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A Sea Grant Update from C-MORE

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Hello Sea Grant community! This is a blog update from the Center for Microbial Oceanographic Research and Education (C-MORE) at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, where I’ve been participating in a summer training program for the last five weeks. The course, “Microbial Oceanography: Genomes to Biomes,” is offered to graduate students and postdoctoral scholars with interests in marine microbiology and biological oceanography. As an Oregon-based zooplankton ecologist, I felt like a bit of an odd duck in a microbial oceanography training program in the oligotrophic North Pacific subtropical gyre. But, since I study predator-prey interactions, and my study organisms (appendicularians) feed on microbes, I decided I would benefit from a more comprehensive perspective of the prey. The C-MORE summer program provided the idyllic introduction to microbes, including a weeklong research cruise aboard the R/V Kilo Moana, during which we measured processes such as bacterial production using tritium-labeled leucine incorporation, primary production using 14C, cell types and abundances using flow cytometry, and particulate carbon and nitrogen flux using sediment traps.

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Preparing to deploy sediment traps aboard the R/V Kilo Moana at Station ALOHA in the Pacific Ocean north of Hawaii.

I’m excited that my work with microbes will continue in Oregon through the support of a Julie and Rocky Dixon Graduate Innovation Award, a fellowship designed to support Oregon doctoral students who are interested in pursuing innovative, “nontraditional” career development experiences. I received the fellowship to extend my collaboration with Oregon Sea Grant to develop an educational exhibit on marine microbes. Through my research, I plan to produce a collection of microscopy images of the ocean’s more abundant microbes (e.g. Synechococcus, Prochlorococcus, Pelagibacter, Ostreococcus), which can then be an educational tool, promoting public understanding of the critical role of bacteria in marine food webs.

One of the microscopes I plan to use to produce such images is an Atomic Force Microscope. I just began training on our instrument at the University of Oregon.

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The Atomic Force Microscope at the University of Oregon

The microscope is rather finicky, and I’m still working on the best technique for immobilizing cells, but if you squint hard enough at my first image, you can detect the spherical outline of a microalga cell.

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My first Atomic Force Microscopy image of microalgae cells (less squinting required in future iterations)

For the love of science…

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(marine) Science isn’t always about going out and exploring new environments, seeking out new samples and data or boldly going where no marine scientist has gone before. A large part of science is what we call “meta-analyses.” That essentially means taking data others have already collected (usually from many other studies, and conducting analyses (usually statistical) to draw new conclusions. It’s a valuable part of modern science because it cheaply and effectively synthesizes a large amount of information (sometimes hundreds of papers) on a given topic and allows other researchers to more quickly push in new directions. My research this summer, while not quite a meta-analysis, involves reading a large amount of research on what is called “Blue carbon,”  or the carbon stored by marine ecosystems (i.e. mangroves, marshes, and seagrass) and compiling data from the papers I read. My first week of mild confusion gave way to a second week with a more direct goal. We’ve finally (most likely) decided to focus my case study on seagrass blue carbon and the transferability of those particular ecosystem service estimates. Right now we are “playing” with a massive 3660 row spreadsheet and we are going to see where that takes us…more on that next week.

In other news, I visited my first West Coast capital this weekend with a few of the other scholars. Portland has a lot to offer no matter what your interests: it’s a foodie paradise (from Blue Star Donuts to the plethora of food trucks), its a hipster homeland (Toms’ store, Saturday market, Buffalo Exchange), and perfect for the all-around character (Saturday market, Powell’s books, the naked bike ride). We also were sure to visit the Tigard farmer’s market before returning to Newport.

As for the Hatfield Community–I’ve definitely settled in comfortably, besides the imminent threat of tsunami-induced annihilation. Actually, on that note, this past Friday the Hatfielders participated in a “Run for the Hills” Tsunami drill. I’m proud to say my mentor (Melissa) and I were the first ones at the top of the hill in just 10:30. That bodes well if the mega-earthquake, caused by the Cascadian Subduction Zone, were to occur…but I’m hoping it waits at least 8 more weeks. On a more positive note, each week has a lot  of engaging activities including Wednesday donuts, Thursday lectures, pick-up games of ultimate frisbee after work, not-so-infrequent trips to the crab shack down the road, and soon-to-begin workshops focusing on CVs, cover letters, etc.

The summer is shifting into gear and I’m looking forward to Fourth of July weekend in Newport…although a Rodeo in the valley could also be a possibility…

Week Two: Adieu

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My second week as an Oregon Sea Grant Scholar is coming to an end. This week has been incredibly exciting and justifiably greater than the last. I finalized values for expected sea-level rise by ecoregion and defended my numbers and sources in our weekly team meetings. I also moved on to researching more about ocean acidification. We are researching how climate change is impacting marine organisms, so we are using aragonite saturation as a measure of ocean acidification rather than pH. As the acidity in the ocean increases, carbonate decreases and so does aragonite saturation. Thus, the lower the aragonite saturation state, the more difficult it is for calcifying organisms to survive. My mentor, Henry Lee, has numbers for expected aragonite saturation by 2100 for each ecoregion provided by the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature), but these values were calculated for the middle of the ocean rather than off the coast—where the calcifying organisms are located. My task is to find expected aragonite saturation values to see if the IUCN numbers are valid.

