Zostera marina is a seagrass species, commonly known as eelgrass, that is found on both coasts of the United States, as well as in Europe. Unfortunately, Zostera is disappearing all over the place, including right here in New York. This could have devastating impacts on animals that rely on eelgrass as foraging grounds, or, as is the case with scallops, use it as a refuge from predation. This is its story, as seen through the eyes of an aspiring graduate student...

Thursday, January 31, 2008

Jan/Feb Update

Well, again, this time of the year moves real slow. I occupy a lot of my time entering data, writing reports and proposals, doing prep for the upcoming field season, and longing for the days when I can get back on the water. But, right now, there isn't too much going on. I submitted a paper for publication back in November and got the reviews back recently. They weren't great but they weren't terrible. I am hoping that with the proper revisions, as recommended by the reviewers, that it will eventually make it into publication. Also, with help from my adviser, I have begun to analyze the data from planting scallops in various habitats, and there is a very interesting story developing, especially when we look at natural recruits. Its very exciting. I am going to present the scallop work at the National Shellfish Association 100th Anniversary Meeting in Providence this coming April. As I start to make the charts and presentation, I will post more information about that project here. Otherwise, things are going well with my research. I have a few projects I will be working on this summer, of course the spat collectors again, my eelgrass mats with scallop growth (and I might do some RNA/DNA work if I decide the results will be worth the hassle) and survival (hopefully it works this time, but I have found some new tether methods I hope will work out better). I am also going to be investigating the impacts of water quality on the growth and survival of the big three bivalves (clams, oysters and scallops). There are plenty of other side projects I hope to conduct and be involved with, but as it stands right now, I will be plenty busy. If you have any ideas, let me know!

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Long time!

Well it has been quite some time since I last updated my blog... The field season was winding down, and I have just been busy with other things... Helping release scallops for overwintering, doing some dive surveys, and helping with the eelgrass restoration guys at SCMELC... So, I have been pretty busy... I have also been working up some data from this summer, which I intend to present some of the research at the National Shellfish Association meeting and the Benthic Ecology Meeting, both in Providence in April, so I am working up the rest of the data now that the field season is over... Once I make some sense with the data I will put some nice figures up here so you can see what I am working on...