OSG experts featured on invasive species program

Posted on February 23, 2011 by kightp

Oregon Sea Grant’s Sam Chan and Tania Siemens are featured in “Crayfish Invasion,” a recent episode of Oregon Public Broadcasting’s award-winning Oregon Field Guide program.

First aired on Feb. 17, the episode recounts how innocent elementary-school science projects have brought highly invasive crayfish into Oregon’s rivers and streams. Shipped to teachers for biology classes and then “set free” by well-meaning children or teachers, the animals spread quickly in the wild, out-competing native species. According to the series, shipments of live classroom specimens violates state wildlife laws but state authorities have chosen not to aggressively enforce the ban.

Chan, Oregon Sea Grant’s invasive species expert, and research assistant Siemens have been working with Oregon teachers to increase awareness of invasive species and enlist them and their classrooms in the fight to halt the spread of invaders in the marine environment. With the help of k-12 teachers and students, they are developing teacher toolkits with lesson plans, activities and other resources for teaching young people about the subject.

View video on the Oregon Field Guide site.

Feb. 12 for Fossils at HMSC

Posted on February 8, 2011 by Joe Cone

In the spirit of the Public Broadcasting’s “Antiques Road Show,” the Hatfield Marine Science Center plays host to your natural antiques, Saturday, Feb. 12, in Newport. At the 12th annual Fossil Fest, visitors are invited to bring in fossils or other beach finds for identification by Oregon’s preeminent paleontologist, Dr. William Orr. Co-author of Oregon Fossils, Dr. Orr will also present a lecture on “Digging up the Kings Valley Groundsloth,” at 1:30 p.m. Other Fossil Fest activities include a fossil swap and special displays staffed by the North American Research Group. The Hatfield Marine Science Visitor Center, managed by Oregon Sea Grant, is open 10-4; admission is by suggested donation.

Research proposals due this Friday

Posted on February 1, 2011 by kightp

Reminder: 5 pm Friday, Feb. 4 is the deadline for researchers to submit preliminary proposals for Oregon Sea Grant’s competitive two-year funding cycle.

The grant competition is open to researchers affilliated with any institution of higher education pursuing research on important marine and coastal issues. An ideal proposal would apply the best science and an innovative approach to a well-defined coastal or marine problem or opportunity that is important to Oregon, the Pacific Northwest Region, and the nation. The two primary criteria for evaluating proposals are 1) scientific excellence and 2) societal relevance.

Funding comes from the National Oceaning and Atmospheric Administration via the National Sea Grant College Program.

Complete guidelines for preparing and submitting a proposal are available at http://seagrant.oregonstate.edu/funding/rfpcall.html

Sea Grant seeks marine program, research specialists

Posted on January 18, 2011 by kightp

CORVALLIS, OR. – Oregon Sea Grant is looking for marine science professionals to fill two non-teaching faculty positions supporting its research initiatives and collaborations – and some part-time educators to help teach children and adults more about the sea.

The program, based at Oregon State University, is seeking to fill two 12-month, fixed term professional faculty positions on campus. One, a marine program specialist, will be charged with developing and executing university-wide, statewide and regional initiatives in which Sea Grant is involved. The other, a research program specialist, will help run OSG’s biennial research funding competition and Sea Grant Scholars fellowship programs, as well as reporting on their impacts. Both positions require at least a master’s degree in the marine sciences. Application deadlines are Jan. 30 for the Marine Program Specialist and Feb. 2 for the Research Program specialist.

Meanwhile, the Sea Grant education program at OSU’s Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport is accepting applications for its marine educators’ pool. These part-time, academic-wage appointments involve presenting informal marine education programs to K-12 school audiences and other groups. Applications will be accepted throughout the 2010-2011 academic year.

OSG beach publication solves a Great Lakes Mystery

Posted on January 12, 2011 by kightp

When a Duluth man walked into the Minnesota Sea Grant office recently seeking help identifying a couple of weird-looking balls of of stuff he’d found on the shore of Lake Superior, science writer Sharon Moen found the answer from a sister program in Oregon.

An Internet search led her straight to Oregon Sea Grant and its free publication, “Flotsam, Jetsam, and Wrack.”

The balls found by Glenn Maxham, about 2½ inches in diameter and made of grasses, twigs, a bird feather and degraded polymer mesh, match a similar phenomenon found on the Oregon coast, where locals (and some tourist shops) have dubbed them “whale burps.”

They have nothing to do with whales; rather, it’s the action of waves and surf that gather loose natural (and unnatural) debris and roll it over the sand until it compacts into a ball. The preferred name is “beach balls” or “surf balls,” according to retired OSG marine educator Vicki Osis, who helped develop the publication. Similar phenomena have been reported in Egypt, Australia, and on the shores of California’s Little Borax Lake.

“Flotsam, Jetsam, and Wrack” is among some 150 publications available free for the downloading from Oregon Sea Grant at Oregon State University. Topics range from enjoying the beaches to building your own water-conserving rain garden, salmon restoration,wave energy, tsunami preparedness and safe seafood preparation. Most are available in both printable .pdf format and accessible plain-text versions.

