2005 September Newsmakers
Honors & Public Service
Marine parasitologist Dr. Robin M. "Bob" Overstreet, professor of coastal sciences at the Gulf Coast Research Laboratory, accepted the 2005 S.F. Snieszko Distinguished Service Award presented by the Fish Health Section of the American Fisheries Society during the section's annual meeting in Minneapolis, Minn., July 27-29. "The award is a career achievement award, and Dr. Overstreet's dedication and contributions to research, teaching and service in parasitology and fish health are recognized by his colleagues the world over," said Dr. Jeffrey M. Lotz, professor and chair of coastal sciences at the GCRL. Oversteet began his tenure as a researcher at the GCRL in 1969. He has authored approximately 275 publications, including one book and 37 book chapters. He served as major professor or research adviser for nine graduated doctoral students and three graduated master's students. He is currently mentoring five graduate students.
The membership of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists elected Dr. Mark Peterson, professor of coastal sciences at GCRL, to a five-year term on the board of governors during the society's 85th annual meeting held July 6-11 in Tampa, Fla. The board conducts the business of the organization dedicated to the scientific study of fishes, amphibians and reptiles. Also attending the conference were Nancy Brown-Peterson, GCRL research associate, and coastal sciences graduate student Missy Partyka.
Dr. Sharon H. Walker, professor of coastal sciences, was named one of the first five National Sea Grant College Office Leadership Award recipients June 7 during the annual meeting of the National Sea Grant network in Rockport, Maine. Walker is director of education for the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium headquartered at the Gulf Coast Research Laboratory in Ocean Springs and is also administrator of the Scott Aquarium in Biloxi. Dr. Ronald C. Baird, national Sea Grant director, recognized Walker's leadership on national Sea Grant initiatives as well as her participation on the science advisory panel of the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy. Baird cited Walker "as one of the most highly respected educators within the Sea Grant network."
Walker was also elected to the board of directors for the Regional Association for the Gulf of Mexico Coastal Ocean Observing System in June as one of two education and outreach representatives on the board. The association seeks to establish a sustained observing system for the Gulf of Mexico to provide observations and products needed by users to address issues related to climate, human health, national security, coastal hazards and marine resources, ecosystems and transportation. Walker will provide leadership in bridging the gap between ocean data collected by the system and users.
Grants and Contracts
Federal and state agencies have awarded Gulf Coast Research Laboratory scientists more than $2.26 million this summer in support of new and continuing research projects that range from shrimp farming to applications of geospatial technologies.
Marine botanists Dr. Patrick D. Biber, assistant professor of coastal sciences, and John D. Caldwell, research associate, are continuing their work with an experimental native plant nursery at GCRL through two grants: a $100,000 one-year grant awarded through the Gulf of Mexico Foundation from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, and a $25,000 one-year grant from the Tidelands Trust Fund administered through the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources (DMR). The nursery project is part of a comprehensive management program led by DMR for restoration of wetlands along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Biber and Caldwell are experimenting with growing saltmarsh plants from the seeds of native Mississippi plants. They are developing procedures for producing native Mississippi plants that will be readily available for use in restoration projects.
The National Council for Air and Stream Improvement has awarded $3,501 to Nancy Brown-Peterson, GCRL research associate, to continue analysis of tissues from reproductive organs of the fathead minnow. Brown-Peterson, an authority on fish reproduction, determines if there is developmental delay or abnormal development in gonadal tissues of minnows exposed to compounds in endocrine-disrupter studies.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce, has awarded a $382,962 two-year grant to Drs. Marius Brouwer, professor of coastal sciences, and Erik Carlson, research assistant professor, to further the health of the nation's coastal waters. The grant will support phase three of the Lab's efforts to develop the next generation of molecular indicators for determining the impacts of hypoxia and toxic chemicals in estuarine ecosystems. The GCRL and Texas State University-San Marcos are members of the Aquatic Research Consortium and are collaborating on the project.
The USM Foundation has awarded Dr. Jinx Campbell, assistant professor of coastal sciences, a $1,067 grant to conduct environmental screening for Dehalococcoides, the only known organism capable of degrading chlorinated hydrocarbons such as tetrachloroethane (PCE) and trichloroethane (TCE). Campbell analyzes samples to determine the presence of the bacteria in polluted waterways as a step in determining the extent of remediation required. The naturally occurring Dehalococcoides bacterium detoxifies chlorinated solvents that pose human and environmental health risks
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has awarded a one-year $24,000 grant to Dr. Gregory A. Carter, research professor of coastal sciences at the GCRL, for a project on the use of remote sensing to assess the diversity of plant species on Mississippi's barrier islands. The grant will support the dissertation research of coastal sciences doctoral student Kelly Lucas.
