Harmony of Nature II: Music as a Tool for Science Communication

Posted on March 24, 2025March 25, 2025 by Hannes Baumann

Molly, a scientist and bass trombone player in the Southeastern Connecticut Community Orchestra, and Sophy, a pianist trained at The Juilliard School and a teacher at Yewon Arts School in Seoul, previously merged their passions to create Harmony of Nature phase I in 2022. The project transformed environmental data (temperature changes, wind speed, wave height, and tides) from the South Korean Meteorological Agency into sounds and classical compositions.

The project received a lot of positive feedback, especially following live performances. Motivated by this success, the team enlisted Max, a composer also trained at The Juilliard School and computer scientist, to help develop a second album. Like the first, Harmony of Nature II uses environmental data to generate musical compositions, but with a specific focus on wave data.

One piece, called honshu_east_all - tsunami, is composed from data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Deep-ocean Assessment and Reporting of Tsunamis (DART) buoy system during the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami in Japan. The piece features bell tones at intervals that correspond to the tsunami signal detected by the buoys as it traveled across the Pacific Ocean. Another composition, sea level rise, uses NOAA Tides & Currents buoy data from long-standing stations in NY and CT to explore sea level rise in Long Island Sound.

The goal of these compositions is to translate complex, non-intuitive environmental data into a deeper emotional connection to nature. While it can be difficult to quantitatively measure the exact impact on scientific literacy or audience actions, Molly notes that in-person feedback has been “very positive” with listeners expressing emotional connections and increased knowledge.

The team is already working on Harmony of Nature III, with a target release date sometime between 2025 and 2026. Currently, they are exploring datasets from the 2024 Atlantic Ocean hurricane season that brought devastation to the US including storms such as Beryl, Helene, and Milton. At the same time, they are also exploring data related to rapid Arctic environmental changes and glacial melt. Their future goals include expanding the instrumentation, recruiting more musicians for recordings and performances, and including researchers from other scientific fields.

“This exercise in collaboration and science communication presented me with opportunities to learn from my two teammates who have totally different skillsets from my own and who challenge my inclinations and training as a scientist. I am out of my comfort zone in all our meetings”, says Molly.

For her, the experiences with Harmony of Nature have offered multiple iterations of science communication training from communicating to Sophy and Max as well as to their intended audience. Molly adds that effective science communication, whether through music or other avenues, relies on understanding your audience, distilling your message, and avoiding jargon.

So far, Sophy has performed Harmony of Nature II at several venues in the US, including the Marc A. Scorca Hall at the National Opera Center in New York City (3/23/24), the Branford House at UConn Avery Point (3/27/24), and at the von der Mehden Hall at UConn Storrs (3/29/24).

Paper on ocean mercury fluxes in Science Advances

Posted on March 19, 2025 by Manning, Cara

Congratulations to UConn authors Yipeng He, Hannah Inman, and Robert Mason, as well as their collaborators, on their paper “Elevated methylmercury in Arctic rain and aerosol linked to air-sea exchange of dimethylmercury,” which was published in Science Advances on March 19!

From the authors:
The results of our study of mercury (Hg) dynamics in the Arctic in May/June 2021 further documented the potential of the ocean to be a source of dimethylmercury (DMHg) to the atmosphere under specific conditions, in this instance in conjunction with coastal upwelling. The study further showed that the fate of this DMHg is that it is converted in the atmosphere to methylmercury (MeHg), the most toxic and bioaccumulative form of Hg, which is then transported long distances in the atmosphere before being returned to the ocean in precipitation and through aerosol deposition leading to the potential contamination of fish and marine mammals in vulnerable ecosystems far from the DMHg source. The study determined the magnitude of the various fluxes involved in this transport to further quantify the importance of this pathway.

This research formed part of the thesis research of Yipeng He, the lead author, and was funded by NSF Polar Programs to Robert Mason and his co-PIs. Hannah Inman was also involved in the research study and is a co-author on the paper.

Photo 1: Yipeng He, Robert Mason, Marissa Despins, and Hannah Inman on the Arctic research expedition.

