UMaine School of Marine Sciences

SMS Coral Reef Ecology field trip to Bonaire

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 10:48:17 -0400

Here's a look at what the Coral Reef Ecology field research team from SMS got up to on their trip to Bonaire in March, 2013. Video by Noah Oppenheim.

Flipped and Locked

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 09:23:10 -0400

Flipped and Locked

An ecological chain reaction triggered by the boom and bust of sea urchin fishing in the Gulf of Maine demonstrates the importance of comprehensive ecosystem-based ocean management, says a University of Maine marine scientist.

Conventional fisheries management regulates for a “maximum sustainable yield” for each managed species. However, this usually ignores strong interactions between predators and their prey that can affect the entire ecosystem, says Robert Steneck, a professor in the School of Marine Sciences at the University of Maine’s Darling Marine Center.

Steneck and three university graduates pooled 36 years of Gulf of Maine ocean data to examine how a stable ecosystem state composed of green sea urchins (Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis) and a pavement of crustose coralline algae switched, or “flipped,” to an alternate stable state dominated by erect macroalgae, or kelp and other seaweed.

When fishermen began abruptly removing large numbers of sea urchins from the Gulf of Maine in the late 1980s, the seaweed on which they grazed began to flourish, Steneck says. The abundance of seaweed, in turn, created a nursery habitat for Jonah crabs (Cancer borealis). The crabs, say the researchers, subsequently preyed on the sea urchins that remained.

The entire coastal ecosystem flipped and “locked” into a seaweed-dominated alternate stable state that has persisted for nearly 20 years.

In 2000 and 2001, Steneck and crew tried to “break the lock” of erect macroalgae by reintroducing 51,000 adult sea urchins into plots off the coast of Cape Elizabeth. But both years, large crabs migrated to the plots and wiped out the reintroduced urchins.

The consequences of sea urchin decimation “can be costly, and recovery may be difficult or impossible to achieve” for decades, Steneck says.

Fisheries management may need to focus on increasing the number of crab predators in order to return to a stable state of crustose coralline algae and sea urchins, he says.

The Gulf of Maine crab population increased in density because the seaweed nursery habitat became abundant and because, over time, commercial fishing has reduced the population of crab predators, including Atlantic cod.

Sea urchins, Steneck writes, were “highly abundant and a highly valued food” in 1987 when Maine fishermen began harvesting them along the southwestern coast before moving northeast toward Canada. The Maine harvest peaked in 1993, then declined rapidly.

In 1995, Maine’s sea urchin industry fishery was second only to that of the American lobster in value, Steneck writes. At that time, the local fishery supported more than 1,500 full-time urchin fishers.

Today, Steneck says the sea urchin fishery in the Gulf of Maine has declined 84 percent in value; no full-time fishers remain.

The study was conducted with nearly four decades of UMaine thesis research, starting with Steneck’s master’s thesis. Bob Vadas, UMaine professor emeritus, was Steneck’s thesis adviser. University graduates who co-authored the paper are Doug McNaught, assistant professor of marine ecology at the University of Maine at Machias; Amanda Leland, vice president for oceans at the Environmental Defense Fund in Washington D.C.; and John Vavrinec, senior research scientist with the Coastal Assessment and Restoration technical group at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Sequim, Wash.

The paper, “Ecosystem Flips, Locks, And Feedbacks: The Lasting Effects on Fisheries On Maine’s Kelp Forest Ecosystem,” is featured in the January 2013 Bulletin of Marine Scienceand is recommended by peer scientists on the F1000Prime website.

Concept Mapping Workshops: Helping Ocean Scientists Represent and Communicate Science

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 06:53:05 -0400

2013, Oceanography 26(1):98–105, http://dx.doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2013.08

Concept Mapping Workshops: Helping Ocean Scientists Represent and Communicate Science

Authors | Abstract | Full Article | Citation | References

Authors

Annette deCharon | University of Maine, Darling Marine Center, Walpole, ME, USA

Linda Duguay | University of Southern California (USC), Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies, and USC Sea Grant Program, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Janice McDonnell | Department of 4-H Youth Development, Rutgers University, Institute of Marine & Coastal Sciences, New Brunswick, NJ, USA

Cheryl Peach | Scripps Educational Alliances, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA

Carla Companion | University of Maine, Darling Marine Center, Walpole, ME, USA

Christen Herren | University of Maine, Darling Marine Center, Walpole, ME, USA

Patricia Harcourt | COSEE-West, USC, Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies, USC Sea Grant Program, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Theodore Repa | Administration & Instructional Leadership, Graduate School of Education, Touro College and University System, New York, NY, USA

Carrie Ferraro | Coastal Ocean Observation Lab, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA

Patricia Kwon | COSEE-West, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Sage Lichtenwalner | Coastal Ocean Observation Lab, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA

Eric Simms | previously at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UCSD, La Jolla, CA, USA, now at Harvard University Center for the Environment

Lynn Whitley | Pre-College Education and COSEE-West, USC, Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies, USC Sea Grant Program, Los Angeles, CA, USA

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Abstract

Public appreciation and basic understanding of the role the ocean plays in the global environment has become more important as the urgency to make decisions on complex environmental issues has increased. Because communicating science to the public is often challenging for scientists, they can benefit from employing methods such as concept mapping, which "deconstructs" science into discrete ideas and organizes them into graphical formats. Responding to recommendations by ocean science faculty who participated in concept-mapping workshops with pre-college educators, four Centers for Ocean Sciences Education Excellence designed, implemented, and evaluated a series of professional development workshops for graduate students. These workshops engaged 20 faculty-level ocean scientists to help 73 graduate students depict complex scientific ideas using concept maps. Evidence shows that operationally breaking down topics and reorganizing them into graphical formats benefited faculty and graduate students alike. Each workshop culminated with the graduate students delivering oral presentations to nonscientist audiences such as high school students. Graduate students were highly rated on their abilities to place topics within a broad societal context. In a follow-up survey, graduate students recognized the potential of concept mapping to enhance their professional skills and to organize their own research.

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Full Article

1.89 MB pdf

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Citation

deCharon, A., L. Duguay, J. McDonnell, C. Peach, C. Companion, C. Herren, P. Harcourt, T. Repa, C. Ferraro, P. Kwon, S. Lichtenwalner, E. Simms, and L. Whitley. 2013. Concept mapping workshops: Helping ocean scientists represent and communicate science. Oceanography 26(1):98–105, http://dx.doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2013.08.

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References

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Changing ecosystem concerns fishermen

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 14:15:14 -0400

Changing ecosystem concerns fishermen

They're not alone: As Gulf of Maine waters become warmer and more acidic, scientists too worry about the implications for the region's fisheries.

By North Cairn ncairn@pressherald.com
Staff Writer

Humans are dumping so much carbon dioxide into the oceans so fast that seawater -- even in the Gulf of Maine -- is getting warmer and more acidic, according to marine and climate researchers.

click image to enlarge

Jeff Runge, professor of oceanography in the School of Marine Sciences at the University of Maine and a researcher at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, examines plankton samples to test acidity in the ocean. “It’s starting to be recognized as a serious issue. But it’s very complex,” he said.

Gabe Souza/Staff Photographer

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Scientists aren't sure yet how the trend, which is believed to be tied to human-induced climate change, will affect ocean life in the gulf. But there is rising concern -- especially among fishermen -- that changes in the ocean ecosystem could severely damage some of the fisheries that are the backbone of the region's seafood industry.

The effects of warming and acidification are showing up all over the world, including in and along the gulf.

"We've seen levels of acid that rival some of the highest levels recorded anywhere," said professor of marine science Mark Green, whose work at St. Joseph's College in Standish has focused exclusively on ocean acidification. "Many coastal areas are increasing three times faster than open ocean."

Lobsters are up, cod down. The herring caught in the gulf are much smaller than they were 20 years ago, marine scientists have observed. Northern right whales might leave altogether if populations of plankton are reduced enough to affect the whales' food supply.

Ocean acidification is a long, slow process in which seas absorb excessive amounts of carbon dioxide, enough to alter pH levels (the percentage of hydrogen, which is a measure of acidity and alkalinity).

Global surface waters have an average pH of 8.1, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. But scientists believe that level could drop in the next 50 years to as low as 7.8, a huge change.

The impacts of increased carbon dioxide go far beyond making the water warmer and more acidic. Many species are weakened by the loss of oxygen and the spread of infectious diseases can speed up when water temperatures rise. Higher carbon dioxide levels in the ocean lead to an increase in carbonic acid, which reduces the availability of structural materials that mollusks and crustaceans need to form their shells.

The ranges of many species of sea life have been changed. Green crabs, for example, have moved in on shellfish beds in Maine from the more southerly waters they have traditionally inhabited.

"That's the really compelling story -- that there will be winners and losers," said Rick Wahle, research associate professor in the School of Marine Sciences at the University of Maine.

Absorption of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere into the ocean waters has increased to about 100 times what it was 600 years ago, Green said. On average, ocean carbon dioxide levels are up 30 percent, most of it absorbed in the past 50 years. Exacerbating the problem is runoff from rivers polluted by fertilizer and soil erosion, and millions of tons of untreated sewage pumped into coastal waters, including Casco Bay.

Debate swirls about which stressors are to blame for which consequences, but one fact is undeniable: Ocean temperatures are rising and the water is becoming more acidic. The increased carbon dioxide in air and water comes largely from the burning of fossil fuels and emissions from factories, cars and power plants, most scientists say.

A SERIOUS AND COMPLEX ISSUE

Some of the early evidence has been revealed by testing of pH levels in costal seawater and the monitoring of water and air temperatures over the past 15 years or so.

"I consider it to be an issue that merits better understanding," said Jeff Runge, professor of oceanography in the School of Marine Sciences at the University of Maine and a researcher at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute in Portland.

