lecture on “Copepods as Model Systems for the Study of the Response of the Biota to Global Change” during the 15th International Conference on Copepoda held in Hiroshima, Japan. 

 

Research Faculty Sandra Shumway 

Dr. Shumway was awarded the Distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award by the US Aquaculture Society and is the first female to receive the award. She was also appointed Fellow of the Marine Biological Association, FMBA. MBA Fellows are senior practitioners in marine biology who have contributed to the discipline at the highest level. The title of Fellow of the Marine Biological Association, FMBA, was first awarded in 2014, following granting of a Royal Charter to the Marine Biological Association. There are currently 50 MBA Fellows.   

 

Professor Senjie Lin 

Professor Lin has been awarded the 2024 UConn-AAUP Excellence Award in as well as the 2024 Alumni Faculty Excellence Award in Research and Creativity. 

 

Research Scientist Susan A. Smith (Mystic Aquarium):

Sue won first place in Animal Welfare Research for her presentation at the annual Association of Zoos and Aquariums conference in Calgary. Her work involved the use of non-invasive fecal samples to elucidate the microbiome and hormone profile of the African Penguin, along with the development of a genetic sexing test, which will soon be used to aid in the monitoring of endangered wild populations in South Africa.

 

PhD student Paxton Tomko 

Paxton was awarded a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (NSF-GRFP) for research with Professor Pieter Visscher, which was featured at UConn Today 

 

PhD Candidate Halle Berger  

Halle was awarded the 2024 National Marine Fisheries-Sea Grant Fellowship by NOAA making her the first UConn student to ever receive the award. 

Grants: 

Professor Senjie Lin 

Prof Lin will collaborate with the University of Columbia and Yale University on a DARPA-funded multi-year (2024-2027) project that aims to utilize algal genomics to develop biosensors for various environmental stimuli  

MEBES: Modular engineered biosensors for environmental sensing 

 

Research Professor Paola Batta-Lona, Professor Hannes Baumann 

Led by UConn EEB professor Eric Schultz, co-PIs Batta-Lona and Baumann will collect and analyze novel data on short- and long-term changes in the trophic ecology of species of greatest conservation need.  

Bottoming Out? Testing Hypotheses on Why Long Island Sound Flatfishes Are Disappearing (Long Island Sound Study, $316,667).  

 

Professor Heidi Dierssen and Research Professor Paola Batta-Lona 

In collaboration with colleagues from URI, Dierssen and Batta-Lona will use eDNA to characterize biological communities in shallow seafloor, deep-sea seafloor, and offshore midwater acoustic soundscapes. Additionally remote sensing data and Distributed Sensing enabled Cabled Observatories (DiSCO’s) will be used for broader scale understanding of major ocean processes in these areas. 

Coastal and Offshore Biogeochemical Oceanographic Observatories Enabled with Distributed Sensing (NIUVT, $2,126,000) 

 

Research Scientist Zhuomin Chen 

Projecting future changes in the Gulf Stream warm-core rings and their impacts on the Northeast U.S. Large Marine Ecosystem in a changing climate using regional MOM6 simulations (NOAA $570,000) 

 

Research Scientist Tracy Romano (Mystic Aquarium) and Associate Professor in Residence Michael Finiguerra:

Drs Romano and Finiguerra were awarded an NSF grant to continue leading the Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program through an ongoing collaboration with Mystic Aquarium and the University of Connecticut Avery Point campus.  

Romano, T.A., Finiguerra, M. REU Site Mystic Aquarium: Collaborative Research: Plankton to Whales: Consequences of Global Change within Marine Ecosystems. National Science Foundation. $464,997.

Research Scientists Ebru Unal and Tracy Romano (Mystic Aquarium):
Drs Unal and Romano were awarded a North Pacific Research Board grant to further study the transcriptome of the beluga whale for the monitoring of wild populations, in an effort to isolate the health-related expression discrepancies between healthy and endangered populations.

Romano, T.A., Unal, E. The Beluga Skin Transcriptome as a Novel Tool for Monitoring Alaska’s Beluga Stocks. North Pacific Research Board. $244,601

Dr. Romano also received funding by the North Pacific Research Board to design and run a cultural exchange that allowed young Native Alaskans to visit Connecticut, where they met with local CT Native American youth, and together took part in educational and cultural workshops.

