Category: news

Students from the Coastal Summer Semester gave their final research presentations Friday afternoon, June 30. The presentations were the culmination of two intensive weeks spent designing and conducting field-based marine ecology research projects. Students often started early in the morning and worked late into the night. Through this effort the students gained valuable laboratory and field experience, honed their understanding and application of the scientific method, and got to work with skilled mentors. Research topics were divided into four general categories: parasite ecology, invertebrate behavior, faunal distributions, and adaptations of primary producers.

After nearly 16 years, Jacob Shalack is officially leaving UGAMI on July 1. Jacob is a Research Professional who has worked with many researchers as the lead technician of the GCE-LTER, and since 2013 has also served as the Assistant Director for Operations at UGAMI. He is moving to the Office of the VP for Research on the UGA main campus, where he’ll be a Facilities Professional. We plan to continue working with him in his new capacity.

In the meantime, we have hired two new Assistant Directors, both of whom started on June 1. Nick Macias, the new Assistant Director for Operations, is a freshwater ecologist with experience as a field site manager and research and education coordinator for Cal Poly’s Swanton Pacific Ranch. He hails most recently from Georgia Southern, where he was a visiting faculty member. Tom Hancock, the new Assistant Director for Academics, is a coastal ecologist who has worked in both private and public settings, including as Director of Conservation for the Bald Head Island Conservancy. Tom was a professor in the Biology Department of Middle Georgia State University, and in that capacity has been bringing marine biology classes and research students to Sapelo Island since 2016. We welcome them both to the team!

The Coastal Summer Semester students arrived on Sapelo Island Sunday afternoon, June 4th. The program is off to a great start! Thus far students have trawled on board the R/V Spartina, learned about oyster ecology, salt marsh dynamics, black gill in shrimp, and nearshore plankton communities, as well as discovered various marine invertebrates and vertebrates along the way.

Lab and field activities have included phytoplankton chlorophyll extraction, measurement of fish abundance and diversity in the estuary, oyster parasite and disease recognition and quantification, and seine netting from the beach. Next week students will begin to design and execute their independent research projects. If this type of immersive, hands-on, inquiry-based experience looks interesting, please consider our Spring 2024 Semester Program.

The Ocean Memory Project , a growing group of thinkers spanning divergent scientific and artistic practices who work to broaden understanding and awareness of ways in which the ocean retains, expresses, and loses memory, recently hosted a workshop at UGAMI, organized by UGA Professor Mandy Joye, focused on the topic of memory loss in relation to system processes and human memory. 

They had formal presentations (at the Institute, in the field, and during nature walks), structured and unstructured discussions, creative activities, and immersive experiences on the island with free time to connect with other participants.

The presentations covered a range of scales upon which biological systems communicate and remember – from molecules to ecosystems and coastlines. Speakers covered topics ranging from human history and memory, including a focus on historical and modern human populations on Sapelo Island; the geological history of barrier islands; the role of chemical signaling in memory; the role of story-telling and science writing in ocean science communication; the impact of natural disasters on ecosystem dynamics, including stress-hardening and ecological memory in corals; and pollution and system memory loss resulting from the Gulf of Mexico Deepwater Horizon oil spill. 

We are very excited to announce Dr. Emlyn Resetarits will be joining UGAMI as our inaugural Scientist-in-Residence.  Dr. Resetarits has been teaching as part of our Marine Biology Spring semester for several years and will be joining the UGAMI faculty full-time in Spring 2023.  She has already begun setting up her research in a dedicated space in the newly renovated north wing of the main lab.  We welcome Dr. Resetarits and her research to UGAMI and are truly excited about the research opportunities and wealth of knowledge she brings to our students and research community.

A little bit more about Dr. Resetarits:

She received her PhD from UT-Austin where she investigated how environmental variables influence parasite community assembly across spatial and organizational scales, focusing primarily on salt-marsh ecosystems.  She continued her research at the Odum School of Ecology at UGA in the Byers Lab where she combined field surveys with lab and field manipulations to quantify the role that parasites play in aquatic ecosystems.   

Dr. Resetarits’ work provides valuable insight into how parasites interact at the ecosystem level and how behavior and community-level dynamics may contribute to those interactions. 

Please join us in welcoming Dr. Resetarits to our community!  We look forward to hearing more about what she uncovers in the marsh.