Press
SoMAS News from Stony Brook University and other sources
SBU Marine Science Researchers Release Study Suggesting Ocean Acidification May Directly Harm Fish
Publication appearing in the journal Nature Climate Change
STONY BROOK, NY, December 12, 2011 – Fossil fuel combustion, and with it the release of heat-trapping carbon dioxide (CO2), is still growing globally.1 Beyond climate change, this is also causing the world’s “other CO2 problem,” ocean acidification, i.e., the formation of carbonic acid when CO2 from the atmosphere enters seawater. Studies have already demonstrated a multitude of negative effects of elevated CO2 conditions for many groups of marine organisms such as corals, plankton, shellfish and sea urchins. To date, scientists have assumed marine fish were immune to ocean acidification.
However, in a new article published in the December 11, 2011, online edition of the journal Nature Climate Change, researchers from Stony Brook University demonstrate that “the fish are okay” belief ignores an important knowledge gap – the possible effects of CO2 during the early development of fish eggs and larvae. Co-authors of the study, Christopher Gobler and Hannes Baumann, are professors at the Stony Brook University School of Marine and Atmospheric Science (SoMAS), and a third author, Stephanie Talmage, is a recent doctoral graduate of that program. Together, they represent one of several international teams working to better understand the effects of CO2 on fish.
Their present study is the first to show that elevated CO2 levels significantly decreased survival and growth rates in eggs and larvae of a fish.2 The researchers reared newly fertilized eggs of a common estuarine fish, the inland silverside (Menidia beryllina), under different CO2 levels predicted for future oceans (current: ~400 ppm3, mid-century: ~600 ppm, end-of-century: ~1,000 ppm) and found that egg and larval stages of these fish were highly sensitive to CO2. On average, survival rates until one week post-hatch declined by over 70% under elevated (1,000 ppm) compared to current day CO2 conditions. In addition, surviving larvae were 18% smaller in the high than in the low CO2 group. The experiment was fully replicated and repeated five separate times, each revealing the same pattern.
“We knew from the study of other ocean animals, such as scallops and clams, that earliest life stages such as larvae are most sensitive to CO2 and thus targeted the same life stage during our investigation of fish,” said Professor Gobler. The study thus joins a growing body of evidence, suggesting that fish will both directly and indirectly be affected by ocean acidification, which also includes the potential for decreasingly productive commercial fish stocks. Brad Warren, Science Director of Sustainable Fisheries Partnerships stated: “This study is a shot across the bow and shows that some important fish stocks may be eroded by high CO2 levels. And keep in mind, as estuarine fish, inland silversides are likely to be adapted to higher levels of CO2 than many fish found in the open ocean, where chemistry is much more stable. This suggests that many commercially harvested marine fish stocks may be vulnerable too. Pelagic spawners, such as albacore, bigeye, yellowfin, and bluefin tuna, whose larvae are not adapted to acidified waters, could be particularly vulnerable.”
However, the authors also caution that our understanding is still too limited for generalizations, since fish are a highly diverse group of animals, and species will likely react differently to increasing CO2 levels.
Dr. Baumann stated, “In light of the broad implications of our findings, we believe that now is the time to comprehensively investigate fish early-life CO2 sensitivity, not just in one but in a wide range of species. We also have to address the general potential of marine organisms to adapt to the CO2 levels projected for future oceans.”
1 Jump in Greenhouse Gases is Biggest Ever Seen, U.S. Department of Energy Calculates
2 Baumann, H., Talmage S.C., and Gobler, C.J. Reduced early-life growth and survival in a fish in direct response to increased carbon dioxide. Nature Climate Change. DOI: 10.1038/CLIMATE 1291
3 Parts per million
About the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences at Stony Brook University
The School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SoMAS) is the State University of New York’s center for marine and atmospheric research, education and public service. With more than 85 faculty and staff and more than 500 students engaged in interdisciplinary research and education, SoMAS is at the forefront of advancing knowledge and discovering and resolving environmental challenges affecting the oceans and atmosphere on both regional and global scales.
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Three SBU Faculty Members Nominated for the 2012 Indianapolis Prize
Patricia Wright, Carl Safina and Russell Mittermeier vie for prestigious award
STONY BROOK, NY, December 5, 2011 – Poachers, disease, civil wars, heat, cold, rain, drought, pollution, ignorance, indifference. Those are just some of the challenges faced by the 29 conservationists, three of whom are Stony Brook University faculty members, who have devoted their lives to saving the Earth’s endangered species and have been nominated to receive the biennial Indianapolis Prize, the world’s leading award for animal conservation.
Patricia Wright, Ph.D., the director at the Institute for the Conservation of Tropical Environments and a Professor of Biological Anthropology at Stony Brook, has been recognized for her tireless work with lemurs in Madagascar using science-based conservation. Early in her career, Wright made history when she discovered the golden bamboo lemur, a species that was then unknown to science and that helped to catalyze the formation of Madagascar’s park systems. A short time later, Wright learned that timber exploiters were logging its rain forest habitat, so she spent months trekking to delimit park boundaries with the forestry service and securing funding to develop Ranomafana National Park (RNP), now a UNESCO World Heritage Site that encompasses the home of 12 lemur species, some of which are listed among the world’s most endangered animals.
During the past 20 years, awareness of Madagascar’s ecosystem has flourished through her research and outreach efforts and Wright’s long-term relationship with the local communities has catalyzed economic opportunities around the park. Tourist visits to the park have increased from zero to more than 30,000 in 2010, and half the park entrance fees have always been returned to the villages for conservation projects. Recently she has spearheaded Centre ValBio, a modern hub for multidisciplinary research, training and public awareness, the first in Madagascar.
Carl Safina, Ph.D., known as the “voice of ocean conservation,” is an accomplished author and scientist who has been sounding the alarm for the preservation of marine animals and the oceans that house them. In 2003, he founded Blue Ocean Institute to bring science, art and literature together to inspire a closer bond with nature, especially the sea. One of the best-known and respected scientists in the world, Safina was a finalist for the Indianapolis Prize in 2010 and a three-time nominee, 2008, 2010 and 2012. Dr. Safina is an adjunct full professor in the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciencesand a visiting professor in the Center for Communicating Science at Stony Brook University.
In 2011, Safina published two books: “The View from Lazy Point; A Natural Year in an Unnatural World,” which explores the relationship between nature and human dignity, and “A Sea in Flames,” which explores the decisions and lessons from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil blowout. Also in 2011, two episodes of his show “Saving the Ocean with Carl Safina” aired nationwide on PBS. Safina has led campaigns to ban high-seas driftnets, rewritten and overhauled U.S. federal fisheries law, applied international agreements to help restore depleted populations of tunas, swordfish, and sharks, and helped achieve passage of a United Nations global fisheries treaty.
Russell A. Mittermeier, Ph.D., President of Conservation International is a legendary figure in conservation. He has been nominated for his: efforts to understand and educate others about the worldwide threats to biodiversity, global efforts to conserve primates, and work to create new protected areas in some of the world’s highest priority hotspots. He was previously nominated for this award in 2008. Dr. Mittermeier is an adjunct professor in the Department of Anatomical Sciences at Stony Brook University.
One of the first academic primatologists focused on the conservation of primates, Mittermeier developed numerous industry-changing concepts such as Megadiversity Countries and High Biodiversity Wilderness Areas and has been the principal proponent of the Biodiversity Hotspots (created by British ecologist Norman Myers in 1988) for the past 20 years. The Hotspots concept is particularly important in that it focuses on the world’s highest priority areas for biodiversity conservation with very high levels of endemic species found nowhere else and under extreme threat. It has been estimated that a billion dollars or more has been invested in these areas as a result of the Hotspots concept.
During the 1970s and 1980s, Mittermeier was instrumental in putting the Atlantic forest region of Brazil, one of the world’s highest priority hotspots, on the global conservation agenda, using the lion tamarins (very small monkeys) and muriquis (wooly spider monkeys) as flagship species, and he has been a major proponent for conservation in Madagascar for the past quarter century, using the unique lemur fauna of that country as a symbol. In addition, he has focused a lot of attention on the Guiana Shield region of South America, especially the “borderlands” between Suriname, Guyana, French Guiana and extreme northern Brazilian Amazonia, the most pristine rain forest on Earth, and has helped to create millions of hectares of new parks and reserves.
The work of all the Indianapolis Prize nominees spans the globe, representing a range of species and locales. The Nominating Committee will review the applications and select six finalists, who will be announced in the spring of 2012. The Prize Jury will then determine the winner, who will be announced in mid-2012 and honored at the next Indianapolis Prize Gala presented by Cummins, Sept. 29, 2012, at the JW Marriott in downtown Indianapolis.
In addition to receiving the $100,000 Prize, the recipient is also awarded the Lilly Medal, an original work of art that signifies the winner’s contributions to conserving some of the world’s most threatened animals. The 2010 Indianapolis Prize was awarded to legendary elephant advocate Iain Douglas-Hamilton. His accomplishments span decades and continents, bringing global attention to the issue of blood ivory and inspiring others to join the battle against poachers and traders.