Figure 2: Graphical depiction of the processes demonstrating how the evasion of dimethylmercury (DMHg) to the atmosphere results in its conversion to methylmercury (MMHg) which is then redeposited to the ocean via precipitation and aerosol deposition far from the source.

Figure 3: The associated estimated fluxes of methylated mercury (MeHg) into or out of the ocean for the various Arctic locations studied showing the net transport of MeHg from the DMHg source region to other ocean regions.

“Just keep swimming: challenges in PhD research”

Posted on March 8, 2025March 11, 2025 by Hannes Baumann

The ole adage holds true for DMS graduate student Emma Siegfried’s first experiments on a new species of sand lance

By Samantha Rush and Hannes Baumann

In 1984, the late Alphonse Smigielski and colleagues published a research paper that showed how American sand lance (Ammodytes americanus) could be successfully spawned and reared in the laboratory. Now, DMS PhD student Emma Siegfried is working to continue experimental research on this species, finding that revisiting the 40 year old study is not without challenges.

Sand lances are so called forage fish, meaning that their role in the ecosystem is to eat tiny planktonic organisms while being important food themselves for higher trophic animals such as other fish, seabirds, and marine mammals. Despite their importance, there is insufficient information about how this species will cope to climate change, particularly during the most sensitive larval and embryo stages. To fill this knowledge gap, Emma’s work focuses on exploring how increasing water temperatures and carbon dioxide (CO₂) levels affect sand lance embryos and larvae.

Previous research conducted in Prof. Hannes Baumann’s Evolutionary Fish Ecology lab discovered that embryos of the closely related Northern sand lance (Ammodytes dubius) are extremely sensitive to elevated CO₂ levels, as they are projected to occur in future oceans. However, whether American sand lance are equally CO₂ sensitive is not known.

Emma’s thesis research began in 2024 by first trying to find a reliable and easy to access location, where the species could be found and collected. In the harbor of the Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve in Wells, Maine, she found what she needed, because her fish occurred in high numbers there and could be sampled at low tide easily via beach seine. Now Emma’s goal was to catch the fish as close as possible prior to their spawning season, which in the case of sand lance starts with the beginning of winter.

In late August and early October 2024, Emma and her lab mates successfully collected sand lance and transported them live to the Rankin Seawater at Avery Point. There, however, sand lance proved challenging to care for, as they prefer spending days to weeks burrowed in sand (hence their name), making it difficult to monitor their health and development. Subsequent sampling efforts in November and early December brought a new set back, because the previously accessible population in Wells Harbor had evidently moved into slightly deeper waters and thereby out of reach for the beach seine. Unfazed, Emma proceeded to rear the fish she already had in the lab, hoping that they would ripen and eventually produce embryos for a CO₂-sensitivity experiment.

At first, this looked like another failure. Sand lance use the declining temperature as a cue to ripen, but the waters of eastern Long Island Sound that flow through the Rankin lab remained unseasonably warm well into December. Eventually, however, on 23 December 2024, water temperatures crossed the critical 7°C threshold, and 3 days later, Emma and her lab mates indeed succeeded in strip-spawning a few ripened up females! The fertilized embryos were then placed in the Automatic Larval Fish Rearing System (ALFiRiS) that allows computer-controlled exposure of organisms to different temperature and CO₂ conditions.

Unfortunately, more experimental setbacks followed. Less than 1% of the embryos actually developed to hatch, the CO₂-induced acidification did not produce the desired target pH levels, and a system malfunction remained undetected long enough to raise water temperatures to unnatural levels. Emma remains positive, however, and looks at her trials and tribulations as well as the preliminary data as a valuable exercise in gathering experience with this new, non-model species.

“Even though it didn’t go the way we expected, [we] still learned a lot.” she says.

She added that science is by definition challenging, but she is eager to apply what she has learned and move forward. More generally, her thesis research aims to answer the question whether CO₂-sensitivity is a shared trait among sand lance species. To that end, she is applying for a grant to collaborate with researchers in Bergen, Norway who have experience with another, closely related sand lance species (Lesser sand eel, Ammodytes marinus). She hopes to secure funding to travel and conduct research there from December 2025 through March 2026.

