Seminars

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Putting science behind the stingray shuffle and other observations with the round stingray (Urobatis halleri)

Around the coastal United States, stingray strikes account for nearly 2,500 emergency room visits on an annual basis, in addition to the several hundreds to thousands of less-serious injuries that do not yield a trip to the hospital. Along California beaches, the Haller’s Round Ray (Urobatis halleri), is responsible for the majority of these interactions, with anywhere between 200 and 400 stingray-related injuries being reported each year from Seal Beach alone. During summer months, round stingrays aggregate in warm, shallow sandy-bottom areas along our coast, often coinciding with beach goers. While stingray strikes are generally non-life threatening, their barbs are capable of inflicting deep lacerations while potentially envenomating the victim. Despite the rate at which these encounters occur and the threat that they pose to public safety, very little is known about the behavior of these stingrays and their tail strike events. We use multiple high-speed cameras and motion tracking software to record and describe the tail strike behavior across the size range of the round stingray. This information, along with other experiments we are conducting in my lab with round stingrays, will provide applications relevant to beach safety.

Dr. Benjamin Perlman

Dr. Benjamin Perlman is a full-time lecturer in the Department of Biological Sciences at California State University, Long Beach. He is also the principal investigator of his recently formed STABB Lab (Stingray And Butterfly Biomechanics). His lab studies the kinematics, kinetics, and morphology of animals, currently focusing on the round stingray. Using high-speed cameras, material testers, 3D scanners, and X-ray imaging, Ben and his team describe the form and function of stingrays. The STABB Lab is putting the science behind the colloquial SoCal saying, “do the stingray shuffle!” Ben teaches an introduction to evolution and diversity course, general ecology, human anatomy, ichthyology, and scientific communication. He also collaborates with the Catalina Island Conservancy, taking undergraduate students to Catalina to conduct various field studies across the island, focusing on the introduced Argentine ant and the endemic shrew. Before he arrived at CSULB, Ben studied the swimming performance of surfperches at MLML for his Master’s degree, then completed his Ph.D. at Wake Forest University studying the jumping and swimming kinematics and muscle physiology of an amphibious fish in Belize. He then became a postdoctoral researcher at Stanford University focusing on bird wing biomechanics, then conducted experiments on frog jumping and dragonfly larvae swimming at UC Irvine for his second postdoctoral position.

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This presentation on satellite oceanography will have three parts. I will give a short overview about the the different types of oceanographic data products and show where and how to most efficiently access these data. These two parts of the talk don’t involve any research, but do provide practical (and hopefully useful) information for anyone interested in using satellite data. The third part of the talk will focus on the large chlorophyll blooms that often develop in late summer in the oligotrophic Pacific near 30°N, that have been revealed by satellite data. These blooms can cover thousands of km^2 and persist for months. The most intense and most frequent blooms occur between 130–150°W and 28–32°N, but blooms also develop further south, in the region just north of Hawaii. The blooms are often made up of diatom-diazotroph assemblages (DDAs) of the diatoms Hemiaulus and Rhizosolenia containing the nitrogen fixing endosymbiont Richelia intracellularis. The physical dynamics that stimulate the blooms remain unknown. Episodic injections of subsurface nutrients from eddy dynamics are likely the cause but the exact mechanism is unknown.

Dr. Cara Wilson

Principle Investigator of West Coast Node and PolarWatch at NOAA SWFSC

Dr. Cara Wilson has worked as a satellite oceanographer at NOAA’s Southwest Fisheries Science Center in Monterey CA since 2002. She is the PI of the West Coast Node and of PolarWatch, which are both regional nodes of NOAA’s CoastWatch program, which provides access to satellite data for ocean and coastal applications. Her research interests are in using satellite data to examine bio-physical coupling in the surface ocean, with a particular focus on determining the biological and physical causes of the large chlorophyll blooms that often develop in late summer in the oligotrophic Pacific near 30°N. She received a Ph.D. in oceanography from Oregon State University in 1997, where she examined the physical dynamics of hydrothermal plumes. After getting her PhD she worked as the InterRidge Coordinator at the University Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris, France. Her introduction to remote sensing came with a post-doc at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center which involved analyzing TOPEX and SeaWiFS data. She is also the past chair of the IOCCG (International Ocean Colour Coordinating Group).