"It's starting to be recognized as a serious issue," he said. "But it's very complex. We're just not doing a very good job yet in understanding the biological and ecosystem effects in the Gulf of Maine."

Exactly what the changes mean and how they'll play out -- for marine life and the thousands of Mainers who get their livelihoods from the sea -- is not yet clear.

But it is no small matter. In 2012 alone, Maine's fisheries accounted for $521.5 million in revenue, with lobsters bringing in $349 million; soft-shell clams, $15.3 million; scallops, $2.9 million; blue mussels, $1.9 million; cod, $1.6 million; and oysters, $1.45 million, according to the state Department of Marine Resources.

"The clammers in our community (about 50 families) are very concerned about this ... and about losing their livelihoods," said Kristina Egan, vice-chair of the Freeport Town Council, which last year allocated $100,000 for a study of increasing numbers of green crabs overrunning the shellfish flats and eating immature clams.

"We're also concerned about losing this historic industry in Freeport," she said.

Chad Coffin of Freeport, president of the Maine Clammers Association, says he believes ocean acidification is real, but it is not certain how serious it is for clammers or what can be done about it.

"I don't think it's a particularly big issue for the shellfish industry," Coffin said.

But the impact of green crab migration on shellfish beds is an immediate concern, he said.

"We're in big trouble," he said. "Green crabs have already eaten their way through the scallops, urchins, mussels and now clams."

If these aggressive predators are not stopped, he said, they could wipe out the resource and move on to lobsters -- a view shared by Carl Wilson, a marine resource scientist with the state Department of Marine Resources.

Freeport officials say they believe the crabs have proliferated because of at least a decade of relatively warmer winters and ocean temperatures that no longer dip much below 40 degrees -- not cold enough to cause the seasonal die-offs that keep the crab populations in check.

At least that's the theory. But there are still many unanswered questions about ocean acidification's effects on the state's fisheries.

"We are still learning about the details and implications," Wilson said.

"Ocean acidification is going to happen over a long period," he said. "The two (climate change and ocean acidification) are interrelated."

Wilson noted that a century of records from Boothbay Harbor indicate that eight of the 10 warmest summers have occurred in the past decade. Most researchers and observers agree that conditions in the gulf are markedly different than they were even 20 years ago.

LOBSTER HARVEST 'PRECARIOUS'

Many fishermen fear that the changes do not bode well for the species they harvest. Though Maine lobstermen have enjoyed an almost quantum leap in their harvests in recent years, with a record haul in 2012; shellfishermen are struggling, and groundfishermen have watched their fishery virtually dry up.

"This very high abundance of lobster is very precarious," said Wilson. "That's the lesson we learned from southern New England and Cape Cod -- warm water and other factors led to an eventual crash."

The annual lobster harvest has skyrocketed from 20 million pounds to nearly 125 million pounds in the past 25 years, and Wilson said there are no indications that the lobster population is going to collapse. The species is expanding in its northern range, and the distribution of lobsters is increasing east of Penobscot Bay. But populations south of Penobscot Bay may not fare as well, he said.

Wahle, the UMaine marine scientist, noted that ocean conditions in Maine are becoming more like Rhode Island or southern New England.

"That, in itself, is a bad thing," he said.

Rhode Island, New York and Connecticut have seen their lobster fisheries decimated by shell disease, first diagnosed in the 1980s and now linked to warmer water temperatures. The infection damages the exoskeleton with black spots, pits, ulcerations, and sometimes total rot. The disease does not taint the meat but renders the lobsters impossible to sell.

New York's $100 million industry has been crippled, affecting thousands of families, and the Connecticut Lobstermen's Association estimates the loss there at about $16 million per year.

The infections have not yet had a significant impact on Maine's lobster fishery; less than 1 percent have been infected, compared with 30 percent in southern New England, said Wahle.

"Those levels put the fear of God in Maine lobstermen," he said. We are perilously dependent on this one fishery."

Wahle said he has seen a slight uptick in the disease. "That raises some red flags for me," he said.

Wilson, at the marine resources department, sees an important change in people -- and how they regard the environment. In the 1970s, he said, environmental effects were assumed to be simple and relatively fixed.

But those days are over, he said, and science has yet to unravel the complex relationships among the factors that contribute to acidification, and the effects of that trend.

As perceptions of what is normal vacillate, the implications for fisheries management are profound.

"There are nuanced impacts," Wilson said. "If you're in a changing environment ... everything that's up is now down. You think you understand the system and you make your recommendations accordingly."

Monitoring the Global Carbon Cycle

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 13:42:42 -0400

Monitoring the Global Carbon Cycle

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has awarded a University of Maine marine researcher up to $957,871 to improve ways to detect and track changes in the oceanic carbon pool, subsequently allowing scientists to better understand its role in oceanic ecosystems and the removal of atmospheric carbon dioxide.

Ivona CetiniÄ‡, a research associate in the School of Marine Sciences and the Darling Marine Center in Walpole, Maine, is leading a four-person team that will develop a novel way of detecting particulate organic carbon (POC) in oceans, using data collected by satellites.

POC — which includes phytoplankton, zooplankton and marine debris — is part of the oceanic mechanism that “pumps” carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to the depths of the ocean to be stored.

Oceanographers seek to better understand how POC distribution varies in oceans around the world. Together with policy makers, they are interested in learning whether the changing climate is impacting POC and the global carbon cycle.

CetiniÄ‡ and her team will analyze seawater collected from multiple places in the world’s oceans, including from coastal Maine, equatorial and polar regions, to see how POC distribution varies in different marine ecosystems. The team will use those oceanographic measurements to develop an algorithm — a set of calculations that can be used to detect POC from space.

NASA’s Ocean Biology and Biogeochemistry program is funding the three-year project through November 2015. Mary Jane Perry, a professor at the School of Marine Sciences and Ira C. Darling Marine Center; Nicole Poulton, a research scientist at Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in East Boothbay, Maine; and Wayne Homer Slade, who earned a doctorate in oceanography at UMaine and is now at Sequoia Scientific Inc. in Bellevue, Wash., are collaborating with CetiniÄ‡ on the study.

Student Success Stories - Keri Feehan

Fri, 08 Mar 2013 06:21:01 -0500

Student Success Stories - Keri Feehan

Keri Feehan is a native of Lunenburg, Mass., who will graduate from UMaine in May 2013 with a bachelor’s degree in marine sciences, with a concentration in marine biology. She also has been active with the University of Maine Hip Hop Dance and the Darling Marine Center Scuba clubs.

Why did you choose UMaine?
I chose UMaine for its highly reputable marine sciences program. I was really impressed with the program and its student-to-professor ratios. UMaine has some of the leading engineering, environmental and marine science studies and facilities in the U.S. and, to me, that settled the matter.

What do you hope to do after graduation?
I ultimately wish to obtain my Ph.D. in marine biology. UMaine has provided me with all the tools to become successful and follow my dreams. UMaine’s faculty has encouraged and helped me hone my scientific and research skills. Through UMaine’s intense and reputable marine science program, I am confident in knowing I will one day be a leading researcher and educator just like those I’ve had the great fortune to learn from.

How would you describe the academic atmosphere at UMaine?
UMaine has a great collegiate atmosphere. UMaine’s faculty is known for its collaborative work and passionate teaching. The student body overall is curious and hard working.

Have you worked closely with a mentor, professor or role model who has made your UMaine experience better?
I have been so fortunate to work with multiple inspiring and brilliant professors at UMaine. They have truly shaped my view on life and inspired me to realize that “hey, you can do what you love everyday,” and for that I will be forever thankful.

Without (Associate Professor of Oceanography William) Ellis, I wouldn’t have known about the amazing hands-on May Term course offered at the Darling Marine Center in Walpole. Without (Department of Physics and Astronomy Research Scientist George) Bernhardt, I doubt I ever would have fallen in love with physics. (Professor of Oceanography Emmanuel) Boss’s energetic attitude inspires all marine science students and, without him, I would not have successfully built my own remotely operated underwater vehicle. If it weren’t for (Darling Marine Center) Dive Safety Officer Chris Rigaud, I would not feel completely at ease while 80 feet under the sea, or have the ability and confidence to rescue an unconscious diver. Through (Professor of Marine Sciences Kevin) Eckelbarger, I have explored and become immensely passionate about invertebrates and histology. I wouldn’t be where I am today without (School of Marine Sciences Research Assistant Professor) Rhian Waller, my senior capstone thesis adviser, or (Frederick) Birdie Sawyer of the School of Performing Arts dance faculty. Professor Waller has opened my eyes to the world of invertebrate reproductive biology, encouraged me and fueled my passion for marine science. Her work is fascinating. I am also lucky to have received a John Dearborn Scholarship through the School of Marine Sciences, which allowed me to intern in the lab at the Darling Marine Center last summer. Professor Waller has been a great inspiration to me and I hope I will be able to collaborate with her on future projects. Birdie Sawyer was one of the first people I met at UMaine through the UMaine Hip Hop Club and dance program. He is one of my greatest role models; he’s talented, hardworking and passionate. I have been blessed to dance along side of him for four years, as well as being a TA in the Dance 297 course.

Have you had an experience at UMaine that has changed or shaped the way you see the world?
Obviously everyone grows up, especially within the four years of college. This is the time you define yourself, your work ethic and what’s really important in your life. UMaine has helped me do just that; I am my own advocate and I know what I want out of life. Most importantly, I have the confidence and passion to pursue it.