DMS sophomore to study if tiny algae grow calcium carbonate crystals

Posted on February 12, 2025February 12, 2025 by Hannes Baumann

Evelyn Lewis glances at the well plates full of colorful slime in Prof. Visscher’s lab and smiles. The life thriving in there is invisible to the naked eye, but she knows how to keep the microscopic critters happy. For almost a year now, she has helped taking care of them, and this has helped others in the lab with their research projects.

But now, Evelyn is starting a project of her own. Her soft voice betrays the nascent excitement, as she examines a well plate full of what looks like crusty, white dust.

“These are calcium carbonate crystals, and they look so beautiful under the microscope”, she says.

Thanks to a new supply grant from UConn’s Office for Undergraduate research, she will now have the opportunity to look at many more of these crystals. Evelyn’s research will focus on some of the smallest photosynthetic organisms in world, cyanobacteria. When they bloom they often coat themselves in slime that they can chemically manipulate. The conditions in this extracellular slime might then become favorable to bind carbon dioxide (CO₂) in form of calcium carbonate (CaCO₃), ultimately removing it from the atmosphere. In other words, cyanobacteria may be tiny but mighty as a natural tool for combating the increase of heat-trapping CO2 in the atmosphere.

“These natural options of using microbial slime for CO₂ removal remain surprisingly underexplored”, explains Visscher. “The slime binds calcium and when it sinks to the bottom, it supports CaCO₃ formation in sediments for thousands of years. This recently discovered mechanism provides novel insights into the global carbon cycle.”

So over the course of the next months, Evelyn will culture cyanobacteria again – but this time for her project. In small well plates, she will measure their CaCO₃ production for about two weeks in relation to differing amounts of calcium. Yet the arguably coolest part will come after that, when the collected crystals will be examined using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS).

Ultimately, the gathered data will allow testing the overarching hypothesis that the presence of cyanobacteria increases CaCO₃ precipitation.

At DMS phytoplankton are now on IFCB-TV

Posted on February 5, 2025February 6, 2025 by Hannes Baumann

The team of DMS researchers Dr. Zofia Baumann, Dr. Kate Randolph and Hazel Levine are happy to share that a major new instrument has begun its long anticipated work. The Imaging Flow Cytobot - or IFCB for short - is for now installed in the Rankin Seawater lab, after being purchased with a UConn-CLAS shared equipment grant nearly two years ago (Dierssen, Baumann et al.).

The instrument has the capacity to monitor and display in real time the breath-taking diversity of microscopic life in the ocean. Our IFCB focuses on the smaller size classes 5 - 150 um, which mostly represent single cell algae and small mixotrophs.

Leveraging additional NSF support, we were able to overcome challenges with operating the IFCB on a routine basis. The IFCB now accesses the intake line of the Rankin Lab (a very small fraction of it) and then photographs any particles and characteristic shapes. The compilation below shows a given size range to illustrate some of the diversity. The IFCB now records these images and displays them on a public-facing online Dashboard, which can be mesmerizing to watch.

Plankton-composite — The composition of some of the larger phytoplankton as captured by the IFCB on February 6th 2025.

The implementation of the IFCB in Rankin Lab was led by Kate Randolph and greatly supported by Hazel Levine, Bob Dziomba, Charlie Woods, Todd Fake, and Chris Mills! Thank you.

The next step is to develop an AI-based classification system for automatic species identification. This will still take time, but we are collaborating with other IFCB users, including its inventors, and are optimistic about the progress ahead.

We hope you enjoy the stunning images of phytoplankton on what we like to call

"IFCB TV" !

Posted on February 5, 2025February 5, 2025 by Hannes Baumann

Reposted from UConn Today by Sarah Al-Arshani | January 28, 2025

A study led by marine sciences Ph.D. student Hannah Collins found that Novamont’s Mater-Bi, a starch-based polymer, degraded significantly faster than traditional plastics—showing promise for reducing marine pollution

Plastic pollution has become a global crisis, with the United Nations Environment Programme estimating between 19 and 23 million tons of plastic waste leak into aquatic ecosystems each year. A partnership between UConn marine sciences researchers and a leading bioplastics manufacturer is showing promise in addressing this issue.