Dr. Bruce H. Comyns, associate professor of coastal sciences at the GCRL, has received $109,716 for year one of a two-year grant from the Marine Fisheries Initiative (MARFIN) of the National Marine Fisheries Service in NOAA. The grant is in support of Comyns' research on the early life stages of marine fish that rely on sargassum algae as a nursery habitat. His investigation focuses on larvae and young juveniles of dolphin, also known as mahi mahi, and greater amberjack. Co-principal investigators are fisheries biologists James S. Franks and Eric Hoffmayer, both of the Center for Fisheries Research and Development at the GCRL.
Comyns and Southern Miss colleagues are also using microchemistry of otoliths –fish ear bones –to identify areas that are sources for spotted seatrout fish stocks in Mississippi waters. Their research is supported through a $68,177 grant from the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium. The researchers will look at population movements and compare variability of regional patterns of otolith signatures among different years as well. Spotted seatrout, also known locally as speckled trout, are in great demand among recreational anglers. Co-principal investigators are coastal sciences faculty Drs. Chester F. Rakocinski, associate professor of coastal sciences, Mark S. Peterson, professor of coastal sciences, and Alan M. Shiller, professor of marine science.
The National Marine Fisheries Service, an agency in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, has awarded Dr. Eric R. Hoffmayer a $7,000 grant to investigate the abundance of coastal sharks in Mississippi waters. The Mississippi Sound is an important nursery ground for at least nine different shark species that inhabit Mississippi waters eight months out of the year. Hoffmayer is examining the seasonal abundance and distribution of these sharks, and what he learns will help resource agencies in decisions on how to better protect and manage sharks in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Hoffmayer is a fisheries biologist in the Center for Fisheries Research and Development at the GCRL.
With an $830,740 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Drs. Jeffrey M. Lotz and Robin M. Overstreet, professors of coastal sciences at the GCRL, will continue their research and development program to identify and solve problems that limit profitability and expansion of the marine shrimp farming industry in the United States. GCRL technology is fast becoming the industry standard for culture of the marine Pacific white shrimp. GCRL researchers developed the indoor, closed system that reuses the water in which the shrimp are raised. They confirmed the system's economic feasibility in 2003 and are now focused on testing production capability in a commercial-scale facility.
Marine invertebrate zoologist Jerry A. McLelland, a Gulf Coast Research Laboratory research associate, is continuing his work on northern Gulf of Mexico organisms through two new awards. With a $191,405 two-year contract from the ConocoPhillips Company, McLelland and Dr. Richard W. Heard, professor of coastal sciences, will analyze decapod larvae from plankton samples collected by the Dauphin Island Sea Lab in Alabama. The study will supplement an environmental bioassessment DISL is conducting related to a liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility proposed for the northern Gulf.
McLelland's second award is a $15,000 grant from NOAA through the Panama City, Fla., office of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and supports his contribution to a research program on the endangered Gulf of Mexico sturgeon. He will identify bottom-dwelling invertebrate species that are potential food in the sturgeon's known feeding grounds in the shallow coastal waters of northern Florida.
A one-year grant of $532,256 from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will continue a program at the Gulf Coast Geospatial Center that is designed to provide the resources for Mississippi to gather highly accurate data on land elevations and to relate those measurements to the changes in sea levels in the Gulf of Mexico. Earlier NOAA funding established the new Southern Miss height modernization initiative to install a network of GPS-based Continuously Operating Reference Stations (CORS) in coastal Mississippi along with co-located water level stations at selected CORS sites. COR stations provide high-accuracy positioning information to the coastal surveying, engineering and science community. David S. Mooneyhan, deputy director of the center at the GCRL, is principal investigator of the program.
GCRL fisheries biologist Larry C. Nicholson will continue a striped bass restoration evaluation project over the next two years. A $41,165 grant from the National Marine Fisheries Service will fund the project for the 2005-06 project year. The restoration program's aquaculture work is also funded by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and administered through the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources. The GCRL, in cooperation with the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, has raised and released more than 14 million striped bass in Mississippi coastal rivers since the program began in 1968.
