Grice
Logbook
A Newsletter of the Grice Marine Laboratory and the
Graduate Program in Marine Biology
College of Charleston
April 24, 2002
FEATURES
REGULAR FEATURES
LINKS
Please forward announcements, photos & suggestions to marine@cofc.edu.
Louis E. Burnett,
Director, GML
David W. Owens, Director, GPMB
Grice Marine Laboratory
College of Charleston
205 Fort Johnson
Charleston, SC 29412
Phone: 843-406-4000
Fax: 843-406-4001
Issues of the newsletter:
Secrets
of the Southern Ocean
This past winter (the austral summer), Jack
DiTullio, of the Dept. of Biology, and his research assistant Sarah
Riseman (M.S. in Marine Biology, 1999, Univ. of Charleston, SC)
participated in a six-week oceanographic cruise in the Southern Ocean
aboard the Australian Ice-breaker RV/IB Aurora Australis. They departed
from Hobart, Tasmania, in late October and traveled south to the
Antarctic continent. There were over 70 international scientists onboard
with varied research interests in physical, biological, and chemical
oceanography.
|
|
|
Above: A highlight
of the trip was an afternoon where everyone was allowed to
disembark and have a few hours of R&R on the sea-ice. |
|
|
Dr. DiTullio collaborated with scientists from the University of Delaware and the Bermuda Biological Station for Research to examine the influence of iron on phytoplankton community structure and biogenic sulfur production in the Southern Ocean. The influence of this micronutrient on community structure has broad ramifications affecting both the global carbon and sulfur cycles.
The University of Delaware team set up a chemostat incubation system to conduct shipboard iron-addition experiments. Unlike other incubation methods, the chemostat design allows for the continuous addition of iron at low concentrations throughout the incubation. This design more realistically simulates iron input in natural regimes such as upwelling systems. The College of Charleston group measured the production of biogenic sulfur, phytoplankton physiological status, and algal pigments over the course of these experiments. The pigment data will be used to determine which classes of algae were present initially, and how the community changed in response to iron-addition. This cruise was the first time shipboard chemostats were used to study the effects of iron in the Southern Ocean and the results of this research will be a valuable contribution to understanding the influence of iron in this region.
|
|
|
Natural sunlight is used in these experiments so the incubator must be outside. Here is a view of the chemostat (the large blue box) secured on the fantail in fairly rough seas. |
The work posed several challenges. First, conducting trace-metal work requires an elaborate laboratory set-up and water collection system, and a meticulously clean lab etiquette to avoid contamination. The concentration of iron in these waters is so low that even the smallest speck of dust has enough iron to contaminate the experiments. Keeping the chemostat running in the sub-zero temperatures proved extremely challenging and required around the clock care. And finally, because the laboratory was on the upper deck of the ship, it experienced the greatest movement when the ship rolled in rough seas. Anything not tied-down took on a life of its own, sliding across the floor or launching off the bench! Luckily the Southern Ocean, notorious for the largest waves in the world, was calm for most of the voyage.
The rewards for working long hours under challenging conditions were more than just the successful completion of the experiments. The sights included soaring albatross, night skies filled with the shimmering aurora australis, towering icebergs, and curious Adelie and Emperor penguins. The ship also had its perks. The cuisine was unparalleled among research vessels and, unlike American ships, the Aurora has a bar to retire to after a long shift of work. The Husky Bar, so named because the last huskies removed from Antarctica were carried away aboard this ship, was a common gathering place.
Despite the difficulties of working in the
Southern Ocean and the intricacies of doing trace-metal-clean work, the
cruise was a success. The College of Charleston researchers returned to
the Grice Marine Laboratory with a large amount of data and samples that
they are now in the process of analyzing.
