The purpose of the Climate Justice Grants project is to develop and implement a grant program to support equity and environmental justice organizations as community partners for climate planning in Connecticut. Recommendation 1 of the Governor’s Council on Climate Change (GC3) Phase 1 report (2021) reads: “Develop and identify funding for a community engagement strategy to inform the 2021 GC3 planning process and implementation, including support in the form of grants for partnering with community-based, non-governmental organizations to design the community engagement process, receive training, and co-develop recommendations to ensure meaningful input and equitable approaches to mitigation and adaptation.” The Climate Equity and Justice Grant Program will serve as a pilot to design this type of program for Connecticut. The primary purpose of the pilot will be to lower barriers and facilitate the participation of community partners in the implementation of the recommendations of the Governor’s Council on Climate Change and to support “hyper-local” climate planning in their communities.
As a recommendation of the Equity and Environmental Justice workgroup of the Governor’s Council on Climate Change (GC3), CIRCA partnered with DEEP to create the purpose of the Environmental Justice Screening tool project. The project aims to identify vulnerable populations that may be disproportionately impacted by programs, policies, or projects and inform initiatives for creating healthy communities. This project aims to build a community-state partnership to spatially represent environmental and demographic indicators, using deep community engagement and existing data efforts underway across the state. The tool intends to serve the state in various ways, including communication of the disproportionate impacts placed upon communities across Connecticut, informing department and agency actions concerning enforcement, permitting, assessing populations vulnerable to climate change, and supporting policy and legislation that seeks to address the institutional inequities.
Professor Heidi Dierssen leads an international working group on Benthic Reflectance measurements. The group held their inaugural meeting at the University of Miami from 29-31 March 2022. Benthic reflectance is a measurement describing the color of the seafloor, and is an essential parameter for mapping marine habitats in optically shallow water using remote sensing techniques. Brandon Russell (pictured 2nd from right), graduate of UConn Marine Sciences, built a dive spectrometer and is a member of the group. The aim is to produce a report for the International Ocean Color Coordinating Group (IOCCG). Read more about this group here.
Dierssen (4th from left) and the Benthic Reflectance Group
In January of 2022, Dr. Cara Manning joined the faculty of the Department of Marine Sciences. Dr. Manning hails from Vancouver Island, Canada and has a PhD in Oceanography from the MIT-WHOI Joint Program in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. This interview was carried out by Emma Shipley, a current graduate student, on February 15th, 2022.
Dr. Cara Manning
Manning’s first foray into ocean sciences was during her first year in her undergraduate program. On her discovered interest in the field, she says “I really liked it because it allows you to take all these different pieces of science, like chemistry and physics and biology, and integrate them to understand the real world.” After an intensive summer program in ocean sciences that included both field and lab work, she began gathering research experience. Eventually, her doctoral research focused on using oxygen as a tracer of productivity in the ocean, and using noble gases to distinguish between physical and biological fluxes of oxygen. Following a postdoc at the University of British Columbia and a position as a research scientist at the Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Dr. Manning joined DMS during the Environment and Human Interactions cluster hire.
The cluster hire was intended to recruit professors who have complementary expertise related to human interactions with the environment, and to foster cross-disciplinary scholarship involving multiple departments within the college. Manning is working with other professors in the cluster to develop one or more courses that could cover a range of topics in marine and social sciences. She says, “We’re talking about the opportunity to develop a cross-taught course that would include social sciences and science perspectives at the same time to understand environmental processes or environmental policy. We think that it’s really valuable for students that are majoring in science to get the perspectives of social science and vice versa so that we’re learning from each other to really understand environmental processes that have social implications.” This class could cover important topics such as climate change or nutrient pollution, and would be a valuable addition to the departmental curricula.
At UConn, Dr. Manning’s lab will be focused on dissolved gas biogeochemistry and other tracers, and using these measurements to understand biological, physical, and chemical processes in the ocean. She plans to begin measurements to understand the coastal biogeochemistry in Long Island Sound as well as further afield continuing her previous work in the Arctic. She is excited to start building her lab. “There’s going to be a lot of field work up front, but there’s also going to be a lot of method development to start. The first ocean samples that we run will be really exciting because they’ll be something that my lab has set up together from scratch.”
