Seminars

Shelley Dearhart & Tori Spence McConnell, Seafood Watch Program

Moss Landing Marine Labs Seminar Series - October 31st, 2019

Hosted by the Ichthyology Lab

MLML Seminar Room, 4pm

Open to the public

Slawek Tulaczyk, UC Santa Cruz

Moss Landing Marine Labs Seminar Series - November 7th, 2019

Hosted by the Phycology Lab

MLML Seminar Room, 4pm

Open to the public

Slawek Tulaczyk focuses his research on ice sheets and glaciers as dynamic features interacting with geologic, hydrologic, and climatic processes on different timescales. Much of his glaciological work is based on data constraining the recent behavior of the West Antarctic ice sheet.

One of the most important current goals of Tulaczyk's research is to test the idea that this marine ice sheet may collapse and contribute significantly to the ongoing global sea level rise. To do that, he investigates the physical controls on ice flow velocity and constructs quantitative models of ice flow dynamics. In addition to elucidating the possible fate of the West Antarctic ice sheet, this work enhances our general understanding of the feedbacks between ice-sheet behavior and climate changes. Large ice sheets respond to climate but they may play the role of pacemakers of climate fluctuations as well. It appears that behavior of ice sheets is modulated to a significant extent by the underlying geology.

Tulaczyk is exploring these geologic controls through sedimentological and geochemical analysis of subglacial sediment samples from West Antarctica. This line of research leads to the general questions regarding the mechanisms of glacial erosion, sediment transport, and deposition. Tulaczyk has used a variety of data sources (remote sensing, borehole experiments, subglacial sediment samples) to constrain the physics of the subglacial environment and its role in controlling ice flow velocities. His interest in deformation of ice and sediments leads to involvement in research related to such practical problems like landsliding and its triggering by climatically extreme conditions.

Abstract:

Liquid water is scant in cold polar regions but it plays a key role in biological, geochemical, and glaciologic processes in these areas that are sensitive to climate changes and serve as potential terrestrial analogs of extraterrestrial life habitats on cold planetary bodies. Here we report the results of a regional AEM (Airborne Electro Magnetic) survey which collected nearly 3000 km of subsurface electrical resistivity profiles down to depths of up to ca. 600m sampling ca. 20,000 square kilometers in the McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDV). Electrical resistivity provides a good indicator of subsurface liquid water because frozen geologic materials, as well as ice, have very high electrical resistivity (typically >>1000 ohm-m) while water-bearing geologic units can have orders of magnitude lower resistivity (10-1000 ohm-m). The AEM survey reveals widespread, but not omnipresent, subsurface brine systems in the study region. They occur near the coast and beneath the floors of major valleys connected to the East Antarctic Ice Sheet (e.g., Ferrar, Taylor, McKay) but are not present in similarly large valleys that lack a modern connection to the interior of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet (e.g., Wright and Victoria). This spatial relationship suggests that brines detected by our survey may be transported into the MDVs by subsurface flow from beneath the ice sheet. Our investigations reveal a hydrogeologic system that is quite different than groundwater systems typical of coastal zones of other continents. However, this briny system may be representative of much of the ca. 24,000 km of Antarctic coastline and may deliver nutrients to the coastal ocean through submarine groundwater discharge.

Nate Jue , CSUMB

Moss Landing Marine Labs Seminar Series - November 14th, 2019

Hosted by the Invertebrate Ecology Lab

MLML Seminar Room, 4pm

Open to the public

Tomoko Komada, San Francisco State University

Moss Landing Marine Labs Seminar Series - November 21st, 2019

Hosted by the Chemical Oceanography Lab

MLML Seminar Room, 4pm

Open to the public

Craig Jones, Integral Consulting Inc.

Moss Landing Marine Labs Seminar Series - January 24th, 2019

Hosted by the Geological Oceanography Lab

MLML Seminar Room, 4pm

Open to the public

Dr. Craig Jones is a principal ocean and environmental engineer with 20 years of experience in developing and executing engineering and science projects for government agencies and the private sector to characterize offshore environmental sites. His experience includes riverine, lacustrine, estuarine, and coastal processes involving hydrodynamics, waves, sediment, and contaminant transport. Dr. Jones’ expertise includes the application of state-of-the-science field measurements and modeling analysis to characterize and quantify processes in all aquatic systems. He actively participates in the design of field activities and instrumentation to develop data sets in support of clients’ needs. Dr. Jones is adept at incorporating these data into the most effective levels of analysis, from empirical to numerical modeling, necessary to efficiently address the project needs.