Romano, T.A., A Science Based Educational and Cultural Exchange Workshop at Mystic Aquarium for Alaska Native and Native American Youth. $20,000

Publications: 

Prof. Hans Dam 

Prof. Dam co-authored a study about the negative effects of marine heatwaves on copepods. The authors found that acclimation (“getting used to”) and parental effects (“the fate of the children depends on the experience of the parents”) mitigate the negative effects of heat waves on the fitness of two important copepod species.  

Sasaki, M.C, M. Finiguerra, H.G. Dam. 2024. Seasonally variable thermal performance curves prevent adverse effects of heatwaves. Journal of  Animal Ecology 2024;00:1–11. DOI: 10.1111/1365-2656.14221 

 

Graduate student Samantha Rush and Professor Penny Vlahos 

This study reports on how sea ice in the Arctic Ocean incorporates and stores boron as it forms, reducing the amount of boron from under ice waters. 

Rush, S., Vlahos, P., Lee, C.-H., Lee, K., Barrett, L. J. Boron to salinity ratios in the Fram Strait entering the Central Arctic: The role of sea ice formation and future predictions. Marine Chemistry. 267:104463. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marchem.2024.104463 

 

DMS alumnus Max Zavell and Professor Hannes Baumann 

Zavell and Baumann show that the embryos and larvae of an abundant grouper species in Long Island Sound are unaffected by even very high CO2 levels in the water. 

Zavell, M.D. and Baumann, H. (2024) Resiliency of Black Sea Bass, Centropristis striata, early life stages to future high CO2 conditions. Environmental Biology of Fishes 107:677–691 

 

Research Prof. Paola Batta-Lona and Prof. Ann Bucklin 

This morphological and molecular analysis revealed the diet differences of 7 mesopelagic fish species, showing the importance of gelatinous prey.  

Bucklin, A., Batta-Lona, P.G., Questel, J., McMonagle, H., Wojcicki, M., Llopiz, J.K., Glancy, S., Caiger, P.E., Francolini, R., Govindarajan, A., Thorrold, S.R., Jech, M., Wiebe, P.H. (2024). Metabarcoding and morphological analysis of diets of mesopelagic fishes in the NW Atlantic Slope water. Front Mar Sci. 11:1411996. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2024.1411996 

Batta-Lona also published a study on the diet diversity of three salp species, which showed a wide variety of prey, broadening our understanding of trophic pathways in the mesopelagic food web. 

Batta-Lona, P.G., Gardner, K., Questel, J.M., Thorrold, S.R., Llopiz, J.L., Wiebe, P.H., Bucklin, A. (2024). Salps in the NW Atlantic Slope Water: metabarcoding and compound-specific stable isotope analysis of diet diversity and trophic interactions. Mar Biol 171, 233. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-024-04535-x 

Batta-Lona further published a study that identified parrot fish larvae via morphology and DNA sequences.  

Morales‐Pulido, J. M., Galindo‐Sánchez, C. E., Jiménez‐Rosenberg, S. P. A., Batta‐Lona, P. G., Herzka, S. Z., Arteaga, M. C. (2024). A molecular approach to identify parrotfish (Sparisoma) species during early ontogeny. Journal of Fish Biology 1-10 https://doi.org/10.1111/jfb.15921 

 Batta-Lona was also involved in the MetaZooGene Atlas and Database (MZGdb) provides DNA sequences for multiple genes, with unique capacity for searches by ocean region.  

O'Brien, T., Blanco-Bercial, L., Questel, J.M., Batta-Lona, P.G., Bucklin, A. (2024). MetaZooGene Atlas and Database: Reference Sequences for Marine Ecosystems. Methods in molecular biology 2744: 475-489. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-3581-0_28 

 

Prof. Peter Auster 

Prof. Auster used diver surveys of reef fish off Florida to map predation risk to coral eating fishes. 

Auster, P.J. and M.E. Cullerton. 2024. Can variation in fish predator density and the Landscape of Fear facilitate coral restoration success?  Reef Encounter 39:48-50. 

 In another study, Prof. Auster and colleagues argue that the term "destructive fishing" is used in international agreements and guidance without agreement on what this term means.   

