SMS News

Follow the North Atlantic spring bloom in 4D

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 14:39:56

Mary Jane Perry is Chief Scientist on the R/V Knorr, carrying a full complement of scientists to take advantage of multiple floats and gliders working under and around them to resolve the spatial and temporal structure of a classic North Atlantic spring bloom off the coast of Iceland. Check out the near real-time visualizations hosted by her colleagues at the University of Washington.

SMS Master Candidate Wins Third Place

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 10:00:00

SMS Masters candidate, Jennifer Meyers, won 3rd place for her oral presentation in this years 2008 Graduate Expo!

GRAD EXPO WINNERS ANNOUNCED The University of Maine’s Graduate Student Government and Graduate School recently announced the award recipients for oral, poster and multimedia presentations at the 2008 Graduate Research Exposition. The annual expo,

which was held April 15 and 16 at UMaine’s Buchanan Alumni House, is designed to showcase and reward academic excellence and creative achievement by featuring demonstrations of works in progress among graduate students. Many of the winning posters

from this year’s expo will be on display at the reception following the graduate hooding ceremony on May 9. A news release with a complete listing of the winners is at

http://www.umaine.edu/news/article.asp?id_no=2117

Seventh Annual Geddes W. Simpson Lecture

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 08:25:22

The Geddes W. Simpson Lecture Series Award was established in 2001 in the University of Maine Foundation by family and friends to honor Professor Simpson, a distinguished researcher and teacher at the University of Maine. The award provides a monetary purse, which is given to a distinguished individual who has provide significant insight into the area where science and history intersect. This year's distinguished lecturer is Robert S. Steneck, professor of oceanography, marine biology, and marine policy.

Steneck is a marine ecologist whose laboratories are the kelp beds of North America and the coral reefs of the Caribbean and Indo-Pacific. There, he studies lobsters, sea urchins, fish, corals, historical ecology, global climate change and the science of manageing marine resources. His work has attracted attention from national and international media including The New York Times, The Economist, Atlantic Monthly, National Geographic, The Christian Science Monitor, Newsweek, National Public Radio and The New Yorker. Steneck's research has resulted in over 100 peer-reviewed scientific publications.

Steneck played an important role in the establishment of the Semester by the Sea program at the Darling Marine Center. Semester by the Sea enables undergraduate students to experience Maine's marine environment first hand.

Professor Steneck's lecture topic is"Considering the future of our seas through the lens of history." Please join us for the Seventh Annual Geddes W. Simpson Lecture.

When: Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Where: McIntire Room, Buchanan Alumni House,

University of Maine

Time: 3:00 p.m.

Light refreshments will be served following the lecture.

Bob Steneck Gets More Good Press over More Bad News for the Oceans

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 09:33:00

In December, Bob Steneck was published in Science over the likely impacts of global warming and ocean acidification on coral reefs. This month he was published again in Science (again with an impressive array of colleagues) in a study that maps the extent of degradation of the global ocean from seventeen different kinds of human impacts. A stunning four percent of ocean remains pristine. Before you rejoice in that four percent, be warned that much of it is polar and at imminent risk. You can read a short account in the New York Times and weep. Better yet, write your delegation and your favorite presidential contender and demand comprehensive action on the two languishing Ocean Commissions Reports.

Colleagues Reveal Surprises in Sea Anemone Genome

Thu, 07 Feb 2008 08:01:00

A team of international researchers, one of them a University of Maine professor, has discovered in a primitive starlet sea anemone the genes for a biochemical pathway that scientists had thought did not exist in animals. Malcolm Shick, a professor of oceanography and zoology at the UMaine School of Marine Sciences, and six colleagues, including Walt Dunlap, a former UMaine Visiting Libra Professor now at the Australian Institute of Marine Science, published their findings recently in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. A news release with more is at http://www.umaine.edu/news/article.asp?id_no=2009.

Carbon Credits for Ocean Fertilization are Premature

Sat, 12 Jan 2008 16:23:04

Fei Chai is one of several authors of a forum piece in Science explaining why it is premature to give or sell carbon credits for ocean fertilization. The idea of those proposing to gain such credits is that the carbon pump can be accelerated by adding inorganic nutrients, including iron. The efficiency with which such additions remove carbon from contact with the atmosphere and the duration during which the removed carbon stays out of contact with the atmosphere are both poorly known. Moreover, collateral effects on the ecosystem are not yet well predicted but are likely to be substantial.

Bob Steneck appears in both Science and USA Today

Thu, 13 Dec 2007 18:19:00

Ocean acidification is an already confirmed consequence of carbon dioxide emissions and a consequence of dissolution of some of the excess carbon dioxide from fossil fuel burning. This stressor adds to the dangers of global warming from those same and other greenhouse gas emissions. See what Bob and USA Today have to say.