Dr. Cara Manning at sea
While starting as a new faculty member can be challenging, especially during uncertain COVID times, Manning is ready for the challenge. Since she has been out of the US for the last five years, some of her first priorities are understanding the funding sources and building her collaborative network. Describing herself as “a really collaborative person,” Manning cites the ability to work with professors who “speak her language” right down the hall as one of the big factors that drew her to the department.
Outside of work, she enjoys the experimentation and discovery that come along with a vegan diet. During COVID she learned how to culture microbes for vegan cheesemaking, and has been working on strength training in the gym. She looks forward to discovering what Connecticut has to offer for biking trails when the weather warms up.
Received the International Conference on Mercury as a Global Pollutant (ICMGP)’s Kathryn Mahaffey Lifetime Achievement Award. This award celebrates and recognizes selected individuals who have made extraordinary lifetime achievements in mercury research, mentoring, and/or contributions to governmental policy and public outreach. Dr. Mason will formally receive this honor in July at the ICMGP conference, but he can be seen here with the physical award. Read more about this honor here.
Dr. Rob Mason accepts his Lifetime Achievement Award
Received a Fulbright Specialist award to work on global pollutants at ETH in Zurich (May 1 to June 11 2022).
Devan Barnum (Undergraduate student, Prof. Baumann)
Received NOAA’s Ernest F. Hollings Undergraduate Scholarship. This scholarship provides academic assistance as well as a 10-week full-time paid internship at a NOAA facility during the summer.
Grants
Prof. Zofia Baumann
Long Island Sound Futures Fund: Shell Recycling Planning to Restore Long Island Sound Oyster Reefs and Shorelines. ($156k, 2022-2024). PI Baumann was awarded money to collaborate with local restaurants, the Bureau of Aquaculture, the Connecticut Sea Grant, and the Town of Groton to establish the Groton-Mystic Shell Recycling Program, which will divert oyster and clam shells from a regular waste stream, and shells will be saved for shellfish restoration projects in the future.
Profs. Julie Granger and Senjie Lin
NSF Polar Programs: EAGER: Exploring links between iron and phosphorus nutrition of Antarctic marine phytoplankton. This grant tests whether polar phytoplankton synthesize and utilize phytic acid – a molecule involved in the vacuolar storage of phosphate and iron in higher plants – potentially explaining the higher P:C ratios of phytoplankton in iron limited regions of the oceans – particularly the Southern Ocean.
Prof. Robert Mason
NSF Chemical Oceanography: The effects of terrestrial organic matter inputs on coastal mercury cycling: Methylmercury production and bioaccumulation. (2022-2025). PIs Mason, Taylor, and Chen. This funding supports 4 cruises in the Gulf of Maine and laboratory studies using mesocosms.
NSF Chemical Oceanography: US GEOTRACES GP-17-OCE and -ANT Sections. External sources, cycling and processes affecting mercury speciation in the South Pacific and Southern Oceans. (2022-2025). PIs Mason, Lamborg, Hammerschmidt, and Janssen. This funding supports one cruise from Tahiti to the Southern Ocean, then Chile, and another from Chile to Antarctica and back.
Prof. Penny Vlahos
Profs. Vlahos and Abadia were awarded a seed grant to study environmental water quality impact on cognitive development in children in target communities along the Magdalena River in Columbia.
Baumann contributed a textbook chapter on Fish Ecology, based on his long-running undergraduate/graduate course at UConn. (Baumann, H. (2022) Chapter 11: Fish Ecology. In: Pan, J. and Pratolongo, P.D. (eds) Marine Biology: a functional approach to the oceans and their organisms. CRC Press/Science Publishers (Taylor & Francis) published March 3rd 2022.)