“Douglas-Hamilton has set a high bar, but the current nominees are remarkable,” said Michael Crowther, president and CEO of the Indianapolis Zoo, the organization responsible for initiating the conservation award. “Each conservationist has his or her own unique story and has made significant contributions toward the preservation and awareness of Earth’s precious wildlife.”
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Minghua Zhang Named Dean of Stony Brook University SoMAS
STONY BROOK, NY, October 11, 2011 – Stony Brook University has named Dr. Minghua Zhang to the position of Dean of the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SoMAS), announced Samuel L. Stanley Jr., MD, President of Stony Brook University and Dennis N. Assanis, Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs.
Dr. Zhang has more than 25 years of experience in the field of atmospheric sciences, the last 23 at Stony Brook University. He began his career as a Research Assistant Scientist at the Institute of Atmospheric Physics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences before joining Stony Brook as a postdoctoral scholar in 1988. He later became an Assistant and Associate Professor, then Professor and Director of the Institute for Terrestrial and Planetary Atmospheres. In 2003, Zhang was named Associate Dean of SoMAS, a position that he held until assuming the role of Interim Dean in June of 2010. He is also the Director of the Marine Sciences Research Center.
Dr. Zhang earned his BS and MS in Atmospheric Sciences at Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, People’s Republic of China. He received his PhD at the Institute of Atmospheric Physics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He has authored or co-authored more than 90 papers and a book on climate science. His research is focused on numerical modeling of climate and global climate change, and the dynamics of large-scale atmospheric waves – their excitation, propagation, dissipation, and influences on the variability of atmospheric circulation.
“Stony Brook University is excited that Minghua has accepted the appointment as Dean of SoMAS,” said Dennis N. Assanis, Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs. “Under his direction, we look forward to continuing our role as a vast resource for education, research and discovery in the marine and atmospheric sciences. His background, experience and international recognition are a tremendous asset to the University.”
Dr. Zhang has been recognized by the international community for his work on the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a group that shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with former Vice President Al Gore. The group received the Nobel for their collective efforts in raising awareness about manmade climate change and laying the foundation to counteract it. He was one of four Stony Brook University atmospheric scientists who shared the prize.
“I am honored to have the opportunity to direct one of the nation’s leading marine and atmospheric sciences programs,” said Dr. Zhang, who oversees approximately 90 faculty and staff members from 16 different nations. “We look forward to continuing to lead the way in advanced research, education and public service.” He noted that faculty members, internationally known for their leadership in research in both the atmospheric sciences and all major disciplines of oceanography, are at the forefront of answering questions about regional environmental concerns, and fundamental processes in atmospheric and ocean systems. They are also engaged with students in the latest laboratory and field study research on a local, national and global level.
Dr. Zhang has served on many leadership positions in the atmospheric science community. He is an elected member of the Eurasian Academy of Sciences, a member of the Advisory Committee of the U. S. Department of Energy on Biological and Environmental Research, a member of the Steering Committee of the International Global Water and Energy Cycle Program, and Editor of the Journal of Advances in Earth System Modeling.
SoMAS has more than 500 undergraduate and 150 graduate students pursuing their MA, MS or PhD degrees in Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, with a concentration in either discipline, as well as an MA in Marine Conservation and Policy. Currently there are more than 700 SoMAS Graduate School alumni around the globe, most of whom hold positions in fields associated with marine and atmospheric sciences.
SoMAS operates research and educational facilities at the SBU main campus, Stony Brook Southampton (including the Southampton Marine Station) and the Flax Pond Marine Laboratory on the Long Island Sound. The school’s location allows students and faculty the opportunity to explore and study a variety of habitats, as well as utilize the resources from Brookhaven National Laboratory and the Laboratory at Cold Spring Harbor.
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Stony Brook Scientists Study Ocean Impacts Of Radioactive Contamination From Japan’s Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant
STONY BROOK, NY, June 8, 2011 – Scientists from Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SoMAS) are joining colleagues from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, several other U.S. academic institutions and laboratories in Japan and Spain on the first international, multidisciplinary assessment of the levels and dispersion of radioactive substances in the Pacific Ocean off the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan. The research effort is funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.
“This project will address fundamental questions about the impact of this release of radiation to the ocean, and in the process enhance international collaboration and sharing of scientific data,” said Vicki Chandler, Chief Program Officer, Science at the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. The shipboard research team, which includes scientists from labs in the U.S., Japan and Spain, began its work on June 4, 2011. It will collect water and biological samples and take ocean current measurements in an area 200 km x 200 km offshore of the plant and further offshore along the Kuroshio Current, a strong western boundary current akin to the Gulf Stream in the Atlantic, which could rapidly carry the radioactivity into the interior of the Pacific Ocean. Their work will build on efforts by Japanese scientists and lay the foundation for expanded international collaboration and long-term research of releases from the Fukushima plant.
In addition to bringing warm tropical waters north, the Kuroshio Current transports organisms long distances and is an important migration route for a variety of commercially important marine organisms in various stages of their life cycles. Biological samples and measurements, among the first to be collected offshore, will be gathered using a variety of filters and nets in an effort led by SoMAS’s Dr. Nick Fisher, a biologist with interest and experience in studying the impacts of exposure to long-lived radionuclides on marine organisms, especially plankton.
Fisher’s team will focus on phytoplankton and zooplankton at the base of the food chain, as well as the juveniles and adults of key fish species to determine the extent to which radionuclides released from the Fukushima plant are being accumulated in these organisms. “Currently, we do not know the extent to which some of these radionuclides have been bio-accumulated and passed up the local food chains, “said Fisher. “This is obviously of interest, since the principal concern about the dispersal of radionuclides in the ocean stems from the fact that they can potentially be toxic to marine organisms or even humans who consume seafood, and the potential for toxicity is dependent on the extent to which radionuclides are bioconcentrated in marine organisms.”
The release of radioactivity from the partial meltdowns, hydrogen explosions and fires that began March 11 at the Fukushima plant, and the runoff from the subsequent attempts to cool the reactors represents an unprecedented release of radiation to the ocean. The total amount of radioactivity that has entered the ocean as a result of this accident is not well understood. Until now, only limited assessment of the impacts on the ocean has been undertaken.
The Japanese government and Fukushima plant owner, Tokyo Electric Power company (TEPCO), began measuring radiation in the ocean–iodine and cesium isotopes–10 days after the accident and have been monitoring the water around the reactors up to 30 km from shore, where radiation levels have been the highest. As the radiation moves offshore, it is diluted and mixed through the ocean depths along the way, so that levels of some contaminants just 15 miles offshore are 100 to 1,000 times lower than waters near the reactors. To put it in context, even these elevated levels are not far removed from the US Environmental Protection Agency drinking water standard for cesium–137 from natural radionuclide concentrations found in the ocean.
Although the elevated levels offshore pose little direct hazard for human exposure, questions remain about the impact of long-lived isotopes that can accumulate in the food chain and remain in sediment, emitting a persistent low-dose in the marine environment for years to come. Operating with the permission of the Japanese government, the ship will follow a track line from east to west and operate at 34 sampling stations, criss-crossing the Kuroshio Current. Deploying water sampling rosettes, the team will collect and analyze the samples for many radionuclides – among them isotopes of cesium, iodine, ruthenium, promethium, strontium, plutonium, radium and uranium – to learn how much contamination was released into the ocean, to assess its potential impact on marine life and human health, and to provide input to models for better understanding of contamination pathways and dispersion.
All of the samples collected by Fisher and his colleagues will be analyzed using the most sensitive techniques and tools in the world, which provide a more detailed picture of where radioactivity is and where it traveled, and to detect radiation above background levels, including radionuclides in marine organisms. Sample analysis will be performed over several months, and the end product will be a set concentration maps for many different radionuclides obtained independently by several groups allowing for inter-comparison of analytical methods. Scientists associated with the study note that these early field data will expand understanding of how radioactive pollutants travel through the ocean and the extent to which they enter marine food chains. To fully understand the long-term significance of their presence in these food webs will, however, require considerable additional research over a number of decades. The field work underway now marks a start.
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Stony Brook University Receives National Recognition For Community Service
Admitted to the President Obama’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction
Washington, D.C., May 27, 2011 – As colleges across the country honor their graduates this commencement season, the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) honored Stony Brook University as a leader among institutions of higher education for their support of volunteering, service-learning, and civic engagement. Stony Brook University was admitted to the 2010 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with distinction for its strong institutional commitment to service and compelling campus-community partnerships that produce measurable results for the community.
The Corporation for National and Community Service, which has administered the Honor Roll since 2006, admitted a total of 641 colleges and universities for their impact on issues from literacy and neighborhood revitalization to supporting at-risk youth. Of that total, 511 were named to the Honor Roll, 114 received the recognition of Honor Roll with distinction, 11 were identified as finalists, and six received the Presidential Award.
