Invertebrate Ecology Lab

Grad student Caroline Rodriguez heads to Washington, DC as Knauss Fellow

Lauren Cooley

We are so excited to follow MLML grad student Caroline Rodriguez’s upcoming journey to Washington, DC as a Knauss Marine Policy Fellow!

The one-year Knauss Fellowship places early career professionals in federal government offices in Washington, DC. The 74 total 2022 Knauss finalists will become the 43rd class of the fellowship and will join a group of almost 1,500 professionals who have received hands-on experiences transferring science to policy and management. For her year-long fellowship, Caroline will be working for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Office of International Affairs.

Learn more about Caroline and her path to DC in this story from her home campus, California State University, Monterey Bay.

Graduate student Caroline Rodriguez named 2022 Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship Finalist

Lauren Cooley

Huge congratulations to MLML graduate student Caroline Rodriguez who was selected as a finalist for the 2022 Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship!

The one-year NOAA Sea Grant fellowship places early career professionals in federal government offices in Washington, DC. The 74 total 2022 Knauss finalists will become the 43rd class of the fellowship and will join a group of almost 1,500 professionals who have received hands-on experiences transferring science to policy and management.

Caroline’s thesis research through the CSUMB Logan Lab and SJSU/MLML Invertebrate Ecology Lab uses photogrammetry to investigate coral population dynamics in Hawaii. She plans to work at the nexus of marine conservation and environmental justice to advocate for vulnerable communities who are most impacted by climate change.

Read more about Caroline and the three other Knauss Fellowship Finalists from California in the California Sea Grant Knauss announcement.

Three MLML students receive COAST Graduate Student Research Awards!

Lauren Cooley

We are thrilled to announce that three Moss Landing Marine Labs graduate students received 2021 COAST Graduate Student Research Awards! Congratulations to Daphne Shen (Vertebrate Ecology Lab), Kinsey Matthews (Fisheries Lab), and Jackson Hoeke (Invertebrate Ecology Lab).

The CSU Council on Ocean Affairs, Science & Technology (COAST) provides these grants to support CSU graduate students engaged in marine, coastal, and coastal watershed research. Many SJSU/MLML students have been funded by COAST over the years, and we are always thankful for the California State University’s strong support for marine science research.

Five SJSU/MLML faculty members receive funding from California Sea Grant & CSU COAST

Lauren Cooley

Three new SJSU/MLML research projects are officially Sea Grant-funded! California Sea Grant has announced funding for a total of seven new research projects led by early-career faculty members throughout the state. The one-year projects focus on two key areas of California Sea Grant’s strategic plan: sustainable fisheries & aquaculture, and coastal resilience. This year, a new partnership with the CSU Council on Ocean Affairs, Science & Technology (COAST) provided non-federal match to new CSU faculty members whose research focuses on supporting the state of California’s highest priority marine, coastal and coastal watershed related needs for scientific information.

SJSU/MLML faculty will serve as PIs on the following three projects:

  • Chemical oceanographer Dr. Maxime Grand and co-PI research faculty member Dr. Luke Gardner will lead a new project focused on quantifying volatile bromocarbon emissions from seaweed aquaculture in California.
  • Invertebrate ecologist Dr. Amanda Kahn and co-PIs Dr. Kerstin Wasson and Dr. Luke Gardner will investigate the use of energetics and metabolism to enhance Olympia oyster aquaculture and outplanting success.
  • Ichthyologist Dr. Scott Hamilton and phycologist Dr. Michael Graham will serve as co-PIs on a new project led by SJSU professor Dr. Maya deVries investigating whether co-culture of seaweeds and shellfish improves shell integrity in farmed red abalone.

Congratulations to all our SJSU/MLML faculty members and their collaborators on these exciting new ventures! Learn more about all seven newly funded research projects here.

California Sea Grant story highlights collaborative MPA research led by SJSU/MLML

Lauren Cooley

Just beyond California’s kelp forests, patches of rock and sandy seafloor stretch from 100-300 ft deep in what scientists call the mid-depth rocky reef ecosystem. This zone comprises around 75% of the state’s ocean, but its depth makes it a hard area for researchers to access—and one of the most understudied of the near-shore ecosystems.

SJSU/MLML researchers Dr. Rick Starr and Dr. Amanda Kahn are leading a long-term monitoring project that combines state-of-the-art ROVs and video landers with historical data including old photos and research accounts to shed some light on this understudied zone. The project contributes to a larger effort to study the effects of marine protected areas in California. In a three-year study funded by the Ocean Protection Council, California Sea Grant and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, scientists across the state are comparing changes in marine populations inside and outside of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs).

Read more about this exciting ongoing research in the California Sea Grant story.

Photos courtesy of Rick Starr.

Professor Amanda Kahn joins Nautilus Live Expedition

Lauren Cooley

Professor Amanda Kahn of the SJSU/MLML Invertebrate Ecology Lab is currently serving as a "Scientist Ashore" with the Nautilus Live 2020 Expedition. The focus of this expedition is to shine new light on little-known regions of the deep sea along the North American West Coast, from British Columbia to Southern California. Professor Kahn is assisting with the Central California National Marine Sanctuary portion of the expedition that runs from October 3-16, 2020. Also serving on the expedition team is MLML alumnus Chad King who now works as a Research Specialist with the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary.

To learn more about Professor Kahn's contributions to the Nautilus Exploration Program, check out her profile on the Nautilus Live website.

Professor of Invertebrate Ecology, Dr. Amanda Kahn, Studies the Behavior of Benthic Invertebrates of the Abyssal Plain

Victoria Vasquez
For her latest research SJSU/MLML invertebrate ecologist, Dr. Amanda Kahn, reviews time-lapse photographs to study the behavior of deep sea benthic invertebrates. The work of Dr. Kahn and her colleagues from Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) demonstrates the ability of some benthic invertebrates to move along the abyssal plain. The below video, shows a glass sponge doing something that can best be described as a 'sneeze'. The sneeze event takes about 30 seconds in the video, but in reality this occurred over a span of 3 days.

Watch a glass sponge sneeze on the deep seafloor!