Profs. Bucklin and Batta-Lona, and colleagues present a study on COI metabarcoding of marine zooplankton, rapid-responders and useful indicators of climate change impacts. Species diversity of zooplankton is essential for time-series monitoring of marine ecosystems. This study used samples from the Ecosystem Monitoring (EcoMon) Surveys by the NOAA NMFS Northeast Fisheries Science Center. Comparative analysis of molecular (COI metabarcoding) and morphological (microscopic) data showed significant correlation for 5 of 6 taxonomic groups and for 5 of 7 species with >1,000 COI sequences for which both types of data were available. The results demonstrate the power and potential of COI metabarcoding for identification of species of metazoan zooplankton in the context of ecosystem monitoring. (Bucklin, A., Batta-Lona, P.G., Questel, J.M., Wiebe, P.H., Richardson, D.E., Copley, N.J., O’Brien, T.D. (2022) COI Metabarcoding of Zooplankton Species Diversity for Time-Series Monitoring of the NW Atlantic Continental Shelf. Front. Mar. Sci. 9:867893)
Prof. Hans Dam
In collaboration with University of Vermont researchers Brennan and Pespeni, Dam, Baumann and former DMS student James deMayo demonstrate a plasticity cost in the ability of copepods to express genes in response to ocean warming and acidification. This is further evidence that population adaptation to climate change is no free lunch. (Brennan, R. S., deMayo, J.A., Dam, H.G., Finiguerra, M.B., Baumann, H., Pespeni, M.H. (2022) Loss of transcriptional plasticity but sustained adaptive capacity after adaptation to global change conditions in a marine copepod. Nature Commun. 13: 1147)
Prof. Senjie Lin
Lin led a team of international researchers, including UConn alumni and visiting scholars, to carry out this molecular ecological study. Results showed that metazoans, dinoflagellates, and proteobacteria dominated the sinking carbon particles, contrary to the common notion that diatoms, haptophytes or cyanobacteria are the dominant carbon exporters. RNA data also showed that bacteria were active to degrade various compounds, contributing to particle decay. (Lin, S., Li, T., Yuan, H., Li, H., Yu, Y., Zhuang, Y., Li, L., Huang, B. and Liu, G. (2022) Sediment trap study reveals dominant contribution of metazoans and dinoflagellates to carbon export and dynamic impacts of microbes in a subtropical marginal sea. J. Geophys. Res. Biogeosci. 127: e2021JG006695)
Prof. David Lund
Lund and former UConn graduate student Matt Lacerra co-author a new study that uses proxy and model results to explain how atmospheric CO2 levels changed during the last deglaciation. (Yu, J., Oppo, D.W., Jin, Z., Lacerra, M., Ji, X., Umling, N.E., Lund, D.C., McCave, N., Menviel, L., Shao, J. and Xu, C. (2022) Millennial and centennial CO2 release from the Southern Ocean during the last deglaciation. Nature Geoscience 15:293-299)
Prof. Mason and colleagues present a review of Mercury cycling in the Arctic, a synthesis of the information compiled for the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Program (AMAP) mercury report that was published in 2021. (Dastoor, A., Angot, H., Bieser, J., Christensen, J.H., Douglas, T.A., Heimbürger-Boavida, L-E., Jiskra, M., Mason, R.P., McLagan, D.S., Obrist, D., Outridge, P.M., Petrova, M.V., Ryjkov, A., St. Pierre, K.A., Schartup, A.T., Soerensen, A.L., Toyota, K., Travnikov, O., Wilson, S.J., Zdanowicz, C. (2022) Arctic Mercury Cycling. Nature Reviews – Earth and Environment.)
Prof. Mason and colleagues from the Zhao chemistry lab at UConn Storrs present the results of laboratory studies examining how cadmium selenide nanoparticles, produced for a variety of industrial applications, could impact mercury and methylmercury cycling in the environment. (Shi, X., Zhao, J., Wang, Y., Mason, R.P. (2021) The transformation of inorganic and methylmercury in the presence of L-cysteine capped CdSe nanoparticles. Frontiers in Environmental Chemistry Art. # 762052.)
Prof. Mason and colleagues present the final product of a study done in Canada in the Experimental Lakes Area where stable isotope additions of Hg were made to a small lake and its watershed simulating atmospheric deposition to track the rate and pathways of Hg into fish. After the additions stopped, the recovery of the lake and the decrease in concentrations of Hg in biota were tracked, as detailed in the paper. Overall, the recovery was rapid, indicating that decreasing anthropogenic Hg emissions will have an immediate impact. (Blanchfield, P.J., Rudd, J.W.M., Hrenchuk, L.E., Amyot, M., Babiarz, C.L., Beaty, K.G., Bodaly, R.A., Branfireun, B.A., Gilmour, C.C., Graydon, J.A., Hall, B.D., Harris, R.C., Heyes, A., Hintelmann, H., Hurley, J.P., Kelly, K.A., Krabbenhoft, D.P., Lindberg, S.E., Mason, R.P., Paterson, M.J., Podemski, C.L., Sandilands, K.A., Southworth, G.R., St. Louis, V.L., Tate, L.S., Tate, M.T. (2022) Experimental evidence for the recovery of mercury-contaminated fish. Nature, 601, 74-78.)