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Dissolved Aluminium (dAl) has been recognized as a valuable tracer of atmospheric (dust) deposition as well as the riverine input at the surface waters, displaying surface anomalies and relatively low values in deep/bottom waters (Measures and Vink, 2000; Grand et al., 2015). In the Arctic Ocean, the extensive sea ice coverage typically maintains low surface dAl levels by obstructing direct atmospheric deposition. However, the melting of "dirty" ice may introduce entrained sediments into the surface water, potentially influencing dAl concentrations (Measures, 1999). Moreover, dAl concentrations in the Arctic tend to increase with depth, suggesting potential sources from the sediment/water interface in deep/bottom water, as discussed by Measures and Hatta (2021). The variations in dAl values serve as valuable indicators of weathering processes along the sediment/water interface. In this talk, I will present recent findings from Arctic research along the shelf slopes, utilizing a new analytical technique developed during Arctic cruises aboard the R/V Mirai.

Dr. Mariko Hatta

Arctic Oceanographic Researcher at the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC)

I am an Arctic oceanographic researcher at the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC). My research focuses on understanding ocean conditions by using micronutrients and trace elements as tracers and developing novel analytical methodologies for oceanographic studies.

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Currently nearly 90% of the heat generated by human-caused climate change is being absorbed by the ocean. But the long-term ability of the ocean to store heat is uncertain. Here I look at a time period three million years ago that is often used as an analog for future climate change because atmospheric carbon dioxide levels are similar to today. Using past climate reconstructions from marine sediment we find the upper ocean temperature and heat content was high three million years ago relative to today. However, few of the climate models used to simulate climate in the past (and the future) are able to match the past climate reconstructions. The climate models that best match the past climate reconstructions have enhanced polar amplification.

Dr. Heather Ford

Reader in Paleoceanography at Queen Mary University of London

Dr. Heather Ford received her Ph.D. at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where she studied paleoceanography of the tropical Pacific. During her postdoctoral position at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in New York, she researched deep ocean circulation during the mid-Pleistocene Transition. She then moved to University of Cambridge as a Natural Environment Research Council Independent Research Fellow focusing on deep ocean circulation during the warm Pliocene. At Queen Mary University of London, she continues to explore the surface to deep ocean conditions of the last few million years. She’s excited to join MLML during her sabbatical as a visiting scientist.

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Small bodies in cold water: Harbour porpoises energetics and effects of vessel noise disturbance

Harbour porpoises are one of the smallest marine mammals, facing unique energetic challenges, particularly in cold water habitats. In addition to these challenges, porpoises inhabit coastal waters with some of the highest shipping densities in the world, putting them at risk of cumulative long-term effects at both individual and population levels.

Join this seminar to delve into the world of harbour porpoises. The seminar will explore the biology and ecology of these small cetaceans, highlighting their high metabolic rates and foraging strategies, and how these factors may make porpoises more vulnerable to anthropogenic disturbances. We will then focus on current research on the impact of underwater noise on their behavior and energy balance, revealing how even moderate noise levels can disrupt their energy budget and overall fitness.

Dr. Laia Rojano-Doñate

Assistant Professor at Aarhus University and Visiting Researcher at Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University

Dr. Laia Rojano-Doñate is a behavioural ecophysiologist who applies innovative technologies and analytical methods to tackle the complexities of underwater research. Her research focuses on the physiological adaptations that enable marine mammals to maintain energy balance, as well as their movement and behavioural ecology. She is committed to understanding the physiological and behavioural mechanisms that allow these mammals to thrive in their environment, with the aim of better predicting and mitigating the potential impacts of environmental changes and human disturbances.