Dr. Mark S. Peterson, coastal sciences professor at the GCRL, has received $18,170 in funding from the USDA Forest Service to measure water quality at selected sites in the DeSoto National Forest. The effort is part of the forest service's monthly monitoring of the water quality of streams within national forests.
The Louisiana/Mississippi digital coast initiative will continue under the leadership of Dr. Edward R. Pinero with a one-year $315,500 grant from NOAA. The project will provide a central location of coastal-specific digital data that can be used by university researchers, resource managers and economic development organizations to track environmental and economic trends taking place on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Software analysts with the Gulf Coast Geospatial Center at the GCRL are formatting and storing high resolution digital satellite imagery, aerial photography and historical data as they build a "digital coast."
The Mississippi Department of Marine Resources has awarded a $141,158 one-year contract to Dawn Rebarchik, microbiology research associate. The shellfish sanitation laboratory at the GCRL will analyze sea water samples and oyster meats and provide data on bacterial levels of oyster-growing waters to the DMR, the state agency responsible for decisions on open and closure of oyster harvest areas. Rebarchik has also received a $10,000 contract from the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality to continue laboratory analysis of water quality samples that MSDEQ collects during regulatory monitoring activities.
Dr. Sharon H. Walker, professor of coastal sciences and administrator of the J.L. Scott Marine Education Center and Aquarium in Biloxi, has received three grants for educational programs. The awards are $52,008 from the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium, $25,000 from the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources, and $25,000 for a summer coastal ecology camp for teens from the U.S. Department of Education through the Gear Up Mississippi program.
Publications and Presentations
Dr. Shelia Brown, coordinator of educational programs at the J.L. Scott Marine Education Center and Aquarium, is leading six workshops for Mississippi teachers at the Aquarium from October through July. Through Mississippi Department of Marine Resources sponsorship, teachers receive room and board, resource materials and one day of substitute teacher salary. Cost to teachers is a $25 registration fee and cost of continuing education units (CEUs). Each topic in the series is offered once. The workshops are Beach and Barrier Islands, Creatures of the Deep, Ocean and Human Health, Coastal Wetlands, Fauna and Flora of Mississippi Sound, and Aquaculture. Joining Brown in presenting lectures and hands-on activities are scientists from the Gulf of Mexico region and Scott Aquarium educators Michael Carley, Sam Clardy, Rebecca Espey, Jennifer Hale, and Rick Ranew.
Brown made a presentation comparing cold seeps and hydrothermal vents in the Gulf of Mexico at a NOAA Ocean Exploration Teacher Workshop in New Orleans June 27. Brown, a veteran of cruises taking teachers to sea, also assisted with hands-on learning activities that teachers could take back to use in their classrooms.
Nancy Brown-Peterson, Gulf Coast Research Laboratory research associate, is author of the article "Molecular Indicators of Hypoxia in the Blue Crab, Callinectes sapidus" published recently in Marine Ecology Progress Series. Co-authors are Dr. Patrick Larkin, EcoArray, Inc., Alachua, Fla.; Dr. Nancy Denslow, University of Florida; Christina L. King, GCRL toxicology technician; Steve Manning, GCRL research associate; and Dr. Marius Brouwer, coastal sciences professor.
Brown-Peterson gave a poster presentation at the 85 th annual meeting of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists in Tampa, Fla., July 6-11 on "Reproduction, Age and Growth of Sheepshead, Archosargus probatocephalus, in Mississippi Waters.” Co-authors are James "Tut" Warren, fisheries biologist; William D. Dempster, technician; Gary Gray, technician, all of the Center for Fisheries Research and Development at the GCRL; and Jason Tilley, coastal sciences graduate student.
Brown-Peterson also served on the organizing committee and was a presenter for the 2005 Gonadal Histology Workshop held in St. Petersburg, Fla., July 12-13. Her presentation was “Reproductive Classification of Female Teleosts: Beyond the Fisheries Perspective.” The workshop included one day of oral presentations and one of hands-on viewing and discussion of tissue slides of hermaphroditic fishes.
Dr. Gregory A. Carter, chief scientist of the Gulf Coast Geospatial Center and research professor of coastal sciences at the Gulf Coast Research Laboratory, and doctoral student Kelly L. Lucas gave presentations on the use of hyperspectral remote sensing in research at the Botany 2005 Conference, Aug. 13-17 in Austin, Texas. "Hyperspectral remote sensing by aircraft records measurements in narrow bands throughout the visible spectrum and continues into the infrared spectrum," Carter said. "The fine spectral resolution gives us more detailed information about the characteristics of vegetation in our study areas."
