Announcing MLML’s New Invertebrate Zoologist: Dr. Amanda Kahn!

MLML is excited to welcome a new Invertebrate Zoology faculty member: Dr. Amanda Kahn.  She will be starting her Assistant Faculty position in Fall of 2019, and likely will be conducting postdoctoral research at MBARI during this next year.

Amanda studied biology and environmental chemistry as an undergraduate at CSU East Bay, then received her MSc in Marine Science here at MLML (through CSUMB) under the guidance of Dr. Jon Geller.  She received her PhD in Ecology, supervised by Dr. Sally Leys, at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, where she is currently a postdoctoral researcher.

Amanda’s research broadly focuses on movement of food energy (carbon) within and between ecosystems and on how suspension feeders facilitate this movement – especially in food-poor ecosystems.  Her doctoral and postdoctoral work have specifically focused on carbon flow mediated by sponges in the food-poor deep waters of the North Pacific and Atlantic.

 

Jason Adelaars, MLML Research Technician, awarded Wendell Ayers Memorial Leadership Award from the Monterey Bay Aquarium

Congratulations to MLML research technician, Jason Adelaars, who received the Wendell Ayers Memorial Leadership Award from the Monterey Bay Aquarium.   This award recognizes one MBA volunteer diver each year for their accomplishments in ocean advocacy and conservation efforts. Mr. Adelaars was chosen this year for his work in reducing nutrient runoff into the Moro Cojo Slough, long-term oceanographic water quality monitoring, Monterey Bay sea-level rise analysis, and developing technologies to better serve estuarine, marine, and aquaculture scientists.

Dr. Karin Forney, MLML Research Affiliate, publishes paper on noise impacts to marine mammals

MLML research affiliate, Dr. Karin A. Forney, and colleagues publish a study on the disturbance effects of anthropogenic noise upon several marine mammal species, including some that are considered Critically Endangered.  The paper is titled Nowhere to go: noise impact assessments for marine mammal populations with high site fidelity and was published in the journal, Endangered Species Research.  The research aims to provide better means of assessing and mitigating the effects of anthropocentric noise on marine mammals.

Click here to read the paper.

Recent graduate, Christian Denney, publishes MLML thesis research

MLML recent graduate Christian Denney of the Fisheries and Conservation Biology Lab is first author on a recently published study based on his thesis research.  Ryan Fields and Dr. Richard Starr from MLML and Mary Gleason of The Nature Conservancy co-authored this study, titled: Development of New Methods for Quantifying Fish Density Using Underwater Stereo-video Tools.

MLML’s Dr. Alison Stimpert co-authored recently published study on blue whale behavior

Dr. Alison Stimpert

Research Faculty member Dr. Alison Stimpert serves a co-author for a large collaborative study on blue whales that has revealed preferences in the direction (right vs left handedness) that the whales will roll during lunge feeding.  The study was published in Current Biology on November 20th, 2017 and featured in UCSC News, as well as The Guardian.  You can download the paper for free for 50 days here.

Dr. Cailliet (MLML Faculty Emeritus) quoted in a National Geographic article on the challenges of aging sharks

How long do sharks live?  Recent studies using carbon radioisotopes suggest we've been underestimating the ages of sharks, especially older ones.  An article by National Geographic quotes our ichthyologist emeritus, Dr. Gregor Cailliet on the challenges of aging sharks using calcified growth bands:

Gregor Cailliet, professor emeritus at California's Moss Landing Marine Laboratories who has been aging sharks since the 1970s, says the banding method leads to the good, bad, and the ugly.

“The good are the ones where the growth zones and validated ages are identical. The bad is when they don’t mean anything. The ugly are the ones in which there are discrepancies.”

Read the full article here.

MLML’s Dr. Graham & Dr. Hamilton win a highly competitive federal funding award

Dr. Mike Graham and Dr. Scott Hamilton have been awarded a grant with California Sea Grant to research sustainable aquaculture techniques integrating seaweeds and shellfish here at Moss Landing Marine Laboratories.  The grant is one of 32 from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Sea Grant Program

Read more on this award as announced by California Sea Grant and in an article in the Monterey Herald.