by Monaca Noble
SERC's Green Village during Snowmageddon February 2010 (Stephen Sanford)
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Invasive Species
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Snowmageddon vs. Caribbean Creep
Monday, January 9th, 2012Click to continue »
Small Lagoon Fights Off Occupation
Tuesday, December 6th, 2011by Monaca Noble
On a thin strip of land between Bolinas Lagoon and the Pacific Ocean lies the neighborhood of Seadrift, a community battling an invasion of crabs that have taken over their lagoon.
European green crab (BrentMWilson)
Seadrift is a small subdivision at the northern tip of Stinson Beach, Calif., sandwiched between Bolinas Lagoon and the Pacific Ocean on a narrow sand spit. It surrounds a small enclosure called the Seadrift Lagoon, an artificial lagoon created for the subdivision. It’s a popular site for visitors, and the lagoon provides recreational enjoyment for the entire community. But for the last two decades one unwelcome visitor has proven to be very bad company.
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Hurricanes, Snakeheads and Dead Zones: What 2011 Weather Meant for the Chesapeake
Wednesday, October 5th, 2011by Kristen Minogue
Credit: NOAA Photo Library
How the West Was Won (Back)
Tuesday, October 4th, 2011by Monaca Noble
Over the last two years, more than 150 volunteers have been working to remove an invasive Asian kelp from marinas in San Francisco Bay.
Undaria pinnatifida, grown to maturity. (Credit: SERC)
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Intern Logs: A Soldier and a Scientist
Friday, August 19th, 2011This summer the SERC interns had a unique addition to their ranks – Iraq veteran Kiel Edson, a former Marine finishing his last year of undergrad at California State University, Sacramento. In this edited Q&A, the 28-year-old shares thoughts on Iraq, SERC and the transition from soldier to researcher.
After five years working as a Russian linguist for the Marines, 28-year-old Kiel Edson started college and discovered his passion for conservation biology. (Credit: Michael Tobias.)
What kind of work did you do for the Marines in Iraq?
E: I was part of a group of what’s called Signal Support Team. We basically go out onto missions off the base, closer to the main cities, and we collect intelligence on what’s happening within the city. And then anything relevant that we find, we basically just write-up in situation reports or intelligence reports and send them off to the commanders who are making decisions as to how to handle the situations in that city. We just tell them, hey, they know that you’re going to ambush, or they know about the convoy going through on Thursday, so that they can change the way that they operate to avoid taking casualties, or they know going in there’s going to be a firefight, so everybody’s prepared for it. It’s not a surprise.
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Intern Logs: Witness to an Invasion
Tuesday, July 19th, 2011
Students on the SERC sampling team, with the 23-inch female snakehead fish they helped ensnare: Diana Sisson (intern), Alison Everett (visiting student), and Philip Choy (intern).
It was around 3 p.m., and it was time to pull the last seine net of the day. We had been out on the water since 10 a.m., and we had already caught a few rarer species, including a stingray and a few juvenile Common Carp. Research biologists Eric Bah and Stacey Havard volunteered to pull what may be the seine of their career.
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Snakehead Invaders Spread to the Rhode
Tuesday, July 19th, 2011
The Northern Snakehead recently crossed into the Rhode River, marking its first appearance in this part of the Bay. Previously scientists thought the Bay's high salinity would hold them in the Potomac, but influxes of freshwater may have smoothed their way.
The Northern Snakehead (Channa argus) is a top-level predator that can consume fish and animals up to a third of its body size. It also has the ability to breathe out of water for up to four days if kept moist, using air chambers above its gills that can act as a primitive lung. (But reports of it walking on land are myths. They can at best wriggle short distances, and only juvenile fish have that ability.) More disturbing, at least to ecologists, is their ability to seriously disrupt the food chain wherever they establish themselves.
Native to China, the Northern Snakehead first appeared in Maryland in 2002, in a Crofton pond about 20 miles east of D.C. Regulators moved quickly to eradicate them, but two years later, they established themselves in the Potomac River. Since snakeheads thrive in freshwater (they typically cannot tolerate salinities higher than 15 parts per thousand), it was thought they would be unable to expand beyond the Potomac. But ecologists suspect an influx of freshwater into Chesapeake Bay could have paved the way for them to leave the Potomac and invade other tributaries, such as the Rhode River.
Important note: It is illegal to own or move a Northern Snakehead in the state of Maryland. If you do catch one, the Department of Natural Resources requests that you promptly dispatch it (freezing recommended) and contact the Maryland or Virginia DNR. Though some also suggest cooking it for dinner.
-by Kristen Minogue
As the Mangroves March North…
Friday, April 22nd, 2011
Aerial view of Mangal Cay in the western Caribbean – just one of many mangrove havens Ilka Feller has explored.
As global temperatures rise, mangrove forests from the southeastern US are pushing farther north. Scientists don’t know how long, how fast, or what the exact consequences will be, but images from NASA satellites – and $1.3 million – will help them find out.
Ilka Feller, senior ecologist at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, will lead the effort to track more than 100 miles of Florida mangrove forests encroaching on their northern neighbors, the salt marshes. Feller has been studying mangroves for almost 20 years, keeping tabs on their progress in Florida, Panama, Belize and Australia. The new grant is one of 15 NASA-sponsored projects that will combine satellite data with field work to give scientists a bird’s-eye view of climate change.
How to Block Ship-borne Bioinvaders Before They Dock
Friday, March 25th, 2011
SERC researcher George Smith opens an air vent on the ship Patcantrell for a ballast water experiment. (Credit: Timothy Mullady/SERC)
The global economy depends on marine transportation. But in addition to cargo, the world’s 50,000-plus commercial ships carry tiny stowaways that can cause huge problems for the environment and economy. A new model, published Thursday in the journal Environmental Science & Technology, will help ships screen more accurately for dangerous species before they unload.
Discovery on the Mudflats
Thursday, February 3rd, 2011by Monaca Noble
An orange sponge made this bryolith its home.
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