Have you participated in any internships, fieldwork or co-ops related to your major?
I have participated in multiple research experiences, as well as spending seven months at the university’s marine laboratory at the Darling Marine Center. I have had field and laboratory experience in reproductive ecology, microplastic analysis, phytoplankton and North Atlantic invertebrate identification, nutrient analysis and ecological surveys via scuba. Through these experiences, I have learned that vital techniques such as histology, analytical skills and understanding are key to identifying North Atlantic invertebrate taxonomic groups. The Dearborn scholarship allowed me to spend the summer researching the reproductive ecology of cold-water corals in Professor Waller’s lab. Cold-water or deep-sea corals are important bioengineers, providing habits for thousands of species. We are just now starting to study and understand them, although it might be too late, due to the severity of bottom trawling around the world. Some species of cold-water corals can live up to 4,000 years –– one of the oldest living animals on the planet — and document ocean chemistry in their growth rings like trees. Cold-water corals can provide vital paleo-oceanographic data for climate change research. During my internship, I primarily focused on researching the fecundity and egg size in the Antarctic coral Fungiacythus marenzelleri. I hope the implications of my research will help provide new understanding of these beautiful organisms, as well as help lend credence to their need for protection. Through the internship, I also became a scientific diver-in-training, which allowed me to go with Professor Waller to collect sea anemones for a future reproductive ecology capstone project. The internship was pivotal in my marine science career, and allowed me to discover more specifically the answers to questions in marine science that I wish to focus my future studies on –– reproductive, developmental and invertebrate ecology. Because of my experiences as a scientific diver-in-training and the scientific diving course at the Darling Marine Center, I have been asked to participate on multiple scientific research diving projects.

What is the most interesting, engaging or helpful class you’ve taken at UMaine?
The most interesting classes would be engineering physics and Physical Scientist I and II, and scientific diving. Physics with Professor Bernhardt was as fascinating as it was difficult. I cannot tell you how rewarding it is to be able to take a double integral to determine the strength and direction of a magnetic field; it’s really neat stuff. Scientific diving was one of my favorite classes because the academic portion covered a variety of topics, from human physiology to the ideal gas laws. As for the hands-on portion of the course, what is better than diving every class? I doubt any class will ever compare to what I learned or experienced in scientific diving. The most engaging classes I’ve taken are engineering literacy, marine ecology and biology of invertebrates. The way Professor Boss presents the material in engineering literacy makes you feel as if you can take on the world. Engineering literacy is primarily hands-on learning about programming, soldering and ultimately building moving, working, programmable robots. Marine ecology, taught by (Professor of Marine Sciences Robert) Steneck, gets you out in the field every class. This allows you to learn vital field-research skills, and the lectures are packed with the tools to learn the language of ecology. The marine invertebrate course also has you out in the field every day collecting animals and identifying them. It’s really neat that after a few weeks you can go diving or walk along the intertidal zone and be able to identify almost everything you see.

Have you gained any hands-on or real-world experience through your coursework? If so, tell us about it.
Through integrative marine science courses –– May Term at the Darling Marine Center and Semester by the Sea –– I have had an enormous amount of hands-on experience. I would highly advise all marine sciences students or any student interested in the ocean to take the May Term or Semester by the Sea courses.

What are UMaine students like?
UMaine students are a lively group. We’re diverse in interests, engaged in everything from Division I sports to international cultures and theater. I’ve found that UMaine students are curious young adults excited about taking the next step in life. Also, in Maine, almost everyone loves the outdoors, whether it is Frisbee on the Mall, rugby or whitewater rafting; UMaine students are game.

What surprised you about UMaine?
I was surprise by how friendly everyone at UMaine is. It was a pleasant surprise coming to visit UMaine. Everyone opens doors for one another, smiles and says good morning.

Describe UMaine in one word.

Engaging.

What do you do outside of class?
Outside of class, I am almost always dancing; on average, I dance 20 hours a week. I am either with the UMaine Hip Hop Dance Club, collaborating on choreography with Professor Sawyer, or getting together with the Pandemonium Master Dance Crew. I have been the copresident of the UMaine Hip Hop Dance Club for two-and-a-half years. Originally, the group was made up of 15 dedicated students who wanted to spread the love of dance through dance, and since then we have grown to more than 50 members strong. We strive to have fun and teach hip-hop to all levels, from people with two left feet, never dancing a day in their life to dancers with 15-plus years of experience.

On the off chance I’m not there or studying in the Bear’s Den with a peppermint hot cocoa or dancing, I am diving with the Darling Marine Center Scuba Club. As the vice president, I actively plan and regulate diving procedures. One of our last trips was a night dive at Sand Cove Beach in South Bristol, Maine. It was a chilly 30 degrees out, but the moon was full and the water alive with bioluminescence as we swam. It was one of the most amazing natural experiences I’ve ever had.

Favorite place on campus?
The Class of 1944 Hall dance studio. It’s my home away from home and my piece of mind. When I enter that room, nothing else matters. I’m either there alone or with a group of people that’s as close to me as my family doing what I love most –– dancing.

Favorite place off campus?
The public parks along the Stillwater River. I love sitting and watching the sun set or rise over the river; it’s always bright with golds, pinks and purples –– the perfect way to start or end a day.

How’s the food? What’s your favorite thing to eat on campus?
The food is pretty good; I have celiac disease, so I am on a completely gluten-free diet. Being gluten-free on campus is 10 times easier now than two years previously. The culinary staff is accommodating and helpful to people with special dietary needs and they also provide multiple vegan and vegetarian options. My favorite thing to eat would have to be the chicken stir-fry in the Union.

What is your favorite UMaine tradition?
The International Dance Festival. It is held in the Collins Center for the Arts (CCA) every February, and all the multicultural groups on campus come and put on a dance from their native cultures. The UMaine Hip Hop Club always participates, and to me, it is the most fun performance opportunity on campus.

What is your most memorable UMaine moment?
My most memorable UMaine moment is more a collage of moments –– being on the CCA stage for the first time; climbing a 400-foot mountain face with the Maine Bound Adventure Center; going to my first UMaine hockey game; becoming president of the UMaine Hip Hop Dance Club; my first open water scuba dive; receiving the blue ribbon award in the Bio 100 laboratory; and, of course, the countless memories with my college friends.

What was your first year like?
My first year was exciting. It was so fun meeting new people and making friends. I also love to learn, and even as a first-year student, I had almost all marine science classes. I was so engaged and interested in my work, it didn’t even feel like work half the time.

What is your favorite memory of living on campus?
My favorite memory of living on campus has got to be sophomore year living in Kennebec Hall. There was a great group of people in Kennebec that year, plus a majority of my friends. There also is a studio in the basement of Kennebec. I could go down the stairway and crank out some choreography for the Hip Hop Dance Club –– without walking 15 minutes across campus.

What is there to do in Orono, Maine?
Orono is beautiful all year-round with classic college-ivy brick buildings, the river and an adorable downtown. Its beautiful attractions also provide tons of fun activities for students. The river is great for kayaking and canoeing; students are always seen swimming on hot early fall and late spring days. The downtown hosts many favorite local restaurants, bakeries and bars only a mile from campus. The campus offers countless clubs, intramural sports, a state-of-the-art fitness center and the Maine Bound Adventure Center, complete with an indoor climbing tower.

What advice do you have for incoming students?
College is really what you make, no matter where you go. There are so many amazing opportunities at your fingertips, whether you’re into nutrition, sports science or politics. Go out and take those opportunities to discover your passion. Go to that paintball or ice-climbing club simply because you’ve always wanted to try it.

There will be no other time in your life when you can ask one of the world’s leading experts in a favorite academic discipline anything you want, or to participate in countless recreational actives for free.

Go out, have fun, discover yourself, and help give back to the university so programs can prosper for future students. Be bold, be curious and be your own advocate.

UMaine researcher to appear in National Geographic magazine

Tue, 19 Feb 2013 07:29:34 -0500

By Alex Barber, BDN Staff
Feb. 18, 2013, Posted 6:05 p.m. at

Courtesy of Rhian Waller
Rhian Waller, an assistant research professor with the University of Maine, prepares to dive in the Southeastern Alaskan fjords in March 2011.

Courtesy of Rhian Waller
Rhian Waller collects deepwater emerged corals from 100 feet below the water's surface in the Patagonian fjords in Augusta 2012.

WALPOLE, Maine — Rhian Waller’s job as a deep sea researcher and diver has taken her from the Arctic to the Antarctic, and now it’s taking her inside the cover of National Geographic magazine.

The University of Maine assistant research professor has been selected to appear in the March edition of National Geographic.

Waller, a marine scientist and research professor at the Darling Marine Center in the School of Marine Sciences, was selected for the magazine’s Risk Takers series. National Geographic celebrates its 125th anniversary this year.

Waller primarily studies reproductive ecology and deep sea coral by diving into some very cold waters. She said she has worked in Alaska, Chile, Antarctica and in the Gulf of Maine.

“I work all over the world,” said Waller on Saturday. “I started a project last year looking for deep sea animals in the Gulf of Maine.”

Waller has gone down to great depths in submersibles, but spends a lot of time scuba diving in depths of up to 150 feet.

Fjord ecosystems are areas of waters that are cold enough to replicate very deep waters. Waller has spent much of her time studying species of coral in fjords off the coast of Chile and Alaska.

“There’s only a few of these places in the world that mimic deep sea areas,” said Waller, 34. “In Alaska, there’s a species I work on that I usually find in 500 to 1,000 meters in the Gulf of Alaska. In the fjord, we find them in 10 meters.”

Waller dons a drysuit in waters with temperatures just above freezing and dives into the fjords to research coral.

“Coral is an animal. It is related to other animals, including jellyfish,” she said. “You see these big coral trees in places, and they’re genetically identical. Some places get some [coral] that are single and living by themselves. When you think of the Great Barrier Reef, primarily in these big reefs, many are attached together.”

Coral are mainly found on the sea floor and attach to rocks, shells or other hard surfaces.

