Carter Newell and I installed a new Rainwise weather station at the Coastal Studies Center on Friday. It is now streaming data to the web at https://rainwise.net/weather/BowdoinCoastalStudiesCenter04079. The data is being used by the new NSF EPSCOR Seanet, which is “gathering inshore environmental data of value through a buoy-based sensor system in three bioregions and in six bays to understand Maine’s dynamic coastal ecology” https://umaine.edu/epscor/seanet/. Bowdoin College is a partner in this large multi-institution effort, and Collin Roesler’s Buoy in Harpswell Sound will be part of a larger Buoy array in the Casco Bay Area.
All posts by David Carlon
Bowdoin College is hosting the 2016 Benthic Ecology Meeting in Portland, Maine
Dave Carlon is serviing as President of the Benthic Ecology Meeting Society this year, accepted at last years BEM in Quebec with encouragement from Ladd Johnson and one too many merlots! The president gets to run the meeting, and this year we are happy to host at the Westin Harborview in lively downtown Portland, Maine. I’m lucky to have Steve Allen as the meeting organizer; and Sarah Kingston (Bowdoin), Bob Steneck (U. Maine), and Graham Sherwood (GMRI) on the scientific committee. We have some great activities planned, including a plenary by Boris Worm of Dalhousie and a fun Friday tour of the Coastal Studies Center with libations donated by Oxbow Brewery. Check out the BEM website: http://www.bemsociety.org, and see the story Bowdoin ran last week: http://community.bowdoin.edu/news/2016/01/bowdoin-to-host-big-marine-science-conference-in-portland/
Coastal Studies Center 2014 Summer Research Symposium
The Coastal Studies Center is hosting a one day Research Symposium this Monday, July 14th. As in previous years, this meeting will be a friendly forum for students supported by summer fellowships to present an overview of their project, and their progress to date. New to this year, we are opening up the floor to postdocs and faculty who would like to tell us about their work in any aspect of marine or environmental science.
Shuttle
Shuttles will depart campus from the Druckenmiller loading dock at 8:00 AM. We expect shuttles will depart Coastal Studies by 3:30.
Presenters
Please download a copy of your presentation the Bowdoin scratch drive [microwave/scratch/COASTAL STUDIES PRESENTATION JULY 2014] by Monday morning at 6:00 AM. Please plan to upload by this time so we can be sure to load your presentation in time. You can also bring a back-up copy on a thumb drive if you wish. Let Rosie Armstrong know if you have trouble accessing this folder.
Schedule
| Time | Speaker | Topic |
| 8:30 | COFFEE | |
| 9:00 | Dave Carlon, Director of the Coastal Studies Center | Welcome and research remarks |
| 9:15 | Sarah Kingston, Doherty Marine Biology Postdoctoral Scholar | “Genotype and phenotype in a changing ocean, how much is standing genetic variation influencing mussel populations’ reaction to ocean acidification?” |
| 9:30 | Christie Jewett ‘15 Doherty FellowshipAdvisor: Patsy Dickinson |
“Does the presence of modulators alter the ability of the American lobster heart to generate a stable output pattern over a range of temperatures?” |
| 9:45 | Nathaniel Wheelwright, Professor of Biology | “The effect of trait type and strength of selection on heritability and evolvability in an island bird population “ |
| 10:00 | Michèle LaVigne, Assistant Professor of Earth & Oceanographic Science | “Acidification Research on Maine Clam Flats: A Partnership between Bowdoin and The Kennebec Estuary Land Trust.” |
| 10:15-10:30 | Lloyd Anderson’16, & Bailey Moritz ‘16 Rusack Fellowships Advisor: Michele LaVigne |
“An Assessment of pH and the Effects of Ocean Acidification in Phippsburg Clam Flats” |
| 10:30 | Jack Mitchell ‘17(Remote presentation) NSF/Computational Sustainability |
“Analysis of long-term trends in DNA Barcoding sets from tropical marine zooplankton from the Hawaiian Islands” |
| 10:45-11:15 | COFFEE BREAK & GROUP PICTURE | |
| 11:15 | Xuan (Circle) Qu ‘17 Doherty Fellowship Advisor: Patsy Dickinson |
“Pyrokinin peptides’ effect on the stomatogastric nervous system in the American lobster, Homarus americanus” |