A recent study published in the Journal of Polymers and the Environment found that Mater-Bi, a starch-based polymer produced by Italian company Novamont, degraded by as much as nearly 50% over nine months in a marine environment—significantly more than traditional plastics.

Novamont, which has a U.S. office in Shelton, collaborated with the UConn team to evaluate the product’s biodegradation.

tanks-hannah-and-larissa-3-998x665 — Marine sciences Ph.D. candidate Hannah Collins and Larissa Tabb '22 evaluate the lab tanks to check on degradation progress. (Contributed by Hannah Collins)

The study was led by Hannah Collins, a marine sciences Ph.D. candidate. Collins and her co-author, Larissa Tabb ’22 (CLAS), highlighted research done as part of the Marine Environmental Physiology Laboratory under the guidance of her advisor, professor and head of marine sciences Evan Ward.

“I’ve always been interested in how marine animals interact with their environment,” Collins says. “When our lab started looking at microplastics, it was clear how pervasive and damaging this problem is.”

Collins says the findings could have meaningful implications for reducing plastic pollution in aquatic environments. For example, products like Mater-Bi could replace traditional plastics used in aquatic structures, such as kelp farm lines, to reduce the possibility of plastic pollution.

“We’ve seen the pictures of sea turtles with plastic around their heads,” she says. “We have a lot of evidence of the negative effects of plastic pollution.”

Collins, who grew up visiting Cape Cod and the beaches of Long Island Sound, has long been fascinated by marine life. After earning a degree in biology from Gettysburg College and working in Alaska’s salmon fisheries, she decided to combine her passion for marine organisms and the environment, first in her master’s program and now for her Ph.D.

She says the collaboration with Novamont has helped her feel like she is making a difference in addressing marine pollution. It also provided her with hands-on experience examining real-world product applications.

Biodegradable plastics like Mater-Bi degrade much faster than traditional plastics, reducing risks to aquatic environments. However, Collins notes that many of these products are often tested under controlled conditions, not in real-world marine environments.

Collins’ research on Mater-Bi was conducted in a semi-controlled environment at the John S. Rankin Laboratory on the Avery Point campus. The lab filters seawater from the surrounding area to keep large organisms, like crabs, out. This allowed Collins and her team to test how much the product degraded in natural conditions while ruling out the impact of interference from those large organisms.

Her team tested samples of a Mater-Bi compostable bag, a traditional plastic bag, and a known biodegradable plastic in the lab. Every two weeks, they checked and measured how much each sample degraded by either mass or area. After nine months, they found that the Mater-Bi samples lost between 25% and 47% of their mass or area. Additionally, they found that the rate of degradation increased during warmer months.

“Microbial activity tends to increase in warmer conditions, which likely contributed to the faster degradation rates we observed,” Collins says.

Collins says she is hopeful that these findings could lead to future uses of Mater-Bi in aquaculture, especially for products where temporary or disposable materials are often used, such as oyster grow-out bags or kelp farming lines.

“If something breaks loose, it won’t persist in the water for decades,” she says.

Collins and Tabb have maintained connections with Novamont. Collins will attend the World Aquaculture Conference in New Orleans this March, where she hopes to connect industry leaders with biodegradable products like those produced by Novamont.

“Addressing plastic pollution requires a range of solutions,” she says. “Biodegradable plastics are just one piece of the puzzle.”

Summary of Summer/Fall 2024 Departmental Achievements

Posted on December 2, 2024March 8, 2025 by Hannes Baumann

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.

A delayed spring bloom along the West Antarctica Peninsula

Posted on December 2, 2024December 2, 2024 by Hannes Baumann

By Samantha Rush.

If you think about the holiday season, it is easy to grasp the trend that Christmas festivities that used to begin traditionally after Thanksgiving in the US appear much earlier. In recent years, the timeline has shifted and many Christmas and holiday themed advertisements, decorations, and events appear even sooner than before. Of course, this notable shift has traceable causes and is known (consciously or subconsciously) to be driven by retail strategies, commercialization, consumer behavior, social media influences, and cultural shifts.