Abstract
Sediment and contaminant transport in urban wetlands is a complex problem requiring robust tools to characterize. Berry’s Creek in New Jersey is an urban wetland that has undergone a multitude of changes over the past century, many of which resulted in contamination posing unacceptable ecosystem risk. The presentation will outline the field and modeling studies related to the risk assessment and remedial investigation of the Berry’s Creek Study Area wetland. The study goals were to characterize the fate and transport of sediment-bound contaminants in the system. These perspectives are being used to develop remedial strategies that will help reduce the overall risk.

Mike Gil, UC Santa Cruz

Moss Landing Marine Labs Seminar Series -February 7th, 2019

Hosted by The Invertebrate Zoology Lab

MLML Seminar Room, 4pm

Open to the public

Dr. Mike Gil, Ph.D., is a National Science Foundation Research Fellow, a TED Fellow, and a National Geographic Explorer. He has led research around the world: from coral reefs in the Caribbean, French Polynesia and Southeast Asia, to ‘microislands’ of plastic garbage, teeming with life, in the middle of the Pacific. Various national and international media outlets have covered Mike’s scientific discoveries. His diverse research efforts are unified by a common goal: better understand how natural ecosystems work, so that we can better sustain the essential services these ecosystems provide to humankind. In addition to his scientific research, Mike is an award-winning science communicator with broad interests in connecting diverse swaths of the public with the process of scientific discovery and all that it offers to individuals and to humankind. The son of an Argentine immigrant, Mike was raised working class by a single mom and was a first generation college student. He knows all too well the barriers that prevent the economically disadvantaged from tapping into the STEM world. Thus, Mike founded and runs SciAll.org, which uses unconventional videos to diversify interest in and access to STEM. By bringing mass online audiences along for the adventures of his career, including run ins with sharks, whales and other underwater wonders, Mike aims to deliver the timely message that science is an exhilarating process of discovery that is truly accessible to all and in the service of all.

Abstract
Through their presence and even simplest behaviors, animals produce sensory information that is publicly available to influence the behavior of surrounding individuals, even those from different species. While there is a wealth of evidence that social information can strongly affect the behavior, fitness and interactions of organisms, it remains largely unknown how this ubiquitous phenomenon may affect the ecology of the greater system. In this talk, centered on the behavior of mixed-species groups of fish in a tropical coral reef, I present work that integrates novel empirical and quantitative approaches to investigate the role that social information can play in the function and dynamics of natural ecosystems.

Claudie Beaulieu, UC Santa Cruz

Moss Landing Marine Labs Seminar Series - February 14th, 2019

Hosted by The Chemical Oceanography Lab

MLML Seminar Room, 4pm

Open to the public

About the Speaker
Assistant professor, Ocean Sciences Department, UCSC (since 2018)
Visiting academic, Ocean and Earth Science, University of Southampton (since 2018)
Lecturer, Ocean and Earth Science, University of Southampton (2013-2018)
Postdoctoral researcher, Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, Princeton University (2009-2013)
PhD, Water Sciences, INRS-ETE, University of Quebec, 2009
BSc, Statistics, Université Laval, 2003

Website: https://beaulieu.sites.ucsc.edu/

Abstract
Natural variability in all aspects of the Earth system – including the climate system and ecosystems – presents a formidable challenge to the detection and quantification of change forced by industrial activities. Error in detection can disrupt concerted efforts to respond to the challenges of climate change, whereas statistically robust quantification informs our understanding of underlying mechanisms of change. The rate of observed climate change results from the superposition of mixed signals such as trends and shifts on variability arising from the memory within the climate system. Statistical methods used to characterize change in time-series must be flexible enough to distinguish these components. In this talk, I present a new methodology that is used to separate different modes of change from memory in global mean surface temperature records. This analysis clarifies a key point in the scientific debate related to the recent “hiatus” in warming. I also discuss the importance of considering memory timescales (i.e. short vs long memory), and highlight regions in the ocean where the routinely assumed short-memory assumption may be problematic and affect detection.