“As members of the class of 2011 cross the stage to pick up their diplomas, more and more will be going into the world with a commitment to public service and the knowledge that they can make a difference in their communities and their own lives through service to others, thanks to the leadership of these institutions,” said Patrick A. Corvington, Chief Executive Officer of CNCS. “Congratulations to Stony Brook University and its students for their dedication to service and commitment to improving their local communities. We salute all the Honor Roll awardees for embracing their civic mission and providing opportunities for their students to tackle tough national challenges through service.”
“Stony Brook University is a community organization in every sense,” said Stony Brook University President, Samuel L. Stanley Jr., M.D., who strongly encourages community engagement among students. “It is most evident as I interact with people in the community, who talk to me about the kind and positive things our students are doing in so many different realms, whether it’s building houses, helping to teach, getting involved with important programs dealing with domestic violence. Our students are learning to communicate and develop specific skills. This is a time when our students are truly setting their path for the future.”
An estimated 9,000 Stony Brook students participate in service annually, more than 100 courses with a service component were offered in several academic departments exceeding two thousand in student enrollment. Entities on campus host middle school and high school programs from low-income school districts. Examples of community engagement efforts from across campus include:
– SBU Medical Center hosted 106 lectures, 61 health fairs & health screenings (6,786 people). The HOPE (Health Occupations Partnership for Excellence) and PAR FORE programs are part of SBUMC’s Health Initiative for Underserved Communities which works with grassroots organizations to improve access to higher education, provide community health education programs and screenings, and support efforts to meet the needs of people living in underserved communities.
– In 2009-2010 41,000 hours of service were completed by students through the AmeriCorps, VISTA, & VCS programs coordinated by the Career Center, which has relationships with 1000+ community agencies on Long Island and in NYC: an estimated 45,000 additional hours were completed by students performing service through other venues, such as service learning projects, fraternities, clubs, and organizations.
– 175 courses with a service component were offered in 18 academic departments with 2,675 students enrolled.
– $16 million in philanthropic research grants were received in 2008-2009 to support, create, and sustain programs related to improvements within the community and surrounding areas.
– $200,000 was raised through SEFA faculty/staff campaign to support 175 health and human services agencies. The student-run Rise Again Haiti campaign raised $20,000 and the ‘Tis the Season campaign organized by the National Residence Hall Honorary raised $17,000.
– SOMAS students and faculty worked to provide sustainable water supplies in Tanzania.
– All efforts are aligned with SUNY’s “Citizen SUNY” community engagement strategic plan.
The above listing is a representative sampling of the collective accomplishments of Stony Brook University students, faculty, and staff in community engagement. While community members benefit from University involvement, service also has an impact on those who perform it. Stony Brook students have reported that they have developed a deeper understanding of community problems, transferable skills, and motivation for sustained involvement as engaged citizens.
About The Corporation for National and Community Service
The Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) is a federal agency that engages more than five million Americans in service through its Senior Corps, AmeriCorps, and Learn and Serve America programs, and leads President Barack Obama’s national call to service initiative, United We Serve. For more information, visit NationalService.gov.
On campuses across the country, millions of college students are engaged in innovative projects to meet local needs, often using the skills learned in classrooms. In 2009, 3.2 million college students dedicated more than 307 million hours of service to communities across the country, service valued at more than $6.4 billion. Business and law students offer tax preparation and legal services, and college student volunteers provide meals, create parks, rebuild homes after disasters, conduct job training, run senior service programs, and much more.
The Corporation for National and Community Service is a strong partner with the nation’s colleges and universities in supporting community service and service-learning. Last year, CNCS provided more than $215 million in support to institutions of higher education, including grants to operate service programs and the Segal AmeriCorps Education Awards for college tuition and student loan repayment. CNCS is a catalyst for service-learning programs nationwide that connect community service with academic curricula. Through these programs, in classes, and in extracurricular activities, college students serve their communities while strengthening their academic and civic skills.
CNCS oversees the Honor Roll in collaboration with the U.S. Departments of Education and Housing and Urban Development, Campus Compact, and the American Council on Education. Honorees are chosen based on a series of selection factors, including the scope and innovation of service projects, the extent to which service-learning is embedded in the curriculum, the school’s commitment to long-term campus-community partnerships, and measurable community outcomes as a result of the service.
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Researchers At Stony Brook University Find That Recycling On Long Island Has Decreased From 29% To 24% From 1998 To 2009
Rapid Growth in the Early 1990s Followed by Overall 19% Decline in 2000s
STONY BROOK, N.Y., April 19, 2011 — Recycling on Long Island has seen a marked decrease of some 20 percent over the past decade, according to a study conducted by Stony Brook University’s Department of Technology and Society and the Waste Reduction and Management Institute in the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences at Stony Brook (SoMAS). The study, “Recycling on Long Island 2009: A report on municipal programs in Nassau and Suffolk Counties” represents a complete accounting of Town-based municipal recycling in both Nassau and Suffolk Counties, and found that from 1998 to 2009 recycling on Long Island decreased from 29 percent to 24 percent. Suffolk’s overall rate was 27 percent, while Nassau’s was only 20 percent.
“While Long Island recycling programs grew rapidly in the early 1990s, they subsequently reached a plateau in the 2000s, as measured by recycling percentages,” said R. Lawrence Swanson, Director, Waste Reduction and Management Institute at SoMAS and one of the report’s authors. “Our study showed a decrease in all curbside recycling programs, which is at least partially the result of more precise accounting of recycling, and changes in materials—for example, the substitution of plastic for heavier materials and lighter packaging in general.”
Additionally, programs may not be as effective as they once were, Swanson said, noting that, “Decreased educational programs and public outreach, despite robust web presences, seem to be important elements in potential declines in public participation in available recycling programs.”
Krista L. Greene, a graduate student in the Department of Technology and Society at Stony Brook and the report’s lead author, echoed these sentiments, adding that, “We have identified a number of reasons why individual programs may show declining rates, such as more precise accounting of recycling activities, decreases in education efforts and a failure to document all recycling efforts, especially composting and commercial recycling activities.”
For the study, Greene and her co-authors, who also included David Tonjes, an assistant professor in Stony Brook’s Department of Technology and Society, looked at the various recycling program designs that are in place throughout Long Island with particular emphasis on the collection and management of residential wastes, including recycling, e-waste collection, household hazardous waste collection, yard waste composting, and public education and outreach.
Overall, the report found that 59 percent of Long Island’s municipal solid waste was incinerated, 17 percent was transported, and 24 percent was recycled during 2009, the base year for the study.
On the municipal level, the documented recycling rates varied widely, ranging from 10 percent in Riverhead to 85 percent in Southampton, with the eastern municipalities generally having higher recycling rates. Some programs on the East End actually showed increases over the time period, at least partly due to managing less waste and counting more compost.
“There are several explanations for the relatively high recycling rates on the East End of Long Island,” Tonjes noted. “The municipalities with the highest recycling rates—Shelter Island, Southampton and Southold—all have pay-as-you-throw volume based pricing systems in place, in which municipal solid waste may only be disposed of in special, pre-purchased bags. Paying to dispose of garbage, but getting free recycling tends to increase the amount of recyclables collected. Additionally, the presence of drop-off waste management programs, robust composting programs, and possibly some accounting issues may have contributed to the high rates.”
The well-established curbside collection programs that are in place across Nassau County and throughout western Suffolk County have generally similar recovery rates. This suggests that no one program is less effective than any another, but the declining trends for all of these programs signals a need to reconsider current practices.
“It is clear that Long Island municipalities can do more to enhance their programs and ultimately, improve recycling rates,” noted Swanson. “For instance, it appears that better outreach efforts are needed. The Town of Islip and the Town of Oyster Bay are the only Towns with recycling educators.”
“Additionally, some jurisdictions have enforcement programs in place to ensure that recyclables are separated from other wastes,” said Swanson, who explained that positive incentives, such as the Recycle Bank program in Philadelphia, may also be useful. “Other programs that seek universal participation, like tax collection, traffic safety and public health, use a variety of means to refresh interest and maintain awareness of their importance.”
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Helpful links
Recycling on Long Island 2009: A report on municipal programs in Nassau and Suffolk Counties
http://bit.ly/eW1rQe
Department of Technology and Society at Stony Brook University
http://www.stonybrook.edu/est/
Waste Reduction and Management Institute at the School of Marine & Atmospheric Sciences, Stony Brook University
http://www.somas.stonybrook.edu/institutes/wrmi
Stony Brook University to Expand Existing Programs Currently Offered on the Southampton Campus
Additional Offerings at Southampton will focus on unique cultural and geographic resources to expand Arts and Marine Sciences programs
STONY BROOK, NY, February 28, 2011 — Stony Brook University today announced that plans are underway to introduce expanded programs in graduate creative arts and undergraduate marine sciences at the Stony Brook University Southampton campus in the fall of 2011. This expansion, which follows several productive Advisory Committee meetings and continuing discussions among University administration and faculty, also includes plans to offer an undergraduate residency program in creative arts to begin in the Fall of 2012. Some elements of the graduate creative arts plan will begin even sooner, at this summer’s Writers Conference.
