Photo above: An eelgrass bed off of Fishers Island, NY. Credit: CCE Suffolk County Marine Program
From Chris Gobler’s LI Sound Research Receives Federal Funding by on Stony Brook University News, February 22, 2021
A study of ocean acidification led by Christopher Gobler, Endowed Chair of Coastal Ecology and Conservation in Stony Brook’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, is one of eight research projects that will examine various facets of the water chemistry and habitat quality of Long Island Sound and is supported by federal funding through the Long Island Sound Study Research Grant Program.
Ocean acidification is absorption of carbon dioxide gas from the atmosphere that produces a pH imbalance in our waters, making them more acidic. Seagrasses may provide areas of more favorable conditions from acidified waters for certain species such as oysters, clams, mussels and scallops. Gobler’s research will measure the ability of cultured seaweed and shellfish to remove nitrogen, combat ocean acidification, improve water quality and benefit aquaculture.
The project is supported by a partnership of the Sea Grant programs of Connecticut and New York (CTSG and NYSG, respectively,) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) through the Long Island Sound Study (LISS) and will span two years, with work slated to begin in Spring 2021.
For more details, see the full press release.
The eight research projects are the latest to be awarded through the Long Island Sound Study Research Grant Program, run by NYSG and CTSG since 2008. Including the new awards, the program has funded ecological research in more than 30 areas. It represents the largest research investment into the Sound, designated an estuary of national significance and one of the most valuable natural resources for both states.
NYSG, a cooperative program of Cornell University and the State University of New York, is one of 34 university-based programs under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Sea Grant College Program. In the State’s marine waters, NYSG has offices at Stony Brook University, Brooklyn College and Cornell Cooperative Extension in NYC and Kingston in the Hudson Valley.