Top of Page
Student
Colloquium
The Graduate Program in Marine Biology (GPMB) successfully staged its
Fifth Annual Graduate Student Research Colloquium on February 22 – 23,
2002, at the Marine Resources Research Institute, South Carolina
Department of Natural Resources at Fort Johnson. The Colloquium aims to
provide graduate students with experience in making scientific
presentations and to promote interactions among students and faculty
conducting research in marine biology at the College of Charleston. Twenty graduate students from the GPMB and the Environmental Studies
Program took advantage of the opportunity to give oral presentations on
their thesis research. Second-year GPMB student Bob Grant earned
the best student oral presentation award. Bob is working on habitat
preferences in the juvenile black sea bass, Centropristis striata.
A close runner-up in the award competition, Melissa Recks, spoke
about her plans to determine feeding strategies of bottlenose dolphins
using fatty acid analysis. Dr. Larry Crowder, the Stephen Toth
Professor of Marine Biology at Duke University, gave the keynote
lectures at the Colloquium. Dr. Crowder’s talks illustrated ways in
which scientific research can be used to influence public policy on
management issues related to natural resources and endangered
species. More than 125 students, faculty and visitors attended one
or more sessions of the Colloquium, which also included a social, a
poster session, and an oyster roast. A complete program and pictures of
both formal and informal moments from the Colloquium are available at www.cofc.edu/~marine.
 |
| Dr. Larry Crowder of Duke University was the keynote speaker. |
Taxonomic
Center
The Southeastern Regional Taxonomic Center (SERTC) has been
established at the Marine Resources Research Institute of the South
Carolina Department of Natural Resources and the Grice Marine
Laboratory. Funding for the project has been provided by the
National Marine Fisheries Service. The center will provide a regional
focus for developing taxonomic expertise and skills, along with the
infrastructure to support taxonomic endeavors in this geographic area.
One of the initial objectives is to develop a database for existing and
future collections of fish and invertebrate specimens from various
habitats of the region. A second objective is to compile a
reference library of taxonomic publications relevant to the fauna of the
region. Undergraduate and graduate students with interests in systematic
study of marine organisms are encouraged to contact SERTC. Click
here for more information. Contacts:
Fish collections - Tony Harold, 843-406-4027, harolda@cofc.edu
Invertebrate collections - Elizabeth Wenner, 843-762-5050, wennere@mrd.dnr.state.sc.us,
David Knott, 843-762-5006, knottd@mrd.dnr.state.sc.us
|
|
| Student Rob Javonillo works in the collection room at GML |
Recent Scholarly Contributions
(see GML
Web Site for a complete list) Please contact Dr. William D. Anderson,
Jr. (andersonwd@cofc.edu) for a
GML contribution number for manuscripts that have been accepted for
publication. Some recent contributions follow:
#185. Pennington, P. L. and G. I. Scott. 2001. Toxicity of atrazine to the
estuarine phytoplankter Pavlova sp. (Prymnesiophyceae): Increased
sensitivity after long-term, low-level population exposure. Environmental
Toxicology and Chemistry, Vol. 20, No. 10, pp. 2237-2242.
#186. Karnaky, K. J., Jr., L. R. Forte, J. Bridges, E. Brown, S. Decker, A.
Pelletier, S. Forrest, and J. N. Forrest. In press. Evidence for a guanylin/guanylate
cyclase signaling system in the intestine, but not in rectal glands of the
dogfish shark (Squalus acanthias). Bulletin of the Mt.
Desert Island Biological Laboratory.
#187. Karnaky, K. J., Jr., M. Sedmeroval, D. Petzel, J. Bridges, S. W.
Boatwright, and D. S. Miller. In press. MRP2-like transport in the
Malpighian tubule of the cricket, Acheta domesticus. Bulletin
of the Mt. Desert Island Biological Laboratory.
#188. Murphy, S. H., T. Murphy, and D. W. Owens. In press. Ecology
of benthic immature loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta) on
foraging grounds and inter-nesting habitat use by adult females -
Atlantic. In A. Bolten and B. Witherington (editors), Biology
and conservation of Loggerhead Sea Turtles. Smithsonian Institution Press,
Washington, D. C.