Prof. Leonel Romero
This study shows that a recently developed wave-breaking model significantly improves our ability to predict the short wind-wave spectrum, which has important implications for improving the prediction of microseismic noise in the ocean. (Romero, L., Lubana, K. (2022) On the Bimodality of the Wind-Wave Spectrum: Mean-Squared-Slopes and Azimuthal Overlap Integral. Journal of Physical Oceanography.)
Profs. Samantha Siedlecki and Evan Ward
Profs. Siedlecki and Ward and graduate student Halle Berger present work on statistical modeling of marine biology. This paper highlights the importance of incorporating physiological mechanisms into statistical species distribution models and illustrates that even species that have a high tolerance for low oxygen, such as Sablefish, may undergo distribution shifts in the face of growing oxygen depletion in coastal ecosystems. (Essington, T.E., Anderson, S., Barnett, L., Berger, H., Siedlecki, S., Ward, E. (in production) Advancing statistical models to reveal the effect of dissolved oxygen on the spatial distribution of marine taxa using thresholds and a physiologically based index. Ecography.)
Halle Berger (Graduate student, Profs. Matassa and Siedlecki)
Emma Shipley (Graduate student, Prof. Penny Vlahos)
Shipley and colleagues presented a study of agrochemical risk assessment and water quality in well and river waters in Wilgamuwa, Sri Lanka. This study helps identify primary areas of water quality concern for rural farmers in this region. (Shipley, E.R., Vlahos, P., Chandrajith, R., Wijerathna, P. (2022) Agrochemical exposure in Sri Lankan Inland Water systems. Environmental Advances, 7, 100150.)
Mengyang Zhou (Graduate student, Prof. Julie Granger)
Zhou and colleagues present a study showing volume effects on the denitrifier method for nitrate N and O isotope ratio analyses, and what we should do to achieve improved measurement accuracy and foster inter-comparability. (Zhou, M., Granger, J., Chang, B X. (2022) Influence of sample volume on nitrate N and O isotope ratio analyses with the denitrifier method. Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry, 36(4), e9224.)
Graduations
Christina Menniti (M.S. 2021)
Major advisor: Michael Whitney
Thesis: Assessing the Importance of Variability in Oxygen Concentrations and Horizontal Fluxes in Western Long Island Sound
Maryam Mirhakak (M.S. 2021)
Major advisor: Heidi Dierssen
John Speers (M.S. 2021)
Major advisor: James O’Donnell
Thesis: The effect of sea level rise on flooding statistics
Melissa Wojcicki (M.S. 2021)
Major advisor: Ann Bucklin
Thesis: Understanding Deep-Sea Trophic Interactions by Metabarcoding Mesopelagic Fish Diets
Raymond Graham (M.S. 2021)
Major advisor: James Edson
Thesis: Investigation of the moisture budget within the Tropics, under the ITCZ
James deMayo (Ph.D. 2021)
Major advisor: Hans Dam
Dissertation: Costs and Consequences of Adaptation to Combined Warming and Acidification for Two Estuarine Copepods
Lucas Jones (M.S. 2021)
Major advisor: Hannes Baumann
Thesis: Using Low-Coverage, Whole Genome Sequencing to Study Northern Sand Lance (Ammodytes dubius) Population Connectivity in the Northwest Atlantic
Josiah Grzywacz (M.S. 2021)
Major advisor: George McManus
Thesis: Quantum Efficiency (Fv/Fm) and Performance of Retained Plastids in an Oligotrich Mixotroph and Its Prey
Hannah Collins (M.S. 2022)
Major advisor: Evan Ward
Thesis: Examining the effects of nylon microfibers on the gut microbiome and gut tissues of the blue mussel, Mytilus edulis
Kelly McGarry (M.S. 2022)
Major advisor: Samantha Siedlecki
Kelli Mosca (M.S. 2022)
Major advisor: Hannes Baumann
Thesis: Atlantic sturgeon (Acipenser oxyrinchus) Growth and Habitat Use in the Connecticut River and Long Island Sound
Peter Ruffino (M.S. 2022)
Major advisor: Craig Tobias
Thesis: Tracing the fate of phytoplankton-derived nitrogen: effects of oysters on recycling, denitrification, and burial
Samantha Linhardt (M.S. 2022)
Major advisor: Catherine Matassa
Thesis: Consumer pressure interacts with recruitment to shape the effects of an intertidal foundation species (Semibalanus balanoides) at local and regional scales
The John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship Program, sponsored by Sea Grant and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), is a one-year paid fellowship that places graduate students in either an executive or legislative position within the federal government. Fellows are given the opportunity to have direct experience working on the latest issues in ocean, coastal and Great Lakes management and research. Several alumni of our department have been selected to participate in this fellowship in the past. This article discusses the experiences of Dr. Terill Hollweg (’10, PhD), Alec Shub (’20, MS), and Halle Berger (’20, MS, PhD in progress).
