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.

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.

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.”

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. 

Awards

Prof. Robert Mason

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.

Prof. Penny Vlahos

Elected to the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering.

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.

Publications

Prof. Hannes Baumann

Baumann and colleagues publish new experimental evidence for the unusual CO2-sensitivity of sand lance embryos. (Baumann, H., Jones, L.F., Murray, C.S., Siedlecki, S.A., Alexander, M.,  Cross, E.L. (2022) Impaired hatching exacerbates the high CO2 sensitivity of embryonic sand lance, Ammodytes dubius. Marine Ecology Progress Series 687:147-162.)

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.)

DMS graduate student Callie Concannon published her Masters thesis on long-term fecundity effects of high CO2 conditions in silversides (Concannon, C.A.*, Cross, E.L., Jones, L.F.*, Murray, C.S., Matassa, C. McBride, R.S., and Baumann, H. (2021) Temperature-dependent effects on fecundity in a serial broadcast spawning fish after whole-life high-CO2 exposure. ICES Journal of Marine Science 78:3724–3734)

Profs. Ann Bucklin and Paola Batta-Lona

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. Cara Manning

Prof. Manning and colleagues characterize interannual variability in the distributions of the potent greenhouse gases methane and nitrous oxide in the rapidly-changing Arctic Ocean using measurements from 13 research cruises between 2015 to 2019. (Manning, C.C.M., Zheng, Z., Fenwick, L., McCulloch, R.D., Damm, E., Izett, R.W., et al. (2022) Interannual variability in methane and nitrous oxide concentrations and sea-air fluxes across the North American Arctic Ocean (2015–2019). Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 36, e2021GB007185.)

Prof. Robert Mason

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 work from a past cruise, showing data of mercury in all its forms in the central Arctic Ocean: water, ice cores, snow, brine, and ice ponds. (Jonsson, S., Michelle G. Nerentorp Mastromonaco, Gardfeldt, Mason, R.P. (2022) Distribution of total mercury and methylated mercury species in central Arctic Ocean Water and Ice. Marine Chemistry, 242, Art. # 104105.)

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)

This paper describes a framework for conducting interdisciplinary research using a hybrid model (in person + remote components) to make collaboration more efficient, equitable, and inclusive. (Rudzin, J.E., Soule, D.C., Whitaker, J., Berger, H., Clayton, S., Fogaren, K.E. (2022) Catalyzing Remote Collaboration During the COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond: Early Career Oceanographers Adopt Hybrid Open Science Framework. Frontiers in Marine Science, 9:855192.) 

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.”

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.

 

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.

The Department of Marine Sciences is proud to announce that Prof. George McManus will co-chair a new SCOR working group titled

Mixotrophy in the Oceans – Novel Experimental designs and Tools for a new trophic paradigm (MixONET) [link to: https://scor-int.org/group/mixotrophy-in-the-oceans-novel-experimental-designs-and-tools-for-a-new-trophic-paradigm-mixonet]

The new working group has 4 broad objectives:

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.