Carter reported on research that he and 2005 master's graduate and co-author Tami M. Wells conducted on invasive species in northern Mobile Bay wetlands. The title was "Hyperspectral Remote Sensing of Invasive Aquatic Plant Populations in the Mobile-Tensaw River Delta, Alabama." Lucas' presentation, with Carter as co-author, was "The Use of Hyperspectral Remote Sensing to Evaluate Plant Species Richness on Horn Island, Mississippi."
The scientific journal Marine Biology recently published an article on wahoo co-authored by James S. Franks, fisheries biologist with the Center for Fisheries Research and Development at the Gulf Coast Research Laboratory. The article reported on a study of population structure of wahoo, considered among the fastest, most powerful fish in the sea. Author Amber F. Garber, a 2001 coastal sciences graduate, is now a doctoral zoology student at North Carolina State University. Michael D. Tringali of Florida Marine Research Institute is also a co-author. Title of the article is "Population Genetic and Pylogeographic Structure of Wahoo, Acanthocybium solandri, from the Western Central Atlantic and Central Pacific Oceans."
Dr. Mark S. Peterson, professor of coastal sciences, has recently published an article on non-native tilapia in Mississippi waters in the journal W etlands. The title is "The Occurrence of Non-indigenous Nile Tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus (Linnaeus) in Coastal Mississippi: Ties to Aquaculture and Thermal Effluent." Co-authors are William T. Slack of the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science and Christa M. Woodley, a 2001 coastal sciences graduate now in a doctoral program at the University of California, Davis.
Researchers at the Gulf Coast Research Laboratory were among 45 authors contributing to the recently published 2005 edition of the Laboratory's scientific publication Gulf and Caribbean Research. GCRL faculty and staff who produced the peer-reviewed journal are Dr. Mark S. Peterson, editor-in-chief; Dawne Hard, managing editor, Joyce M. Shaw, librarian; and Marjorie G. Williams, editorial support.
Drs. Richard W. Heard and Chet F. Rakocinski, coastal sciences faculty, co-authored an article on the habitat, diet, reproduction, life history and parasites of a little-studied fish species with Michael A. Abney, former master's student at the GCRL and 1998 graduate. The title is "Selected Life-History Observations on the Cayman Gambusia, Gambusia xanthosoma Greenfield, 1993 (Poeciliidae)."
Dr. Eric Hoffmayer and James S. Franks, fisheries biologists, and coastal sciences graduate student John P. Shelly are authors of an article on observations of the whale shark in the northern Gulf of Mexico. With little known about the species in the Gulf, the researchers developed a survey that they posted at http://www.usm.edu/gcrl/fisheries_center/shark_survey.php in order to collect information about sightings. They report their results in "Recent Observations of the Whale Shark (Rhincodon typus) in the Northcentral Gulf of Mexico."
Dr. Robin M. Overstreet, professor of coastal sciences, and coastal sciences doctoral student Stephen S. Curran published "Parasites of the American White Pelican." The article focuses on how parasites may play an important role in understanding the biology of the white pelican.
Peterson and Nancy J. Brown-Peterson edited a collection of five articles in a special section in Gulf and Caribbean Research. The section focuses on research activities at the Iztacala campus of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. In Mexico, students must research, write and defend an undergraduate thesis to receive their licencia, the equivalent of a bachelor's degree in the United States. The couple co-authored the introductory article with Brown-Peterson a co-author on three of the science articles and Peterson a co-author on two. The section is the second collection of student papers that the Petersons have translated and edited in order to share new scientific information that the students gathered about little-studied marine species in the southern Gulf of Mexico.
Dr. Jeffrey M. Lotz, professor of coastal sciences, was co-author on an award-winning paper presented by coastal sciences doctoral candidate Amanda G. Vincent at the Southern Conference of Researchers in Aquatic Diseases in Blacksburg, Va., April 6-8. Vincent's presentation was on a disease model she and Lotz developed on the progression of an outbreak in a shrimp population that has not been infected by the disease before. The model will help management of commercial shrimp aquaculture operations to better understand and predict how a disease might spread. Vincent's paper won first place in the conference's student paper competition. The title was "A Model of Necrotizing Hepatopancreatitis-Bacterium Epidemics in Litopenaeus vannamei (Pacific White Shrimp)."