Waller typically works on projects that take her down to 100 feet below the water’s surface. She’s done training and dives at 150 feet, and said she hopes to do training for up to 300 feet.

In going down so far, divers have to be careful when resurfacing, she said.

“You have to do a safety stop. You go up 20 or 30 feet and stop for three minutes [to safely release nitrogen from the bloodstream],” said Waller. “Often times you’ll see some things while you’re sitting there for three minutes.”

While resurfacing from a dive off the coast of Chile, she said she saw a comb jelly, or a Ctenophora — a colorful, translucent jellyfish often found at deep depths.

“They look like mini footballs,” she said. “I was coming up and a big giant jelly came around, and it was bright red. It was pretty amazing.”

Waller grew up in England, where she was interested in marine life at an early age.

“Both parents are scuba divers and I grew up around reefs,” she said. “I just love how beautiful the underwater world is. I ended up getting a degree and I really haven’t looked back. I thoroughly enjoy everything I do.”

She received her Ph.D. from the Southampton Oceanography Centre at the University of Southampton in 2004 and has been doing research for the University of Maine since January 2011.

“I came to the University of Maine for the facilities. It was a good job opportunity for me,” she said. “It’s great for what I do. They have good diving facilities, great culture facilities, great suite of faculty. It’s a good department.”

Waller now calls Jefferson home and goes on three to four trips a year. Scuba diving trips last between two to three weeks, while deep sea diving trips last four to six weeks.

“I can be away from home quite a bit,” she said.

Her next trip will be deep sea diving in the Gulf of Alaska in August, she said.

Waller said she was surprised when National Geographic tabbed her for its magazine.

“Last summer I got a phone call out of the blue from the photo editors at National Geographic,” she said. “They’re doing articles all year to find explorers to feature. I didn’t know I was in that category. It was all internally chosen.”

National Geographic is writing about “people who take risks for the betterment of society,” she said she was told.

“We try our best to minimize risks,” said Waller. “When you’re going a hundred feet underwater with nothing but an air tank on your back, you have to practice. The main way to be safe in scuba diving is practice with the equipment you use.”

The online edition of the National Geographic magazine was posted on Feb. 15. The magazine is scheduled to be released on Feb. 26.

Julia Knowles Selected to Participate in Marine Resources Population Dynamics Workshop

Tue, 12 Feb 2013 12:57:19 -0500

Julia Knowles, an SMS undergraduate, was selected to attend the Marine Resources Population Dynamics workshop, sponsored by NMFS and the University of Florida. More info here: http://sfrc.ufl.edu/pdf/rtr_Flyer_2013.pdf
The workshop will be focusing on fisheries sustainability (focusing on bluefin tuna, swordfish and vermillion snapper) and endangered species recovery (with loggerhead sea turtles as a case study).

A Photo Opportunity

Mon, 11 Feb 2013 14:43:27 -0500

file://localhost/Users/susannethibodeau/Desktop/A-photo-opportunity.pdf

Climate change causing Rapid Wildlife Shifts

Thu, 07 Feb 2013 10:40:40 -0500

Report: Climate Change Causing Rapid Wildlife Shifts

02/05/2013 Susan Sharon Reported By:

A new report from the National Wildlife Federation and the Natural Resources Council of Maine finds that climate change is causing species and habitats to shift faster than scientists anticipated. The report comes on the heels of President Obama's inaugural address targeting climate change as a priority. As Susan Sharon reports, the groups are hoping their findings will help spur action.

Related Media
Report: Climate Change Causing Rapid Wildlife Shi	Duration: 2:58

The effects of climate disruption on wildlife and marine species are being seen all over the Northeast and beyond. Some of the changes have been well-documented: for example, the massive die-off of lobsters in Long Island Sound in the late 90s.

Scientists say the likely culprit is higher temperatures combined with a big wind event. Lobstermen as far north as Rhode Island have also had to contend with a shell disease that has taken a dramatic toll on their fishery.

"About a third of the lobsters there are infected and show symptoms," says Dr. Rick Wahle, a research professor at the University of Maine who studies the marine environment. Speaking at a telephone news conference, he said when it comes to marine climate change impacts, lobsters are sort of like the canary in the coal mine.

While southern New England has seen the dramatic increase in lobster mortality, the Gulf of Maine has had record lobster harvests for the past 10 years. For Maine lobstermen, that's a side benefit of the warmer temperatures that coincide with a depletion of other groundfish species that typically prey on lobsters.

But Wahle says the picture isn't all rosy, with the northward movement of other lobster predators - "things like green crabs, black sea bass. We occasionally see some tropical fish moving in during the summer."

Wahle says how all this will play out in the future is the big question. What is now becoming clear is that climate change is having an effect on inland species too.

In New Hampshire, warmer temperatures have meant that black bears are not hibernating through the winter. Wildlife biologist Eric Orff says they're hitting bird feeders in December, January and February, something that was unheard of 20 years ago.

Last fall hunters in the Granite State harvested a record 808 bears. Orff says it's due, in part, to a lack of summer nuts and berries which makes the animals more vulnerable.

And then there's the dramatic seven-year drop in New Hampshire's moose population, "from about 7,500 moose to about 4,500 moose, which is a 40 percent decline," Orff says. "And our moose biologist basically attributes it to these warm winters and the explosion in tick numbers."

Orff says when there's a warm winter and a lack of snow cover, tick survival goes way up. That's because when female ticks drop off the animals in early spring, their eggs can't survive as well if there's snow on the ground. As a result, New Hampshire has been forced to reduce the number of moose hunting permits issued by about 60 percent over the past six years.

The report's author, climate scientist Dr. Amanda Staudt, says there's not much time to act since some of the changes to wildlife are happening two-to-three times faster than scientists anticipated just a few years ago. The report recommends cutting carbon pollution by 50 pecent by 2030, transitioning to cleaner sources of energy and promoting what it calls "climate-smart" approaches to conservation.

Caribbean-wide decline in carbonate production threatens coral reef growth

Mon, 04 Feb 2013 10:00:01 -0500

http://www.nature.com/ncomms/journal/v4/n1/full/ncomms2409.html

Fall 2012 Semester-By-the-Sea Program

Wed, 23 Jan 2013 10:41:43 -0500

https://vimeo.com/57636942

Cold Water Corals (Video)

Wed, 23 Jan 2013 10:40:57 -0500

http://youtu.be/mvvd6eHOzVU .

Alarmingly warm water in Gulf of Maine bringing changes

Tue, 18 Dec 2012 06:39:11 -0500

By Bill Trotter, BDN Staff
Dec. 17, 2012, Posted 12:24 p.m. at

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Ed Monat, a seasonal tour boat operator and scallop fisherman from Bar Harbor, has seen a lot in his more than two decades of scuba diving below the waves of Frenchman Bay.

He focuses on finding scallops during winter dives. In the summer, he takes tourists and an underwater video camera with him so they can watch on a large flat-screen monitor as Monat dives and then holds up lobster, starfish, sea cucumbers and other creatures for them to see. Each spring, Monat also leads a cleanup of the harbor and has recovered, among more mundane items, submerged electronics, appliances and even a bronze bust of Procter & Gamble founder William Procter.

One thing Monat never saw underwater prior to this past summer, however, was a 60-plus degree thermometer reading at the bottom of the bay. For much of the year, coastal waters in the Gulf of Maine generally are expected to waver between the mid-30s and mid-50s Fahrenheit, including at depths of 40-50 feet, where Monat often descends. On a late-August dive this summer near the breakwater that helps protect Bar Harbor from the open ocean, he said, his dive thermometer registered 63 degrees.

“That’s crazy, crazy warm,” Monat said recently. “This was a really warm summer in the water.”

He said that, in the past year, the amount of lobster in the bay has been “out of control” while starfish seem to be staying in deeper water. He added that there was poor visibility in the bay in August, which he attributed to a prolonged algae bloom, and that dogfish in the bay this summer were unusually scarce.

“I’m worried about any changes that might happen,” Monat said. “It’s definitely different on the bottom, that’s for sure.”

Monat is not the only one who has noticed. Extreme examples of climate change that have happened elsewhere — rapidly melting glaciers, catastrophic damage from increasingly violent storms, deadly heat spikes — have not been replicated in Maine, but there are signs that ocean temperatures in the Gulf of Maine are on the rise.

Officials have suggested that higher temperatures in the gulf have been a factor in bacterial outbreaks in bivalves and in sea lice infestations in Cobscook and Passamaquoddy bays. Some have put partial blame on the gulf’s warmer waters for a northeasterly shift of cod in the gulf into colder waters, for declining shrimp catches and for the glut of soft-shell lobsters this past summer that plummeted prices lobstermen were receiving for their catch.

Patrice McCarron, executive director of Maine Lobstermen’s Association, said this month that rising temperatures in the gulf are “a huge concern” for the organization, the membership of which includes approximately 1,200 of the state’s 5,300 or so licensed commercial lobstermen. She said she has heard from some association members that water temperatures in the mouth of Penobscot Bay still, as of December, are unusually and consistently warm, from depths of a few feet to more than 150 feet.

“It’s 50 degrees throughout the water column,” McCarron said. “That’s crazy.”

According to data recorded by the Northeast Regional Association of Coastal and Ocean Observing Systems, temperatures close to shore remain about 10 degrees warmer than they were last winter.

McCarron said one big concern among fishermen is that, if water in the gulf does not get cold enough this winter, the lobsters won’t go through their usual relatively dormant winter state, which could continue to throw off their molting schedule. Large catches of lobster in the spring, when market demand for Maine lobster is fairly low, likely would continue to have a depressing effect on the price.

