REU student Alison Lew with a 12′ tiger shark that was tagged and released on the final day in Bimini.
Photo courtesy: Demian Chapman
This month, SoMAS hosted a symposium at which undergraduate students who participated in the 2010 Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program presented the results of their summer research. The REU program is a 9-week program funded by the National Science Foundation to encourage active research participation by undergraduate students who otherwise have limited opportunities. The focus of this year’s REU program at SoMAS was on the implications of a changing global climate on coastal environments.
“Students this summer participated in a spectrum of hands on research opportunities which went well beyond anything that their educational and personal experiences had prepared them for,” said REU Program Director Josie Aller. “Some research addressed fundamental processes while some crossed into the realm of applied science.”
A student collects VOCs using a teflon drawstring bag . Photo courtesy of REU 2010 blog.
Under the direction of faculty mentors Josie Aller ,Demian Chapman, Daniel Knopf, Robert Aller, QingZhi Zhu, Henry Bokuniewicz, Stephan Munch, and Brian Colle, the REU students engaged in projects such as using DNA barcoding to identify stomach contents of the lemon shark; examining long term variations of ozone around New York City in a changing climate; and investigating the role of seagrass beds and mangroves in silica cycling in carbonate sediments.
As part of the REU program, the students and their mentors spent two weeks in Bimini, Bahamas, collecting data and conducting a cross-site comparison of the marsh/beach ecosystems of Long Island and the mangrove/beach ecosystems of Bimini. “Not only did [the students] have the opportunity to work in a less developed country, ” explained Dr. Aller. “But they also got a firsthand look at the cultural and environmental implications of outside development.”
While in Bimini, the REU students had the opportunity to conduct fieldwork related to several research projects. “I was pleased with the amount of field work I got in Bimini,” said Aaron Macy, an REU student who attends the Florida Institute of Technology. Aaron explained that one of his favorite parts of the REU experience was trekking through the mangrove jungle to find the healing hole– a spring that is said to hold magical healing powers where he and his research colleagues conducted groundwater measurements. Although he adds: “getting to say I swam with a tiger shark is pretty neat too.”
Students perform shark stomach eversions to study the animal’s diet. They capture and anesthetize the shark, then carefully pull out the stomach and collect its contents.
Photo courtesy of REU 2010 blog.
The REU students blogged about their experiences in Bimini at http://reubimini.blogspot.com/
The Research Experience for Undergraduates program at SoMAS was sponsored by the OCE REU program at the National Science Foundation with additional support from a NSF- OEDG (Opportunities for Enhancing Diversity in the Geosciences) grant to Gilbert Hansen of the Department of Geosciences and from The Alfred and Jane Ross Foundation.
Sara Hugentobler (Jr. Univ. Utah) Allison Lewis (Jr. Rice Univ.) (Mentor: Demian Chapman) “Stomach Content Identification of the Lemon Shark, Negaprion brevirostris, using DNA Barcoding”
Steven Curtis “Production of Biogenic Volatile Organic Compounds (BVOCs) by Mangroves on Bimini, Bahamas” (Soph., Penn State Univ., Mentors: Tracey Evans, Dnaiel Knopf, and Josephine Aller)
Isaac Klingensmith “The role of seagrass beds and mangroves in silica cycling in carbonate sediments of Bimini, Bahamas” (Soph., Alfred Univ., Mentors: Robert Aller and QingZhi Zhu)
Aaron Macy (Soph., Florida Inst. of Technology) Cody Roldan (Sr., DePauw Univ.) (Mentor: Henry Bokuniewicz) Michael White (Sr., Genesco Univ.) “Hydrology of the Islands of Bimini, Bahamas using Submarine Groundwater Discharge Flowrates, Salinity Findings, and Ra-224 & Ra-223 Levels with comparisons to Long Island”
Alyssa Freitag “Geographic variation in age and growth of Cyprinodon variegates” (Jr., Univ. Maine Mentors: Santiago Salinas and Stephen Munch)
Sebastian Heilpern “Transgenerational plasticity in two common estuarine fishes, Cyprinodon variegatus and Fundulus heteroclitus” (Sr. Cornell Univ, Mentors: Santiago Salinas and Stephen Munch)
Benjamin Dubois” Understanding within-season variation in reproductive effort: an optimality approach.” (Louis le Grande, Paris, France, Mentor: Stephen Munch)
Ryan Schuster “Long term variations of ozone around New York City in a changing climate” (Jr., Georgia Tech Univ., Mentor: Brian Colle)
Ryan Belcher “Variations in the convective storm distribution and type in relation to the synoptic-scale flow around Florida” (Jr., Texas A&M Univ., Mentor: Brian Colle)
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