McCarthy, A.H., D. Steadman, H. Richardson, J. Murphy, S. Benbow, J.I. Brian, H. Brooks, G. Costa-Domingo, C. Hazin, C. McOwen, J. Walker, D. Willer, M. Abdi, P.J. Auster, ..., N. Mukherjee. 2024. Destructive fishing: An expert‐driven definition and exploration of this quasi‐concept. Conservation Letters, e13015. https://doi.org/10.1111/conl.13015

 

Post-doctoral researcher Danielle Freeman 

Dr. Freeman published an article together with colleagues at WHOI that forecasts the effects of sunlight-driven chemistry during oil spills.  

Freeman, D. H.; Nelson, R. K.; Pate, K.; Reddy, C. M.; Ward, C. P. (2024) Forecasting Photo-Dissolution for Future Oil Spills at Sea: Effects of Oil Properties and Composition. Environ Sci Technol. 58: 15236-15245 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.4c05169 

 

Research Scientist Ebru Unal (Mystic Aquarium):
Dr. Unal showed that skin samples can reveal relevant differences between endangered and stable beluga whale populations.

Unal, E., V. Singh, R. Suydam, C.E. Goertz, and T.A. Romano. (2024). Comparative skin transcriptome analysis as a potential tool to investigate intra- and inter-population differences in belugas. Frontiers in Marine Science: Marine Conservation and Sustainability. 11:1282210

Research Scientist Tracy A. Romano (Mystic Aquarium):

Aerial photogrammetry and lipid analyses can be used to describe the body condition of wild endangered St. Lawrence Estuary beluga whales.

Sherill, M., A. Bernier-Graveline, J. Ewald, Z. Pang, M. Moisan, M. Marzeliere, M. Muzzy, T.A. Romano, R. Michaud, and J. Verreault. (2024). Scaled mass index derived from aerial photogrammetry associated with predicted metabolic pathway disruptions in free ranging St. Lawrence Estuary belugas Frontiers in Marine Science. 11:1360374.

Danielle A. Lavoie (Mystic Aquarium):

This study provided insight into the detection of the invasive nematode parasite A. crassus using identification monitorting methods that allow for the survival of the host A. rostrata (the American eel).

Lavoie, D.L., Oliveira, K. (2024). Non-Lethal Detection of the Invasive American Eel Parasite Anguillicoloides crassus. Diseases of Aquatic Organisms.

Meet DMS alumnus Dr. Chris Murray

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Dr. Chris Murray, a 2018 PhD graduate under the guidance of Dr. Hannes Baumann, shared his career journey with current graduate student Samantha Rush. 

Samantha: I appreciate you taking the time to do this interview. Can you briefly share some of the highlights from your time at UConn? 

Chris: I came to UConn in 2014 joining Dr. Baumann’s lab when he was just starting as a first-year faculty member. My research focused on the effects of climate stressors on fish, particularly in their early life stages. We did experiments exposing fish to climate change stressors like acidification, warming, and hypoxia, which laid the groundwork for many future studies and my work today. At the time, the research was novel, and I got to build the lab alongside Hannes. Avery Point was great for its diversity of undergraduates and young scientists incorporated into research as well as its diversity of research foci from all the different major oceanographic topics. 

Chris-Murray
Chris Murray on board the R/V Auk

Samantha: Now, I found that you did your bachelor's in business administration and management. Can you tell me how you made the shift to becoming an oceanography PhD student? 

Chris: I was a naive first-generation college student, and when I struggled with biology and chemistry, I just switched to business. By my senior year, I realized it wasn’t for me, but I had matured academically to know what to do to get to the next step and I morphed my business administration degree into environmental science with a capstone project. I still lacked practical science experience though, so the summer before graduate school, I volunteered extensively with local science groups and universities. When contacting graduate programs, many told me I wasn’t competitive for the program, but I found the Marine Policy and Conservation Program at Stony Brook School of Marine Sciences geared towards non-science majors. There, I met Hannes, who was an adjunct professor, and I ended up working with him as a master’s student. It was pure serendipity that I had been there at that moment to get the position! When Hannes moved to UConn, he offered me a PhD position to start his lab, and it was a no brainer! In all, it was a combination of stick-to-itiveness, luck, being in the right place at the right time, seeing opportunities that evolved, and taking advantage of them! 