#189. Finkenbine, S. S., T. W. Gettys, and K. G. Burnett. 2002.
Beta-adrenergic receptors on leukocytes of the Channel Catfish, Ictalurus
punctatus. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology, Part C 131, pp.
27-37.
#190. Collette, B. B. and W. D. Anderson, Jr. In press. Frederick H. Berry,
1927-2001. (Obituary.) Copeia.
#191. Wilde, S. B. and C. J. Plante. In press. Spatial heterogeneity of
bacterial assemblages in marine sediments: The influence of deposit feeding Balanoglossus
aurantiacus. Estuarine, Coastal, and Shelf Science, 56.
#192. Miller, D. S., R. Masereeuw, and K. J. Karnaky, Jr. In press.
Regulation of MRP2-mediated transport in shark rectal salt gland tubules.
American Journal of Physiology.
#193. Plante, C. J. and S. B. Wilde. 2001. Bacterial recolonization of
deposit-feeder egesta: In situ regrowth or immigration? Limnology and
Oceanography, Vol. 46, No. 5, pp. 1171-1181.
#194. Anderson, W. D., Jr. In press. John Edwards Holbrook's Senckenberg plates and the fishes they portray.
Archives of Natural History.
#195. Harold, A. S. In press. Review of SPECIES
CONCEPTS AND PHYLOGENETIC THEORY: A DEBATE, by Quentin D. Wheeler and Rudolf
Meier. Copeia.
#196. Burnett, L., N. Terwilliger, A. Carroll, D.
Jorgensen, D. Scholnick. 2002. Respiratory and acid-base physiology of
the purple sea urchin, Strongylocentrotus purpuratus,
during air exposure: Presence and function of a facultative lung.
The Biological Bulletin (in press).
#197. Karnaky, K. J., Jr., E. Milner, J. N. Forrest, Jr.,
and L. R. Forte. In press. Guanylin/guanylate cyclase signaling in
the intestine of dogfish shark (Squalus acanthias) and
American eel (Anguilla rostrata). Bulletin of the Mt.
Desert Island Biological Laboratory.
#198. Brzezinski, M. A., C. J. Pride, D. M. Sigman. J. L.
Sarimento, K. Matsumoto, N. Gruber, G. Rau, and K. Coale. In press. A
switch from Si(OH)4 to NO3-depletion in the
glacial Southern Ocean. Geophysical Research Letters.
Top of Page
Grice
Coffee Mugs & T-Shirts
The graduate students in marine biology are selling t-shirts
and coffee mugs to raise money to support student travel to meetings and
other activities.
-
Shirts, long sleeve $13, short sleeve $11, in variety of colors and sizes.
-
Coffee mugs, $6 each or $5 for 3 or more.
-
Get more information by emailing gricembgsa@hotmail.com or call (843) 406-4000.
Deep-Sea
Corals
To the
surprise of many people, corals are not restricted to shallow-water
tropical environments. Deep-sea
corals are common on steep-sided, hard substrates, for example, seamount
slopes and canyon walls. Most
deep-water corals belong to the subclass Octocorallia (sea whips, sea
fans, sea pens etc.), although some hard coral species can be found
greater than 6000 meters deep. Scott
France, of the Department of Biology is working in collaboration
with Les Watling, University of Maine, to study the genetic structure of deep-sea corals on the east
coast of the U.S. This
project is funded by the National Undersea Research Program (NURP) and
NOAA's Ocean Explorer program. In
September Dr. France participated in an R/V Atlantis-DSV ALVIN cruise to
the submarine canyons and seamounts south of Georges Bank.
The cruise was hampered by the effects of Hurricane Erin;
high seas caused the cancellation of 3 of the 5 submersible
dives. Dr.
France had the opportunity to dive into Oceanographer Canyon
where he sampled corals at depths of 700 to 1300 meters.
