The Magazine of the Catalina Marine Society
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OceanBights The Magazine of the Catalina Marine Society Winter 2010 Volume 1, Number 1 Contents Introducing OceanBights 2 Spotlight on: California State University, Long Beach 2 Catalina Scientific Mooring Pilot Project 5 Editorial: The Experiment 7 Possible CMS Projects 8 Spotlight on: Cabrillo Marine Aquarium 9 Green Abalone Monitoring at Santa Catalina Island 12 Upcoming meetings 15 Membership Application Backcover OceanBights _________________________________________________________________________________________ collaborations, etc. And, we Introducing OceanBights will forthrightly document the status of ongoing CMS Welcome to OceanBights, the programs. The pressure of an magazine of the Catalina OceanBights deadline may be just the impetus required to keep Marine Society. This is one of Catalina Marine Society the Society’s tools wielded to programs moving forward. 15954 Leadwell St accomplish our mission, We will have a section on Van Nuys, CA 91406 namely, marine-related research upcoming local meetings of www.catalinamarinesociety.org conducted in Southern interests and where to find more California. We will employ the information on them. And we Publication Committee magazine to introduce ourselves will publish submitted meeting Michael Doran reports if they are supplied by Karen Norris to the community, learn about ongoing local research in the attendees. Craig Gelpi The magazine will also local ocean, understand current issues, debate possible CMS function as a newsletter for the Interim Editor Society’s membership. We will Craig Gelpi projects, focus ourselves on our chosen projects, and keep the include notices of Board meetings, significant decisions is published by the community informed on the OceanBights made by the Board, fundraising Catalina Marine Society. It is Society’s activities. distributed free of charge to Through our “Spotlight” activities, social events and, in those interested in the Society’s columns, we will familiarize general, all Society activities. activities. The Society holds you and ourselves with research Of course, we will report copyright to all articles within activities being conducted by directly to the membership via and they cannot be reproduced local institutions. In turn, these private e-mail activities that are without the written permission institutions will learn about the internal to the membership of the Society. (e.g., board elections). CMS as we interact with them The Catalina Marine Society is a to produce the columns. We The planned publication nonprofit membership plan to feature two interval for OceanBights is every corporation founded in 2009 in organizations each issue: a large six months. This schedule Los Angeles to marshal volunteer institution; and, a smaller, more depends on resources and resources to study the marine intimate and less known demand and we may adjust the environment of Santa Catalina research entity. publication schedule and length Island and the Southern accordingly.■ California Bight. We use the same strategy with our guest columns in Submissions. The magazine may which we will hear from, and Spotlight on: publish submitted articles that interact with, individual California State pertain to our mission researchers who discuss their statement. Contact the e-mail specific projects, identify University, Long address below for more research issues and perhaps information. Beach suggest projects for the CMS to Letters to the editor should be undertake or contribute to. Perhaps one of the largest sent via e-mail to the address As in this issue, we discuss institutions doing marine below. possible CMS projects with the research in Southern California [email protected] intent of receiving valuable is California State University, comments, suggestions for ©Catalina Marine Society Long Beach (CSULB), also 2 OceanBights _________________________________________________________________________________________ known as “The Beach”. As can importance of life in these include finding the molecular be expected from such a large extreme environments is that and cellular mechanisms that university their efforts are they can tell us much about life permit pollutants to enter diverse and include work in and its origins on the early earth aquatic organisms and then both marine biology as well as when chemical and physical determining their impact on the marine geology. Their conditions differed substantially health of the individuals and the biological studies emphasize from the present nominal community structures they life in extreme environments environment. inhabit, and perhaps how the and the impact and effects that Perhaps our era of pollution communities resist, acclimate or humans have on the local fauna represents another form of an adapt to these conditions. and flora of the Southern extreme environment. The The Phycology lab works in California Bight, while the Beach also emphasizes the area of marine algal geologic studies pertain to the physiology and biochemistry. discovery of past (and perhaps Many of their specimens would extreme) environments. be familiar to SoCal ocean The Marine biology labs at lovers as the lab is particularly The Beach include Aquatic interested in the physiology of Toxicology, Aquatic kelps (Order Laminariales, Microbiology, Echinoderm including our giant kelp), algal Evolution and Development, halogen (elements such as Environmental Endocrinology bromine, chlorine and iodine) (EEL), Invertebrate, Phycology, metabolism, and the Shark and Wetlands Ecology. biogeochemistry of halogens in The Microbiology Lab the marine environment. Algae focuses on studying the are well known to concentrate ecology, physiology and iodine and other halogens from diversity of microorganisms in the surrounding seawater. The extreme aquatic environments. lab has been investigating the Local extreme environments dynamics of algal halomethane include the Salton Sea (extreme Microbial mat at Cabrillo beach production. Halomethanes are salinity) and sulfide vents off sulfide vent. chemical derivatives of methane Cabrillo Beach (who knew?). I Image courtesy of J. Dillon containing halogens and are asked CSULB Prof. Jesse important in atmospheric Dillon if these extreme environmental issues and uses chemistry. They have been environments included the its expertise in microbiology to elucidating the physiological famous hydrothermal vents off understand problems associated and environmental factors that White Point with their notable with pollution and toxic influence this process using hydrogen sulfide odor. Prof. materials in the Southern phytoplankton, seaweeds, Dillon writes that little is known California Bight. For example, a coastal salt-marsh plants and about these vents but assumes primary focus of the toxicology other angiosperms (flower- they are part of the same laboratories is to study the bearing plants). complex. He notes that there are effects of anthropogenic While The Beach’s biology two distinct bacteria that use chemicals and pollutants on department concentrates on sulfur in their metabolism but aquatic organisms and the local marine organisms affected little else is known about the ecosystems in which they dwell. by present-day conditions, the springs, but he hopes to study Areas of current research geology department is working them in the future. The to determine local conditions of 3 OceanBights _________________________________________________________________________________________ the far past. Specifically, some occurs in our own Bight, where bottom of the basin and the members are working in sea sediments have accumulated high-sedimentation rate paleoceanography, or the study undisturbed in the Santa combine to keep the sediments of ancient oceans. This Barbara Channel for millennia. relatively undisturbed and a academic field has risen in Staff from the university are good record of historical events. popularity as we struggle to analyzing cores taken by the The cores are relatively shallow understand what the effects of Ocean Drilling Program in the compared to petroleum-well global warming are likely to Santa Barbara Channel and are depths, being a few meters to be. We can address this learning fascinating things. I 45-m deep, but the cores question by first understanding asked CSULB Prof. Richard occasionally reach 200 m into how and why climate changed Behl what makes the Santa the sediment in water depths in the past. Barbara Basin a good location that are 100 to almost 600-m Past changes in global for taking ocean cores. He deep. climate are often recorded in wrote that the Santa Knowing our interest in sedimentary processes, Barbara Basin is ocean temperature, I asked Prof. including compacted snow and spectacularly good at Behl how past sea-surface ocean sediments, and drilling temperature is reconstructed. cores extracted from recording environmental He responded that there are a undisturbed areas can provide a change with great number of ways, including the chronology of events temporal resolution. The assemblages of plankton and surrounding global climate abundant plankton accumulate various chemical ratios found in epochs. Ice cores from rapidly on the basin floor as minerals produced by living Greenland have samples of they die, providing a strong organisms. I tracked down one ancient atmospheres laid out in signal of what conditions were method, the oxygen isotope the order that snowfalls trapped when they lived near the ratio in the calcium carbonate them. An analogous situation