“Through the excellent work of the Southampton Advisory Committee led by Provost Eric Kaler and Diana Weir, and innovative concepts put forth by Robert Reeves, Director of the MFA in Writing and Literature Program, and Minghua Zhang, Dean of the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, we will be able to offer these excellent revenue neutral programs in which we can take advantage of the unique resources of the Southampton location,” said Stony Brook University President Samuel L. Stanley Jr., MD. “We have made excellent progress and plan to expand these programs this year.â€?
“Southampton Arts,� the proposed name for the graduate creative arts program, will leverage the successful business model, the reputation for academic excellence and the proven leadership of the existing Southampton MFA Program in Creative Writing and Literature, founded and directed by Robert Reeves. The center will support the creation of original art across a range of disciplines grouped into three areas: Creative Writing and Literature, Theater and Film, and Visual Arts.
“Stony Brook University has a unique opportunity to reach academic greatness in the fine arts through a center for graduate study on the Southampton campus that taps into the rich cultural heritage of the East End of Long Island,� said Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, Eric W. Kaler.
“Semester by the Sea: Marine Sciences,� offered through the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SoMAS) at Stony Brook University, is designed for undergraduate students across the United States to spend a semester immersed in marine studies at the Southampton campus. The proposed program uses an experiential learning approach, taking full advantage of the Southampton Marine Science Center, its research vessels, its waterfront marine lab facilities, and the unique campus location on the shores of Shinnecock Bay for direct access to estuaries, bays, and the Atlantic Ocean.
Once “Southampton Arts� is underway, the program will introduce an equivalent undergraduate arts residency, “Semester by the Sea: Creative Arts.� This full-immersion arts experience will take advantage of the culturally rich East End and draw talented students both from the SUNY system and from private institutions across the country. Cohorts of students will complete projects in the fine or performing arts, enrolling in a combination of courses designed to complement their artistic endeavors and further their liberal arts education. Applying the well-established model of study abroad, these arts residencies should be ready to welcome the first visiting undergraduates in Fall 2012.
“’Semester by the Sea: Creative Arts’ will not only create cost synergies with the MFA program’s infrastructure and faculty,� said Provost Kaler, “it will avoid the administrative costs associated with four-year undergraduate resident and academic life. These short-term residencies are the most cost effective way to restore an undergraduate presence and to build enrollment quickly.�
“We are very excited because this expansion of existing programs at Southampton is fiscally responsible,” said Dr. Stanley. “All related expenses are covered by tuition and fees while maintaining Stony Brook University’s commitment to academic excellence.â€?
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Stony Brook University Professor Leads Team that Publishes On First Genome of a Harmful Algal Blooms Species
Genome Sequence Reveals Factors Behind the Spread of “Brown Tides” in Coastal Waters
STONY BROOK, N.Y., February 22, 2011—Harmful algal blooms (HABs) are caused by single-celled plants, or phytoplankton, in coastal waters and have a negative impact on coastal ecosystems worldwide, costing the U.S. economy alone hundreds of millions of dollars annually.
The impact of harmful algal blooms have intensified in recent decades and most research has focused on chemical nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus as causative agents of these blooms.
A team of 33 researchers led by Christopher J. Gobler, Ph.D., Associate Professor of the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences at Stony Brook University, have sequenced and annotated the first complete genome of a HAB species: Aureococcus anophagefferens. The article, entitled, “Niche of harmful alga Aureococcus anophagefferens revealed through ecogenomics,” will be published online in the February 21 edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
“Harmful algal blooms are not a new phenomenon, although many people may know them by other names such as red tides or brown tides,” says Dr. Gobler. “These events can harm humans by causing poisoning of shellfish and can damage marine ecosystems by killing fish and other marine life.”
And the problem is worsening. “The distribution, frequency and intensity of these events have increased across the globe and scientists have been struggling to determine why this is happening,” notes Gobler.
Marine phytoplankton is so tiny—50 of them side by side span only the width of a single hair—that they may seem harmless. But when billions of Aureococcus anophagefferens, or ”brown tide,” cells come together, they outcompete other marine phytoplankton in the area, damaging the food chains in marine ecosystems as well as economically impacting the shellfish industry. Economic losses attributed to this phenomenon over the course of the last decade have been estimated at one billion dollars.
The 56-million base pair Aureococcus genome was sequenced in 2007 by the Department of Energy (DOE)’s Joint Genome Institute from a DNA isolated by Stony Brook University researcher, Dr. Dianna Berry from a culture originating from the shores of Long Island, one of the regions most affected by the microalga since it first appeared 25 years ago on the east coast of the United States. “Compared to other phytoplankton inhabiting the same estuaries, Aureococcus, which outcompetes them, shows genome-encoded advantages such as the use of organic nutrients, survival under low light conditions, and a large numbers of enzymes which rely on metals which are abundant in shallow estuaries,” notes Gobler.
In coastal estuaries, Aureococcus outcompetes the other phytoplankton. “When we looked at the coastal ecosystems where we find Aureococcus blooms, we found they were enriched in organic matter, were very turbid and enriched in trace metals,” notes Gobler. “And when we looked at the genome of Aureococcus, it ended up being enriched in genes which help the alga take advantage of these conditions. The surprise was the concordance between the genome and the ecosystem where it’s blooming.”
For example, this photosynthetic microalga is well-adapted to low light, and can survive for long periods in no-light conditions. The genomic investigations made by another Stony Brook professors on the project, Dr. Jackie Collier, revealed that Aureococcus had 62 light-harvesting genes whereas its competitors had a couple of dozen of these genes on average.
“I think this paper says it all,” says Don Anderson, Director of the U.S. National Office for Harmful Algal Blooms and a senior scientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Falmouth, Massachusetts. “Here’s a species that blooms and for years people have been trying to understand why it blooms, when it blooms, how it is able to do that when there are so many other competing species in the water with it? With this new genomic data you have a new approach. You’re getting answers based on the genes, though you still need other approaches that are more oceanographic and chemical to go along with the inferences drawn from the presence and absence of genes. It’s a great advance. It’s a great resource for our community – the more we learn about Aureococcus, the easier it’s going to be learn about the other HAB species.”
Dr. Gobler’s study also opens the door for future research. One specific field of study that arose from the data involves nitrogen utilization genes. “We know as a bloom occurs, the level of organic nitrogen in the estuary are high, but do we see organic nitrogen utilization genes expressed in Aureococcus as a bloom occurs?” questions Dr. Gobler. “Beyond gene expression, proteomics and looking at proteins synthesized during blooms are also other areas of future research.”
“Aureococcus has contributed to major declines in the Long Island shellfish industry over the past 25 years,” said Dr. Jim Ammerman, Director of New York Sea Grant, “and we have supported a number of Dr. Gobler’s ecological studies of Aureococcus for the past 15. It is particularly gratifying, however, to have provided support to this genomic study because of the clear message that the Aureococcus genome is sending about the specific human impacts contributing to the recent proliferation of this HAB species.”
The study provides a greater understanding of this organism and how the information can be used to protect our waters. “We now know that this organism is genetically predisposed to exploit certain characteristics of coastal ecosystems,” notes Dr. Gobler. “But we also know the characteristics are there because of activities of man. If we continue to increase, for example, organic matter in coastal waters, then it’s going to continue to favor brown tides since it’s genetically predisposed to thrive in these conditions. We believe the same genome-enabled approach used for this study can be applied to other HABs in the future.”
Co-authors of the paper:
Christopher J. Gobler1,2,*, Dianna L. Berry1,2, †, Sonya T. Dyhrman3, †, Steven W. Wilhelm4, †, Asaf Salamov5, Alexei V. Lobanov6, Yan Zhang6, Jackie L. Collier2, Louie L. Wurch3, Adam B. Kustka7, Brian D. Dill8, Manesh Shah9, Nathan C. VerBerkmoes8, Alan Kuo5, Astrid Terry5, Jasmyn Pangilinan5, Erika Lindquist5, Susan Lucas5, Ian Paulsen10, Theresa K. Hattenrath1,2, Stephanie C. Talmage1,2, Elyse A. Walker1,2, Florian Koch1,2, Amanda M. Burson1,2, Maria Alejandra Marcoval1,2, Ying-Zhong Tang1,2, Gary R. LeCleir3, Kathryn J. Coyne11, Gry Mine Berg12, Erin M. Bertrand13, Mak A. Saito13, 14, Vadim Gladyshev5, Igor V. Grigoriev4,*
1School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, Stony Brook University, Southampton, NY 11968, USA. 2School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794-5000, USA. 3Biology Department, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA, 02543, USA. 4Department of Microbiology, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA. 5US Department of Energy, Joint Genome Institute, 2800 Mitchell Drive, Walnut Creek, California 94598, USA. 6Division of Genetics, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston MA 02115, USA. 7Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Rutgers University, Newark, New Jersey 07102, USA. 8Chemical Sciences and 9Biosciences Divisions, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN, 37830, USA. 10Department of Chemistry and Biomolecular Sciences, Macquarie University Sydney, 2109, NSW, Australia. 11College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment, University of Delaware, Lewes, DE, 19958 USA. 12Department of Environmental Earth System Science, Stanford University, 397 Panama Mall, Stanford, California 94305, USA. 13Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Joint Program in Chemical Oceanography. 14Department of Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA, 02543, USA.