Additional images and details about the cruise can be obtained at
the Deep
East website. A second
cruise is scheduled for this summer using the R/V Connecticut and ROV
Kraken to observe and sample deep-sea corals in the canyons and ledges
at 200 meters depth in the Gulf of Maine.
You can learn more about the research interests of Scott France at
his website.
 |
|
Above:
A
photo was taken through the porthole of DSV
Alvin at 814 meters depth in Oceanographer Canyon.
The orange corals on the left are Paramuricea
grandis; each has
a single large reddish-pink brittle star living on its branches.
In the right foreground is the bright yellow Synathus
mirablis, a colonial anemone which is overgrowing an old
octocoral skeleton. |
|
|
Recent
GPMB Degrees
Melissa Alm, Photosynthetic Efficiency as a Diagnostic
Indicator of Phytoplankton Physiology in the Eastern Equatorial Pacific
Ocean and the Peruvian Upwelling System (Advisor Jack DiTullio)
Christopher Gawle, Tidal Creek Responses to Watershed
Development: A comparison of Summer 1994 and Winter 2000 Data (Advisor Fred Holland)
Jill Jennings, Distribution, diversity, and habitats of fishes on
the continental shelf and upper slope of the South Atlantic Bight, USA
(Advisor George Sedberry)
Sarah Kingston, Genetic survey of Delphinus delphis, D.
capensis and other delphinid taxa using amplified fragment length
polymorphism markers (Advisor Patty Rosel)
Jennifer Lawton, Direct and Indirect Effects of the Herbicide
Atrazine on the Clam Mercenaria mercenaria (Advisor Geoff Scott)
Jennifer Maucher, Flavodoxin as a Diagnostic Indicator of Iron
Stress in Oceanic Phytoplankton (Advisor Jack DiTullio)
Xavier Mayali, Investigating the interactions between algicidal
bacteria and the toxic dinoflagellate Gymnodinium breve using
molecular techniques (Advisor Greg Doucette)
Jennifer Moore, Age, Growth, and Reproductive Biology of the Gray
Triggerfish, Balistes capriscus, from the Atlantic coast of the
Southeastern United States during 1992-1997 (Advisor George Sedberry)
Alice Palmer, Daily, Tidal and Seasonal Movements of Shortnose
Sturgeon, Acipenser brevirostrum, in the Lower Cooper River
(Advisor Mark Collins)
Michelle Zatcoff, Population Genetic Analysis of Mycteroperca
bonaci and Epinephelus morio, (Teleostei Serranidae) in the
Western Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean Using Microsatellite DNA
Markers (Advisor Bob Chapman)
Top of Page
Shrimp
Aquaculture
Karen Burnett and Lou
Burnett, Dept. of Biology, have recently begun working with
Iowa-based Diamond V Mills, Inc., a major producer of animal
feed additives, to
evaluate the immune-enhancing properties of the Diamond V XP™ yeast
culture. The goal of these studies is to evaluate whether XP, when added
to the normal diet of the Pacific white shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei,
will increase the shrimp’s resistance to infectious disease.
Worldwide, L. vannamei is one of the major shrimp species used in
aquaculture. The techniques that the Burnett laboratory will use to
evaluate disease resistance were originally developed with support from
the United States Department of Agriculture, and represent one way in
which support for basic research can ultimately benefit the economic and
business sector, while providing funding for graduate student stipends.
Classroom
Upgrades
This year the Grice Marine Laboratory made good progress in
modernizing its classrooms and computer lab. The two classrooms
are now considered "smart" and have internet linkages and
projectors permanently mounted. The student computer lab received
a giant facelift in December when the furniture was replaced with sleek
looking benches and new chairs. The project is expected to be
completed late this spring with the arrival of 8 new computers.
