The first law of Marine Science is that electronics and saltwater don’t play well together. Anyone who has owned a boat or deployed an electronic instrument near the ocean can attest to this truth.
UGAMI’s CreekCam, installed in 2016, became a victim of the corrosive effects of salt spray and died a slow death last summer. But a new camera was installed at the same location this week and is set to transmit an image every 10 minutes. As before, the latest image is always displayed on the Current Conditions page: https://gce-lter.marsci.uga.edu/public/app/conditions.asp. Archived images can also be viewed and downloaded.
Want to see the tidal height and weather conditions at 7:15 AM on February 1, 2017? Or are you wondering when spring green-up occurs in the marsh? No problem, we got it.
Historically, January has been a quiet month at UGAMI. At this time, faculty and students are just beginning their spring semester classes at their home institutions. But this year is different. UGAMI is now offering a full slate of undergraduate classes in its inaugural Marine Biology Spring Semester. Students from UGA and four other universities started classes at UGAMI on January 7th and will be in residence on Sapelo Island through the end of April. During this time, the students will take a series of five classes in ecology, marine biology, fisheries science, and animal behavior. Rather than just reading and listening to lectures, these classes are built around field experiences. This sort of immersive learning experience can be life-changing for students. As a residential field program, students and faculty get to know one-another outside of the classroom and often develop lasting relationships that benefit students as they embark on their careers.
Periodically
throughout the semester, we will post updates on the students’ experiences here
and on UGAMI’s Facebook page.
We recently received a note from Dr. Benjamin Ehlers, Director of the Franklin Residential College at UGA, who said:
“We had a great trip: Sapelo encompassed everything we are striving for at FRC, in terms of academic rigor, contributing to the community through service events, and building community among our residents.”
We couldn’t agree more—Sapelo is a magical place, and the opportunities for researchers and students to work and learn about coastal ecosystems just keep coming. This past October we had researchers from Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts, classes from both UGA’s Entomology and Geography depts., a class from Middle Georgia State Univ., and a volunteer group from the Georgia Conservancy–not to mention the annual fall monitoring effort of the Georgia Coastal Ecosystems Long Term Ecological Research Program—all during the same week! We continue to renovate the campus, with plans to add visitor offices to the library wing this coming year, and we are launching a new semester-long residential education program in January.
We’re writing now to ask you to join us so we can continue to provide exceptional opportunities for research and education. Your tax-deductible donation will be used for a host of programs and activities, ranging from supporting summer internships to renovating the turkey fountain to subsidizing housing costs for graduate students. This year we are also hoping to raise enough money to build new bridges over the alligator pond (which had to be closed when one of the pylons failed—luckily everyone was o.k.!).
Your contribution will make you a member of the “Friends of UGAMI”, a group that supports the Institute and helps with special projects such as restoration of the Teal Boardwalk. Donations can be made on-line, or via a check made out to “UGA Foundation”, with “Friends of UGAMI” in the byline, and sent to Friends of UGAMI, Marine Sciences Building, 325 Sanford Drive, Athens, GA 30602. We thank you for your consideration.
With deep appreciation,
Merryl Alber Director, UGA Marine Institute
Beth Richardson President, Friends of UGAMI
Roseate Spoonbill at the Alligator Pond; Photo by Cas Bradley
The water garden that sits behind the Marine Institute provides habitat for birds as well as fish, alligators and other wildlife, and is a popular destination for visitors. A group of roseate spoonbills made the alligator pond their home for almost a month this past spring along with the usual snowy egrets. Unfortunately, the wooden pilings that support the two bridges that span the pond have decayed over the years and the walkway is now closed. We are hoping to raise money to replace them.
Field Research Technician, Georgia Coastal Ecosystems
Long Term Ecological Research Project
The GCE LTER program seeks a research technician to
assist with studies of coastal ecology. Work will involve studies of water
quality, soils, and wetland plants and animals. This Research Technician II
position is based at the UGA Marine Institute on Sapelo Island, GA. The
selected individual will work with other technicians, faculty and students at
the field site.
The minimum qualification for the position is an
Associate’s degree and some relevant experience; however, candidates with
4-year degrees in an environmental field (Biology, Chemistry, Geology) and
significant experience will be the most competitive. Candidates must be able to
operate pickup trucks, and have basic computer skills, including experience
with email, word-processing, and spreadsheet programs. Let us know if you have
any of the following useful skills or training: US Coast Guard Captains
license, small boat piloting experience, drone pilot license, drone piloting
experience, GIS.
Physical Demands: The position will occasionally require
strenuous physical activity and irregular hours. Much of the work is done
outdoors in hot, muddy, and buggy conditions. Work Hours: Generally, 8:30 –
5:00 M – F; although field work may require early or late hours and occasional
weekends.
UGAMI’s Assistant Director for Operations, Jacob Shalack (right), speaking to Georgia legislators during their visit to UGAMI
State legislators participating in the Environmental Policy Academy visited the coast this week to learn about issues facing these communities. On Thursday they visited UGAMI to see our facilities and learn about our education and research programs, particularly those related to coastal resiliency. While on Sapelo Island, the legislators also toured and met with representatives of the Hog Hammock Community, the Sapelo Island National Estuarine Research Reserve, and the Department of Natural Resources.
The Legislative Environmental Policy Academy is coordinated by UGA’s Carl Vinson Institute of Government and provides Georgia legislators on the House and Senate Natural Resource and Environment Committee with current, objective information on the state’s most pressing environmental concerns.
UGAMI saw several interns over the summer working on various GCE LTER projects. A few of the interns visited Sapelo for a week or two while others lived on the island for the entire summer. Here is what five of the interns had to say about their projects and Sapelo experience!