The traditional path of graduate students in science has been to pursue careers in academia. As more environmental issues reach the spotlight and are discussed in a national policy context, greater numbers of graduate students are expressing an interest in working for the government in environmental policy or advising positions. Fellowships like the Knauss Fellowship offer recent graduates an opportunity to explore government policy jobs before settling on a career path. All three interviewees cited an interest in non-academic jobs as a driver for their participation in the fellowship. Dr. Hollweg reflected, “In grad school I was focused on looking at contaminants in the environment, and I enjoyed that, but I was open to anything where I felt that I was helping to improve the environment, and the fellowship let me see if NOAA was a place where I could actually feel like I did that.”
Dr. Terill Hollweg
While a fellow, Dr. Hollweg served as a program planning and evaluation specialist in NOAA’s Restoration Center. She noted that one of the biggest challenges of stepping into this role was the contrast between her time in grad school, where her day to day life comprised mostly individual projects and lab work to the fellowship, where she participated in multiple meetings per day, worked on several different projects, and helped to put together deliverables on tight schedules. Despite the challenges of her new role, she enjoyed the fellowship and made many lifelong connections. “One of my favorite things was having the cohort of fellows who all started at the same time. Going to DC and having this group that cares about the same things you do helps you get through being in a new city for the first year. Some of my best friends now are from my cohort of Knauss fellows.”
When her time as a fellow came to an end, Dr. Hollweg transitioned to a full-time contractor positioned in the same NOAA Restoration Center, performing high-level program work. In order to return to some of her more technical roots, she soon took a job with an environmental consulting firm that worked closely with the Restoration Center, where she spent the next 6 years. When a full-time position in the Restoration Center opened up, she transitioned back into working for the Federal government. Reflecting on her experiences with the fellowship, Dr. Hollweg commented “The Knauss Fellowship started my career path and set my career path. If I hadn’t done the fellowship I don’t know what I’d be doing now but I doubt it would be this position. I am so happy they have the fellowship, it’s such a wonderful opportunity to get young people into the government and learn how the government works.”
Since the start of the COVID pandemic, many jobs have transitioned to teleworking, and the Knauss Fellowship was no exception. Shub and Berger were both Fellows in the 2021-2022 cycle, and both cited performing the fellowship virtually as one of their biggest challenges during the experience. The inability to form more personal bonds with other fellows or coworkers was an added complication when stepping into management and organizational roles. Shub served as the International Climate Fellow in NOAA’s Climate Program Office, while Berger worked as a Coastal Stressors Program Coordinator in both the Ocean Acidification Program and the National Center for Coastal and Ocean Science Competitive Research Program within NOAA. Despite the challenges of teleworking, the flexibility of the fellowship and the time built in for personal professional development were invaluable resources. Shub and Berger both discussed how appreciative they were for the many different experiences they were able to have, even outside of their main responsibilities. Post-fellowship, Shub is continuing on as a Program Specialist in the same office where he served his fellowship. The opportunities he was exposed to during his fellowship have given him new perspectives on what kind of career he would like to pursue. Berger has returned to UConn Avery Point to complete her PhD with new perspectives on career opportunities.
Alec ShubHalle Berger
All three had great advice for students who are interested in pursuing the Knauss fellowship. During the finalist stage of the interview process, candidates spend a week in DC (or virtually during COVID) participating in a series of ~20 interviews to determine their placement. Berger advised that applicants plan their interviews strategically, participate in “ask a current fellow” events, and remain open to every opportunity. “Just go into it with an open mind, interview for things you wouldn’t think on paper are good for you, because you might be surprised at what interviews end up being super interesting.” Shub suggested that applicants consider what kind of position they would like to be in, whether it’s more research based or management focused, rather than focusing specifically on what kind of subject material they find interesting. Dr. Hollweg recommended that applicants think about which supervisor will be a good fit, since you will work closely with your supervisor during the experience and they will help advocate for you. All three interviewees strongly recommended the fellowship to students who are interested in policy or government work post-graduation. Learn more about the Knauss Fellowship here.