Samantha: After your PhD, what has your career path looked like? 

Chris: During my PhD, I applied for a postdoc at Friday Harbor Labs with the University of Washington (UW), but I didn’t get it. However, in the same email, I was offered a 12-month postdoc at the Washinton Ocean and Certification Program to design a project without preconceived notions. I took that and ran! I established awesome collaborations at UW, University of Western Washington, Northwest Fishery Science Center, and USGS Fish Health and Wildlife Center. I did awesome things I never dreamed I would do when I was an undergraduate. It was a risk going out there, but that leap of faith was the most awesome thing I have ever done for my growth.  

Samantha: What a cool adventure! So, what’s your current position? 

Chris: As my postdoc ended, I was offered a permanent research position at UW, but I had looked for opportunities back east and found that Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI) offered a Postdoctoral Scholars Program. Again, I was not selected, but I was also encouraged to write a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Research Fellowship proposal, which ultimately got funded. Considering I never sold my girlfriend-now-wife to a permanent position in Washington, we moved back east. My postdoc at WHOI was an incredible fellowship opportunity, and once that ended, I applied for tenure track faculty jobs. I had varying success, but WHOI didn’t want to lose me, so I was offered my now permanent research job in biology.   

Samantha: I also heard you were recently offered a faculty position at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science at the Chesapeake Biological Lab. What led to your decision to decline the offer? 

Chris: It was a dream job for me, but my wife and I found out we’re having a baby and our families are here in Cape Cod. We have a lot of ties to this area, so moving away didn’t feel like the right choice for us right now. It’s a tough reality of academic life- being willing to jump around the country to various opportunities- but with everything we have here, it made more sense to stay. I’m confident this won’t be my only opportunity. 

Samantha: That is such a thoughtful decision. It is great to hear how you’re balancing career and personal life. So, what advice do you have for current graduate students? 

Chris: Seriously consider your long-term plans, especially as you approach the second half of your degree. You can do a lot now to set yourself up for the next step. It’s true that there aren’t millions of jobs, but if you have a sober idea about what you want, taking steps towards it can make transitions smoother. Also, keep in mind that there are still more opportunities available than you can ever appreciate. Even rejected proposals can be reformatted. The endeavor is always really worth it, at least in my experience. 

Samantha: Fantastic advice! And just for fun- what do you enjoy doing outside of research? 

Chris: Basically, all the outdoor activities- hiking, snorkeling, scuba diving, backpacking, kayaking, fishing. I don’t have all those options on the Cape, but I have more time to enjoy them than I did as a graduate student. 

Samantha: That’s awesome! Thanks again for sharing your story and advice, Chris. It was great chatting with you! 

Professor Lin receives two research awards

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Congratulations to Professor Senjie Lin who has been awarded the 2024 UConn-AAUP Excellence Award in the Research & Creativity: Career category, as well as the 2024 Alumni Faculty Excellence Award in Research and Creativity (Sciences)! These university-wide honors celebrate faculty who have demonstrated sustained academic excellence over their career and made significant contributions to a field of knowledge. 

Dr. Lin is a world-renowned leader in the field of phytoplankton physiology and molecular biology. He develops and applies molecular tools (e.g., genomics and metatranscriptomics) to study phytoplankton, primary producers who form the base of marine food webs.  

Prof. Lin is an expert on dinoflagellates, a type of phytoplankton that are increasingly important to study because this group is often involved in toxic algal blooms that can close fisheries and beaches and because some dinoflagellates are essential to coral health, which is deteriorating due to increasing coral bleaching events resulting from climate change.  

As part of his research, Prof. Lin has developed new molecular tools such as mitochondrial barcoding for taxonomic identification of dinoflagellates, and developed a new molecular marker based on a specific dinoflagellate genomic trait (DinoSL) which is used to identify and separate dinoflagellate RNA from genetic materials from other types of phytoplankton. Both techniques are now widely used throughout the international research community as demonstrated through the many citations on these articles.

Prof. Lin’s work has also demonstrated how dinoflagellates and diatoms acquire phosphorus and provided new insights into the drivers of harmful algal blooms. 

Professor Lin has published over 200 peer-reviewed articles and in 2023 he was ranked in the top 2% of global scientists based on his citations. 