These projects were funded from a variety of sources including Academic
Computing, the Graduate Program in Marine Biology, the Department of
Biology, and the Grice Marine Laboratory.
 |
 |
| Computer Lab Before | Computer Lab After |
Graduate alumni who are currently pursuing Ph.D. degrees:
-
Julian Burgos - University of Washington
- Kimberly del Carmen - University of Hawaii
- Todd Haney - UCLA
- Michelle Hardee - University of South Carolina
- Mike Janech - Medical Univ. of South Carolina
- Xavier Mayali - Scripps Institution of Oceanography
- Wendy Moore - University of Arizona
- Paul Pennington - University of South Carolina
- Eric Treml - Duke University
- Tim Zimmerman - Univ. of California, Berkeley
Kevin Davis, MS, Marine Biology, 1985. Kevin worked for SCDNR for several years as an Oceanographer. Then tiring of the seasickness bug he realized satellites can facilitate a lot of oceanography. Starting in a garage with some engineering friends he built his first earth station on a shoestring. That was a few years back. Currently Kevin heads SMARTech of Moncks Corner, South Carolina, a small company which builds earth stations for downloading data from some of the thousands of satellites now orbiting the earth. Business is brisk for their SMART stations which retail for $50,000 to $750,000 each. Some of their main customers are NOAA, NASA and other government agencies.
Whit McMillan, MS, Marine Biology, 1993. Whit is Conservation Education Manager at the South Carolina Aquarium where he has worked for nearly three years. Whit joined the staff of nearly 90 employees a year before the aquarium even opened. His position has three primary duties. The first is the scientific responsibility for accuracy in the graphics, displays and signage. The second is developing and facilitating partnerships with other organizations such as SCDNR, The Coastal Conservation League and the South Atlantic Fisheries Management Council with whom they recently hosted the Marine Protected Areas Forum at the Aquarium’s elegant meeting center. Finally, Whit is also responsible for the education programs on the floor of the aquarium where he works with staff and volunteers to provide a quality education experience for visitors.
We plan to feature more alumni news in future issues. Please keep us informed of your activities by emailing us at marine@cofc.edu.
Visiting faculty member,
Dr. Carol Pride, will be leaving Grice early
this summer to begin a faculty appointment in the Marine Science Program
at Savannah State University. She will be helping to launch a new joint
masters degree program this fall at SSU in conjunction with the Skidaway
Institute of Oceanography. Carol has plans to expand her studies of the
stable isotopic composition of plankton-produced shell and organic
matter from the Gulf of California and the Southern Ocean to the South
Atlantic Bight and estuarine environments.
Data collected in three semesters of oceanography class field trips (BIOL
342 and BIOL 610) to the Charleston Harbor will be presented in the
School of Science and Math annual student poster session by the recent
Biology Department graduate, Rachel McEvers. All data were
collected using the the departmental CTD with the assistance of Mark
Geesey. The CTD has been an invaluable resource in the training of our
oceanography students in the interpretation of the physical and
biological properties of our estuary.
Dr. Craig Plante recently received a $223,330 grant from the National Science Foundation Ecology Division for the project, “Non-equilibrium determinants of microbial community structure in marine sediments: Role of deposit feeding.” This three-year project will focus on the importance of biotic disturbance, recolonization and succession in structuring microbial communities. Field experiments will be conducted in a variety of intertidal habitats in both South Carolina and in Maine. Quantitative and qualitative examination of bacterial assemblages will rely heavily on epifluorescence microscopy and molecular techniques, respectively. The latter work will benefit greatly from GML’s new Core Facility for Molecular Biology.
 |
| Fisheries Workshop at Grice. A "hands-on" fish pathology workshop (photos above and below) was held at the Grice Marine Laboratory in conjunction with the Eastern Fish Health Workshop, which was held in Charleston on March 22. Dr. Jill Arnold from the Baltimore Aquarium taught the workshop with assistance from Drs. Al Segars and Ted Smith of SCDNR. More than 25 scientists participated in the session. |
 |
-
Sometime during the summer the Grice phone numbers will change. Calls to the old numbers will be forwarded temporarily. Please check the Grice web page for the new numbers.
Top of Page
 |
| Powder magazine adjacent to the Grice Marine Laboratory. |