nsf.gov - National Science Foundation - NSF awards first coastal sustainability grants for research on world's most populated areas

In wake of storms such as Hurricane Sandy, grants will lead to better management of coastal environments.-

Coastal systems are crucial to regional and national economies. Credit and Larger Version

September 27, 2013

More than half the world's human population lived in coastal areas in the year 2000; that percentage is expected to rise to 75 percent by 2025.

With our large footprint in coastal sands--and in the wake of severe storms such as Hurricane Sandy--how do we co-exist with our coastlines? How do we use them sustainably?

A sustainable world is one in which human needs are met equitably, without sacrificing the ability of future generations to meet their needs. The National Science Foundation (NSF)'s Science, Engineering, and Education for Sustainability investments aim to address this challenge.

NSF's coastal SEES program is focused on the sustainability of coastal systems: the swath of land closely connected to the sea, including barrier islands, wetlands, mudflats, beaches and estuaries, as well as coastal cities, towns, recreational areas and maritime facilities; the continental seas and shelves; and the overlying atmosphere.

NSF's coastal SEES program has funded its first awards for studies of coasts in the U.S. and around the world. The 11 awards total $13.1 million.

Coastal systems are crucial to regional and national economies. They host human-built infrastructure and provide ecosystem services that sustain our well-being, says David Conover, director of NSF's Division of Ocean Sciences.

"We benefit from coastal environments for enjoyment, housing, food, industrial uses and commerce," says Conover. "In the process, however, we alter them physically, chemically and ecologically."

"These changes influence and interact with natural variability, extreme events and long-term directions to affect the system as a whole, including the benefits humans derive."

We need to better comprehend this coupled human-natural system, he says, so we might make better decisions about its future.

Toward that end, NSF's new coastal SEES projects address topics such as developing high-performance green infrastructure to sustain coastal cities; sustainability of the largest estuary in the U.S., Chesapeake Bay; planning for the hydrologic and ecological effects of sea level rise on coastal water resources; brine discharge from desalination plants; achieving sustainable urban estuaries; and the resilience of coral reefs.

2013 Coastal SEES Awards

Patricia Culligan, Columbia University:

 Coastal SEES (Track 2), Collaborative: Developing high performance green infrastructure systems to sustain coastal cities

Wayne Geyer, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution:

Coastal SEES (Track 2), Collaborative: Toward sustainable urban estuaries in the anthropocene

Thomas Fisher, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Sciences: Coastal SEES (Track 2), Collaborative: Improving Chesapeake Bay water quality by creating sustainable coastal watersheds

Andrew Pershing, University of Maine:

 Coastal SEES (Track 2), Collaborative Research: Resilience and adaptation of a coastal ecological-economic system in response to increasing temperature

Christopher Hein, College of William & Mary Virginia Institute of Marine Science:

 Coastal SEES (Track I), Collaborative: Sediment Supply in a Regime of Accelerated Coastal Erosion (SedS-RACE): Paleo-perspectives, anthropogenic influences and future challenges

Carl Hershner, College of William & Mary Virginia Institute of Marine Science:

 Coastal SEES (Track 1), Collaborative: Chesapeake Bay sustainability: Implications of changing climate and shifting management objectives

Sally Holbrook, University of California-Santa Barbara:

 Coastal SEES (Track 1), Collaborative: Adaptive capacity, resilience, and coral reef state shifts in social-ecological systems

Jonathan Martin, University of Florida:

 Coastal SEES (Track 1): Planning for hydrologic and ecological impacts of sea level rise on sustainability of coastal water resources

Steven Murawski, University of South Florida:

 Coastal SEES (Track 1): Novel approaches to understanding human use patterns and mobility for coastal natural resources management

Adina Paytan, University of California-Santa Cruz:

Coastal SEES (Track 1): Brine discharge from desalination plants--Impacts on coastal ecology, public perception, and public policy

Tamara Ticktin, University of Hawaii:

Coastal SEES (Track 1): Understanding the links between local ecological knowledge, ecosystem services, and community resilience

-NSF-

Media Contacts Cheryl Dybas, NSF (703) 292-7734 cdybas@nsf.gov

Related WebsitesNSF's Science, Engineering and Education for Sustainability programs: http://www.nsf.gov/sees
NSF Publication: Discoveries in Sustainability:

 http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2012/disco12001/disco12001.pdf

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency that supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering. In fiscal year (FY) 2012, its budget was $7.0 billion. NSF funds reach all 50 states through grants to nearly 2,000 colleges, universities and other institutions. Each year, NSF receives about 50,000 competitive requests for funding, and makes about 11,500 new funding awards. NSF also awards about $593 million in professional and service contracts yearly.