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Biodiversity of marine alveolates: examining species diversity and patterns in evolution

Alveolates are a diverse group of microeukaryotic organisms. In this seminar, I will be focusing on the rich diversity of marine alveolates that live together (as symbionts) with other organisms. Symbiosis itself is an interesting concept. These relationships between organisms can be benign (commensal), exhibit a common benefit (mutualism), or to the detriment of one of the partners (parasitism). This symbiotic spectrum has become more interesting with the addition of more modern genomic and proteomics data, highlighting some of the cellular machinery that has been modified to a symbiotic lifestyle. Other interesting concepts that are emerging from molecular data is species diversity and host specific: why are there so many symbiotic alveolates? Why not just have one generalist that is globally distributed? In the seminar I will also talk about some preliminary data on host/species relationships and what this has to do with an intriguing model for addressing parasitic alveolates: marine apicomplexans.

Dr. Kevin Wakeman

Assistant Professor, Hokkaido University

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Unraveling how symbioses and indirect interactions influence biological communities

Ecologists often focus on species interactions to understand populations, but sometimes overlook the diversity of ways species can interact or how the effects of these interactions trickle through biological communities. I will discuss my research exploring how the presence of a species can influence other species and the ecosystems around them, highlighting the importance of symbioses, positive interactions, and indirect effects in structuring communities.

Dr. Gerick Bergsma

Assistant Professor, CSU Monterey Bay

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Ocean Observatories: Open Access to the Open Ocean

Building on the legacy of ship-based oceanographic expeditions, recent technological progress has begun to transform many approaches to ocean research – a shift from expeditionary science to a permanent presence in the ocean. New developments in sensor design, computational speed, communications bandwidth, miniaturization, genomic analyses, high-definition imaging, robotics, and data assimilation, modeling, and visualization techniques continue to open new possibilities for remote scientific inquiry and discovery. One example of this approach is the National Science Foundation-funded Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI), an integrated infrastructure program composed of science-driven platforms and sensor systems that measure physical, chemical, geological, and biological properties and processes from the sub-seafloor to the air-sea interface. The project is delivering real-time and near real-time open-access data within an expandable architecture that can incorporate emerging technical advances in ocean science over its 25-year-plus lifespan. The OOI network was designed to address specific science questions that will lead to a better understanding of our oceans, enhancing our capabilities to address critical issues such as climate change, ecosystem variability, ocean acidification, and carbon cycling.

Dr. Mike Vardaro

Research Scientist, University of Washington

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Shorelines from Space: Measuring California’s Coastal Changes with Satellite Imagery

Dr. Jon Warrick

Research Geologist at USGS

Jonathan Warrick PhD is a Research Geologist at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in Santa Cruz, California. His research focuses on coastal change and the movement of sediment from rivers to the sea. Jon has led efforts to characterize the outcomes of the massive dam removal project on the Elwha River of Washington in collaboration with the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe, federal agencies, and several universities. Recently, Dr. Warrick has led the USGS Remote Sensing Coastal Change project, which has collected and interpreted remote sensing data to better understand changes to U.S. coasts from wildfires, floods, landslides, hurricanes, and other storm events. Jon received a Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2002 and has authored or co-authored over 90 peer-reviewed science articles, reports, and book chapters. Dr. Warrick and his work has been featured in multiple media outlets, including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, KQED Forum, Outside Magazine, and the nationally broadcast CBS Evening News, and he was recently featured in the short video entitled "Science of Surfing," developed by the USGS and available on YouTube.

Marine bacterial symbionts: Challenging evolutionary norms and informing conservation

Interactions between organisms, particularly in symbiotic relationships, are a key driver of biological innovation in marine ecosystems. My research leverages advanced sequencing technologies and bioinformatics to examine the dynamics of bacterial symbionts across diverse marine hosts, including sharks, anglerfish, and corals. This work elucidates the evolutionary trajectories and transmission mechanisms of symbiotic bacteria, revealing unique patterns that diverge from those observed in terrestrial symbioses. Furthermore, I investigate the influence of environmental factors on host-associated microbiomes, highlighting their critical role in host health and ecosystem functioning.

Dr. Lydia Baker

Assistant Professor, CSUMB

Dr. Lydia Baker earned their Ph.D. in Oceanography from the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, focusing on diatom-associated bacteria. They completed postdoctoral research at Oregon State and Cornell, studying microbial interactions and symbiosis in anglerfish and coral respectively. Dr. Baker is currently an Assistant Professor at California State University Monterey Bay, where their research covers microbial ecology, symbiont evolution, and their impact on marine ecosystems.