The Oregon and Minnesota Sea Grant programs are among 30 Sea Grant college programs across the nation, organized under NOAA’s National Sea Grant program. Affiliated with major universities in the nation’s coastal and Great Lakes states, the Sea Grant programs conduct marine research, education and public outreach that foster science-based use and conservation of the nation’s aquatic resources.

Oregon Sea Grant a major contributor to OSU’s community engagement

Posted on January 10, 2011 by kightp

When OSU President Ed Ray announced “wonderful news” on January 5, 2011, that OSU had received a special designation by the Carnegie Foundation for its work in “community engagement,” Oregon Sea Grant shared in the pride at that achievement.

Four of the 15 partnerships listed in OSU’s successful application involved university leadership from Oregon Sea Grant–and clearly Sea Grant is by no other measure 4/15ths of OSU! Oregon Sea Grant’s partners included local communities, school districts, community colleges, and science centers.

In addition, Oregon Sea Grant’s engagement role was highlighted in the Carnegie application as one example of OSU’s distinctive contribution to broader community engagement. “Stop the Invasion,” a comprehensive public campaign focused on invasive species, was a partnership between OSG, Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB), the Salem Statesman Journal, and the Oregon Invasive Species Council. It included a 10-month Statesman Journal series and an OPB documentary that won the Dupont-Columbia award (equivalent to a Pulitzer Prize for documentaries).

The program was followed by a year-long action campaign to further engage Oregonians in learning about and taking action against invasives. Follow-up strategies included: A garden guide and web site that the public used to identify and report invasives, and action-oriented activities to alleviate the impacts of invasives (such as beach cleaning). A major outcome of this campaign was the passage of five pieces of new legislation in the 2009 Oregon legislative session on invasive species prevention. OSG’s Sam Chan, Lynn Dierking, and Joe Cone led the program’s activities in the campaign.

In his announcement to the university community, President Ray expressed our sense of value very well: “There are many attributes that we hope Oregonians associate with our university, but our outreach to and engagement with the people of this state is certainly at the top of that list.”

Call for preliminary research proposals, 2012-2014

Posted on December 9, 2010 by kightp

Oregon Sea Grant invites preliminary proposals for research on important marine and coastal issues from researchers who are affiliated with any institution of higher education. Proposals will be entered into a highly competitive review and selection process. Funding comes from OSG’s $1.8 million NOAA research allocation for 2012-2014.

The deadline for submitting preproposals is Friday, Feb. 4, 2011 before 5 pm. Full proposals are due May 6, and funding decisions will be announced on Sept. 12.

The two primary criteria for evaluating proposals are scientific excellence and societal relevance. An ideal proposal would apply the best sicence and an innovative approach to a well-defined coastal or marine problem that is important to Oregon, the Pacific Northwest and the nation. Successful proposals are also likely to show significant progress within two years, focus on outcomes, clearly show how and two whom the work would make a difference, and have co-funding from interested stakeholders and partners, among other qualities. All proposals are required to include community outreach and engagement components.

For more information, including a timeline and specific guidance for preparing proposals, visit http://seagrant.oregonstate.edu/funding/rfpcall.html. For questions about potential proposal ideas contact Sea Grant Director Stephen Brandt at 541-737-02714 or by email to stephen.brandt@oregonstate.edu

Oregon Sea Grant to lead regional invasive species effort

Posted on December 2, 2010 by kightp

Sam Chan, Oregon Sea Grant Extension’s aquatic invasive species educator, will lead a two year, $416,000 effort to combat high-priority aquatic invasive species identified by natural resource managers in the Pacific Northwest and Southwest, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced on Dec. 1.

Chan’s team at Oregon State University will work with Sea Grant programs and others throughout the region to develop a method to better predict the risk of aquatic invasive species and better understand the economic value of early detection and rapid response.

These programs will also develop strategies for managing the risk of non-native mussels invading West Coast waters through long-distance water tunnels and will investigate school classrooms as a potential source of new invasions (via educational aquariums).

Sea Grant director gives fish-eye view of Gulf spill

Posted on November 8, 2010 by kightp

Oregon Sea Grant director Stephen Brandt will give a public talk tonight about findings from six seasons of subsurface exploration in the low-oxygen waters of the northern Gulf of Mexico. And he’ll share what was different about this year’s cruise, which began after the United States’ largest recorded oil well blow-out was capped in July.

The informal talk starts at 6 pm at the Old World Deli in Corvallis, as part of the Science Pub series.

“Recently there has been an alarming increase, in the spatial and temporal extent of low-oxygen conditions in estuarine and coastal waters,” said Brandt. “We call them ‘dead zones’ in the media because we presume there are drastic impacts on living resources such as shrimp and fish.”

In his talk, Brandt will show how low-oxygen conditions, which scientists call “hypoxia,” can affect habitat quality, food webs and growth rates. Some fish, he added, may actually benefit from these conditions.

Brandt’s team, which has been collecting subsurface data on ocean conditions and marine life in the Gulf for six years, received a National Science Foundation emergency response grant this year to do another sampling cruise following the Deepwater Horizon oil rig disaster. He kept a blog during the trip.

Science Pub Corvallis is part of a series of free, informal science lectures sponsored at pubs around the state by the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry; the Corvallis lectures are cosponsored by OSU’s Terra magazine and the Downtown Corvallis Association.

Breaking Waves

Oregon Sea Grant: Coastal science serving Oregon

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