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Understanding coastal seas: NSF grants offer new insights.
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Runoff from coastal cities poses a threat to their sustainability.
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As storm surge buffers, wetlands play an important role in coastal sustainability.
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NSF coastal SEES researchers will study Gulf of Maine species such as lobsters.
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Fertilizer washing into coastal waters causes surface algae blooms, depleting oxygen below.
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Scientists are studying the effects of dredging on sediment transport in urban estuaries.
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nsf.gov - National Science Foundation - 'Talking to the animals'

Chemical ecologists translate the language of the sea

Chemical signals are the primary "language" used by ocean organisms to communicate. Credit and Larger Version

September 25, 2013

If Dr. Dolittle could talk to the animals, it's more likely he was a chemical ecologist than a linguist, says marine scientist Mark Hay of the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta--at least when it came to talking to the animals (and plants) of the sea.

Chemical signals are the primary "language" used by ocean organisms. Using a kind of extra-sensory perception of the deep, marine animals and plants react to other species and to their environment based on these cues.

Humans are poorly designed to understand such chemically-driven interactions "because we sense the world primarily via visual and auditory input," Hay says.

"In contrast, many ocean species lack eyes and ears. They sense much of their world via chemical signals. In the sea, even species that see and hear rely on chemical cues."

Dark New York City streets--in the sea

Imagine walking along a bustling New York City street at night. Suddenly, the boulevard goes pitch-black and deathly silent--permanently.

How would you find food, a mate or protect yourself against thieves and murderers? What if you had to rely on detecting chemicals produced by other people and other animals to survive?

"For ocean animals and plants, it's like that every minute of every day," says Hay. For most marine species, chemical cues determine whether they consume, fight with, run from or mate with the creatures next to them--and whether they are eaten by, infected by or overgrown by natural enemies.

Welcome to New York City...eerily silent and utterly dark...beneath the waves.

Dead ahead are the shapeshifters, marine denizens that use chemical cues to change their outward appearances.

 

Facing the shape-shifters

When the bloom-forming phytoplankton Phaeocystis globosa chemically senses its next-door neighbors under attack by ciliates, which feast on small foods like phytoplankton, it shifts shape and grows in colonies too big for the ciliates to consume.

Then when the phytoplankton's neighbors are attacked by copepods, says Hay, which feed on large foods, Phaeocystis globosa suppresses colony formation and grows as single cells too small to interest the copepods.

"These shifts could alter energy flow, nutrient cycling and patterns of carbon sequestration in the sea," says Hay. "Chemical cues affect not only individual behavior and population-level processes, but also community organization and ecosystem function."

 

Finding food: no clues but molecules

What if you had to fly a plane over an area the size of Canada to locate a grocery store with no cues but a few simple "fresh food" molecules wafting through the air?

Tube-nosed seabirds--storm-petrels, albatrosses, petrels, shearwaters and others--do exactly that. They use a chemical cue to track high-productivity areas in open seas where they forage on zooplankton, fish and squid.

They're responding to the presence of dimethyl sulfide (DMS), produced when zooplankton feed on blooms of phytoplankton then excrete this substance.

"At scales of thousands of square kilometers, DMS may function as an olfactory landscape," says Hay, "indicating ocean areas where phytoplankton and zooplankton accumulate and where the search for prey should be most successful."

 

Chemical cues: from oceans to human health

To discover how chemical signals play a part in ocean ecosystems, and perhaps human health, Hay and colleagues are studying marine organisms and how they produce and deploy their chemical arsenals.

Understanding substances that cloak seaweeds and other species could allow scientists to adapt these compounds for use against microbial pathogens, HIV, cancer and other human diseases.

As part of a project supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF), Hay and colleagues have analyzed compounds from more than 800 species in the waters around Fiji Islands like Yanuca. The project is co-funded by the National Institutes of Health's International Cooperative Biodiversity Group program.

"The study of chemical signaling on Fiji Island coral reefs will help us better understand the interactions that keep the oceans healthy," says David Garrison, program director in NSF's Division of Ocean Sciences, which funded the research.

One species has emerged as a frontrunner in Hay's investigations: the red seaweed Callophycus serratus.

The alga is adept at fighting infections. Chemical extracts from Callophycus serratus fend off disease-causing microbes. The compounds are among the largest groups of algal antifungal chemical defenses discovered to date.

"We're in effect ‘listening in' on the fight between this red seaweed and a fungus that's trying to attack it," says Hay. "What we hear may allow us to translate the language of the sea into that of human biomedicine."

 

Tuning into The Deep

He may be tuning in for some time. Callophycus serratus produces at least 28 bioactive compounds.

Why would a single species of seaweed produce so many bioactive substances? The compounds may work together against a host of enemies, says Hay. "Or they may have separate uses we don't yet comprehend."

