News

Former director of MLML, Dr. John Martin, was recognized in this article from Nature Research (Publishing) on the 30th anniversary of his revolutionary, Iron Hypothesis. His work was continued by Dr. Kenneth Coale, who also served as director to the labs and is now an emeritus professor of chemical oceanography. From the article:

Thirty years ago this month, John Martin proposed a solution to one of the biggest mysteries of Earth’s climate system: how was nearly one-third of the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere (about 200 gigatonnes of carbon) drawn into the ocean as the planet entered the most recent ice age, then stored for tens of thousands of years, and released again as the ice sheets melted? 

For more on Dr. Martin and his legacy, here is a piece about him written by Dr. Coale for the 50th Anniversary Blog.

SJSU/MLML professor of physical oceanography, Dr. Tom Connolly, and co-author, Dr. Anthony R. Kricinch of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, recently published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans. Their article, "High-resolution observations of subsurface fronts and alongshore bottom temperature variability over the inner shelf", found that drastic variations in water temperatures occurred often and within short distances along Martha's Vineyard coastline which were caused by several influences, such as bathymetry. In terms of data collection, this information is valuable to scientists because it demonstrates the need to take temperature readings at multiple locations within the study area.

*FYI: This scientific article includes 'Abstract' as well as a 'Plain Language Summary'

Congratulations to Heather Barrett, M.Sc. for her new staff position with MLML research affiliates, Sea Otter Savvy  Before being offered a position, Barrett collaborated with them on her Master's Thesis, The energetic cost of human disturbance on the southern sea otter, which she completed under professor Dr. Gitte McDonald and the Vertebrate Ecology lab. Although the graduate program might be over, Barrett's sea otter research definitely is not! That's because Barrett will now serve as the Science Communication Director & Research Scientist at Sea Otter Savvy.

Arley Muth, M.Sc. has published an article in the Ecological Society of America journal regarding, Recruitment tolerance to increased temperature present across multiple kelp clades. The paper also includes SJSU/MLML phycology professor, Dr. Mike Graham, Muth's former advisor as one of the co-authors. The researchers investigated twelve eastern Pacific kelp taxa and how their sporophyte production would be affected by changes in nitrate and temperature so as to determine the limiting factors for recruitment. Since graduating from SJSU/MLML, Arley Muth, is now pursuing her PhD at The University of Texas at Austin.

One of the most special moments for MLML alumni is to have their thesis work published. Ryan Manzer, alumnus to the Physical Oceanography lab, is now one of those people; thanks to his recent publication, Physical factors influencing phytoplankton abundance in southern Monterey Bay in the journal of Continental Shelf Research. His co-authors consist of MLML's physical oceanography faculty, Dr. Tom Connolly & Dr. G. Jason Smith and former member, Dr. Erika McPhee-Shaw. Their research correlated physical factors such as inner shelf water temperature and upwelling relaxation events, to phytoplankton biomass.

SJSU/MLML's chemical oceanographer, Dr. Maxime Grand, has first-authored a paper in the Marine Biogeochemistry section of the journal, 'Frontiers in Marine Science', along with ten co-authors from around the globe, such as South Africa, Japan, Australia, and several European countries. In this scientific article, Developing Autonomous Observing Systems for Micronutrient Trace Metals, Dr. Grand and colleagues, "discuss the current state of the art and analytical challenges associated with metal micronutrient determinations and highlight existing and emerging technologies". This paper can help guide future researchers studying micronutrient trace metals in challenging conditions such as seasonal shifts in the ocean or remote locations.

An article by the Riviera Maritime Media on the 'best available science' for rendering non-viable organisms in ballast water gets the expert opinion of MLML's biological oceanographer, Dr. Nick Welschmeyer. Dr. Welschmeyer’s lab utilizes techniques/instrumentation fundamental to the understanding of growth and physiology of marine plankton such as radioisotope tracers, metabolic assays, culture incubations, microscopy and flow cytometry. As a result, the lab's research helps direct ballast water treatment protocols.

A recent article in Bay Nature Institute interviews Dr. Brigitte McDonald, head of SJSU/MLML's Vertebrate Ecology Lab, about her physiology research on Northern Elephant Seals (Mirounga angustirostris). The article highlights many of the impressive attributes  possessed by Northern Elephant Seals, such as a maximum diving depth of aproximately 1800 m, which out-does all their seal relatives.

In the Journal of Marine Geology, Dr. Ivano Aiello delivers a first-author publication entitled, "Climate, sea level and tectonic controls on sediment discharge from the Sepik River, Papua New Guinea during the Mid- to Late Pleistocene". In this study, sedimentological analysis of mainly siliciclastic slope sedimentation tells the evolutionary story of a major tropical river, the Sepik River in Papau New Guinea, throughout changing climate and sea-level conditions over a period of nearly ~555 kyr. The Sepik River is currently the largest contributor of solute and particulate material to the world ocean.

Amanda Heidt, alumae of our Invertebrate Zoology lab, is currently completing a master’s degree in science communication at UC Santa Cruz. In addition, she is a contributor to Inside Science and her latest piece covers the research of long-time colleague and collaborator to MLML, Dr. Giacomo Bernardi. A recent study by Dr. Bernardi on damselfish has been published in the Journal of Molecular Ecology and documents a rare example of brood parasitism in fish (the behavior is most commonly observed in birds).