Acknowledgements: Genome sequencing, annotation, and analysis were conducted by the U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute is supported by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231. Efforts were also supported by awards from New York Sea Grant to Stony Brook University, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Center for Sponsored Coastal Ocean Research award #NA09NOS4780206 to Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, NIH grant GM061603 to Harvard University, and NSF award IOS-0841918 to The University of Tennessee. Assembly and annotations of Aureococcus anophagefferens are available from JGI Genome Portal at http://www.jgi.doe.gov/Aureococcus and were deposited at DDBJ/EMBL/GenBank under the project accessions (ACJI00000000), respectively.
Related Links:
Chris Gobler, Stony Brook University
http://www.somas.stonybrook.edu/people/gobler
Researchers Scrutinize Brown Tide Genes- New York Sea Grant
http://www.seagrant.sunysb.edu/btide/article.asp?ArticleID=243
Harmful Algae
http://www.whoi.edu/redtide/page.do?pid=15775
Stony Brook Faculty Mentor 32 Semifinalists in National Intel Science Talent Search Competition
More than 10 per cent of 300 named semifinalists mentored at Stony Brook
STONY BROOK, NY, January 14, 2011 – Thirty-two (32) high school students who worked with Stony Brook University faculty were named among the 300 semifinalists in the national 2011 Intel Science Talent Searchcompetition. Mentors come from a range of departments and disciplines throughout Stony Brook, including: Anatomical
Sciences, Anesthesiology, Applied Mathematics & Statistics, Biochemistry & Cell Biology, Biomedical Engineering, Chemistry, Ecology & Evolution, Materials Science & Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Medicine, Pharmacological Sciences, Physics & Astronomy, Psychology, and the School of Marine & Atmospheric Sciences.
“This is a remarkable testimony of our faculty and staff and speaks volumes about their commitment to research and education at every stage of academic development,” said Samuel L. Stanley, Jr., M.D., President of Stony Brook University. “There is no other institution in the United States that does more than Stony Brook to help these talented high school students succeed in research.”
A number of the Intel Science Talent Search semifinalists participated in summer research programs at Stony Brook, including the Garcia Center: Polymers at Engineered Interfaces – Research Scholar Program, and the Simons Summer Research Program which this year had a record 16 semifinalists. Of the 32 semifinalists who worked with Stony Brook University mentors, 27 are from New York State (Long Island had a total of 57 semifinalists); other semifinalists conducting research and being mentored at Stony Brook include students from California, Connecticut, Florida, and Virginia.
The semifinalists each receive awards of $1,000; their schools will also receive $1,000 for each Intel semifinalist named. The Intel STS finalists will be announced on January 26 and will compete for additional awards in Washington, D.C. in March, including a top prize of $100,000.
For a more detailed listing of 2011 Intel semifinalist awardees who worked at Stony Brook University and their mentors and project titles, and for an historic listing of past awardees click here.
2011 INTEL SCIENCE TALENT SEARCH SEMIFINALISTS
MENTORED AT STONY BROOK UNIVERSITY
Nathan Akhavan, Rambam Mesivta, Lawrence, NY
Mentor: Dr. Miriam Rafailovich, Materials Science & Engineering
Ishwarya Ananthabhotla , Kings Park HS, Kings Park , NY
Mentor: Dr. Yu Zhou, Mechanical Engineering
Norman Cao, Brentwood HS, Brentwood, NY
Mentor: Dr. Yu Zhou, Mechanical Engineering
Julie Chang, Herricks HS, New Hyde Park, NY
Mentors: Drs. Yixian Qin, Wei Lin, Jiqi Cheng, Biomedical Engineering
Kevin Chen,Ward Melville HS/ *InSTAR, E. Setauket, NY
Mentor: Dr. J. Peter Gergen, Biochemistry & Cell Biology
Harry Chiang, John L. Miller-Great Neck North HS, Great Neck, NY
Mentor: Dr. Roy Lacey, Chemistry
Joshua Cohen, John F. Kennedy HS, Bellmore, NY
Mentor: Dr. Josephine Aller, SoMAS
Kendra Cornejo, Brentwood HS, Brentwood, NY
Mentor: Rebecca Grella (PhD. student), Gurevitch lab, Ecology & Evolution
Nevin Daniel, Ward Melville HS/ *InSTAR, E. Setauket, NY
Mentor: Dr. Iwao Ojima, Chemistry
Jonathan Goldman, Plainview-Old Bethpage JFK HS, Plainview, NY
Mentor: Dr. Yuefan Deng, Applied Mathematics & Statistics
Dianna Hu, Half Hollow Hills HS East, Dix Hills, NY
Mentor: Dr. Carlos Simmerling, Chemistry
John Kelly, Ward Melville HS/ *InSTAR, E. Setauket, NY
Mentor: Dr. Roy Lacey, Chemistry
Abraham Killanin, Lawrence HS, Cedarhurst, NY
Mentor: Dr. Miriam Rafailovich, Materials Science & Engineering
Jessica Lee,York HS, Yorktown, VA
Mentor: Dr. Holly Colognato, Pharmacological Sciences
Bonnie Lei, Walnut High School, Walnut, CA
Mentor: Dr. Liliana Davalos, Ecology & Evolution
Aditi Malhotra, Ward Melville HS/ *InSTAR, E. Setauket, NY
Mentors: Drs. Luis Gruberg & Smadar Kort, Medicine/Cardiology
Brian Miranda,William A. Shine – Great Neck South, Great Neck, NY
Mentor: Dr. Carlos Simmerling, Chemistry
Jonathan Nachman, North Shore Hebrew Academy HS, Great Neck, NY
Mentor: Dr. Miriam Rafailovich, Materials Science & Engineering
Hannarae Annie Nam, Choate Rosemary Hall, Wallingford, CT
Mentors: Drs. John Noé & Harold Metcalf, Physics & Astronomy (Laser Teaching Center)
Wendi Oppenheim, Pine Crest School, Ft.Lauderdale, FL
Mentor: Dr. Bruce Brownawell, SoMAS
Sarah Pak, Roslyn HS, Roslyn Heights, NY
Mentor: Dr. Christian Luhmann, Psychology
Neil Pathak, Herricks HS, New Hyde Park, NY
Mentor: Dr. Iwao Ojima, Chemistry
Arpon Raksit, Commack HS, Commack, NY
Mentors: Drs. Miriam Rafailovich and Dilip Gersappe, Materials Science & Engineering
Brian Ralph, Smithtown HS West, Smithtown, NY
Mentor: Dr. Alan Turner, Anatomical Sciences
Aaron Rosenthal, Smithtown HS West, Smithtown, NY
Mentor: Jacob McCartney (Ph.D. student)-Kley lab, Anatomical Sciences
Ilana Scandariato, Ward Melville HS/ *InSTAR, E. Setauket, NY
Mentor: Dr. Harriet Waters, Psychology
Karan Sikka, Syosset HS, Syosset, NY
Mentor: Dr. Miriam Rafailovich, Materials Science & Engineering
Sarah Toledano, North Shore Hebrew Academy HS, Great Neck, NY
Mentor: Dr. James Dilger, Anesthesiology
Sharon Varghese, Brentwood HS, Brentwood , NY
Mentor: Rebecca Grella (PhD. student), Gurevitch lab , Ecology & Evolution
Stephanie Wang, Monta Vista HS, Cupertino, CA
Mentors: Drs. Yixian Qin, Wei Lin, Jiqi Cheng, Biomedical Engineering
Pamela Wax, Harborfields HS, Greenlawn, NY
Mentor: Dr. J. Peter Gergen, Biochemistry & Cell Biology
Jenny Wu, Sanford Calhoun HS, Merrick, NY
Mentor: Dr. Iwao Ojima, Chemistry
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Stony Brook University Receives Highly Selective ‘Community Engagement Classification’ From Carnegie Foundation
STONY BROOK, NY, January 12, 2011 – The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching has granted Stony Brook University the highly selective 2010 Community Engagement Classification for Curricular Engagement and Community Outreach. This voluntary classification, a designation shared by only 311 institutions of higher education, provides national acknowledgement for Stony Brook’s institutional commitment to, and support of its surrounding community.
“Through a classification that acknowledges significant commitment to and demonstration of community engagement, the Foundation encourages colleges and universities to become more deeply engaged, to improve teaching and learning and to generate socially responsive knowledge to benefit communities,” said Carnegie President Anthony Bryk. “We are very pleased with the movement we are seeing in this direction.”