The changes in the timelines of global phenomena also extend to marine environments. In fact, the polar regions are some of the most rapidly changing locations on the planet due to human induced climate change. In the West Antarctic Peninsula (Figure 1), a combination of warming and sea ice loss have altered the timing of recurring seasonal events, the study of which is known as phenology. While most predictions have suggested that these changes in the environment would cause an earlier spring bloom, or ocean biology to kick start, lead author and postdoctoral researcher Jessie Turner found exactly the opposite in a recent study of the ice-associated waters west of the Antarctic Peninsula.

Using satellite ocean color data from 1997 to 2022, researchers from the University of Connecticut and five other collaborating institutions and laboratories discovered that spring blooms were shifting later in ice zones and on continental shelf regions west of the Antarctic Peninsula (Figure 2). By using satellite derived chlorophyll-a concentrations as a proxy for phytoplankton biomass, researchers were able to track the concentration and timing of the elevated concentration corresponding to the date when heightened biological activity begins.

After investigating a handful of environmental variables to better ascertain the potential mechanisms for the seasonal shift, the authors found that wind speed was the most likely mechanism for the observed change in the spring bloom start date. Other variables such as light and temperature did not explain the trends. However, there was a long-term increase in wind mixing, which likely decreases the stability of the water column in the early spring season and suppresses phytoplankton accumulation until later in the season (Figure 3).

While phytoplankton are small single cell plants, the timing of the phytoplankton spring bloom affects the entire marine food web. Higher trophic level organisms may experience feeding, migration, and breeding impacts. In fact, phenology changes at the base of the Antarctic food web are likely to disrupt the life history of key species such as Adélie penguins. Other, widespread impacts also include potential changes to the timing and magnitude of carbon dioxide absorption by the ocean in these locations.

Next, the researchers plan to investigate specific phytoplankton species and employ the use of new generation hyperspectral satellite missions to further study long-term trends in polar regions. Rapidly developing technology combined with field measurements will allow for better examinations of the changes rapidly occurring in this polar region in studies to come.

Jessica S. Turner, J.S., Dierssen, H., Kim, H.H., Stammerjohn, S., Munro, D.R., and Kavanaugh, M. (2024). Changing phytoplankton phenology in the marginal ice zone west of the Antarctic peninsula. Marine Ecology Progress Series 734: 1–21

Meet DMS alumnus Dr. Chris Murray

Posted on December 2, 2024December 2, 2024 by Hannes Baumann

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.

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 Michael Whitney promoted to Full Professor

Posted on November 25, 2024November 27, 2024 by Manning, Cara

Congratulations to Professor Michael Whitney who has been promoted to Full Professor. Professor Whitney is an expert in coastal and estuarine physical oceanography and investigates physical dynamics such as river plumes, freshwater-saltwater mixing, tidal flows, and the impacts of bathymetry on circulation. He also researches the effects of these physical dynamics on water quality and the transport of debris, organisms, contaminants, and other chemicals. His research uses a combination of modeling and observational approaches including data collection and assimilation. To date he has published 43 research articles and received nearly $5 million in research funding as lead and co-principal investigator. Professor Whitney has active grants that support research on the transport of oyster larvae and harmful bacteria and the Icelandic Coastal Current.

Professor Whitney is actively engaged in education of our undergraduate, graduate, and certificate program students by teaching Physical Oceanography, Oceanographic Data Analysis, and River Influences on the Marine Environment. He has served as major advisor to nine MS and PhD students, involves undergraduates in his research, and participates in many outreach activities for local youth. He is actively engaged in service to the department, university, and broader scientific community including being the faculty point of contact and developer for our new Graduate Certificate in Oceanographic Science & Technology.

Professor Whitney joined UConn as an assistant professor in 2005 and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2012 and full professor in 2024. He has been Associate Head of the Department of Marine Sciences since August 2024.

Congratulations to Dr. Whitney on your achievements and thank you for your contributions to UConn and the scientific community!

Marine Sciences