McCarron said that, though it is not far-fetched to anticipate a repeat of this year’s soft-shell lobster glut, one year of highly unusual conditions in the fishery does not constitute a trend, so it’s not known what may happen next spring. Fishermen are paying a lot more attention to water temperature readings than they did a few years ago, she said, but still are unsure what to make of the thermometer readings.

“People are expecting to expect the unexpected,” McCarron said.

Scientific research

Water temperatures in the gulf, which draws cold water from the Labrador current and is largely separated from warmer Gulf Stream water by Georges Bank, generally are colder than in other places along the East Coast. The cold water and the rich level of nutrients it supports in the Gulf of Maine and along Georges Bank have been cited as a major reason why, historically, commercial marine species such as groundfish, scallops and lobsters have been abundant in the region.

During recent interviews, several scientists in Maine have said that scientific data leave no room for doubt that the gulf is getting warmer.

Jeffrey Runge, a biological oceanographer for University of Maine and Gulf of Maine Research Institute, said recently that temperatures in the gulf in the past few years have increased “dramatically higher” than the historical rate of 1 degree every 100 years. Evidence suggests that the average sea surface temperature in the gulf has risen 1.5 degrees from 2011 to 2012, he said, and that in the past four years it has risen between 2 and 3.5 degrees, depending on how one looks at the data.

“It’s pretty striking,” Runge said. “We can’t explain it.”

Runge said there are multiple species in the gulf that scientists suspect could be significantly affected by increased water temperatures. However, what those changes might be cannot be predicted.

Lobster, shrimp, cod and calanus finmarchicus — a type of copepod, or small crustacean, that is the dominant form of plankton in the gulf — all stand to be displaced or to have their normal reproductive and growth cycles disrupted as the gulf gets warmer, he said.

“At some point, [the gulf] is going to be inhospitable to cod,” Runge said. “We’re getting close to that now.”

And with the calanus copepod in the mix of affected species, there could be a domino effect on others that feed on the minuscule creature, Runge wrote in a scientific study he co-authored with three other scientists. Results of the study have yet to be published in a scientific journal but were presented this fall at an oceanography conference Virginia, he said.

The study projects that the copepod will disappear from the gulf by 2050, based on sea surface temperature predictions.

“Since the lipid-rich Calanus is a key prey for forage species such as herring, sand lance, mackerel, as well as the northern right whale, regional shifts in feeding distributions and abundance of these planktivorous predators may be anticipated,” the study said.

Robert Steneck, a marine ecologist at UMaine’s Darling Marine Center in South Bristol, said Thursday that the Gulf of Maine is a complex, dynamic ecosystem, which makes it hard to predict what may happen from one year to the next, or how any species might be affected by a constantly changing array of factors.

What’s not so hard to predict is that marine species will seek out the water temperature that’s best for them to live in, he said. Higher temperatures certainly caused the sooner-then-expected molt this past spring, Steneck said, and over recent years may have actually helped boost the success rate of larval lobsters, which tend to fare better in slightly warmer water than adult lobsters.

A higher survival rate of larval lobsters and the relative lack of cod, which feed heavily on lobsters, are believed to be part of why annual lobster landings in Maine have shot up from less than 22 million pounds in 1988 to more than 100 million pounds in 2011.

But, Steneck added, if water in the gulf gets too warm, near 70 degrees, the lobster population may suffer severely, as it has south of Cape Cod. Factors for the population collapse in southern New England include increased susceptibility to shell disease, which might be a symptom of temperature-weakened immune systems, and increased runoff from shore, he said. And the higher the lobster density in the gulf is, the more devastating a disease could be throughout the population.

No experts are suggesting the dropoff in lobster numbers in southern New England will happen in the Gulf of Maine, but no one is saying it can’t happen, either. And, according to Steneck, there are other indicators of climate change that should cause concern.

Last summer, an estimated 1,400 terns on Metinic Island abandoned their nesting sites after four days of hard rain, he said. Squid appeared in high numbers for several months, an unusually long time, along the coast this past summer. And the size and power of Hurricane Sandy, which caused widespread damage in New Jersey and New York, is a direct result of warmer ocean temperatures along the East Coast.

“The world seems to be getting warmer faster than we would like,” Steneck said. “It’s a real problem.”

Other changes

Increased storm activity, which climatologists have said is a result of global climate change, could affect the Gulf of Maine in other ways. Even without storms, warmer temperatures are expected to cause sea levels to rise worldwide, which in turn is expected to affect coastal habitats such as marshes.

Changes in weather patterns could affect seasonal outbreaks of red tide. Nicole DeLisle, a scientist with DMR’s biotoxin monitoring program, said this month that higher temperatures by themselves aren’t expected to make seasonal blooms of red tide worse. The biotoxin blooms — which can cause paralytic shellfish poisoning in people who eat shellfish with high concentrations of the harmful algae — may happen earlier in the year with temperature increases, she said, but they would not necessarily happen more frequently or be more severe.

However, more severe storms, which have been attributed to global climate change, could affect the intensity of the blooms, DeLisle said. Recent years in which there have been more severe red tides, such as 2003 and 2009, have been aggravated by storms that have churned up the water column in the gulf, she said. Tropical Storm Danny affected the gulf in late summer of 2003, while Hurricane Juan did the same six years later.

“If there’s a bloom going on and a hurricane hits Maine, it’s just going to spread everywhere,” DeLisle said.

Increased storm activity in the region is affecting ocean conditions off Maine in other ways, too, according to William “Barney” Balch of Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in Boothbay.

Balch said Wednesday that studies he has conducted across the gulf, and data collected over recent decades by other scientists, show that the gulf’s salt content has been falling. The melting of the polar ice cap is diluting the salinity level of the Labrador Current, he said, and more freshwater has been flowing from rivers into the gulf.

Balch said that, since 1895, each of the top eight years with the most precipitation in Maine have had dumped more than 4.6 feet of rain on the state. Of those eight rainiest years, four have occurred since 2005 — as many as in the previous 110 years, according to Balch.

“That’s a lot of rain,” he said.

With the rain has come a greater flow of dissolved organic matter that competes with phytoplankton in the gulf for sunlight. This is significant, Balch said, because phytoplankton, like plants, needs sunlight to grow and is the main food source for creatures at the bottom of the food chain. Phytoplankton in the world’s oceans also generates half of all oxygen in Earth’s atmosphere.

“You can thank the phytoplankton for every other breath you take,” Balch said.

In 2007, during the recent wet period, phytoplankton production in the gulf “fell off a cliff,” he added. Data collected this past summer, however, indicate that rainfall has decreased in the watershed this year and phytoplankton production has come back up.

It’s unclear whether heavy rainfall returns in the next few years, or how the years of low plankton production might have affected the growth of fish or shellfish that still haven’t reached harvestable size, he said.

“These are big, gigantic processes manifested over huge areas,” Balch said. “[But] clearly, [the gulf] is getting warmer.”

Fisheries

Patrick Keliher, commissioner of Maine Department of Marine Resources, said Thursday that there’s nothing within the department’s purview that it can do to prevent temperatures in the gulf from rising. He said that it has happened before — in the 1950s, when a four-year spike in water temperatures caused a temporary collapse in the gulf’s northern shrimp population — but that the trend inexplicably reversed itself and cooler water returned.

“We’re definitely seeing a warming trend,” Keliher said. “Obviously, what we’re hoping now is that it will reverse itself again.”

Scientists interviewed for this article said the 1950s temperature anomaly in the gulf was isolated and may not be comparable to what’s going on today, given the global scope of observed climate changes.

But whether it reverses or not, ocean temperatures are something DMR pays attention to, Keliher said. Every stock assessment of every regulated commercial marine species includes data on how habitat conditions are changing, he said.

The state’s $334 million lobster industry is a good example of what changes in water temperature can do and how serious the issue is, he said. The mild winter caused the lobsters’ normal molting and landings schedules to be be pushed up months earlier than expected, which in turn caused the price to bottom out and a high degree of mortality among the stockpiled lobsters. Warm water may have helped boost scallop growth in some areas and elver abundance in general, he said, but it likely is the reason why the level of shrimp in the gulf appears to be so low.

The key from a management standpoint, he said, is to monitor how conditions are changing in the gulf and to learn how to anticipate how they will affect habitat and the abundance of species. If conditions are becoming less predictable, he said, it is important that the department be able to react to them in a timely manner, to try to keep the affected species and fisheries viable over the long run.

“They’re extremely variable,” Keliher said of DMR’s readings of water surface temperatures. “Our science staff already is keeping a close eye on it.”

Follow BDN reporter Bill Trotter on Twitter at @billtrotter.

UMaine's Newest AAAs Fellows

Mon, 10 Dec 2012 09:17:43 -0500

Advancement of Science

UMaine professors honored for contributions to science

Two University of Maine professors have been elected as Fellows to the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) for their contributions to science and technology.

Joyce Longcore, associate research professor in UMaine’s School of Biology and Ecology, and Susan Brawley, professor of plant biology in the School of Marine Sciences and cooperating professor of biological sciences, will be recognized at the AAAS Annual Meeting in February in Boston.

Longcore, Brawley and the other 700 recently elected Fellows will be presented with a certificate and a blue and gold rosette to honor their accomplishments.

Longcore was elevated to the rank of Fellow “for distinguished contributions to mycology/microbiology on aquatic fungi (chytrids), developing extensive collections and isolating and describing Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), the cause of global amphibian declines,” according to AAAS.

She is a leading researcher on chytrid fungi, including a fungus believed to be responsible for the worldwide decimation of frogs. In the last 30 years, more than 100 amphibian species have become extinct.

Longcore isolated a pure culture of Bd in 1997 after a die-off of exotic frogs in captivity at the Smithsonian National Zoological Park in Washington, D.C. She and her Smithsonian colleagues described it as a new genus and species, and she and collaborators have studied populations of it throughout the natural world.

