Seventeen graduate students from the 黑洞社区College of Marine Science shared their research through oral or poster presentations for the 40th annual Graduate Student Symposium (GSS) on Friday, February 2nd. The breadth of topics covered during GSS illustrates the impressive scope of science conducted at CMS.
鈥淔or forty years, the Graduate Student Symposium has given CMS students the opportunity to hone their science presentation and communication skills, and to engage colleagues in a professional setting,鈥� said Tom Frazer, professor and dean of CMS. 鈥淚鈥檓 very proud of our students, who not only organized this year鈥檚 event but presented their research with clarity and composure, demonstrating the passion and scientific rigor that make CMS such an outstanding institution.
GSS kicked off with a presentation from Kara Doran, a CMS alum and oceanographer with the USGS St. Petersburg Coastal and Marine Science Center. Doran鈥檚 research focuses on identifying, quantifying, and modeling vulnerabilities of the US shores to coastal change hazards.
The thirteen student presentations that followed included research into biological, chemical, geological, and physical oceanography, from fish spawning to satellite monitoring.
We noted a few fascinating facts shared during the presentations
- Fish eggs are a good proxy for studying fish spawning patterns.
- A counterintuitive cooling in the bottom temperature of some regions of the West Florida Shelf may be caused by the loop current.
- A bright orange anal cone distinguishes Diadema setosum from Diadema antillarum, two sea urchin species experiencing die-offs.
- A deadly ciliate that kills sea urchins has now been found in the waters of Oman, possibly spread through international boats, diving equipment, or the aquarium trade.
- Ocean floats can be used to update satellite-derived sea level data.
- Fish eyes contain isotopes that researches use to understand fish feeding habits.
- Newborn squid are so small they鈥檙e adapted for life in plankton communities.
- Deep learning models can help scientists detect red tide blooms from space.
- Mangroves occupy 16 percent of Florida鈥檚 coastline, but they鈥檙e at risk due to stressors such as sea level rise.
- Stingrays love Publix shrimp (but please don鈥檛 feed wildlife)!
- Decomposing Sargassum smells like rotten eggs and comes at a huge cost to coastal marine habitats and tourism industries.
ORAL PRESENTATIONS
- Alexis Mitchem, 鈥淎nalyzing Spawning Patterns of Economically Important Fishes on the West Florida Shelf Through DNA Barcoding of Fish Eggs鈥�
- Jill Thompson-Grim, 鈥淐limate-Ready Fisheries: Spatially Defining Subsurface Climate-Vulnerable Regions of the Gulf of Mexico with High-Resolution Models鈥�
- Bella Ritchie, 鈥淭he ciliate (Philaster apodigitiformis) responsible for the 2022 Diadema antillarum mass mortality event also induces scuticociliatosis in Diadema setosum鈥�
- Sara Jean Reinelt, 鈥淚nvestigating Steric Sea Level Anomalies: Combining satellite altimetry, GRACE/GRACE-FO, and Argo鈥�
- Kylee Rullo, 鈥淪table Isotope Analysis on Yellowfin and Blackfin Tuna Eye Lenses Reveals Life History Patterns in the Gulf of Mexico鈥�
- Emily Kaiser, 鈥淐onstraining the timing of and mechanisms forcing deglaciation along the Sabrina Coast, East Antarctica鈥�
- Shannon Riley, 鈥淎bundance and Vertical Distribution of Cephalopod Paralarvae in the Northern Gulf of Mexico鈥�
- Bostony Braoudakis, 鈥淩espirometry studies of oxygen supply capacity of an estuarine fish, spotfin mojarra (Eucinostomus argenteus), reveal physiological tolerance to elevated temperatures鈥�
- Yao Yao, 鈥淩emote detection of Karenia brevis blooms on the West Florida Shelf: accounting for spatial coherence鈥�
- Natalia Sawaya, 鈥淨uantification and diversity of a ubiquitous ssDNA phage group (Gokushovirinae) in the Red Sea鈥�
- Alejandra Aguilar, 鈥淒epth Matter: Insights into Peat Dynamic in Restored Natural Mangroves of Florida鈥檚 Gulf Coast鈥�
- Sophia Emmons, 鈥淚nfluence of salinity on the oxygen limitations of estuarine species Hypanus sabinus鈥�
- Sarah Sullivan, 鈥淪argassum in the Florida Keys: Application of High-resolution Satellite Imagery and a Deep Learning Model鈥�
POSTER PRESENTATIONS
- Emma Graves, 鈥淓ntrained Mississippi River Plume Shifts Phytoplankton Community Composition on the West Florida Shelf鈥�
- Samantha D鈥橝ngelo, 鈥淚mplementation of the Tampa Bay Observing Network (TBON), a comprehensive approach to monitoring real-time water quality in Tampa Bay鈥�
- Delfina Navarro-Estrada, 鈥淏iological cycling of trace metals during the EXPORTS 2021 study of the North Atlantic Spring Bloom鈥�
- Keith Keel, 鈥淓xploring the Dynamics of September Fish Spawning on the West Florida Shelf Through the DNA Barcoding of Fish Eggs鈥