Next week the EPA Pacific Coastal Ecological Branch is expecting EPA administrators from Washington to visit and another intern will be working in my office, so I am excited to go to work! Also, this past week I got an official EPA sign for my office door!

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As far as social life is concerned, the summer interns are still having a blast. Several of the Sea Grant scholars and an REU intern went to Portland for the weekend and explored the city! We went to the Saturday Market, walked around Pioneer’s Place, went to Powell’s bookstore, shopped at Buffalo Exchange, and went to the Tigard farmer’s market!

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Overall, I really feel like I’m growing as a person throughout this experience. My previous summers were lazy and very relaxed; but as I have a 9-5 workday during the week, I am making more of an effort to ensure that my weekend is full of fun in order to counteract the seriousness my work week. It has been tiring between working eight hours a day and finding time to socialize and have fun, but I think it has helped me appreciate time more. I’m excited to work next week, and I am excited to celebrate the 4th of July at Newport!

Ocean Acidification and Hypoxia: a Regional approach with the Pacific Coast Collaborative

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Coastal Oregon and the west coast are particularly vulnerable to ocean acidification (OA) and hypoxia. Increasing levels of CO2 in the atmosphere are absorbed into our oceans and change the ocean’s chemistry by decreasing the pH, causing increased acidity. Naturally occurring seasonal upwelling of waters from deep in the ocean bring CO2 rich waters to the surface and exacerbates this acidification phenomenon. In these highly acidic environments there is less carbonate, a component of seawater, for many sea animals to use in their formation. Some examples of impacted sea animals include oysters, clams, mussels, corals and some plankton. OA is already negatively impacting Oregon’s economy due to failed shellfish larval production, namely at Whiskey Creek Shellfish Hatchery. With significant impacts already occurring to larval shellfish and plankton species, scientists are also concerned about amplified impacts to species higher in the food web that prey on these organisms. While wild fishery population impacts have not yet been linked to OA, as OA and hypoxic zones increase in frequency and intensity, experts anticipate that linkages will emerge.

It is with this knowledge and understanding that managers and scientists from Oregon joined their counterparts from Washington, California, and British Columbia in Seattle in mid-April. The meeting, convened by the Pacific Coast Collaborative, was intended to build lines of communication and collaboration among ocean decision makers in state, federal, and tribal governments and scientists on the West Coast Ocean Acidification and Hypoxia Science Panel. Meeting attendees worked together to identify the state of the science from across the region, and to join forces to address OA. The meeting included science presentations and management brainstorming about OA impacts and adaptation strategies. Between June and October 2015 the West Coast OA and Hypoxia Science Panel will be releasing their findings for OA and hypoxia on the west coast. Moving forward, meeting attendees have agreed to translate these findings into actionable management decisions to build a more robust and effective state, federal, and tribal effort to understand, adapt, and build resiliency to OA and hypoxia and to determine additional needs for research and monitoring at a regional scale.

I was able to not only attend this meeting, but assist in the planning, conducting, and post-meeting follow-up actions. It was clear at the meeting that all attendees have a deep concern for the causes of OA and its impacts. Changing ocean chemistry will undoubtedly continue to be a focus for ocean resource managers and scientists in the coming years as CO2 concentrations increase in the atmosphere and the ocean, and pH continues to drop.

The Agora Journalism Center & the 2015 APA Conference

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A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to attend a build-a-thon at the Agora Journalism Center. During this 3-day event, I worked with web designers, map makers, journalists, and subject area experts to create a web app that will help Oregon residents prepare for the Cascadia Earthquake. The app allows the user to enter any address in Oregon in order to receive a personalized story about what you should expect to experience if the Cascadia Earthquake occurred while you at that specific location. Your personalized story tells you what you should expect when the earthquake occurs (shaking intensity, soil liquefaction, landslides, etc.); how long your community will have to go without resources such as electricity, fuel, and running water; and how you should prepare yourself for the earthquake. In the end, our app produces over 300 individualized stories that help inform Oregon residents how to prepare for the Cascadia Earthquake based on location.  Last week, I returned to the Agora Journalism Center to talk about this app as part of my presentation at the “What is Journalism?” Conference.  Currently, OPB is working to finalize the app, and it should be available to the public very soon.

Here is a promotional video about the app: https://vimeo.com/125524401. Please forward it to anyone who might be interested.