Laurie Connell Receives Marine Biotechnology Award

Mon, 16 Jul 2007 14:41:35

Professor Laurie Connell and her research team were recently recognized by the Pan American Marine Biotechnology Association (PAMBA) for their groundbreaking work involving the relative resistance of clams to the toxin associated with red tide.

Connell and fellow researchers V.M. Bricelj, K. Konoki, S. P. MacQuarrie, T. Scheuer, W. A. Catterall and V. L. Trainer recieved PAMBA's first annual Marine Biotechnology Award of Excellence Prize for their paper, " Sodium channel mutation responsible for saxitoxin resistance in clams increases risk of PSP ," published in the journal Nature (volume 434.)

In addition to contributing to the understanding of the effects of potentially deadly red tide toxins on different populations of clams, the project offered important new insights into the physiology and function of sodium channels, the tiny, charge-dependent gateways of the nervous system.

Climate Change Paper Published in Science

Thu, 17 May 2007 14:30:54

In a paper published in a recent issue of the journal Science, Andrew Pershing, of the UMaine School of Marine Sciences and the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, and Charles Greene, of Cornell University’s Ocean Resources and Ecosystems Program, state that significant changes in the marine ecosystems of the Northwest Atlantic are the result of a significant increase in meltwater entering the ocean due to climate change.

Pershing and Greene suggest that the increase in low-salinity water entering the Atlantic from the Arctic altered circulation and stratification patterns, resulting in what they refer to as an ecosystem regime shift: a large, relatively rapid alteration in the ecosystem at multiple levels. The shift was marked by significant changes in the abundances and seasonal cycles of phytoplankton, zooplankton, and fish populations.

“Around 1990, the abundance of small copepods--rice grain sized crustaceans that are food for small fish--increased a hundred fold”, said Andrew J. Pershing, Ph.D., Ecosystems Modeler at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute and Professor at UMaine School of Marine Sciences. “Our work suggests that the increase in copepods was caused by an increase in the amount of freshwater entering the Gulf of Maine. When saltier conditions returned around 2001, the changes we saw reversed.”

Dramatic changes in the abundance of herring, shrimp and other species in the 1990s have been attributed by some to the reduction in predation by cod and other large fish following the collapse of groundfish populations in the 1980s. Pershing and Greene suggest that a bottom-up change in the populations of a variety of North Atlantic species would have occurred with or without the collapse of cod, due primarily to significant changes in climate.

“Climate scientists are predicting that the North Atlantic will get fresher, due to more precipitation and ice melt. While we can't say that conditions in the 1990s were caused by global warming, our work suggests a new way that global warming could impact marine ecosystems.”

Pershing, who received his Ph.D. in ecology from Cornell in 2001, is a leader in the use of computing technology to model and visualize how the ocean environment influences fish and mammal populations over time and to predict potential future population changes.

Doctoral Student Explores Sea Vegetable Aquaculture

Sat, 05 May 2007 14:37:52

Nic Blouin, a doctoral student in UMaine’s School of Marine Sciences, is pursuing a ground-breaking research project focused on the reproductive biology of the red alga Porphyra umbilicalis – also known as nori to the sea vegetable gourmand. Working with UMaine marine science professor Susan Brawley, Blouin is taking a multifaceted approach to nori research, combining cutting-edge laboratory research with hands-on field trials that he hopes will jump-start a new economic engine in Maine: sea vegetable aquaculture.

Maine’s potential as a provider of sea vegetables has remained largely untapped, due at least in part to the average American’s lack of familiarity with the ocean garden.

“Sea vegetable aquaculture is a $6 billion industry worldwide. Nori alone is nearly $2 billion of that, and that comes entirely from Asia. Nori and other algae are high in protein. They’re also a good source of omega-3 fatty acids. They’re a very healthful food; we’re just not used to eating them. Because there are so few people working on this in the U.S., and because there is so little known about its basic biology, you have to spread yourself around a little bit,” said Blouin, whose lab and field schedules combine to create a very demanding schedule. “I have projects going on both sides – in basic research and in economic development.”

Maine Sea Grant Receives Top Rating

Thu, 19 Apr 2007 14:40:02

The Maine Sea Grant College Program at the University of Maine has been rated in the top tier of Sea Grant programs nationwide, according to a recent review by a national assessment team.

"Maine Sea Grant has made significant contributions to science, technology, and society within the state and region," concluded the National Sea Grant Office, based on the review findings that Maine Sea Grant meets the highest performance standards of the Sea Grant network.

The National Sea Grant Office is charged with evaluating all Sea Grant programs on a five-year rotating basis. The program assessment team, which consisted of six representatives from across the country with expertise in coastal and marine resources, visited UMaine last year to evaluate Maine Sea Grant’s performance in several areas. The team came away impressed with the program’s effectiveness, and the National Sea Grant Office awarded the program a final rating in Category 1, making Maine among the highest performing of the 32 Sea Grant programs in the nation.