1. Biological oceanography databases and the mixoplankton paradigm: Advocate for the realignment of existing plankton-facing databases in light of the mixoplankton paradigm. Identify connections between mixoplankton communities and essential ocean variables.
2. Biological oceanography research methods under the mixoplankton paradigm: Re-evaluate extant standard biological oceanographic research methods and practices for application under the mixoplankton paradigm. For example, conventional fixatives often destroy the delicate mixoplankton, while more gentle ones obscure the presence of chloroplasts. Also, pico- and nano-planktonic organisms are routinely counted using flow cytometry or epifluorescence microscopy; while standard protocols can discriminate between pigmented and colourless plankton, they are not geared for identification and quantification of mixoplankton.
3. Development of new biological oceanography methods accounting for primary and secondary productions by mixoplankton: Evaluate development of (a) routine new methods and simple protocols that could be incorporated routinely in ongoing monitoring programmes to better quantify mixoplankton and interpret their activities; and (b) new experimental and observing methods (including autonomous technologies) for quantifying and monitoring mixoplanktonic abundance and activity.
4. Ocean literacy: Development of multi-lingual training material for Early Career Researchers (ECRs), ecosystem managers, teachers and students, to enhance ocean literacy. The mixoplankton paradigm needs to be brought to the attention of students through to policy makers. A Decision Support Tool (DST) will be developed to aid configuration of mixoplankton-centric experiments to determine contributions to primary versus secondary production by these organisms.
The other co-Chair is Dr. Aditee Mitra of Cardiff University in Wales.
SCOR (Scientific Committee on Ocean Research) is an international non-governmental non-profit organization. It’s activities focus on promoting international cooperation in planning and conducting oceanographic research, and solving methodological and conceptual problems that hinder research. SCOR covers all areas of ocean science and cooperates with other organizations with common interests to conduct many SCOR activities. SCOR also conducts several different activities to build the capacity for ocean science in developing countries and every SCOR activity includes members from developing countries. Scientists from thirty-three nations have formed national SCOR committees as a foundation for international SCOR. Approximately 550 scientists from 57 countries currently participate in SCOR activities.
Black in Marine Science (BIMS) is a premier organization aimed to celebrate Black marine scientists, spread environmental awareness and inspire the next generation of scientific thought leaders. Please join us in celebrating and amplifying the work of Black marine scientists by tuning into their many panels, workshops, or keynotes during the week. All of the events are free and will be streamed to the BIMTV YouTube channel (YouTube channel). More information about BIMS can be found here: https://www.blackinmarinescience.org/
Graduate student Halle Berger’s recent publication in AGU Advances has been selected for an Editor’s Highlight in Eos (fewer than 2% of papers are selected for this).
Berger, H.M., S.A. Siedlecki, C.M. Matassa, S.R. Alin, I.C. Kaplan, E.E. Hodgson, D. Pilcher, E.L. Norton, and J.A. Newton (2021): Seasonality and life history complexity determine vulnerability of Dungeness crab to multiple climate stressors. AGU Advances, 2(4), e2021AV000456, doi: 10.1029/2021AV000456, Published online (open access).
The interaction of exposure and the degree of negative response (consequence) to reduced pH, low oxygen and warming temperature on the vulnerability of Dungeness crab eggs, larvae, juvenile and adult life stages assessed from life stage distribution simulations (distribution map) and Lagrangian particle tracking simulations (transport model). Credit: Berger et al., 2021, Figure 3
UConn Professor of Marine Sciences and CIRCA’s Executive Director Jim O’Donnell traveled across the Atlantic this week to attend the COP 26 conference, where leaders from around the globe are meeting in Glasgow, Scotland to confront the climate crisis. So in addition to resources and news articles we’re collecting about the conference, we are fortunate to have someone on the inside! Read on for Jim’s daily perspective along with photos, helpful links, and other insights he shares from what we hope will be an earth-changing climate conference: https://circa.uconn.edu/news-announcements/.
Received the 2021 UConn Faculty Excellence Award for Graduate Teaching. This Award recognizes a faculty member with a distinguished record of sustained teaching excellence through outstanding instruction, engaging students thoroughly in the process of learning, and contributing significantly to the intellectual life of the University.
