Month: February 2020

Congratulations to Heather Barrett, M.Sc. for her new staff position with MLML research affiliates, Sea Otter Savvy  Before being offered a position, Barrett collaborated with them on her Master's Thesis, The energetic cost of human disturbance on the southern sea otter, which she completed under professor Dr. Gitte McDonald and the Vertebrate Ecology lab. Although the graduate program might be over, Barrett's sea otter research definitely is not! That's because Barrett will now serve as the Science Communication Director & Research Scientist at Sea Otter Savvy.

Arley Muth, M.Sc. has published an article in the Ecological Society of America journal regarding, Recruitment tolerance to increased temperature present across multiple kelp clades. The paper also includes SJSU/MLML phycology professor, Dr. Mike Graham, Muth's former advisor as one of the co-authors. The researchers investigated twelve eastern Pacific kelp taxa and how their sporophyte production would be affected by changes in nitrate and temperature so as to determine the limiting factors for recruitment. Since graduating from SJSU/MLML, Arley Muth, is now pursuing her PhD at The University of Texas at Austin.

One of the most special moments for MLML alumni is to have their thesis work published. Ryan Manzer, alumnus to the Physical Oceanography lab, is now one of those people; thanks to his recent publication, Physical factors influencing phytoplankton abundance in southern Monterey Bay in the journal of Continental Shelf Research. His co-authors consist of MLML's physical oceanography faculty, Dr. Tom Connolly & Dr. G. Jason Smith and former member, Dr. Erika McPhee-Shaw. Their research correlated physical factors such as inner shelf water temperature and upwelling relaxation events, to phytoplankton biomass.

SJSU/MLML's chemical oceanographer, Dr. Maxime Grand, has first-authored a paper in the Marine Biogeochemistry section of the journal, 'Frontiers in Marine Science', along with ten co-authors from around the globe, such as South Africa, Japan, Australia, and several European countries. In this scientific article, Developing Autonomous Observing Systems for Micronutrient Trace Metals, Dr. Grand and colleagues, "discuss the current state of the art and analytical challenges associated with metal micronutrient determinations and highlight existing and emerging technologies". This paper can help guide future researchers studying micronutrient trace metals in challenging conditions such as seasonal shifts in the ocean or remote locations.