Congratulations to Professor Lin on this well-deserved honor! 

Dr. Senjie Lin / 2024 UConn-AAUP Excellence Award / 2024 Alumni Faculty Excellence Award

New fellowship offers outreach experience for DMS students!

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The New Generation of Marine Scientists and Stewards Fellowship is a new initiative led by Dr. Zofia Baumann, who has secured funding for the Department of Marine Sciences to award $1,500 to each of three graduate students for the academic year 2024/25. The inaugural recipients of this fellowship are Anagha Payyambally, Emily Watling, and Bernard Akaawase, who bring a rich diversity of backgrounds, experiences, and expertise to share with K-12 students in Groton, CT.

Located in the southeastern corner of Connecticut, Groton is part of the ancestral territory of the Mohegan, Mashantucket Pequot, Eastern Pequot, Schaghticoke, Golden Hill Paugussett, Nipmuc, and Lenape Peoples, who have been stewards of this land for generations. Groton is also classified as an Environmental Justice Community, underscoring the importance of land and water stewardship to protect the marine ecosystems that coastal communities, including Groton, rely on. Scientific inquiry is a powerful tool that can empower people to become environmental stewards, and the fellowship recipients will engage with K-12 students in Groton to share their unique perspectives on this process.

Anagha Payyambally is a first-generation graduate student from India pursuing a Ph.D. in chemical oceanography. She understands the immense value of sharing ideas with the younger generation and is eager to contribute to this initiative.

Emily Watling, a New England native passionate about the marine environment, is working toward her M.S. with a focus on marine ecology. She is excited to collaborate with the other fellows and bring a "storm of ideas" to the table.

Bernard Akaawase, originally from Nigeria, is a third-year Ph.D. student specializing in physical oceanography. Committed to engaging with the younger generation, he has also served as the community outreach chair for the Graduate Students of Color Association (GSCA) at UConn.

As the fellows embark on this journey, stay tuned for updates on their activities and impact in the Groton community.

Anagha-Photo4
Anagha Payyambally

Bernard-Akawase
Bernard Akawase

Emily-Watling
Emily Watling

Undergraduate experiential learning courses

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MARN 3001 students at Barn Island mapping the salt marsh elevation. Photo credit: Leonel Romero
Hydrographic survey in Thames River for MARN 3001 aboard the RV Connecticut. Photo credit: Leonel Romero
Students from MARN 4001 presenting their science at a CUSH sponsored public event in the Mystic Seaport Museum. Photo credit: Hung Nguyen
Students in the field for MARN 3030. Photo credit: Pieter Visscher

By Mengyang Zhou

Undergraduate classes within the Department of Marine Sciences (DMS) are bridging the classroom learning, fieldwork and addressing environmental challenges that are relevant to the local community.

As undergraduate students enter their junior and senior year, they engage in experiential learning through classes such as MARN 3001 (Foundations of Marine Sciences, instructed by Pf. Leonel Romero, Pf. Jason Krumholz, and Dr. Claudia Koerting, historically also co-taught by Pf. Craig Tobias who is on sabbatical this year), MARN 4001 (Measurement and Analysis in Coastal Ecosystems, instructed by Pf. Julie Granger and Dr. Claudia Koerting) and MARN 3030 (Coastal Pollution and Bioremediation, instructed by Pf. Pieter Visscher). These classes are designed to provide hands-on experience of fieldwork, lab experiments and data analysis, and empower students to apply classroom knowledge to the real world, making a positive impact on environmental problems in the local community.

The class Foundations of Marine Sciences (MARN 3001) focuses on carrying out and interpreting the most fundamental oceanographic measurements in coastal habitats such as beaches, marshes and estuaries. In the fall semester of 2023, students went on field trips to Long Island Sound and the Thames River aboard the RV Connecticut and RV Lowell Weicker. They collected hydrographic data using CTDs (Conductivity, Temperature and Depth), water samples for nutrient measurements, as well as sediment samples. They also conducted marsh elevation mapping in Bluff Point Beach and Barn Island. Upon analyzing these data and publicly available datasets provided by NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), students learned how to characterize the changing coastal systems and how organisms adapt to those changes.

