Dauphin Island Sea Lab (DISL) and University of South Alabama (USA) Ph.D. student Matthew Ajemian recently received a grant from the Bermuda Zoological Society for $4,815 to conduct research on eagle rays.

Dr. Just Cebrian, Senior Marine Scientist, DISL and Associate Professor of Marine Sciences, USA, received $65,000 from the Northern Gulf Institute (NGI) for the Integrated Ecosystem Assessment Initiative for the Northern Gulf of Mexico.

Dr. Cebrian, Dr. Ken Heck, Chief Marine Scientist (DISL) and Professor of Marine Sciences (USA) and Dr. Sean Powers, Senior Marine Scientist (DISL) and Associate Professor of Marine Sciences (USA) were the principle investigators on the DISL portion of a Nature Conservancy grant that received Economic Stimulus Funding from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.  The money will go to a “living shoreline” oyster project in Mobile Bay and Portersville Bay.  The DISL portion of this two-year award is $647,000.

DISL Executive Director Dr. George Crozier received $38,000 from The Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, State Lands Division, Coastal Section to improve public access at Three-Mile Creek with the construction of a fishing pier at the Martin Luther King Bridge.

*Dr. Ken Heck recently published:

Waycott, Michelle, C. M. Duarte, T. J. B. Carruthers, R. J. Orth, W.C. Dennison, S. Olyarnik, A. Calladine, J. W. Fourqurean, K. L. Heck, Jr., A. R. Hughes, G. A. Kendrick, W. J. Kenworthy, F. T. Short, and S. L. Williams. 2009. Accelerating loss of seagrasses across the globe threatens coastal ecosystems. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. doi_10.1073_pnas.0905620106

F. J. Fodrie, K. L. Heck, Jr, S.P. Powers, W.M. Graham and K.L. Robinson. 2009. Climate-related, decadal-scale assemblage changes of seagrass-associated fishes in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Global Change Biology doi: 10.1111/j.1365 2486.2009.01889.x

Hughes, A.R. S.L. Williams, C. M. Duarte, K. L. Heck Jr, and M. Waycott. 2009. Associations of concern: declining seagrasses and threatened dependent species. Frontiers in Ecology and Environment 7, doi:10.1890/080041

Anton, A. J. Cebrian, C. M. Duarte, K.L. Heck Jr., and J. Goff. 2009. Low impact of Hurricane Katrina on seagrass community structure and functioning in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Bulletin of Marine Science 45: 45-59.

Dr. Frank Hernandez, DISL Research Marine Scientist, received $88,399 from the Richard C. Shelby Center for Ecosystem Based Fisheries Management for Early life history dynamics of forage fishes in the northern Gulf of Mexico: linking spatial and temporal distributions with coastal oceanography and productivity.

Dr. Hernandez, and Dr. Monty Graham, Senior Marine Scientist (DISL) and Associate Professor of Marine Sciences (USA), are PI’s on a $211,258 grant from NOAA MARFIN for Spatial and temporal abundance and distribution of red snapper (Lutjanus campechanus) eggs across the northern Gulf of Mexico based on historic SEAMAP plankton surveys.

Hernandez and Graham are also PI’s on a $600,000 grant NOAA NGI for Connecting the Dots: Identifying linkages between zooplankton dynamics and fisheries resources based on the analysis of SEAMAP Plankton Surveys of the Northern Gulf of Mexico.

Hernandez has recently published:
Hernandez, F.J., Jr., J.A. Hare and D.P. Fey. 2009. Evaluating diel, ontogenetic and environmental effects on larval fish vertical distribution using generalized additive models for location, scale and shape. Fisheries Oceanography 18(4): 224-236.

Dr. Ron Kiene, Senior Marine Scientist, (DISL), and Professor of Marine Sciences (USA) received a $412,866 grant from National Science Foundation (NSF) – Chemical Oceanography for Reassessment of dissolved DMSP concentrations and turnover flux in the ocean.

Dr. Tina Miller-Way, Assistant Chair, Education and Outreach (DISL) and Dr. John Dindo, Chair, Institutional Advancement (DISL), have received a grant of $377,266 from NOAA’s Bay Watershed Education and Training program (B-WET).  The 3-year grant will focus on water quality and filter-feeding bivalves such as oysters and mussels and will incorporate the use of DISL’s new distance learning classroom.  The grant will offer professional development opportunities for teachers as well as a series of watershed experiences for middle school students in Mobile County and schools ‘up the watershed’  (in central Alabama). 

Miller-Way and Dindo also received a 2-year grant of $450,700 from NOAA NGI.   The grant will implement professional development opportunities for K-12 teachers in four Gulf states, develop and implement curricular materials based on NGI research and increase the awareness and understanding of the Northern Gulf region by the public using the Coastal Ecosystem Learning Center network in the Gulf region. 

*Bold-faced print indicates DISL faculty, post-doctoral fellows and/or graduate students.