Jerome Fiechter, UC Santa Cruz

Moss Landing Marine Labs Seminar Series - February 21st 2019

Hosted by The Physical Oceanography Lab

MLML Seminar Room, 4pm

Open to the public

Abstract
I will present results from a suite of coupled ocean circulation-ecosystem model simulations and describe the impact of environmental variability at local and regional scales on the broader California Current ecosystem response, ranging from primary production to krill distributions to population abundances and foraging patterns of key forage fish species (sardine and anchovy) and apex predators (sea lions).

Brian Gaylord, UC Davis

Moss Landing Marine Labs Seminar Series - March 7th, 2019

Hosted by The Pacific Shark Research Center

MLML Seminar Room, 4pm

Open to the public

Brian Gaylord conducts research in marine ecomechanics, working at the interface of ocean physics and organismal biology and ecology. He and his students are interested in topics that include physical disturbance by waves, dispersal and settlement of spores and larvae, flow through aquatic vegetation, and consequences for marine life of human-induced changes to the ocean realm. He received his B.S. and Ph.D. from Stanford University, did a postdoc and spent some time as a research scientist at the University of California, Santa Barbara, then came to the University of California, Davis’ Bodega Marine Laboratory. He has been working there since, often with collaborators including a diverse suite of students who are continuously expanding the scope of subjects pursued by his laboratory.

Abstract:
Physical-biological interactions are pervasive in the ocean. We’ll discuss several lines of ongoing work where we examine such interactions, focusing on issues of ocean acidification, thermal stresses in mussel beds, and effects of turbulence on settlement of marine invertebrate larvae.

Tom Van der Stocken, NASA

Moss Landing Marine Labs Seminar Series - March 14th 2019

Hosted by The Biological Oceanography Lab

MLML Seminar Room, 4pm

Open to the public

Tom is a postdoctoral researcher at NASA’s Jet propulsion Laboratory (JPL) who partners colleagues of the JPL Earth Science Division to better understand the dispersal and community ecology of coastal wetlands. The team also focuses on the importance of land-ocean interactions in modulating global ocean biogeochemistry. As a member of the Radar Science and Engineering Section he aids in developing global maps of coastal deltas and estuaries to simulate the Surface Water Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission observations strategy. He is involved in various studies to map mangrove forest structure, and estimate biomass and carbon storage along geographic and environmental gradients. The team combines knowledge and tools from different sciences such as biology and physical geography, using state-of-the-art numerical models, as well as in situ and remote sensing data. Tom holds a master’s degree in Physical Geography from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) and KULeuven (KUL) and earned a PhD degree in Sciences from the VUB and Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB). During his PhD, he conducted fieldwork in Kenyan mangroves and was a visiting researcher at the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ, the Netherlands). He taught international student groups at both bachelor and master level and was a supervisor of international excursions in ecology and biogeography. In 2014 and 2015, he was selected to participate in the Visiting Student Researchers Program at JPL.

WEBSITE LINK:
JPL profile: https://science.jpl.nasa.gov/people/Van%20der%20Stocken/
VUB profile: http://we.vub.ac.be/en/tom-van-der-stocken

Abstract:
Climate-driven distributional shifts have been observed in a diverse range of marine and terrestrial taxa, altering biotic interactions, habitat composition, as well as ecosystem productivity and functioning. Latitudinal range shifts have also been reported for mangroves, coastal shoreline plants that are found predominantly at tropical and subtropical latitudes, and are considered of particular ecological and socio-economical value. Understanding range shifts requires knowledge on dispersal, a key ecological process that allows species to track the environmental conditions to which they are adapted. However, studying dispersal is challenging, particularly in systems such as mangroves, which grow along rivers and shores, and have evolved traits to disperse via river and ocean currents, allowing for wide, transoceanic dispersal events that are beyond direct observation. In addition, tidal flooding and dense aerial root networks make mangrove forests a physically demanding environment to conduct field experiments. This presentation opens in a changing world, includes a walk through the mangroves, and introduces some of the methods and techniques that allow for better understanding the mechanisms and ecological drivers of dispersal in these sea-faring systems.