Grants
CIRCA – Prof. James O’Donnell
The Connecticut legislature’s 2021-23 budget provided an additional $5 million to CIRCA to expand Resilient Connecticut activities and advance fundable projects. CIRCA will continue to support development of innovative adaptation approaches for flood and heat vulnerability along with expert advice on climate issues to communities in Hartford, New London, and Middlesex Counties.
Prof. Hannes Baumann
Connecticut SeaGrant: PI Baumann together with collaborators from CTDEEP received funding to investigate the causes and ecosystem consequences of the recent, steep increase in Black Sea Bass in Long Island Sound.
Jo-Marie Kasinak (graduate student, Prof. Vaudrey) & Prof. Vaudrey
Connecticut SeaGrant: Toward a deeper understanding of human connections with ocean environments: Ocean Identity (OI) as a novel construct, research instrument, and assessment tool. (2022-2024), $143,309, PIs Kelly, Kasinak, McKinley, Vaudrey, & Mattei.
Prof. Robert Mason
NSF Chemical Oceanography: Methylated mercury sources and cycling in the high latitude North Atlantic. (2021-2023), $283,534, PI Mason.
Prof. Samantha Siedlecki
NSF: Regional climate change projections to enable equitable ocean planning for the blue economy (2021-2022), PIs. Pinsky, Hice-Dunton, Siedlecki, & St. Martin. This project aims to enable climate-ready, coordinated, and inclusive decision making throughout the blue economy and spark a new generation of durable blue development.
Prof. Vlahos
NSF: Arctic Marginal Ice Zone Alkalinity (AMIZA). PI Vlahos. This project is studying the components of carbonate alkalinity in the changing Arctic with a focus on the transient ice melt zones.
NIH: Chronic Kidney Disease. PI Vlahos. Lead PI Shuchi Anand, Stanford University. This project is a continuation of our efforts with colleagues in Sri Lanka and at Stanford to expand our 300 person cohort to a 900 person longitudinal study on the progression of kidney disease and water quality.
Publications
Prof. Peter Auster
Prof. Auster presents a chapter as part of an international effort to inform delegations to the United Nations about the status and effects of human activities on the global ocean. (Levin, L. A., Auster, P., Clark, M. R., Hall-Spencer, J. M., Hopcroft, R., Ingels, J., Metaxas, A., Narayanaswamy, B., Tuhumwire, J. T., Yasuhara, M. (2021). Continental slopes and submarine canyons. Chapter 7J, p. 395-420, in: The Second World Ocean Assessment, World Ocean Assessment II. United Nations, New York.)
Prof. Auster and colleagues demonstrate that simple GoPro cameras can be used to quantify the role of oyster aquaculture cages as fish habitat. (Mercaldo-Allen, R., Clark, P., Liu, Y., Phillips, G., Redman, D., Auster, P. J., Estela, E., Milke, L., Verkade, A., Rose, J. M. (2021). Exploring video and eDNA metabarcoding methods to assess oyster aquaculture cages as fish habitat. Aquaculture Environment Interactions 13:277-294.)
Prof. Baumann and colleagues present a study that demonstrates the liver detoxifies previously-bioaccumulated methylmercury based on analyses of tissues from three waterbird species. (Poulin, B.A., Janssen, S.E., Rosera, T.J., Krabbenhoft, D.P., Eagles-Smith, C.A., Ackerman, J.T., Stewart, A.R., Kim, E., Baumann, Z., Kim, J.H. and Manceau, A., 2021. Isotope fractionation from in vivo methylmercury detoxification in waterbirds. ACS Earth and Space Chemistry, 5(5), pp.990-997.)
Prof. Ann Bucklin
Ann Bucklin, chair of the Scientific Committee for Ocean Research (SCOR) Working Group WG157 presents with other members of WG157 a review paper examining global patterns of biodiversity of marine zooplankton using DNA barcodes or short sequences of cytochrome oxidase I (COI) that discriminate and identify species and announce a reference database for identification of species from DNA barcoding and metabarcoding of pelagic biodiversity, with advanced search functions by ocean region and taxonomic group. (Bucklin A., Peijnenburg, K. T. C. A., Kosobokova, K. N., O’Brien, T. D., Blanco-Bercial, L., Cornils, A., Falkenhaug, T., Hopcroft, R. R., Hosia, A., Laakmann, S., Li, C., Martell, L., Questel, J. M., Wall-Palmer, D., Wang, M., Wiebe, P. H., Weydmann-Zwolicka, A. (2021). Toward a global reference database of COI barcodes for marine zooplankton. Marine Biology.)
