ACER Happenings
Word Wednesday: Top down or bottom up?
A few weeks ago we discussed food webs and introduced the topic of top-down and bottom-up control. Today we are going to dig a little deeper into those processes and look at some examples in the marine environment.
News from ACER
The summer and early fall has been a busy time for many of ACER’s scientists and staff. With the second year coming to an end, we take a look back over the past few months to share all that we have accomplished.
Word Wednesday: Primary Productivity
We have chatted before about food chains and food webs and you may recall learning about the process of photosynthesis. When scientists consider ecosystems, you will more often hear the term primary production. What is the link between these terms? Are they the same thing? Why do scientists measure it?
Tool Talk: WAF
When ACER scientists designed their mesocosm experiments, they had to decide what kind of oil, or oily constituents to use. Was crude oil more appropriate to use to answer their questions, or weathered oil? What about water that came in contact with the oil? What toxins leach into the surrounding water? In this installment of Tool Talk, we examine WAF, or the water accommodated fraction.
Word Wednesday: Bioturbation
Just like a healthy garden, a healthy ocean floor has worms and other animals that move through, ingest and affect the characteristics of the ocean floor sediment. This process is known as bioturbation. In this installment of Word Wednesday, we will explore this process of bioturbation, who are the key players, what they do and why this process is important.
Habitat Focus: Mangroves and Mangals
In our last installment of Habitat Focus we explored our Coastal Wetlands and briefly touched on mangrove stands as part of this vast habitat. This time we will explore the mangrove habitat in more detail.
Word Wednesday: Genetic Diversity
In an earlier post we talked about ACER’s focus on biodiversity. Scientists look at biodiversity at several scales such as the level of the ecosystem, or the species level and even the level of the individual organism. With modern gene sequencing technology, scientists are able to look at the variation in genes between individuals. We call this genetic diversity (biodiversity – at the level of molecules!). Let’s explore it in more detail.
ACER graduate student Emily Seubert presents at the 2016 AES Meeting
At the recent American Elasmobranch Society (AES) Meeting in June, Emily Seubert, a graduate student in the ACER Consumer subgroup, presented her research titled “Species and functional diversity of apex and mesopredators in the northern Gulf of Mexico.”
Tool Talk: Gene Sequencing
Remember back in high school biology when you studied genetics and learned about DNA, nucleotides and gene sequencing? Join us for this week’s Tool Talk as we clear away the cobwebs on gene sequencing and learn how ACER scientists are using this process to study the microbial community composition.
Word Wednesday: Louisiana sweet crude oil and chemical dispersants
Sweet or sour? While you might think we’re talking about candy, this week’s Word Wednesday is actually about crude oil. Join us as we explore the sweet and sour properties of crude oil as well as chemical dispersants that were used in the clean-up of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.