Institutional support by the University at large comes from both academic and medical campuses, and the list of entities that educate, mentor, serve, and outreach to a variety of community partners throughout Long Island, New York City, and overseas is extensive. Students, faculty, and staff on Stony Brook’s Main campus and the Medical Center campus participate in academic service projects, internships, community based research, and out-of-class service activities.
Examples of community engagement efforts from across campus include:
• SBU Medical Center hosted 106 lectures, 61 health fairs & health screenings (6,786 people). The HOPE (Health Occupations Partnership for Excellence) and PAR FORE (Perseverance, Accountability, Resiliency, Fellowship, Opportunity, Respect, and Empowerment) programs are part of SBUMC’s Health Initiative for Underserved Communities which works with grassroots organizations to improve access to higher education, provide community health education programs and screenings, and support efforts to meet the needs of people living in underserved communities.
• In 2009-2010 41,000 hours of service were completed by students through the AmeriCorps, VISTA, & VCS programs coordinated by the Career Center, which has relationships with 1000+ community agencies on Long Island and in NYC: an estimated 45,000 additional hours were completed by students performing service through other venues, such as service learning projects, fraternities, clubs, and organizations.
• An estimated 9,000 students participate in service annually; 1,500 of whom do internships in community agencies.
• 175 courses with a service component were offered in 18 academic departments with 2,675 students enrolled.
• $16 million in philanthropic research grants were received in 2008-2009 to support, create, and sustain programs related to improvements within the community and surrounding areas.
• $200,000 was raised through SEFA faculty/staff campaign to support 175 health and human services agencies. The student-run Rise Again Haiti campaign raised $20,000 and the ‘Tis the Season campaign organized by the National Residence Hall Honorary raised $17,000.
• SoMAS students and faculty worked to provide sustainable water supplies in Tanzania.
• All efforts are aligned with SUNY’s “Citizen SUNY” community engagement strategic plan.
The above listing is a representative sampling of the collective accomplishments of Stony Brook University students, faculty, and staff in community engagement. While community members benefit from University involvement, service also has an impact on those who perform it. Stony Brook students have reported that they have developed a deeper understanding of community problems, transferrable skills, and motivation for sustained involvement as engaged citizens.
For more information, go to the Stony Brook University Career Center website, or contact Urszula Zalewski at 631-632-6814.
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Press Releases
Archive of Featured Press Releases
Team of Researchers Find Evidence of Fire in Antarctic Ice
Concentrations of CO isotopes reveal surprising pattern of biomass burning in the Southern Hemisphere over the past 650 years.
First Multi-year Nearshore Survey of Antarctic Krill Reveals High Density, Stable Population in Shallow, Coastal Waters
Small boat acoustic sampling augments larger vessel surveys and could impact krill fishery management.
Book Provides First Comprehensive Synthesis of Trophic Cascades
Scientific evidence presented indicates top-down regulation by predators operates in most ecosystems.
Stony Brook University to Offer New Master of Arts Program in Marine Conservation and Policy Beginning in Fall 2010
Interdisciplinary program will prepare students for careers protecting the ocean and its inhabitants.
Proposed Wind Power Grid To Make Offshore Wind Power More Reliable
The energy needs of the entire human population could potentially be met by converting wind energy to electricity by means of wind turbines.
The Institute For Ocean Conservation Science Applauds IUCN’S Reclassification Of Beluga Sturgeon As “Critically Endangered”
The world’s largest global environmental network announces that more sturgeon species are critically endangered than any other comprehensively assessed group of species.
New Research Shows Fishery Management Practices for Beluga Sturgeon Must Change
A first-of-its-kind study of a Caspian Sea beluga sturgeon (Huso huso) fishery demonstrates current harvest rates are four to five times higher than those that would sustain population abundance.
Study of Shark Virgin Birth Shows Offspring Can Survive Long Term
Shark pups born to virgin mothers can survive over the long-term, according to new research published Jan. 25, 2010 in the Journal of Heredity. The study shows for the first time that some virgin births can result in viable offspring.
Scientists Trace Shark Fins Back to their Geographic Origin for the First Time using DNA Detective Work
These breakthrough findings provide strong evidence for enacting international trade protection for hammerhead sharks at the March 2010 CITES meeting in Qatar
Ocean Acidification May Contribute To Global Shellfish Decline
Stony Brook University researchers find elevated carbon dioxide concentrations impede growth and survival of bivalve larvae
Rip Currents Pose Greater Risk To Swimmers Than To Shoreline
Long term monitoring by Stony Brook University researchers finds rip currents are frequent but short-lived at East Hampton Village Beach
International Fisheries Task Force to Meet in Portland, ME, to Develop Smart Management Plans for Forage Fish, a Growing Target of Commercial Fishing Operations
“Lenfest Forage Fish Task Force” working to ensure that forage fish populations continue to flourish; excessive removal can imperil marine food web
Stony Brook University Announces Formal Partnerships With Atlantis Marine World And The Riverhead Foundation
SBU’s SoMAS joins ranks of major universities collaborating with regional aquariums and preservation foundations to advance marine research and education
Scientists Shed New Light On Behavior Of Shark “Tweens” And “Teenagers”
Study May Prove Useful in Conservation Efforts for Over-Fished Sharks
Researchers At Stony Brook University Show Warmer Environment Means Shorter Lives For Cold-Blooded Animals
Temperature explains much of the geographic variation in lifespan within species
Little-Known Marine Decomposers Attract The Attention Of Genome Sequencers
The Department of Energy’s Joint Genome Institute (JGI) announced today that they will sequence the genomes of four species of labyrinthulomycetes
Connecting Delta Cities: International Workshop Focuses on Strategies for Adapting and Mitigating Impacts of Climate Change on Coastal Cities at Stony Brook Manhattan
Policy makers and environmental, planning, and engineering experts from around the world convene to compare and assess the mitigation and adaptation policies of three major world coastal cities, each with a Dutch heritage: Rotterdam, Jakarta, and New York City
Lenfest Forage Fish Task Force Launched
Expert team of international scientists is devising solutions for sustainably managing these small prey fish; overexploitation and inadequate management is threatening the marine food web
Jack Macrae and Paula Cooper Donate Forge River Property in Support of SoMAS
The gift will be used to further understanding of the Forge River and other systems like it in the region and around the world
“Undesirable” Evolution Can be Reversed in Fish, Stony Brook University Scientists Show
In an intriguing 21st century example of Darwinism, researchers demonstrate that fish will again grow to larger sizes and produce more young when size-selective fishing is eased
Study: Foraging Behavior Of Key Antarctic Predators Unchanged After Storms That Alter Prey Distribution
Eating Habits Hard to Break for Penguins and Fur Seals
Scientists Confirm Second-Ever Case Of Virgin Birth By Shark
“Tidbit,” the blacktip shark, lived for eight years in a Virginia Aquarium tank where there had been no male blacktips
A third of the world’s marine fish catches are used for animal feed, squandering a precious food resource for humans, research finds
Comprehensive study in upcoming Annual Review of Environment and Resources urges that alternative foods for farmed animals be found.
The New York Marine Sciences Consortium Founded At Event Hosted By Stony Brook University
New York colleges, universities, and degree-granting institutions with interests in marine and coastal science research and education created a new platform for collaboration and advocacy
New Institute For Ocean Conservation Science At SBU To Tackle Pressing Threats To Marine Ecosystem
Institute to investigate and pursue solutions to some of the most complex issues facing waters in New York State, the nation, and the world
Timing is everything: How vulnerable to flooding is New York City?
SBU researchers show how advances in high-resolution modeling will help improve storm surge forecasts.
Team of Researchers Find Evidence of Fire in Antarctic Ice
Above: General view of the drill site D47, Antarctica, where the LGGE (Laboratoire du Glaciologie et Geophysique de l’Environnement) team drilled one of two cores used in this study. The thermal drilling method allowed for the collection of a 12cm diameter core, from which CO and its isotopes were measured at Stony Brook University. These analyses required close to 1kg ice per sample. (Photo credit: Jerome Chappellaz, CNRS/LGGE)
STONY BROOK, N.Y., December 2, 2010 – A team of scientists studying Antarctic ice cores have found surprising evidence of a fluctuating pattern of carbon monoxide concentrations in the Earth’s atmosphere caused by biomass burning in the Southern Hemisphere over the past 650 years.
In an article published Dec. 2 in the early online version of the journal Science entitled “Large Variations in Southern Hemisphere Biomass Burning During the Last 650 Years,” John E. Mak, Associate Professor at Stony Brook’s Institute for Terrestrial and Planetary Atmospheres in the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, and co-authors Jerome Chappellaz, Laboratory for Glaciology and Geophysics of the Environment, CNRS (Centre National de Recherche Scientifique), Grenoble, France; Zhihui Wang (formerly a Stony Brook PhD student, now a postdoctoral scientist); and, Key Hong Park (currently a PhD student at Stony Brook), found that traces of carbon monoxide isotopes in the ice samples show that the amount of biomass burning – fires fueled by plant materials such as wood, peat and grasses resulting from natural forest fires and man-made cooking and communal fires – did not gradually rise over time, but rather rose and fell across the centuries.