Bryanna Sanders
“I am from Pensacola, Florida and I have recently graduated cum laude from Savannah State University with my B.S. in Marine Sciences. This summer I worked with Dr. Christopher Hintz on the Carbonate Chemistry Dynamics of the Sapelo Island Estuary. Over a 9 week period my mentor and I gathered and analyzed water samples from various creeks and rivers near Sapelo Island, GA. These samples were analyzed for pH, alkalinity, nitrate, phosphate, and Dissolved Inorganic Carbon (DIC). This research is important because estuaries remain an important, but largely unstudied source/sink of carbon dioxide.
My future plans include entering the workforce as a laboratory technician to gain experience in my field and later on entering a graduate program where I hope to earn my PhD.
Thank you so much for this opportunity, I have greatly enjoyed my summer and conducting this research has been a monumental help in determining what direction I would like my career in science to go!”
John Kolb
“Hey I’m John, I’m a fourth year at the university of Georgia studying marine science. I worked with Dr. Christof Meile this summer developing a mathematical model for predicting soil temperature in Georgia marshes. We are especially interested in the dynamics of folding from the river in the heat absorbed by the soil on a daily and seasonal scale. This information is important in predicting how temperature rise due to global warming will affect the metabolic processes of the soil in marshes. This is important for the health of Spartina which is the dominant flora in the marshes. In the future I hope to get into graduate school somewhere for marine science to further my goals of becoming a PhD in Oceanography and work on defining the ecosystem dynamics of deep-sea ecosystems.”
Reilly Farrell
“My name is Reilly Farrell, and I’m a 5th year student at UGA studying Ecology. I decided to apply for an internship at the GCE LTER because I knew I wanted to get a feel for field work in the marine sphere. It luckily led me to Amanda Spivak, who was starting up a few projects determining differences in pore water chemistry across a couple of different sites at Sapelo. As a part of the projects, I actually got the opportunity to build a few of the devices that we put out into the field. It was incredible to be in on data collection from the ground floor and see some of the planning and physical labor that goes into field work.
For my first month as an intern, I was working almost entirely independently which gave me the opportunity to problem solve on my own. Later though, Andrea Reynolds, a PhD student from South Dakota, joined the lab, and we were able to work together to deploy various wells at Sapelo. On my last week as an intern we were actually able to collect data from wells at the headward eroding creek site. These data will hopefully give some insight as to how the marsh will change chemically as sea levels rise and headward eroding creeks gain prominence moving forward. I will be working in Dr. Spivak’s lab over the course of the year with the goal of accruing more data and learning how to extract meaningful information from it. If all goes to plan, I’ll present at CURO in the Spring.”
Jaime Rogers
“I grew up in Brunswick, Georgia and then attended high school in Fayetteville, Georgia. I now attend Georgia Tech as a 4th year Biology major.
This summer I worked closely with Sydney Williams who is a PhD student in Dr. Angelini’s lab. We worked on a few different projects on the island. About a third of our time out in the field was devoted to a landscape scale manipulation of mussel mounds to see how removal and addition of mussels affects biomass, invertebrate communities, and nutrient cycling in intertidal creek sheds. We also prepared and executed an experiment involving mesocosm-like instruments with the intentions of controlling inflow and outflow of tidal water over varying mussel mound treatments in order to examine ribbed mussel-facilitated nitrogen processing. We had an awesome trial run of this experiment at the end of the summer and will continue to work on perfecting the methods and deployment throughout this semester. Both of these experiments are incredibly important in understanding ribbed mussels’ role in controlling intertidal water chemistry and nutrient cycling out in the field rather than trying to mimic natural behavior in a lab setting. Finally I was privileged to assist in the preliminary ground truthing for the upcoming Disturbancescape experiment. This project is a collaborative effort within the LTER to determine and study the causes and effects of large and small scale disturbances in the salt marsh. It was really awesome to be on the cusp of a 6 year long experiment and be privy to all the preparation and communication that it takes to make an effort like this happen.
Moving forward, I will be graduating in December so my future plans are a little up in the air! I’m currently continuing research with Dr. Angelini’s University of Florida lab through at least the end of the semester with plans to return to Sapelo a few times to do some field work. After graduation I hope to travel the world for a little while with eventual plans to pursue some research technician positions and eventually a Masters and/or PhD.”
Evan Monnett
“My name is Evan Monnett and I am a first-year master’s student studying Environmental Science and Public Affairs at Indiana University. This summer I interned with Dr. Chris Craft, studying the effects of predator exclusion on soil decomposition in a Sapelo Island salt marsh. Using the Tea Bag Index technique and taking soil samples to measure soil bulk density and organic C, we worked to understand how the loss of large predators may affect carbon cycling in this important ecosystem. In the future I hope to work closely with legislatures and environmental managers to help preserve our coastal and fringe ecosystems.”
The Ecology Wildlife Foundation has established a new funding award to support a student in UGAMI’s Marine Biology Spring Semester. The $5,000 award will offset the student’s program fees (housing and meals). Students from any college or university are eligible for this generous award. For information on the Marine Biology Spring Semester, this award, and other scholarship opportunities, go to the Marine Biology Spring Semester’s online portal:
Hurricane Dorian passed offshore of Sapelo Island on
Wednesday, Sept. 4. Thankfully, the water did not rise any higher than it does
during a spring tide, and the Institute did not flood. The winds at Marsh
Landing were over 40 mph for several hours, with a high of 55 mph, but we have
not had reports of any damage.
The Institute will re-open for regular business tomorrow.
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.”
