Here’s the latest round up of news featuring SoMAS faculty, staff, and students!
Newsday: Bat signals: Research, community projects aim to protect the creatures on LI
- Bats “get a bad rap all the time, but we want to promote all the great things they do,” said Maria Brown, who designed BatMap Long Island for Seatuck. Brown, a science research teacher at Sayville High School and a Stony Brook University lecturer, is the principal geospatial analyst for the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List Bat Specialist Working Group, which focuses on protecting bat populations and their habitats globally.
Dr. Adam Charboneau, an adjunct lecturer at SoMAS, has a chapter, “Restoring the Bronx River: Local Reclamation and Festive Rebranding in Postindustrial New York City” (pp. 98 – 111), in Coastal Metropolis: Environmental Histories of Modern New York City (University of Pittsburgh Press), ed. by Steven H. Corey and Carl A. Zimring, was published March 23, 2021. – https://muse.jhu.edu/book/82291
- Coastal Metropolis is part of the University of Pittsburgh Press’ The History of the Urban Environment series, which emphasizes “environmental challenges faced by specific urban centers.”
New York Times/Opinion: We Need an Infrastructure Package for Nature
- This article was written by Mr. Greenberg, author, most recently, of “The Climate Diet”and Dr. Safina is an ecologist and the founder of the Safina Center at Stony Brook University.
Dr. Mike Frisk, and co-PIs Dr. Bob Cerrato, Dr. Brad Peterson, Dr. Matt Sclafani, and Dr. Keith Dunton (Monmouth) have an award of a new Contract from Orsted, in support of the project “South Fork Wind Telemetry Project (SFWTP): Export Cable Monitoring Study for South Fork Wind Farm”, in the amount $1,113,957 (for Task 1 of a five year award, with all five tasks totaling $4,148,628!), for the period March 16, 2021 – March 16, 2022.
Objectives:
(1) Implant individual teleost and elasmobranch species with acoustic positioning tags
(2) Deploy an acoustic array at SFEC that builds on existing arrays deployed at Rockaway, Jones Beach, Fire Island, and Montauk, and is designed to capture both broad-scale migratory behavior and local behavior in the vicinity of the SFEC
(3) Evaluate effects of EMFs on behavior and movement on targeted species pre-, during and post-construction
(4) Estimate movement metrics including the following: acceleration, depth, 2-d and 3-d position and residency for telemetered individuals
(5) Maintain the SFEC array and collect data on the individuals tagged by SBU and partnering organizations along the east coast.
Coastal News: NY – Under state budget, Peconic Estuary Program to receive twice the funding
- The larger allocation will help PEP continue its efforts toward environmental protection and programming and expand a partnership with Stony Brook University to study water quality and restore bay scallop populations and eelgrass. “Those are our big priorities,” Ms. Novak said.
Riverhead News-Review/Editorial: Two examples of public money well spent
- The funding will allow PEP to expand its partnership with Stony Brook University on a critical water quality study and on efforts to restore bay scallop populations and eelgrass in the Peconics.
East Hampton Star: Town to Help Fund Peconic Estuary Partnership
- “In doing so, we managed to help secure $615,000 directly to Stony Brook [University] researchers who were doing this and who very much believe that restoration is possible.” That effort is “a very good example of the need for a holistic approach,” she said, “and how contributing as five East End towns to the program benefits everybody.”
Shelter Island Reporter/Opinion: A truly golden anniversary
- The funding will allow PEP to expand its partnership with Stony Brook University on a critical water quality study and its efforts to restore bay scallop populations and eelgrass in the Peconics.
Ex Bulletin: Saving the oceans, one tennis ball at a time
- Joseph Labriola, writer and teacher of rhetoric at Stony Brook University, is writing a new chapter in his academic career: a beach beautifier and ocean lifesaver.
