Tags: Research Spotlight

Holly Bik stands smiling backed by a beach sunset in a pink and white blouse.
Marine sciences professor receives NSF CAREER award

By: Alan Flurry Holly Bik, assistant professor in the University of Georgia Franklin College of Arts and Science department of marine sciences with a joint appointment in UGA’s Institute of Bioinformatics, has received a grant from the National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) to study the biodiversity, evolution, and ecology of free-living marine nematodes and their host-associated microbiomes. The…

A microscopic view of a doliolid.
Skidaway Institute researchers receive $1 million grant to study oceanic food web

Savannah, Ga. – A team of University of Georgia Skidaway Institute of Oceanography scientists has received a $1 million grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation to study the way tiny zooplankton alter the marine food web on the continental shelf. Marc Frischer, Jay Brandes and Adam Greer will study how doliolids affect the way productive continental shelf food webs function.  Doliolids are a type of soft-bodied gelatinous zooplankton…

ship blown snow
COVID delayed Arctic researchers head home

My time working at the MOSAiC ice floe has come to an end, and I am currently traveling south on Polarstern towards Svalbard, where the exchange between personnel from Legs 3 and 4 of the project will take place. Due to the travel restrictions in place because of COVID-19, this exchange has been delayed from early April. It was not possible to carry out the exchange at the ice floe itself, as originally planned. So Polarstern has left the floe…

A Skidaway Institute glider named “Angus” begins a mission. Photo credit: Kim Donoghue
UGA Skidaway Institute scientists use high-tech tools to track fish migrations

Savannah, Ga. – University of Georgia Skidaway Institute of Oceanography scientist Catherine Edwards is participating in a collaborative project that will track the migration patterns of important fish species using artificial intelligence and a fleet of underwater robots. The project is a joint effort among UGA Skidaway Institute, Georgia Tech, Michigan State University, Wright State University and Gray’s Reef National Marine Sanctuary. The…

Shrimp with Black Gill
Black gill linked to climate change

UGA Skidaway Institute of Oceanography researchers may have found a link between shrimp black gill and climate change. Black gill is a condition shrimpers have blamed for devastating their shrimp harvests. It is caused by a single cell parasite.

setting up the corer to collect ice core samples on the floe near Polarstern.
COVID-19 impacts Arctic research project

UGA Skidaway Institute of Oceanography scientist Chris Marsay is currently onboard an icebreaker ship that’s frozen solid in the Arctic ice cap. Marsay is part of a major international research project named Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate or “MOSAiC.” The German icebreaker Research Vessel Polarstern sailed into the Arctic Ocean last fall until it became locked in the ice. It will remain there, drifting…

Chris Marsay during a 2015 expedition to the North Pole.
UGA Skidaway Institute scientists prepare for groundbreaking Arctic expedition

Savannah, Ga. –UGA Skidaway Institute of Oceanography scientist Chris Marsay will spend much of the coming winter on board an ice breaker frozen solid in the Arctic ice cap. Marsay, working with fellow UGA Skidaway Institute researcher Clifton Buck, is part of a major international research project named Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate or “MOSAiC.” The plan is to sail the German ice breaker Research Vessel…

ocean eddies in pacific
Student paper in Nature Communications: Offshore transport of particulate organic carbon in the California Current System by mesoscale eddies

Great new work by marine scientists Caitlin Amos, Renato Castelao and Patricia Medeiros published in Nature Communications: The 200-mile zone that hugs the curvature of the coast bursts with life, from phytoplankton to whales. Out in the open ocean, this activity is comparatively diminished. Understanding how coastal water is moved offshore fertilizing the open ocean is a long-standing goal of ocean scientists. Now, a new study from…

Study area in South Pacific
The interplay between regeneration and scavenging fluxes drives ocean iron cycling

Iron is a critical nutrient for all plant growth in the oceans, but its recycling processes are not well understood which makes climate and ecosystem modeling difficult. A new paper led by Alessandro Tagliabue (U. Liverpool) with collaborators including Daniel Ohnemus at UGA Skidaway shows that unlike traditional nutrients like phosphorus which are efficiently recycled and can accumulate in the ocean, iron recycling is highly inefficient because…

altamaha river
Tracking Dissolved Organic Matter in Coastal Ecosystems

Dissolved organic matter supports aquatic food webs and holds as much carbon as the atmosphere. A new study tracks which sources and processes play the biggest role in coastal systems. SOURCE: Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences Aquatic life depends on the tiniest of building blocks: dissolved organic matter (DOM). These dissolved molecules sustain the microbes and phytoplankton that form the foundation of aquatic food…
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