“It was a big surprise. We certainly weren’t looking for that,” said Professor Mak. “It’s kind of a mystery.”
While the biomass burning trends were similar to those found in previous studies that measured other tracers of biomass burning, this was the first study to measure variations in stable isotopes of carbon and oxygen, the first such measurements for carbon monoxide collected from ice core samples. The results indicated “that large variations in the degree of biomass burning in the Southern Hemisphere occurred during the last 650 years, with a decrease by about 50% in the 1600s, an increase of about 100% by the late 1800s, and another decrease by about 70% from the late 1800s to present day.” The evidence suggests that there was less biomass burning in the 20th century than in the century to century-and-a-half preceding it.
“One might think there should clearly have been more biomass burning in the Southern Hemisphere during the Industrial and post-Industrial eras. It seems logical to conclude that,” Dr. Mak said. However, both the CO measurement study and previous studies that measured charcoal particles in sediment and methane in trapped ice in the Southern Hemisphere have pointed the other way. The research team studied two ice cores from two different locations in Antarctica.
A natural follow-up to the study will be “to extend the record further back in time in Antarctica, and also we clearly want to do a similar type of study in the Northern Hemisphere from ice cores in Greenland,” Dr. Mak said.”That would be more difficult in the Northern Hemisphere because of the potential for complications in the Northern Hemisphere that we don’t have in the Southern Hemisphere. There’s more going on in the Northern Hemisphere.”
Part of the State University of New York system, Stony Brook University encompasses 200 buildings on 1,450 acres. In the 53 years since its founding, the University has grown tremendously, now with nearly 25,000 students and 2,200 faculty and is recognized as one of the nation’s important centers of learning and scholarship. It is a member of the prestigious Association of American Universities, and ranks among the top 100 national universities in America and among the top 50 public national universities in the country according to the 2010 U.S. News & World Report survey. Considered one of the “flagship” campuses in the SUNY system, Stony Brook University co-manages Brookhaven National Laboratory, joining an elite group of universities, including Berkeley, University of Chicago, Cornell, MIT, and Princeton that run federal research and development laboratories. SBU is a driving force of the Long Island economy, with an annual economic impact of $4.65 billion, generating nearly 60,000 jobs, and accounts for nearly 4% of all economic activity in Nassau and Suffolk counties, and roughly 7.5 percent of total jobs in Suffolk county.
Stony Brook University Honors Outstanding Faculty Achievements at Annual Event
President Samuel L. Stanley, Jr., M.D., Lauds Distinguished Faculty
STONY BROOK, N.Y., December 3, 2010 — More than 50 Stony Brook University faculty members were honored at the annual Faculty Achievement dinner at Watermill Caterers last month. Established in 1992, the event recognizes those who received prestigious national and international fellowships, honors, and awards during the previous academic year.
In celebrating the faculty’s extraordinary accomplishments, Stony Brook University President Samuel L. Stanley, Jr., M.D., said, “Faculties are the heart of a University, and nowhere is that more evident than at Stony Brook. Our faculty continues to break new ground in research and reach the height of intellectual distinction.
“Their enthusiasm, scholarly achievements, and professionalism shape this University,” continued Dr. Stanley. “Our campus community is comprised of intellectual leaders widely admired and celebrated in the far corners of the world for their insights and discoveries.”
Eric. W. Kaler, Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, also extolled the faculty for their achievements.
“The Stony Brook University faculty is a remarkable group that brings home honors year upon year,” he said. In commending the faculty, he also challenged each of them to mentor young colleagues and students.
“Now is the time to put these honors to work,” said Provost Kaler. “You are the recognized and respected thought leaders of our institution, the guides to the future, and the determiners of what we become.”
Following are the specific achievements—given between July 1, 2009 and June 30, 2010—for each honored faculty member (listed alphabetically by department):
Anesthesiology
Congwu Du
Outstanding Mentor for the Department of Energy
Ralph Epstein
Elected Chair of the New York State Board for Dentistry
Peter Glass
President Elect for the Society for Ambulatory Anesthesia
Srinivas Pentyala
Senior Scientist Award from the Association of Biotechnology and Pharmacy
Stephen Vitkun
Distinguished Teaching Professor
Paul Willoughby
Elected President of the New York State Society of Anesthesiologists
Applied Mathematics and Statistics
Joseph Mitchell
Godel Prize Winner awarded by the European Association for Theoretical Computer Science and the Association for Computing Machinery
Alan Tucker
Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
Art
Barbara Frank
Fulbright-Hays Faculty Research Abroad Fellowship
National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Fellowship
Asian and Asian American Studies
William Chittick
Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities
Aruna Sharma
Senior Faculty Research Fellowship of the American Institute of India Studies
Biochemistry and Cell Biology
Robert Haltiwanger
Elected President of the Society for Glycobiology
Biomedical Engineering
Danny Bluestein
Fellow, American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineers
Molly Frame
Fellow, American Physiological Society, Cardiovascular Section
Lilianne Mujica-Parodi
National Science Foundation Career Award
Balaji Sitharaman
IDEA Award, Breast Cancer Defense Program, Department of Defense
Business
Manuel London
Article of the Year Award by the Association for Human Resource Development
Book of the Year Award by the Association for Human Resource Development
Chemistry
Clare Grey
John Jeyes Award for Chemistry
Computer Science
Arie Kaufman
Fellow, Association for Computing Machinery
Ecology and Evolution
Edwin Battley
Lavoisier Medal awarded by the International Society for Biological Calorimetry
- James Rohlf
Alice Hamilton Award in the Human Studies Category
John Wiens
Teminck Fellowship from the Natural History Museum in Leiden, the Netherlands
European Languages, Literatures, and Cultures
Luigi Fontanella
Honorary Citizenship for Cultural Merit, Prata di Principato, Ultra Italy
Sarah Jourdain
Selected as the Knight in the Order of Academic Palms by the French government
Geosciences
Scott McLennan
Fellow, Geochemical Society and European Association for Geochemistry
Fellow, American Geophysical Union
John Parise
Distinguished Professor
A. Deanne Rogers
NASA Early Career Fellowship Award
Teng-Fong Wong
Louis Néel Medal of the European Geosciences Union
History
Paul Gootenberg
Received CHOICE Distinguished Title Award
Sara Lipton
Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Fellowship at the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers of the New York Public Library
Humanities Institute
- Ann Kaplan
Distinguished Career Achievement Award from the Society for Cinema and Media Studies
Visiting Fellowship at the Institute for Humanities Research, Arizona State University
Marine and Atmospheric Sciences
Cindy Lee
Inaugural John Hedges Scholar at the University of Washington
Mathematics
Dennis Sullivan
Wolf Foundation Prize in Mathematics
Music
The Emerson String Quartet
Eugene Drucker
Grammy Award Winner: Best Chamber Music Performance
Lawrence Dutton
Grammy Award Winner: Best Chamber Music Performance
David Finckel
Grammy Award Winner: Best Chamber Music Performance
Philip Setzer
Grammy Award Winner: Best Chamber Music Performance
Sarah Fuller
Lifetime Membership in the Society for Music Theory
Joanna Kaczorowska
First Prize in the Liszt-Garrison Festival and International Piano Competition in the category, Collaborative Artists: Duo Engembles with Piano
Liszt-Garrison Festival and International Piano Competition: Best Interpretation Award for Outstanding Performance of Works by Franz Liszt
Daria Semegen
Susan B. Anthony Lifetime Achievement Award from the Anthony Center for Women’s Leadership
Benjamin Steege
Research Fellowship for Postdoctoral Researchers from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation
Neurobiology and Behavior
Alfredo Fontanini
Ajinomoto Award for Young Investigators in Gustation
Nursing
Marie Marino
Elected President of the International Association of Forensic Nurses
Bruce Zitkus
American Academy of Nurse Practitioners New York State Nurse Practitioner of the Year Award
Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery/School of Dental Medicine
Allan Kucine
Stephen H. Leeper Award for Teaching Excellence from Omicron Kappa Upsilon, the National Dental Honor Society
Oral Biology and Pathology/School of Dental Medicine
Israel Kleinberg
William J. Gies Award
Maria Ryan
Victress Health Award
Pediatrics
Richard Fine
Nephrology Seminars Award
Honorary Membership in Polish Society of Pediatric Nephrology
Award from Children’s Hospital of Warsaw
Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Pediatric Nephrology Association
Shetal Shah
National Citation of Merit from the American Academy of Pediatrics
Congressional Citation for research passing the Newborn Influenza Protection Act
Fulbright Scholarship
Philosophy
Eva Kittay
Distinguished Professor
Physician Assistant Education/School of Health Technology and Management
Paul Lombardo
Master Faculty Award from the Physician Assistant Education Association
Physics and Astronomy
Philip Allen
Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
Barbara Jacak
Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
Laszlo Mihaly
Elected to the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
Political Science
Gallya Lahav
Elected Visiting Swiss Chair of Migration Studies
Preventive Medicine
Melody Goodman
Appointed to the New York State Minority Health Council
Leslie Hyman
Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology Fellow
Steven Jonas
Distinguished Alumni Award from Yale School of Public Health
Stephen McCrary
Selected for Fulbright Specialists Program in New Zealand by the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board
Provost’s Office
Eric W. Kaler
Elected to National Academy of Engineering
- Brent Lindquist
Lee Segel Prize
Psychiatry and Behavioral Science
Evelyn Bromet
Distinguished Professor
Psychology
Marvin Goldfried
Elected President, Society of Clinical Psychology, Division 12
Sociology
Ivan Chase
Lee Segel Prize
Kenneth Feldman
Howard R. Bowen Distinguished Career Award from the Association for the Study of Higher Education
Arnout Van De Rijt
European Academy of Sociology Prize for Best Article
Linton C. Freeman Distinguished Young Scholar Award from the International Network for Social Network Analysis
Women’s Studies
Ritchie Calvin
Mary Kay Bray Award from the Science Fiction Research Association
About Stony Brook University
Part of the State University of New York system, Stony Brook University encompasses 200 buildings on 1,450 acres. In the 53 years since its founding, the University has grown tremendously, now with nearly 25,000 students and 2,200 faculty and is recognized as one of the nation’s important centers of learning and scholarship. It is a member of the prestigious Association of American Universities, and ranks among the top 100 national universities in America and among the top 50 public national universities in the country according to the 2010 U.S. News & World Report survey. Considered one of the “flagship” campuses in the SUNY system, Stony Brook University co-manages Brookhaven National Laboratory, joining an elite group of universities, including Berkeley, University of Chicago, Cornell, MIT, and Princeton that run federal research and development laboratories. SBU is a driving force of the Long Island economy, with an annual economic impact of $4.65 billion, generating nearly 60,000 jobs, and accounts for nearly 4% of all economic activity in Nassau and Suffolk counties, and roughly 7.5 percent of total jobs in Suffolk County.