Students in the class Measurement and Analysis in Coastal Ecosystems (MARN 4001) assessed the potential causes of water quality impairment in Wequetequock Cove near Stonington, CT and Pawcatuck River, and built connections with the local community. Beyond learning textbook knowledge, they went into the field to collect water and sediment samples that were analyzed in the lab for nutrient and chlorophyll concentrations and O2 consumption rates. They also learned how to analyze, interpret and archive the data they collected, as well as those collected by CUSH (Clean Up Sounds and Harbor), a local non-profit organization who has been conducting a long-term survey of the cove’s water quality. Finally, they tried to address important questions, such as identifying the sources of nutrient overload in the cove, and understanding the causes of summertime O2 depletion in the cover, and constructed scientific posters and presented their scientific findings to a broad audience in Mystic Seaport Museum.

The class Coastal Pollution and Bioremediation (MARN 3030) is another example of a class that is designed to connect students with the real world through service-learning. This class focuses on how pollution in the nearshore marine environment impacts the marine food web. In the fall semester of 2023, students learned the fundamental environmental monitoring techniques and data analysis which were applied to coastal pollution research. They monitored the overall health of the Mystic River through field and lab experiments that included water column profiling, sediment quality and enterococcal counts before and after rain events. Their work provided data for the Alliance of the Mystic River Watershed, a local citizen group that focuses on resilience and social justice along the Mystic River. Upon discussion about local policy related to coordinated resilience planning and watershed protection, they also presented their findings to the public in Mystic Seaport Museum, together with MARN 4001.

To reflect on experiential learning classes, Shannon Jordan, who took MARN 4001 and now a master student in the DMS, said: “MARN 4001, more than any other core class, was an introduction to oceanographic research as it actually occurs. Experimental design, methods of data management and interpretation are not outlined in a manual. In contrast to many undergraduate science labs, this course encourages students to take the reins in each aspect of the scientific method. MARN 4001 was an excellent environment in which to explore individual research interests and the process by which questions are translated into hypotheses, experiments, results, and further questions. The opportunity to develop these practical skills in a collaborative environment – with ready access to the vast knowledge base of experienced faculty – was incredibly valuable.” 

Through these experiential learning classes, students worked on interdisciplinary problems and gained plenty of hands-on experience in the field of oceanography. They also proposed solutions to address the local environmental problems, and presented them to a broad audience. The valuable skill sets they developed in the past semester will prepare them for their future career and academic pursuits.

Dissolved organic matter sets the bioavailability of mercury

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(Left) Emily Seelen in the lab. (Right) Robert Mason and Celia Chen in the field

 

Mechanistic illustration of MeHg bioavailability controlled by dissolved organic matter thiol concentrations (Fig. 5 in Seelen et al., 2023)

By Mengyang Zhou

Connecticut and New England, like many locations around the world, houses many estuaries that suffer from mercury pollution that is largely inorganic, less toxic and not as bioaccumulative as methylmercury (MeHg). The mercury concentrations in these regions are much higher than in the open ocean despite only a small fraction of these concentrations being bioavailable. Eventually,  inorganic Hg is converted to MeHg and enters the food web. Coastal regions, like estuaries, also support marine resource cultivation and supply to communities, and therefore are potentially a source of exposure for humans to elevated levels of MeHg. A key environmental control determining MeHg bioavailability is dissolved organic matter (DOM), and specifically the sulfur-containing thiol binding ligands within the DOM, as they strongly bind to MeHg. Understanding how dissolved organic matter (DOM) influences MeHg bioavailability is crucial for predicting exposure in high-trophic level biota, including humans. Environmental changes, such as eutrophication and altered runoff, impact DOM loading in aquatic ecosystems and therefore can  affect MeHg bioavailability. Historically, using dissolved organic carbon (DOC) as a proxy for MeHg[RM1] -binding capacity has been a standard, but this work shows this assumption may lead to errors depending on the natural environment you are working in. The group hypothesized that the properties of DOM unrelated to total DOC may be impacting MeHg bioavailability, and may underpin the variability in MeHg uptake at low DOC concentrations commonly observed in the environment. Specifically, the group tested whether DOM binding capacity, defined as the concentration of thiol ligands per gram DOC, or the DOM binding strength to MeHg dictated overall MeHg bioavailability in distinct coastal regions.