Then, this past Monday, I got to head up to Seattle to present about the Seismic Rehabilitation Grant Program (SRGP) at the American Planning Association’s 2015 National Convention.  Not only did I get to learn about community planning and emergency management efforts taking place around the country, I also got to promote the SRGP to a ton of APA attendees.

So, stayed tuned for the new Cascadia Earthquake web app and more updates about the SRGP.

New findings from the Fluoxetine Study and a new experiment!

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On my last post, I mentioned that we were breaking down the 90-day experiment, where we exposed mussels to environmentally relevant levels (0, 0.3, 3.0, 30.0, and 300 ng/L) of fluoxetine. We had measured mussel length and width as well as mass and water clearance rates, so see if fluoxetine had an effect on mussel physiology. After some preliminary analyses, we found that mussels grew at a slower rate when exposed to the highest levels of fluoxetine (30 and 300 ng/L). While all mussels survived the exposure, some did exhibit negative growth with respect to total mass. I am currently looking at the other data to see if there were similar trends. We are also assessing body condition using a condition and gonadosomatic indices. These indices assess mussel health by measuring the the dry weight of mussel tissue over the length and width of its shell and the proportion of gonad and somatic tissues for each individual mussel, respectively. Once we get the dry weights of each individual mussel, we will have the results from comparing the values between treatments.

The next exciting part of this study is how fluoxetine may affect mussel shell thickening in response to a predator cue. The experiment is designed to test four fluoxetine treatments (0, 0.3, 3, and 30 ng/L) with and without the presence of whelk predator cues (+/-). In total there are 8 treatment types with 10 mussels per treatment, and 2 whelks per (+) treatment. Our facilities have limited space and holding tanks, so I decided to construct an experimental water table to house 800 mussels and 40 whelks that will be used in the experiment (Figure 1). This water table holds fresh water that is chilled at 12.5 °C, and has an air manifold that connects to each vessel housing mussels and whelks (n=80, 10 replicates per treatment).

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Figure 1. Experimental Water Table set up. Each vessel houses 10 mussels and is independent from the neighboring vessels.

The individual vessels are simply a 32 oz. wide mouth mason jars. This was a cost effective way to increase replication and ensure independence between replicates. To each fluoextine treatment jar we will add 0.75L of filtered saltwater and the appropriate volume of fluoxetine. In (+) predator cue jars, we cage the whelks in plastic 50mL perforated sample vials (Figure 2).

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Figure 2. Example of individual vessel. This treatment will be dosed with Fluoxetine to maintain a concentration of 0.3 ng/L and will include predator cues from 2 whelks.

We will be monitoring this experiment over the next few months. I will be inform you on our progress when it has completed. If you would like to follow my more frequent posts, please visit my new personal website: josephrpeters.weebly.com. Also, please comment here if you have have questions or suggestions about the experiment.

Applying Principles of Resilience (Part 1)

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PrinciplesBack in December, I posted a blog about how I think about and apply resilience to my research on hazards and the business community. From the high-level questions of “resilience of what” and “resilience to what,” this post will drill down into specific principles of resilience, and how they are applied to this topic.

The Stockholm Resilience Centre has developed seven resilience principles, which form the basis of my evaluation of economic resilience to hazards. Economic resilience to hazards is the ability of the local business community to handle natural hazards. By focusing in on how resilience principles can be applied to that specific intersection of stress and system, we can identify targeted ways to increase resilience and therefore reduce the vulnerability of the business community. This post will look at the first three resilience principles, and how they apply to the more narrow focus of economic resilience to hazards.

The first principle is “maintain diversity and redundancy.” Diversity helps because not all things are impacted in the same way by the same disruption when they have different qualities. Redundancy helps because functions are covered by multiple elements. If one system fails, the function is not completely lost; there are backups. From an economic resilience to hazards perspective, this becomes “support multiple types of businesses and back-up resources.” A community with different industries, locations and sizes of businesses can withstand hazards better. A community with multiple sources of power, water, and transportation options can get back on its feet sooner.

The second principle is “manage connectivity.” Connectivity is tricky, because you want enough connectivity for mutual support, but not such tight connections that breakdowns spill over. For economic resilience to hazards, this principle became “strengthen supportive networks.” By thinking about the networks that provide resources and support to businesses, we can focus on the connections that will serve businesses around hazards.

The third principle is “manage slow variables and feedbacks.” When systems change slowly, it can be hard to notice it happening, and even harder to determine the point at which the change is irreversible. Declining populations of fish or the pollution levels in a river are examples of this type of change. Another challenge is that there are infinite systems in our communities, and we cannot track all of them. This principle, when applied to economic resilience to hazards, became “identify and track areas of vulnerability.” By focusing on areas of vulnerability, the particular systems that businesses rely on, we are more likely to catch shifts that will have significant impact.

These three principles focus on the outcomes that resilience planning seeks to accomplish. The principles in my next post will focus on the process of pursuing those outcomes. Both are important in creating resilience.