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Vitamins Identified As Key Nutrient Which May Promote Harmful Algal Blooms in Coastal Waters
Unlike other algae, nearly all harmful algal bloom species require vitamin B-12
STONY BROOK, N.Y., December 1, 2010 – Harmful algal blooms, which negatively affect coastal ecosystems, public health, economies and fisheries around the world, may be promoted by vitamins B-1 and B-12 according to Stony Brook University scientists, whose findings were published in an early online edition (Nov. 10) and in the current issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) in an article entitled “Most harmful algal bloom species are vitamin B-1 and B-12 auxotrophs.”
Professor Christopher J. Gobler, Ph.D., research scientist Ying Zhong Tang, and Ph.D. candidate Florian Koch of the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences at Stony Brook conducted experiments to evaluate whether the species of phytoplankton which form harmful algal blooms (HAB’s) require B-vitamins to grow. Harmful algal blooms are caused by phytoplankton and have a negative impact on coastal ecosystems and fisheries world-wide and cost the U.S. economy alone hundreds of millions of dollars annually. The impacts of harmful algal blooms have intensified in recent decades and most research has focused on chemical nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus as causative agents of these blooms. Vitamins have not been considered as prime suspects since prior investigations suggested that only small portion of phytoplankton species require B-vitamins for growth.
“Harmful algal blooms are not a new phenomenon, although many people may know them by other names such as red tides or brown tides,” Dr. Gobler said. “These events can harm humans by causing poisoning from shellfish contaminated with algal toxins and can damage marine ecosystems by killing fish and other marine life. The distribution, frequency and intensity of these events have increased across the globe and scientists have been struggling to determine why this is happening.”
Every coastal state in the United States experiences harmful algal blooms, according to Dr. Gobler.
While previous studies have examined the role of nutrients in harmful algal blooms, “the importance of coenzymes and particularly vitamins (vitamins B-1, B-7 and B-12 ) in regulating and stimulating harmful algal blooms has rarely been considered,” the researchers wrote.
“New methods have recently been developed to measure concentrations of vitamins B1 and B12 in the ocean and we discovered that vitamin levels were co-varying with the occurrence of HAB’s,” Dr. Gobler said.
The researchers examined more than 40 harmful algal bloom species in the laboratory and reported that all but one of the species tested (96%) required vitamin B-12 and that 20 of 27 species (74%) required vitamin B-1. In addition, the concentrations of vitamins B-1 and B-12 needed by the toxic algae were higher than those previously reported for other phytoplankton. The concentrations measured as needed for growth in the lab correspond closely to vitamin concentrations reported in coastal waters, suggesting that HAB demands for vitamins may exhaust the available supply of vitamins in hours to days. These findings demonstrate the potentially significant ecological role of B-vitamins in regulating the dynamics of HAB’s, the authors wrote.
The larger than expected vitamin requirements of harmful algal blooms partly stems from the fact that most of these events are caused by a class of algae called dinoflagellates. Dinoflagellates often consume large organic molecules such as amino acids and proteins that are similar to vitamins. The authors wrote “vitamins are among a suite of organic compounds dinoflagellates exploit for growth. Since dinoflagellates are notorious for the ability to form HAB’s, this study suggests vitamins are key organic compounds that may influence the occurrence of HAB’s of dinoflagellates.”
Harmful algal blooms have had a devastating impact many fisheries and ecosystems and there is great interest in curtailing these events. However, discovering the most important source of vitamins to HAB’s may prove challenging. Dr. Gobler said. “There are a lot of efforts right now to protect coastal ecosystems against HAB’s. Many efforts have been made to curb nitrogen loads since this nutrient has been considered the primary chemical promoting these events. This study demonstrates that vitamins must also be considered in order to understand the dynamics of HAB’s.” While the sources of nitrogen to coastal waters are well known, Dr. Gobler notes that, “we now need to identify the major sources vitamins promoting harmful algal blooms.”
About the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences
The School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SoMAS) is the State University of New York’s center for marine and atmospheric research, education, and public service. With more than 85 faculty and staff and more than 500 students engaged in interdisciplinary research and education, SoMAS is at the forefront of advancing knowledge and discovering and resolving environmental challenges affecting the oceans and atmosphere on both regional and global scales.
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Institute For Ocean Conservation Science Helps Launch Stony Brook University’s Master Of Arts Program In Marine Conservation And Policy
New M.A. program is the first of its kind in New York and among only a few such programs nationwide
STONY BROOK, NY, November 22, 2010 – Scientists from the Institute for Ocean Conservation Science at Stony Brook University (SBU), who also are members of the university’s faculty, are teaching the first course offered through the new graduate program, M.A. in Marine Conservation and Policy. SBU’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SoMAS) launched the new program at the start of the 2010 fall semester. It is the first program of its kind in New York State and one of only a few such programs in the country.
Dr. Ellen K. Pikitch, executive director, and Dr. Demian Chapman, assistant director for science, of the Institute were selected to develop and teach the program’s first required course, Marine Conservation, which provides an overview of fundamental concepts of ocean conservation science. The course includes lectures on current threats to marine conservation, fisheries management, marine protected areas, conservation genetics, assisted reproduction, and other related subjects.
“Our world’s oceans and the life that inhabits them are finally beginning to receive long overdue and badly needed attention and resources,” said Dr. Pikitch. “Because of this new focus on marine environments, there is a growing demand for professionals with expertise in contemporary marine conservation and policy issues, and this program with help fill this demand.”
This one-year M.A. program balances course work in marine science, marine conservation biology, and quantitative analysis with classes in marine management, economics, policy, or law. And, through a collaboration with the SBU School of Journalism’s Center for Communicating Science, the program also aims to equip students with skills that will help them communicate more effectively with the public, public officials, and the media.
“The School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences at Stony Brook is ideally poised to offer such a program,” said Dr. Robert Cerrato, director of the new graduate program and associate professor at SoMAS at SBU. “The faculty includes internationally known experts in the field of marine conservation, and the program also benefits from links to several institutes located within or associated with SoMAS including the Institute for Ocean Conservation Science.”
Stony Brook University is now accepting applications for enrollment in the Graduate Program in Marine Conservation and Policy program for the fall 2011 semester. Click here for course requirements and additional information.
The Institute for Ocean Conservation Science at Stony Brook University is dedicated to advancing ocean conservation through science. The Institute transforms real-world policy while pursuing serious science, both of which are essential for ocean health. Visit. http://www.oceanconservationscience.org.
The School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SoMAS) is the State University of New York’s center for marine and atmospheric research, education, and public service. SoMAS is at the forefront of advancing knowledge and discovering and resolving environmental challenges affecting the oceans and atmosphere on both regional and global scales. Visit http://www.somas.stonybrook.edu.