Profs. Hans Dam, Michael Finiguerra, Hannes Baumann
Profs. Dam, Finiguerra, and Baumann show that zooplankton adapt quickly, but with limited capacity, to ocean warming and acidification, which is both encouraging and sobering news for the response of animal populations to rapid climate change. (Dam, H. G., deMayo, J. A., Park, G., Norton, L., He, X., Finiguerra, M. B., Baumann, H., Brennan, R. S., Pespeni, M. H. (2021). Rapid, but limited, zooplankton adaptation to simultaneous warming and acidification. Nature Climate Change, 11, 780-786.)
Prof. Leonel Romero
Prof. Romero and colleagues propose a new approach to realistically model wave effects on currents, overcoming several limitations of state-of-the-art coupled wave-ocean models. (Romero, L., Hypolite, D., McWilliams, J. C. (2021). Representing Wave Effects on Currents. Ocean Modelling, 167, 101873.)
Prof. Sandy Shumway
Prof. Shumway edited a book titled “Molluscan Shellfish Aquaculture: A Practical Guide” as a usable manual for those interested in an up-to-date introduction to the field. The book covers each of the major cultured species of cultural importance. (Shumway, Sandy, Ed. (2021) Molluscan Shellfish Aquaculture: A Practical Guide. 5M Publishing.)
Prof. Samantha Siedlecki
Prof. Siedlecki and colleagues present work showing that the projected changes for carbon variables like pCO2 and pH in the California Current System (CCS) using a high resolution model are modified by coastal processes resolved in the downscaled projections relative to the projected global simulation, suggesting downscaled projections are necessary to more accurately project future conditions of these variables. (Siedlecki, S. A., Pilcher, D., Howard, E. M., Deutsch, C., MacCready, P., Norton, E. L., Frenzel, H., Newton, J., Feely, R. A., Alin, S. R., Klinger, T. (2021). Coastal processes modify projections of some climate-driven stressors in the California Current System, Biogeosciences, 18, 2871–2890.)
Prof. Siedlecki, graduate student Kelly McGarry, and colleagues present a combination of regional high-resolution simulations that project ocean acidification (OA) conditions for the Gulf of Maine into 2050, the results of which indicate that the aragonite saturation state (one measure of OA) declines and the entire GOM will experiences biologically critical conditions for most of the year. (Siedlecki, S. A., Salisbury, J., Gledhill, D. K., Bastidas, C., Meseck, S., McGarry, K., … & Morrison, R. (2021). Projecting ocean acidification impacts for the Gulf of Maine to 2050: New tools and expectations. Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene, 9(1):00062.)
Prof. Penny Vlahos
Prof. Vlahos, graduate student Emma Shipley, and colleagues present an interdisciplinary study that connects drinking water quality to the progression of kidney disease in rice farmers in the Sri Lankan dry zone. (Vlahos, P., Schensul, S., Anand, S., Shipley, E., Diyabalanage, S., Hu, C., Ha, T., Staniec, A., Haider, L., Schensul, J., Hewavitarne, P., Silva, T., Chandrajith, R., Nanayakkara, N. (Accepted). Water Sources and Kidney Function: Investigating Chronic Kidney Disease of Unknown Etiology in a Prospective Study. NPJ Clean Water.)
Halle Berger (graduate student, Profs. Samantha Siedlecki and Catherine Matassa)
Berger and colleagues present a vulnerability assessment for Dungeness crab to climate change which revealed that population-level vulnerability to future hypoxia is most severe overall due to increased exposure of the critical adult stage during the upwelling season. (Berger, H. M., Siedlecki, S. A., Matassa, C. M., Alin, S. R., Kaplan, I. C., Hodgson, E. E., Pilcher, D. J., Norton, E. L., Newton, J. A. (2021). Seasonality and life history complexity determine vulnerability of Dungeness crab to multiple climate stressors. AGU Advances, 2, e2021AV000456.)
Allison Staniec (PhD graduate, Prof. Penny Vlahos)
Staniec and colleagues present a study identifying the role of sea spray in gas exchange in an article that was also featured in Nature Highlights: Big Potential for Tiny Droplets. (Staniec, A., Vlahos, P., Monahan, E. C. (2021) The role of sea spray in atmosphere-ocean gas exchange. Nature Geoscience, 14, 593-598.)