27 East/East Hampton Press: Stony Brook Finds Carcinogen In Household Products, But New Filters Are Effective
- Scientists from Stony Brook University and the New York State Center for Clean Water Technology say they have developed a new filter system that can be connected to a home’s existing septic system and will remove the vast majority of nitrogen and other pollutants from wastewater. Also ran in the Sag Harbor Express.
27 East/East Hampton Press: Toxic Algae Blooms Worst In East Hampton Pond, Harbor Suffer From Low Oxygen, High Nitrogen, Scientists Say
- The Stony Brook University scientist who oversees a broad annual water quality monitoring program for the East Hampton Town Trustees told the board this week that town’s harbors and ponds are facing a growing threat from warming waters, low oxygen and high nitrogen levels that are spurring destructive and dangerous algae blooms.
Newsday: Southampton unleashes ultrasonic devices in battle against algal blooms on Lake Agawam
- The state Department of Environmental Conservation deployed three solar-powered ultrasonic devices Wednesday atop floating buoys in the lake that will also transmit real-time data. The DEC, working with Southampton Village, the nonprofit Lake Agawam Conservancy and the Gobler Laboratory at Stony Brook University, will study the effects of ultrasonic waves when combined with applications of hydrogen peroxide.
Environmental Expert: The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation will use MPC-Buoys to combat algae
- State experts are working closely with the Lake Agawam community, and in collaboration with Stony Brook University. Together, they are set to study the effectiveness of ultrasonic devices on Lake Agawam throughout the summer of 2021. After the study, MPC-Buoys could be used for other water bodies that are contaminated with harmful algal blooms.
27east.com/Southampton Press: New Device Deployed To Combat Algal Blooms In Lake Agawam In Southampton Village
- The second prong of the trial on tap for execution this summer will involve the application of hydrogen peroxide, a method noted water quality expert Dr. Christopher Gobler has tried in his own lab at Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences in Southampton.
WNBC-TV: Battle Against Putrid, Toxic Algae in Long Island Lake Goes Hi-Tech
- Stony Brook Marine Professor Chris Gobler in monitoring data from the project, saying that the methods being used have never been tested together before. He said success on Lake Agawam would help many other polluted Long Island lakes — which would go a long way.
West Hampton – Hamptons Bays Patch: Construction Kicks Off On New Westhampton Beach Sewer Project
- A 2017 study by Professor Christopher J. Gobler, Ph.D., of Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, confirmed that the new sewer system would mean a reduction of 5,000 lb. of nitrogen from Moniebogue Bay, or 24 percent yearly, the mayor said.
News 10.com: New York’s offshore wind farms: jobs, green energy, and future economic potential
- The state made a $20M investment to train workers in OSW development. The State University of New York (SUNY) in conjunction with Farmingdale State College and Stony Brook University will educate 2,500 students at the Offshore Wind Training Institute. Also ran in LocalSYR.com
Newsday/Opinion: Our waters, climate, need more TLC
- Stephen Tomasetti is a doctoral candidate in marine science at Stony Brook University and adjunct professor at Adelphi University. He is the author of this article. PDF
Times Beacon Record: BNL, SBU researchers solve mystery about snow clouds
- Clouds are as confounding, challenging and riveting to researchers as they are magnificent, inviting and mood setting for artists and filmmakers. A team of researchers at Brookhaven National Laboratory and Stony Brook University recently solved one of the many mysteries hovering overhead.
Dr. Sharon Pochron is giving a live lecture about soil health in the Anthropocene at Jones Beach on May 8th, 11:30AM.
- The registration link is: https://www.jonesbeachenc.org/lectureseries/soil-health-in-the-anthropocene
Ph. D. student John Bohorquez has been selected as a runner up recipient for the American Fisheries Society’s Steven Berkeley Marine Conservation Fellowship for his research titled, “Research and Development of a Financial Sustainability Assessment Framework for Marine Protected Areas”. He is the first SOMAS student to achieve this distinction since Keith Dunton in 2008. John will receive a $1,000 award and will be announced in a future issue of Fisheries magazine and at the annual AFS meeting in Baltimore in November.