To address this, the team measured DOM properties associated with MeHg bioavailability across four distinct regions of the nearshore terrestrial-marine aquatic continuum.  They found that the in situ MeHg-binding capacity of DOM varied significantly and systematically across the terrestrial-marine aquatic continuum they explored, but the binding affinity varied but not significantly or systematically across the same system, and ligand exchange kinetics were fast for all types of DOM.

Next, they explored the DOM principles they highlight as driving MeHg uptake by testing it in a phytoplankton uptake experiment using a specific species of diatom.  Their results supported that not only the total DOM concentration but also the concentration of specific DOM-associated sulfur compounds called thiol functional groups binding sites (DOM-RSH) were the primary factors controlling the MeHg bioavailability and accumulation within the phytoplankton.

The project was started by Emily Seelen PhD ’18 (Fig. 1), now a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Southern California, when she was a graduate researcher in Professor Robert Mason’s lab (Fig. 2). Pf. Mason’s funded projects supported the work and Seelen also received an NSF graduate fellowship that enabled a study abroad collaboration with co-authoring chemists Erik Björn, Ulf Skyllberg, and Van Liem-Nguyen from Umeå University in Sweden. Seelen was also advised by Associate Research Professor Zofia Baumann who instructed Seelen on how to perform the phytoplankton uptake experiments, drawing from her previous research tracing heavy metal contaminants through the environment.

Seelen said she was inspired to pursue this work in part as an opportunity to work abroad as a result of her research with Professor Mason. “With Rob I was able to learn a lot about broad coastal Hg cycling, but I knew I wanted to dive a bit deeper into what exactly controlled how much MeHg was able to enter into the food web. I put together a list of potential universities I could study at, and soon got to meet Erik Bjorn at the 2015 Hg conference (ICMGP) in Korea. I instantly knew this was the working group for me and we wrote the proposal soon after!” She then proceeded to apply for the NSF graduate fellowship to pursue this idea and was successful in acquiring one of these highly competitive fellowships.

The study emphasizes the crucial role of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in MeHg bioaccumulation in aquatic ecosystems. It reveals that MeHg uptake by phytoplankton is directly linked to the DOM-RSH rather than the more traditional binding calculation for MeHg -dissolved organic carbon (DOC) interaction. Figure 3 showcases how decreasing trends in DOM-RSH concentrations across the terrestrial to marine aquatic continuum leads to higher MeHg availability and planktonic uptake in systems dominated by marine DOM relative to those impacted by more humic, terrestrial DOM. The research suggests that measuring DOM-RSH concentrations is essential for accurate models in understanding MeHg incorporation in aquatic food webs across different environments. The research highlights the need to consider specific DOM characteristics, specifically the ratio of thiol functional groups to DOC (DOM-RSH/DOC), for more accurate predictions under various environmental scenarios.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-42463-4

Link to UConn Today article

Art Meets Science: ‘Floating Points’ at AVS Gallery

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Floating Points Exhibit by artist Oskar Landi in The Alexey von Schlippe Gallery of Art at Avery Point on Nov. 14, 2023. (Sean Flynn/UConn Photo)

The presence of microplastics in the world’s oceans is the focus of the exhibition “Floating Points: Observing the Plastisphere with NASA”, on view at Alexey von Schlippe (AVS) Gallery of Art at Avery Point through Dec. 10. Link to full article in UConn Today.

Meet Felipe Soares: our Ocean Modeling Technician

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Photo credit: Beatriz Silva

By Mengyang Zhou

Felipe Soares shared his career journey as an ocean modeler, his experiences, challenges, and the key role he plays in advancing ocean modeling research in the Coastal Biogeochemistry Dynamics Laboratory in our department.

Mengyang: Can you tell us about your career path? 