Longcore says she is honored to bring attention to the university for her work with chytrid fungi.

Brawley was elevated to the rank of Fellow “for innovative and interdisciplinary approaches in elucidating critical factors in rocky seaweed distribution, and for inspiring and training students at all levels,” according to AAAS.

She is an expert on marine algae and algal reproduction. Brawley and her students focus on adaptations that allow algae to reproduce successfully under natural stresses in the intertidal zone, particularly in rockweeds and red algae. She is also working to foster integrated aquaculture with sea vegetables in Maine, and to increase appreciation for their nutritional and culinary benefits.

Brawley is a former editor of the Journal of Phycology and former president of the Phycological Society of America. She led a National Science Foundation project from UMaine that won a New England Board of Higher Education’s Regional Excellence Award for effective science outreach in Maine schools.

She is currently on sabbatical in California.

“I am delighted that Dr. Susan Brawley and Dr. Joyce Longcore were named AAAS Fellows,” says Edward Ashworth, dean of Natural Sciences, Forestry, and Agriculture, and director of the Maine Agricultural and Forest Experiment Station.

“Being an AAAS Fellow is a distinct honor and certainly a well-deserved recognition for two outstanding scientists who have contributed much to their fields of study. I am very proud of these accomplished faculty members and their association with our college and UMaine.”

Four other UMaine faculty members also are AAAS Fellows: Edward Grew, Irving Kornfield, Paul Mayewski and Malcolm Shick. The late Bruce Sidell was also a Fellow.

Grew is a research professor of geological sciences in UMaine’s School of Earth and Climate Sciences; Kornfield is a professor in the School of Marine Sciences; Mayewski is director and distinguished professor in UMaine’s Climate Change Institute, professor of Earth sciences, and a cooperating professor in the School of Marine Sciences and School of Policy and International Affairs; and Shick is a professor of oceanography and zoology, cooperating professor of biological sciences, and associate director of the School of Marine Sciences.

Sidell, founding director of the university’s School of Marine Sciences, died in 2011.

Founded in 1848, AAAS has 120,000 individual and institution members. Fellows are nominated by their peers and chosen by the AAAS Council. The mission of the international nonprofit is “to advance science, engineering, and innovation throughout the world for the benefit of all people.”

Contact: Beth Staples, 207.581.3777

Advancing marine monitoring capabilities

Fri, 07 Dec 2012 06:42:41 -0500

DR MARK WELLS

Dr Mark Wells Solid partnerships form the foundations for success as lays testament to efforts to bridge the gap between nanotechnologies and research on marine environmental systems

To begin, could you offer a brief explanation of nanostructure sensors and their functions?

Environmental sensors, by definition, interact with their surroundings either chemically, optically or acoustically to obtain information about the conditions nearby. The fields of nanoscience and nanotechnology are opening up brand new ways to facilitate these interactions. This is happening in two ways. First, nanotechnology allows us to take current sensor systems and miniaturise them to unbelievably small size scales, allowing the possibility of deploying not one but hundreds of sensors in a given system to better characterise the processes being measured. Second, chemistry itself changes at the nanoscale, where single or multiple chemical bonds control signal strength. As a consequence, new and novel sensor strategies become feasible that cannot be accomplished at the macro scale.

Are advances in nanotechnology contributing significantly to developments of new sensors and technologies in marine monitoring?

While the fields of nanoscience and engineering have flourished over the past two decades, there has been very little, if any, cross-transfer of these innovations to study marine environmental systems. There remain ripe opportunities for merging these disciplines that are yet to be realised. We are on the cusp of uniting these fields, and advances in marine monitoring capabilities will change rapidly over the next 20 years.

In what ways do you expect these technologies to impact on ocean monitoring as a whole?

We have developed tremendous platforms (moored, floating and moving), that provide the potential for vastly improving our understanding of the ocean system, how it interacts with our atmosphere and how we can develop a sustainable relationship with this resource. But we only have a few tools – as sensors can be considered – to put on these networks and, while scientists have made an excellent start, there continues to be a lack of techniques with which to assess the primary driving factors of marine ecosystems. The development of new sensor technologies is a vital step forward but one that lies along the ‘bleeding-edge’ of science, where many research paths lead into blind corners and only a few discover a path forward. We are very fortunate to have stumbled upon one such path, which makes it so very exciting for our research groups.

What have been the major challenges in developing this nanostructure technology?

The most vexing problem for someone like myself – an oceanographer with a desire to find easier ways to measure parameters required by my research – is how to find partners with both the expertise and interest in working on the question. A large chasm lies between those of us working in marine sciences and those with expertise in the chemistry and engineering foundations essential for sensor development. Finding that link, that synergy, is perhaps the largest roadblock to sensor development.

How are you collaborating with other academic institutions?

The work in my laboratory would not be possible without strong collaboration with Dr Carl Tripp based in the Laboratory for Surface Science and Technology, University of Maine and Dr Whitney King at the Department of Chemistry, Colby College. The synergy of this association is the sole reason for any of the accomplishments we have achieved so far. The partnership involves frequent joint laboratory meetings, exchanges of students as well as joint memberships on thesis committees. Advances in one laboratory are passed to another for testing and improvements, and to a third for field testing, the results of each being shared to move the sensor interface design forward.

What do you think is the secret to your research progressing to its current stage?

The project would be impossible without such a solid team approach. This is most definitely a collaborative effort, resulting from both my work and that of my co-principal investigators. Much of the fundamental testing is being conducted by undergraduate students, who are learning hands-on about science, its pitfalls and euphoria, and who enables this experience to be put into practice. Two of the undergraduates at Colby College have joined my laboratory for graduate studies and they also have been key to our successes to date. That synergy among departments and institutions, the lead faculty, graduate students and undergraduate students is relatively unique in my experience, and is part of what has made this project so rewarding.

WWW.RESEARCHMEDIA.EU 93

DR MARK WELLS

Pioneering marine nanostructure sensors

University of Maine’s School of Marine Sciences Driven by frustrations over technological limitations, researchers at have developed an innovative biologically-inspired membrane sensor interface, which they hope will help to address challenges faced by ocean-observing systems

AS SCIENTISTS, GOVERNMENTS and communities grow increasingly concerned about the impacts of climate change on ocean environments, the ability to precisely measure marine systems is becoming ever more critical. Supported by funding from the US National Science Foundation Ocean Sciences progamme, researchers at the University of Maine’s School of Marine Sciences have been developing novel nanostructure sensors which can be used for measuring concentrations of dissolved iron and copper in seawater. Dr Mark Wells, the project’s Principal Investigator, oversees the group’s efforts to advance the use of a reactive biomimetic film designed to trace these metals. This will help improve knowledge on numerous oceanographic processes, in particular those which are poorly understood due to difficulties in gathering adequate temporal and spatial data. The work is strongly collaborative, with substantial participation from co-Principal Investigators Dr Carl Tripp based at the Laboratory for Surface Science and Technology, University of Maine; Dr Whitney King at the Department of Chemistry, Colby College; and their joint graduate student, Zachary Helm.

One of the main drivers behind this project is the knowledge that marine phytoplankton production in much of the world’s oceans is regulated by the presence of micronutrient iron. Little is understood about this type of iron and what processes are impacting its availability to phytoplankton. In addition, it is believed that copper availability can influence the ability of phytoplankton to sequester iron, but even less is understood about this process at present. Current technology limits the ability of researchers to quantify the abundance of these and other micronutrients that drive the global oceanic food web, which ultimately impacts all marine biogeochemical cycling processes. New technology would open opportunities to improve our knowledge on dissolved iron and copper, and the ways in which these metals impact phytoplankton production. “Developing solid phase sensors capable of simultaneously capturing and measuring these elements would transform our ability to characterise the chemistry and distribution of these elements, how they are involved and regulate the marine biogeochemical cycle of carbon and what influence these micronutrients have on climate change,” explains Wells.

ACHIEVING REQUIRED SENSITIVITY

Crucial progress has been made in recent years in this field; for example, the deployment of sensor arrays on autonomous platforms which deliver high resolution time series data. However, there is still a significant gap in the capabilities of technology to sense trace metals, specifically iron. This is a result of the very low detection limits being a major challenge for currently available tools and that the traditional methods do not work well autonomously.

The biomimetic reactive film used in this latest research relies on a biomolecule that has been covalently attached to a porous and optically transparent membrane. When complexed with iron this molecule alters its optical signature, and the magnitude of the altered signal is proportional to the concentrations of dissolved iron. The optical response of the most recent sensor design yields a preliminary detection limit of 0.24 nM for a 1 litre sample, although this limit should be improved tenfold by optimising the sensor interface and optical detectors. This

FIGURE 1. The flow cell housing design allows continuous optical measurement of the membrane sensor during seawater processing.

94 INTERNATIONAL INNOVATION

represents a significant step forwards in being able to analyse trace metals in distant oceans. “Iron profiles measured by this method in the subarctic Pacific were consistent in both the distributions and concentrations measured in parallel by chemiluminescent analysis,” observes Wells. “These promising results are a first step towards applying active nanostructures to sensing iron and other trace metals of interest using autonomous platforms.”

Such encouraging preliminary findings mean that the group has built a solid foundation for developing practical sensor systems which can quantify dissolved iron and utilise many of the current ocean-observing platforms.

The team is exploring the development of a number of different sensor technologies capable of this work. They have been looking at several options to quantifying iron and copper in aqueous systems, including both freshwater and marine environments. Freshwater systems have significantly higher concentrations of metals, so the required sensitivity of the sensors is easier to attain, but this does not apply to oceanic systems. One of the biggest hurdles when developing this type of analytical technology is being able to achieve the necessary selectivity, sensitivity and precision to achieve a robust quantification. “The challenge is to create sensor platforms capable of quantifying oceanic trace element concentrations which can fall 100 to 1,000 times lower than levels of the major nutrients nitrate and phosphate,” Wells points out. The group is now investigating a range of sensory interfaces that better mimic the biological systems already operating in the natural environment.

