With Hurricane Dorian approaching, the UGAMI staff spent last Thursday and Friday getting things tied down and out of harm’s way. Vehicles were moved to higher ground, small boats were pulled out of the water, and the R/V Spartina was moved up the Duplin River to Hunt Camp. We are quite concerned about a storm surge, as the predictions for Dorian rival those of Hurricane Irma. However, we should be better prepared this time because of the changes we’ve made over the past two years. One big difference is we now have flood barriers, which we have installed on all of the doors in the lab and the Carriage Houses. Let’s hope this one passes us by!
The Institute will remain closed until after the storm
passes and we have a chance to assess any damage.
Dr. Merryl Alber, Director of UGAMI and Project Director of the Georgia Coastal Ecosystems LTER, will be receiving an award at the Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation meeting in November. She will receive the Margaret A. Davidson Award for Stewardship, recognizing her outstanding achievements in supporting management of coastal systems. Congratulations, Dr. Alber!
“Dr. Merryl Alber has demonstrated extraordinary leadership, service, innovation, and commitment to the management of estuarine systems. She formed the Georgia Coastal Research Council, which has fostered productive working relationships between over 150 researchers and resource managers for 17 years. Merryl has taught coastal policy courses to graduate students for 20 years and inspired many students to careers in management and policy. She has also served as a scientific leader, as Director of the University of Georgia Marine Institute as well as Principal Investigator of the Georgia Coastal Long Term Ecological Research program. Dr. Alber has served as the Managing Editor of Coastal and Estuarine Science News, which translates key scientific papers for resource managers and policy makers, since 2005, and she has served on numerous workgroups and committees dedicated to activities devoted to environmental stewardship. She has also written a children’s book about the salt marsh. Throughout her distinguished career, Merryl Alber has embodied the passion and commitment to management that Margaret Davidson pioneered.”
McIntosh Life recently published an article “UGA Marine Institute undergoes a structural revival” in their Summer 2019 magazine. In the article, Dr. Merryl Alber is interviewed about the changes that have taken place in the last six years since she took over as director. You can read more about these changes by clicking the image below. The article starts on page 46.
“Dissolved organic matter supports aquatic food webs and holds as much carbon as the atmosphere. A new study tracks which sources and processes play the biggest role in coastal systems.”
Medeiros lab work on the dissolved organic matter dynamics in the Georgia coast (“Dissolved organic matter composition in a marsh‐dominated estuary: Response to seasonal forcing and to the passage of a hurricane” by Letourneau and Medeiros) has been highlighted in Eos – Research Spotlight. Read more here:
Several field courses are set to kick off at UGAMI. Just as most university campuses are winding down for the summer, UGAMI is shifting into overdrive. UGAMI’s research and teaching activities peak in summer. We are excited to meet this year’s students and immerse them in the Sapelo Experience!
Maymester courses include Geography of the Georgia Coast, where students will learn about the historical-geography of the Georgia Coast, the ongoing pressures felt through increased development and property politics, community conservation efforts, and sustainable agriculture. Students will be on Sapelo Island for two weeks starting May 19th. Other Maymester courses that visit Sapelo for a shorter period of time are the Georgia Fishes Field Study and the Parks, Environmental Education and Tourism Management Field Camp.
UGAMI hosts three field study programs during summer session. Students in the Coastal Summer Semester spend four weeks at UGAMI. This program introduces students to field techniques in marine ecology and culminates with students undertaking their own research project. Similarly, students in the Colonial and Native Worlds Field School are introduced to archaeological field and lab techniques and the methods and approaches by which archaeology and heritage are interpreted. These students will split their time between Ossabaw and Sapelo Islands. In addition, the Interdisciplinary Field Program, a 10-week traveling course, will spend its first week at UGAMI learning about the ecology and history of Sapelo Island.
Students at UGAMI work hard and play hard, often at the same time. For many students, participating in a field study program at UGAMI is a life-changing experience. For information on all of the undergraduate field study programs available at UGAMI, go to our Education web page.
Congratulations to 2018 Coastal Summer Semester students Sadneya Ghag, Danielle Jenkins, and Bailey Reins who presented the results of their independent research at UGA’s CURO Symposium (Center for Undergraduate Research Opportunities). The annual CURO Symposium highlights excellence in undergraduate research at the University of Georgia through students’ oral and poster sessions.
Sadneya Ghag presented her poster “Elevation and habitat distribution in the Sapelo Island national estuarine research reserve” under the mentorship of Charles Hopkinson.
Danielle Jenkins presented her poster “Seasonal and Diel Calling Patterns of Oyster Toadfish” under the mentorship of Damon Gannon.
Bailey Reins presented his poster “Distribution of Spotted Sea Trout and Atlantic Croaker in the Duplin River of Sapelo Island” under the mentorship of Damon Gannon.
Ever wonder what it would be like to work as a field research technician studying coastal ecology? The real-life adventures of “Jacob The Technician” are now chronicled in a comic book. The story was written by Professor Steve Pennings, who is the field director and co-principal investigator of the Georgia Coastal Ecosystems Long Term Ecological Research program (GCE). The story’s characters have an uncanny resemblance to Jacob Shalack (GCE’s field research coordinator and UGAMI’s assistant director for operations), Dontrece Smith, and Alyssa Peterson (both of whom are field research technicians with the GCE). The comic is part of GCE’s education offerings. Copies will soon be available at the visitor center of the Sapelo Island National Estuarine Research Reserve in Meridian/Darien, and can be ordered from Steve Pennings (spennings@uh.edu) for $5 each.
A GCE – LTER field research crew at the end of a long day’s work. Photo by Andy Penniman.
The Georgia Coastal Ecosystems – Long Term Ecological Research project (GCE-LTER), a research program based at the UGA Marine Institute, has been renewed by the National Science Foundation for another six years. The GCE-LTER first started in 2000 and will continue investigating long-term change in coastal ecosystems, including the salt marshes surrounding Sapelo Island and the tidal freshwater forests of the Altamaha River estuary. For more on the GCE-LTER, see this article in UGA Today.
The GCE-LTER is now accepting applications for their 2019 undergraduate summer internships. There are seven projects total with 4 based on Sapelo Island; one in Athens, GA; one in Bloomington, IN; and one in Savannah, GA. GCE will start reviewing applications February 15th; the deadline for all applications is 05:00 PM EST on March 1, 2019.