Felipe: So, let me start from the very beginning. I was always passionate about nature and marine life and had an inclination to be a marine biologist. But when the time arrived to choose a career, I found myself very uncertain. One day my mother suggested that I take a look at the Oceanography course at the Rio de Janeiro State University (UERJ). Initially, it sounded very unconventional to me, and I basically disregarded it. However, after reading about it in a career guidebook it captivated me and suddenly, I couldn’t envision any other option. While I was an Oceanography undergrad student at UERJ, I actively sought opportunities in research labs, and that led me to acquire some skills and expand my network beyond the university. This pursuit led me to get an internship at the IEAPM (a Brazilian Navy research institute) and subsequently at Prooceano, a growing and already well-established oceanography consulting company in Rio de Janeiro in the late 2000’s. So, at this point my career was already leaning towards the industry. Over the next twelve years, I worked at this company, playing a pivotal role in ocean modeling, which involved extensive model preparation, running, and evaluation. Simultaneously, I pursued my master’s at the Rio de Janeiro Federal University (UFRJ) studying the seasonality of the Brazil Current mesoscale activity. Upon discovering an open position at Sam’s lab, which required expertise aligned with my experience, I researched her work. The multidisciplinary aspect of the work was particularly appealing to me, presenting an opportunity to get out of my comfort zone, acquire new skills, and enrich both my career and life. Consequently, I joined the DMS (Department of Marine Sciences) to work at the Coastal Biogeochemistry Dynamics Lab in August 2021. 

Mengyang: What’s your current position in our department? 

Felipe: I am currently a research assistant II, contributing to almost all projects within Sam’s lab. As a technician in a modeling lab, my responsibilities involve running the models, conducting data analyses, comparing the model results with observations, and generating plots and statistics. These outputs are used in presentations, papers, daily research activities, etc. 

Mengyang: What do you enjoy most about your current position, and what are the most challenging parts about this job, if any? 

Felipe: I like tackling problems that demand both programming skills and oceanographic knowledge. This often involves managing large datasets and highlighting the information that will be useful for the scientists in a plot (and maybe make them visually appealing too). Additionally, by participating in diverse and engaging research projects you can learn a lot and be incredibly fulfilling. The most challenging part is the responsibility of overseeing model runs which are often the primary source of data for the lab’s projects. Any technical problems or configuration errors can significantly impact the lab’s research schedule and objectives. 

Mengyang: What do you do outside of work for fun, to balance life and work?

Felipe: Outside of work, I love spending time in nature. Whether it’s hiking with my family or fishing in the streams (and hopefully back to trail running soon), you can probably find me exploring the parks in eastern CT during weekends. Soccer is also another passion (or maybe a religion) for me. I am glad that I can follow all Vasco da Gama matches in the Brazilian league from the US, and that there’s an awesome soccer group in the DMS that plays every Friday here at Avery Point.

Unraveling phytoplankton nutrient proclivity in an ocean desert

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Graduate student Catherine Crowley went on research cruises to investigate the contribution of small eukaryotes to new production in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre.

The RV Kilo-Moana Katie was on.
Katie and her colleagues: Julie Granger, Katie Crowley, Katherine Ackerman, Matt Miller (left to right) Photo credits: Catherine Crowley

By Mengyang Zhou

Catherine (Katie) Crowley, a Ph.D. student in the Granger Laboratory, participated in two research cruises in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre (NPSG) in the summer of 2023. The cruises, in August and September 2023, were aboard the R/V Kilo Moana as part of the Hawaiian Ocean Time Series (HOT) program at Station ALOHA (A Long-Term Oligotrophic Habitat Assessment). HOT is one of the longest-running time series in the ocean spanning over 30 years. This region of the Pacific Ocean is known as the “ocean desert”, with relatively little nutrients in the surface waters due to the low nutrient supply common in subtropical gyres. However, it is not well understood how certain phytoplankton living in surface waters in summer access the nutrients in the deeper waters. Katie’s research will investigate how particular phytoplankton (eukaryotes) access subsurface nitrogen at Station ALOHA, to better understand how the productivity in subtropical gyres will be impacted by climate change.

On the cruises this summer, she performed isotope incubation experiments and collected samples for nitrogen isotope analyses and cell counts. Back at UConn, she will sort the phytoplankton populations from the samples she collected on a fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) flow cytometer and aim to examine their nitrogen composition, to reveal which nutrients these phytoplankton have a taste preference for in the subtropical gyre. She plans to present this work with her collaborators, the White Lab from the University of Hawaii) and the Marchetti Lab from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) at the upcoming Ocean Science Meeting in 2024. 

To reflect on her cruise experience this summer, Katie says: “These collaborative cruises allowed me to gain hands-on experience and learn about eukaryotic primary production in the Pacific Gyre. As a graduate student, I was able to collect data for my research and assist the HOT team with their time-series collections.”