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Dauphin Island Sea Lab Faculty Scientists
Aug 20, 2003 |
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Contact: Lisa Young 251/861-7509 Dr. Richard Aronson, Senior Marine Scientist, Dauphin Island Sea Lab (DISL) and Professor of Marine Sciences at the University of South Alabama (USA), recently received two grants the first from NMFS Office of Habitat Restoration to study the influence of reef surface characteristics on recruitment, survival and production of the eastern oyster Crassostrea virginica, for 2003-2005, in the amount of $126,422. He also received $10,000 from EPA Region 4 Water Quality Protection Program for the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary for his work on coral population structure and dynamics in the Fully Protected Zones of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. Dr. Kenneth Heck, Senior Marine Scientist, DISL and Professor of Marine Sciences at USA, has been invited to present a talk at the Estuarine Research Federation meeting in Seattle, Washington during the week of September15-18. The title of the talk is "Predicting the effects of eutrophication on seagrass meadows: the importance of manipulative experiments and the underappreciated role of algal herbivores." Dr. Heck, Dr. Just Cebrian and Dr. Sean Powers, both DISL Senior Marine Scientists and Assistant Professors of Marine Sciences at USA, also received a grant from the NMFS Office of Habitat Restoration for "Ecosystem Services provided by oyster reefs: An experimental assessment." Dr. Hugh MacIntyre, Senior Marine Scientist, DISL and Assistant Professor of Marine Sciences, USA, will present "The Optics of Photosynthesis in Intertidal Sediments" at a colloquium entitled "Functioning of Microphytobenthos in Estuaries" to be held at the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, Aug. 21-23. Dr. Sean Powers, Senior Marine Scientist, DISL and Assistant Professor of Marine Sciences, USA, received a three-year grant of $135,000 from the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council, Gulf of Alaska Ecosystem Monitoring and Research Program for "Trophic dynamics of nearshore habitat in Alaska: interaction between top-down and bottom-up processes." He also was awarded $175,000 for a two-year project from the North Pacific Research Board for "Estuaries as essential fish habitat for salmonids: Assessing residence time and habitat use of coho and sockeye salmon in Alaska estuaries". Dr. Powers is the principle investigator with Dr. Heck on a grant from the NMFS Office of Habitat Restoration for "Quantifying fisheries benefits of oyster reef restoration in Mobile Bay." Dr. William W. Schroeder, Senior Marine Scientist, DISL and Professor, Marine Science Program, University of Alabama and has been funded by the U.S. Department of Interior, Minerals Management Service for $51,914 to study the geology and the branching corals and other macroepifauna that colonizes hard substrate surfaces at two deep-water sites on the upper-slope in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico. He will utilize data he collected during surveys conducted aboard the U.S. Navy Nuclear Research Submarine NR 1 in July 2002. |
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