FROM LABORATORY TO OCEAN

Testing of the sensors is an important part of readying the technology for the next phase – being a practical field application. This is managed in two steps. The sensitivity and precision of the sensor interface is improved as much as practicable and the interface is then applied to various substrates. These processes allow the researchers to test the sensor’s performance by analysing how it reacts to different aqueous samples. According to Wells, the greatest obstacle that they have come across during the testing stage is being able to appreciate how the molecules configure at the substrate-water interface and the ways in which they can improve the control of the configurations: “We are attempting to maximise the surface coverage of this molecule on the sensor substrate and, at the same time, to optimise the orientation of these molecules to facilitate faster metal complexation”. Achieving this will mean that smaller samples can be analysed much faster, thus decreasing the sensor power demands and allowing it to be deployed remote battery-operated observing platforms.

One of the most exciting findings to date has been the discovery that biological molecules can be used to optically sense dissolved iron in the ocean where concentrations are so low that it is actually curbing ecosystem productivity. From Wells’ perspective this realisation has provided the research team with the impetus necessary to take the next step and progress their sensor technology from research into practical application: “The outcomes of this preliminary work have inspired a move towards using optical approaches that are more amenable for deployment on moorings and autonomous vehicles, finally taking it from the laboratory to where this technology can make a real difference”. The field deployment phase of this project has been eagerly awaiting and is now close. “We are now rapidly approaching the stage where we can launch the newest sensor technology into the field in both coastal and offshore seawaters to compare our measurements of dissolved iron with other accepted, chemically-based methods,” enthuses Wells. It would appear that this kind of cutting-edge technology is not short of willing end-users, and with the National Science Foundation (NSF) and other agencies already putting considerable funds into establishing mature ocean-observing networks, it looks like the efforts put into this project in developing new oceanic sensor capabilities has so far certainly been well worth it.

INTELLIGENCE

A NANOSTRUCTURE SENSOR FOR MEASURING DISSOLVED IRON AND COPPER CONCENTRATIONS IN COASTAL AND OFFSHORE SEAWATER

OBJECTIVES

• To optimise the sensor by tuning the active nanostructures to measure dissolved Fe and Cu

• To develop a detection device that migrates the current ship-board method to operate on rosette profiling platforms as well as on moorings and autonomous vehicles

KEY COLLABORATORS

Dr Carl Tripp, Laboratory for Surface Science and Technology, University of Maine, USA

Dr D Whitney King, Department of Chemistry, Colby College, Waterville, Maine, USA

FUNDING

US National Science Foundation (NSF) – award no. 0826098

CONTACT

Professor Mark WellsPrincipal Investigator School of Marine Sciences Room 201 Libby Hall University of MaineOrono, ME 04469 US

T +1 207 581 4322E mlwells@maine.edu

MARK WELLS is a field-going oceanographer studying marine biogeochemistry, with particular emphasis on how trace metal nutrients affect the structure and composition of marine plankton communities. He has held positions at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California Santa Cruz, and now at the University of Maine School of Marine Sciences, and has participated in over 30 coastal and deep ocean research cruises spanning the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. His current research interests focus on the marine chemistry of trace metals, their bioavailability to marine phytoplankton, the ecophysiology of harmful algal blooms and the development of aquatic sensors.

Current technology limits the ability of researchers to quantify the abundance of micronutrients that drives the global oceanic food web

WWW.RESEARCHMEDIA.EU 95 UMaine SMS Webb Slocum glider, ‘NEMO’, deployed on a survey of the Maine Coastal Current, offshore of Penobscot Bay, summer 2006.

Bill Nemitz: Maine scientist discovers lobster-eat-lobster world Cannibal lobsters? They're real, and a local scientist caught them on video.

Mon, 03 Dec 2012 12:45:41 -0500

November 30

Bill Nemitz: Maine scientist discovers lobster-eat-lobster world

Cannibal lobsters? They're real, and a local scientist caught them on video.

By Bill Nemitz bnemitz@mainetoday.com
Columnist

One minute, Noah Oppenheim was firing up his camera on the ocean floor just off Pemaquid Point in the midcoast of Maine. The next, he was the first human witness to an underwater crime in progress.

click image to enlarge

Noah Oppenheim

John Patriquin / Staff Photographer

click image to enlarge

University of Maine graduate student Noah Oppenheim of Falmouth sets up his underwater camera during an experiment that revealed cannibalization among lobsters off Pemaquid Point.

Photo courtesy of Noah Oppenheim

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AIRING IT OUT

Tune in to NewsRadio 560 WGAN at 8:08 a.m. Friday to hear columnist Bill Nemitz talk about this column and other issues.

"I was blown away," Oppenheim, 25, said during a break this week at The American Lobster in a Changing Ecosystem, a four-day symposium of marine scientists at the Holiday Inn by the Bay in Portland. "I had no idea this was coming -- absolutely no idea."

He's talking about lobsters eating their young.

At night, when nobody's looking.

Or so they thought.

We hear a lot these days about Maine's brain drain, that excruciating exodus of our best and brightest young people from their home state to, well, anywhere but Maine.

Then along comes a young scientist-in-training like Oppenheim and suddenly the future doesn't feel quite so bleak.

He grew up in Falmouth, graduated from Waynflete School in Portland in 2005 and spent seven years attending college and working on the West Coast. Now he's enrolled in a dual master's program -- in marine biology and fisheries policy -- at the University of Maine.

And on Wednesday, Oppenheim took a deep breath and delivered his first-ever presentation at a scientific conference. His topic: "Cannibals by night? Density-dependent feeding in the Gulf of Maine's lobster population."

(Think Tru-TV's "Top 20 Most Shocking" videos -- only with claws.)

"It's my honor to be this much in the loop," Oppenheim said as more than 100 scientists from New England and Canada, including his own mentors from UMaine, milled about the conference organized by the university's Maine Sea Grant College Program.

"Noah fits my lab perfectly," said Rick Wahle, a professor in UMaine's School of Marine Sciences who is Oppenheim's adviser. "He's got a great heart and is very enthusiastic about his work."

Which brings us back to the lobsters.

Back in the summer of 2009, just before his senior year at Reed College in Portland, Ore., Oppenheim landed a National Science Foundation "Research Experience for Undergraduates" grant through the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in East Boothbay.

Through Wahle, who worked at Bigelow at the time, he'd become acquainted with research on predators of juvenile lobsters -- mostly cod, other groundfish and the occasional crab -- done by UMaine Professor Robert Steneck in the 1980s.

Back in those days, there was no shortage of ocean dwellers that considered juvenile lobsters the perfect appetizer. But as speaker after speaker at this week's conference noted, the groundfish off Maine's coast are long gone and thus the lobsters, with no more "top-down" predators to keep them on the run, are everywhere.

"So this begs the question: How have top-down trophic dynamics of juvenile lobsters changed since these previous assessments?" Oppenheim asked his standing-room-only audience.

Translation: Who down there, if anyone, is still scarfing down the baby lobsters?

Donning their scuba gear, Oppenheim and Wahle dived in off Pemaquid Point and set up their 30-foot-deep observation platform: an infrared, underwater camera mounted on a four-legged platform over a window screen resting on the bottom. Secured to the screen was an 8-inch tether with a small harness on the end. Into the harness Oppenheim placed a juvenile lobster -- prevented by the tether from going beyond the camera's narrow range.

"We were hoping just to see that maybe they were being untouched or that perhaps there were still fish and maybe there was just a different predator assemblage," explained Oppenheim.

Translation: He expected hours of boring video. So boring that as he watched what was going on from the boat above that first night, Oppenheim eventually fell asleep.

Meanwhile, down below, all hell broke loose. Not once, but over and over as Oppenheim repeated the experiment 18 times: Little lobster crawls around in circles minding his own business. Big lobster moves in and, with lightning speed, swallows the juvenile whole.

And in one case, it got even better (except, of course, for the little guy in the harness): Big lobster gets chased off by an even bigger lobster who then has the small fry all to himself.

"It was mind-blowing," said Oppenheim. "It told a much more interesting story than I was ever hoping to see."

Now as any lobsterman will tell you -- and more than a few have told Oppenheim -- it's by no means uncommon for lobsters to make mincemeat out of one another within the confines of a trap.

But this was different. Never before had lobsters been caught cannibalizing when not behind bars.

"What he sees is very real," said Steneck, who did similar research (also with cameras) more than two decades ago and sat in on Oppenheim's 15-minute presentation.

Back when he had his eye on them, Steneck noted, "they weren't being eaten" by their elders.

Meaning?

"We're looking at a different world," Steneck replied.

Oppenheim's discovery, by his own admission, is at best preliminary: The real proof that it's a lobster-eat-lobster world down there will come only after he dispenses with the tethers and finds a way to see whether a juvenile lobster can actually escape the nighttime cannibals if given the chance.

"But what nobody has recognized is this random infanticide -- the cannibalism that is occurring in the field in situ (in a fixed place)," he told his rapt audience.

Oppenheim's scientific debut was, alas, not without its glitches. His video froze at several points, deflating what was supposed to be his must-see-TV moment.

"This one's the fight," he promised, the sympathetic crowd chuckling as he frantically tried to get the video moving again. "You want to see this."

Still, balky laptop aside, you couldn't listen to this up-and-coming researcher without marveling at a few equally important revelations.