| 11:30 | Tricia Hartley ‘15 Doherty Fellowship Advisor: Patsy Dickinson |
“Does the neuropeptide GYS modulate stretch feedback pathways in the lobster cardiac neuromuscular system? |
| 11:45 | Sophie Janes ‘16 Doherty Fellowship Advisor: Patsy Dickinson |
“Does nitric oxide alter the modulation of the cardiac system in the American lobster, Homarus americanus, via a peptide (GYSDRNYLRFamide)” |
| 12:00 | Amy Johnson, Professor of Marine Biology | “What puts the bounce in the gait of the seastar Protoreaster nodosus.“ |
| 12:15-12:30 | Samantha Garvey ’16, & Brendan Soane ’16, Doherty Fellowships Advisor: Amy Johnson |
“How does tube foot coordination generate a novel bouncing gait in the Indo-Pacific seastar Protoreaster nodosus and the North Atlantic seastar Asterias rubens?” |
| 12:30-1:30 | LUNCH | |
| 1:30 | Aidan Short ‘15 Doherty Fellowship Advisor: Dave Carlon |
“What’s for dinner? A molecular analysis of the feeding habits of the green crab Carcinus maenus in Harpswell Sound” |
| 1:45 | Sabine Berzins’16, Rusack Fellowship Advisor: John Lichter |
“Vulnerability of eelgrass (Zostera marina) to green crab (Carcinus maenas) invasion”. |
| 2:00 | Nora Hefner ‘16 Cook Fellowship |
“GIS Analysis of the Historical Ecology of Gulf of Maine Cod Fisheries” |
| 2:15 | John Lichter, Professor of Biology & Environmental Studies | Informal research remarks |
| 2:30 | Anna Hall ’15, Freedman Fellowship Advisor: Phil Camill |
“Investigating the effects of climatic change on peatland C accumulation and fire dynamics in coastal Labrador, Canada” |
| 2:45 | Emily Tucker ’15 Hughes Fellowship Advisor: Phil Camill |
“Effects of Climate Fluctuations in Labrador on Indigenous Populations, 8,000 BCE- present” |
| 3:00 | Amanda Howard’15 Doherty Fellowship Advisor: Beth Stemmler |
“Localization and post-translational modifications of crustacean AST-C peptides: a mass spectrometric study using the lobster, Homarus americanus” |
| 3:15 | Beth Stemmler, Professor of Chemistry | Informal research remarks |
Message from the Director
The Bowdoin Marine Laboratory is the scientific component of Bowdoin’s Coastal Studies Center. Our amazing site includes 118 acres of coastal spruce-pine forest and 8 miles of coastline. Our accessible location, and diversity of natural habitats opens up a wide range of marine, estuarine, and terrestrial research and teaching possibilities.
As the Bowdoin Marine Laboratory’s new Director, my job is to facilitate an expansion of research and teaching programs. Our growth will require new infrastructure and instrumentation. I am working with the Bowdoin administration, faculty, and staff on a strategic plan that includes a new “dry” teaching and research building, new housing, and new instrumentation to monitor climate change. This year we will begin work increasing the capabilities of our wet lab and building our small boat program. Our short history includes outstanding research from our Bowdoin community and friends from other institutions (see our list of publications). I would like to build on this intellectual platform and grow the breadth and depth of the research and teaching activities anchored by the BML by recruiting new researchers and new students from Bowdoin and beyond.
The Bowdoin Marine Laboratory has an outstanding geographical and ecological position for understanding the biological impacts of climate change. We are located within the Gulf of Maine ecosystem, a historically cold and productive body of water that has undergone a recent warming. Our coastal location and 8 km shoreline on Harpswell Sound, provide immediate access to tidally driven coastal and estuarine habitats, predicted to uniquely respond to increased warming due to high productivity and close linkages with terrestrial systems. Speaking of land, our peninsula on Orr’s Island includes 118 acres of upland forest, and I am strongly encouraging new courses and research that can capitalize on the terrestrial side of the Coastal Studies Center on Orr’s Island.
Come visit us on Orr’s Island to tour the facilities and see our stunning linkages between land and sea.
Dave Carlon, Director of the Bowdoin Marine Laboratory [email protected]