A kid who moved clear across the country could have stayed out there; after graduating from Reed, Oppenheim spent two years in Alaska working as a groundfish observer for the National Marine Fisheries Service and as a summer deckhand aboard a commercial salmon gillnetter.

Instead, he came home. And when he finishes his three-year, double master's program, home he plans to stay.

"I love the setting. I love the seasons. I love the ocean," Oppenheim said. "And career-wise, I love the opportunity to stay."

Without a tether.

Columnist Bill Nemitz can be contacted at 791-6323 or at:

bnemitz@mainetoday.com

Caught: Lobster Cannibals Captured On Film Along Maine Coast

Mon, 03 Dec 2012 12:43:34 -0500

Caught: Lobster Cannibals Captured On Film Along Maine Coast

MICHAELEEN DOUCLEFF by

December 03, 2012 11:04 AM

Step back, lobsters coming through!

This summer lobsters exploded in number along the Maine coast. There were so many crustaceans crawling along the ocean floor – and into fishermen's traps – that lobster prices plummeted. Many fishermen tied up their boats, and a price war even broke out between Canadian and Maine seafood distributors.

But lobster-loving New Englanders weren't the only ones scarfing down the record-breaking harvest. Lobsters even started eating lobsters.

Maine scientists witnessed what they say is the first direct evidence that that lobsters practice cannibalism. Noah Oppenheim, a graduate student at the University of Maine, caught adult lobsters on film snatching up and eating adolescent ones. He recently explained his findings in this video by the Portland Press Herald.

Enlarge image

Noah Oppenheim, a graduate student at the University of Maine, sets up his underwater camera to film lobsters eat each other off the coast of Maine.

Photo courtesy of Noah Oppenheim:

As you can see, Oppenheim did stack the deck against the little guys by tethering them to a camera. But, he notes, many of the lobster's natural predators, like cod and skate, never took advantage of the free meal.

That may be because there are fewer lobster predators around these days, as their ranks have been depleted by commercial fishing, he says. And some scientists think the water around the coast of Maine has turned too warm for them — another potential factor in the lobster glut.

Lobsters have always enjoyed a nasty reputation for cannibalism in captivity. When they're caught in traps, Oppenheim says, lobsters will eat those that have just molted and lost their hard shells. And, scientists have found fresh little lobsters inside the stomachs of adults.

But whether they have a taste for their own out in the wild was unknown. So Oppenheim tied a small, adolescent lobster to the base of an infrared camera and left it on a table about 20 feet underwater. Then he just waited.

The scene unfolded as he expected during the day: Crabs came along and gobbled up the bait. But at night, the unmentionable occurred. Eight of the nine attacks he filmed were lobster-eat-lobster action. He even saw a fight break out among several large lobsters.

Oppenheim thinks the switch to cannibalism is a direct consequence of their extremely high densities along the Maine coast this summer. "If you go scuba diving out here, they're carpeting the ground," Oppenheim tells The Salt. "So the rate that they encounter each other has dramatically increased."

So how does this infanticide affect the top of the food chain? Not too much. Lobsters won't be eating each other into extinction anytime soon. And, as long as their predators stay away, Oppenheim says, Maine's lobster boom will probably return next summer.

Top lobster scientists gather in Maine

Tue, 27 Nov 2012 06:55:44 -0500

FROM THE WALL STREET JOURNAL - NOVEMBER 26, 2012 AT 12:07 P.M.

PORTLAND, Maine — On the heels of a summer that featured a potentially record-breaking lobster haul in Maine and Canada and a crash in wholesale prices, top lobster scientists are meeting in Maine to look at fundamental changes that have affected lobsters in recent years.

The Maine Sea Grant program is hosting a conference in Portland focusing on things such as warming ocean temperatures, the changing food web and seafood economics. About 135 people have registered, including scientists from the U.S., Canada and Europe.

Conference co-chairman Rick Wahle (WALL'-ee), a University of Maine research professor, said the lobster industry is at a critical juncture, with the Maine harvest going gangbusters but the fishery virtually collapsed in southern New England.

The symposium begins with a Tuesday evening reception and wraps up Friday.

A Rogue Climate Experiment Outrages Scientists

Mon, 22 Oct 2012 14:45:55 -0400

A California businessman chartered a fishing boat in July, loaded it with 100 tons of iron dust and cruised through Pacific waters off western Canada, spewing his cargo into the sea in an ecological experiment that has outraged scientists and government officials.

The entrepreneur, whose foray came to light only this week, even duped the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in the United States into lending him ocean-monitoring buoys for the project.

Canada’s environment ministry says it is investigating the experiment, which was carried out with no government or scientific oversight. A spokesman said the ministry had warned the venture in advance that its plan would violate international agreements.

Marine scientists and other experts have assailed the experiment as unscientific, irresponsible and probably in violation of those agreements, which are intended to prevent tampering with ocean ecosystems under the guise of trying to fight the effects of climate change.

Though the environmental impact of the foray could well prove minimal, scientists said, it raises the specter of what they have long feared: rogue field experiments that might unintentionally put the environment at risk.

The entrepreneur, Russ George, calling it a “state-of-the-art study,” said his team scattered iron dust several hundred miles west of the islands of Haida Gwaii, in northern British Columbia, in exchange for $2.5 million from a native Canadian group.

The iron spawned the growth of enormous amounts of plankton, which Mr. George, a former fisheries and forestry worker, said might allow the project to meet one of its goals: aiding the recovery of the local salmon fishery for the native Haida.

Plankton absorbs carbon dioxide, the predominant greenhouse gas, and settles deep in the ocean when it dies, sequestering carbon. The Haida had hoped that by burying carbon, they could also sell so-called carbon offset credits to companies and make money.

Iron fertilization is contentious because it is associated with geoengineering, a set of proposed strategies for counteracting global warming through the deliberate manipulation of the environment. Many experts have argued that scientists should be researching such geoengineering techniques — like spewing compounds into the atmosphere to reflect more sunlight or using sophisticated machines to remove carbon dioxide from the air.

But tampering with the environment is risky, they say, so any experiments must be carried out responsibly and transparently, with the involvement of the scientific community and proper governance.

“Geoengineering is extremely controversial,” said Andrew Parker, a fellow at the Belfer Center at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. “There is a need to protect the environment while making sure safe and legitimate research can go ahead.”

Mark L. Wells, a marine scientist at the University of Maine, said that what Mr. George did “could be described as ocean dumping.”

Dr. Wells said it would be difficult for Mr. George to demonstrate what impact the iron had on the plankton and called it “extraordinarily unlikely” that Mr. George could prove that the experiment met the goal of permanently removing some carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

NOAA acknowledged that it had provided the project with 20 instrument-laden buoys that drift in the ocean for a year or more and measure water temperature, salinity and other characteristics. Such buoys are often sent out on what the agency calls “vessels of opportunity,” and the data they provide, uploaded to satellites, is publicly available.

But a spokesman said the agency had been “misled” by the group, which “did not disclose that it was going to discharge material into the ocean.”

The nature of Mr. George’s project was first reported this week in an article in The Guardian, a British newspaper, after it was revealed by the ETC Group, a watchdog group in Montreal that opposes geoengineering.

Mr. Parker, of Harvard’s Kennedy School, said it appeared that the project had contravened two international agreements on geoengineering, the London Convention on the dumping of wastes at sea and a moratorium declared by the United NationsConvention on Biological Diversity — as well as a set of principles developed at Oxford University on transparency, regulation and the need for public participation.

Mr. George, said that his experiment was not related to geoengineering, and that 100 tons was a negligible amount of iron compared to what naturally enters the oceans. “This is a community trying to maintain its livelihood,” he said of the Haida.

He said his team had collected a “golden mountain” of data on the plankton bloom. Mr. George, who described himself as chief scientist on the project and said he has training as a plant ecologist, refused to name any of the other scientists on the team.

Scientists who have been involved with sanctioned iron fertilization experiments strongly disputed Mr. George’s assertion about the quality of his experiment, saying that it was roughly 10 times bigger than any other but that the fishing boat used and the science team were clearly insufficient.

Victor Smetacek, an oceanographer with the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in Germany who recently published an analysis of sanctioned fertilization research conducted in 2004 in the Southern Ocean, said Mr. George’s project would give a black eye to legitimate research.

“This kind of behavior is disastrous,” he said, describing Mr. George, with whom he had brief contact more than five years ago, as a “messing around, bumbling guy.”

Mr. George, 62, of Northern California, was previously in the public eye when, as chief executive of a company called Planktos, he proposed a similar iron-fertilization project, in the equatorial Pacific west of the Galápagos Islands, whose purpose was the sale of carbon offsets. Under cap-and-trade programs in various countries, polluters can offset their emissions of greenhouse gases by buying credits from projects that store carbon or otherwise mitigate global warming.

The project was canceled in 2008 after what his company called a “disinformation campaign” by environmentalists and others made it impossible to attract investors.

Mr. George said that during that period he was contacted by the Old Massett Village Council, one of two Haida groups on Haida Gwaii, about “wanting to do something about their fish,” which had suffered population declines.

But John Disney, the council’s economic development director, said he had worked with Mr. George on other projects before, including one to generate carbon credits by replacing alder forests on the islands with conifers. That project never came to fruition.

Mr. Disney defended the iron sprinkling project, saying that it had been approved by Old Massett’s villagers and cleared by the council’s lawyers.

He said at least seven Canadian government agencies were aware of the project. But a spokesman for Canada’s environment minister said Thursday that the salmon group was twice warned in advance that its plan violated international agreements Canada had signed that would prohibit an iron-seeding project with a commercial element, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported.

Mr. Disney also said that the marine science community, including researchers at the Wegener Institute in Germany, had known about the project.

But Mr. Smetacek disputed that as well. “I’ve had no contact with this guy on this,” he said, referring to Mr. George.