Hay is busy deciphering. He and colleagues have found that Callophycus serratus contains bromophycolides--in ocean-speak, chemicals that have shown promise as new treatments for infectious diseases.

Whether working along the shores of Fiji or in the seas around Florida, Panama or the Caribbean Islands, Hay is proving that we can interpret the language of marine organisms.

"Knowing what's being communicated will provide a deeper understanding of marine ecosystems," says Hay, "and improve our ability to serve as wise stewards of these natural resources."

--	Cheryl Dybas, NSF (703) 292-7734  cdybas@nsf.gov

Related WebsitesNSF News: Killer Seaweed: Scientists Find First Proof that Chemicals from Seaweeds Damage Coral on Contact: http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=116813
NSF News: Coral Reef 911: Corals Attacked by Seaweed Use Chemical Signals to Summon Help: http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=125894
NSF Award: Killer Seaweeds: Allelopathy against Fijian Corals:

 http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0929119&HistoricalAwards=false

Using a kind of "ESP," marine animals and plants react to other species based on chemical cues.
Credit and Larger Version

Scientists are studying how chemical signals play a part in ocean ecosystems.
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Ecologist Mark Hay and colleagues conduct research on Fiji; its islands are their "base camp."
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Eat, fight with, run from or mate with? For most marine species, the answer lies in biochemistry.
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Researchers have studied more than 800 species in the waters around Fiji's many islands.
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Science: New Research Suggests Bacteria Are Social Microorganisms

Hi My Friends: A VUELO DE UN QUINDE EL BLOG., MIT scientists: Bacteria plays different social roles, including attacking and defending other bacteria

 Scientist from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, along with researchers from the French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts, studied whether population-level organization exists for bacteria in the wild. They assembled an all-against-all battleground for 185 closely-related, but distinct, members of an ocean-based family of bacteria called Vibrionaceae and examined about 35,000 chemical reactions to determine whether some bacteria play different social roles.

Credit: Thinkstock

 

New Research Suggests Bacteria Are Social Microorganisms

New research from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology reveals that some unlikely subjects--bacteria--can have social structures similar to plants and animals.

The research shows that a few individuals in groups of closely related bacteria have the ability to produce chemical compounds that kill or slow the growth of other populations of bacteria in the environment, but not harm their own.

Published in the September 7 issue of the journal Science, the finding suggests that bacteria in the environment can play different social roles and that competition occurs not only among individual bacteria, but also among coexisting ecological populations.

The National Science Foundation, an independent federal agency that supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering, funded the research.

"Bacteria typically have been considered purely selfish organisms and bacterial populations as groups of clones," said Otto Cordero, a theoretical biologist and lead researcher on the paper. "This result contrasts with what we know about animal and plant populations, in which individuals can divide labors, perform different complementary roles and act synergistically."

Cordero and colleagues from MIT, along with researchers from the French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts, studied whether population-level organization exists for bacteria in the wild.

They reasoned social structure can reduce conflict within populations of plants and animals and determine aggression towards competing biological populations. "Think of a population of lions in the Serengeti or a population of fish in a lake," said Cordero. But could the same be true for populations of bacteria?

"It is difficult to know what the environmental interactions really are, because microbes are too small for us to observe them in action," said Martin Polz, an organismic and evolutionary biologist at MIT and principal investigator for the Polz Microbial Ecology and Evolution Lab. "But our research provides strong evidence that antibiotics play a role in fending off competitors."

The researchers found evidence by looking at direct, aggressive competition between ecological populations of bacteria. They reconstructed a large network of bacterial fights--or antibiotic-mediated interactions--between bacteria from the ocean.

The scientists analyzed interactions called interference competitions, wherein bacteria produce antibiotics as a means of chemical warfare, to gain a competitive edge by directly hindering the survival of potential competitors.

This typically occurs when bacteria compete for the same portion of habitat.

The researchers assembled an all-against-all battleground for 185 closely-related, but distinct, members of an ocean-based family of bacteria called Vibrionaceae. They measured bacterial compounds produced by Vibrio isolates that directly antagonized other Vibrio isolates.

The framework provided Cordero and colleagues an opportunity to examine about 35,000 possible antibiotic-mediated interactions.

The researchers found that ecologically delineated bacterial populations act as socially cohesive units. "In these populations, a few individuals produced antibiotics to which closely related individuals in the population were resistant, whereas individuals in other populations were sensitive," said Cordero.

Thus, aggressive chemical reactions occur between, rather than within natural populations.

"It appears to be a group effort where individuals assume the role of antibiotic producers and hence defenders," said Polz. "Of course, competing groups could also produce antibiotics. It's a potential arms race out there."

"Those individuals that don't produce antibiotics can benefit from association with the producers, because they are resistant," added Cordero. "In other words, antibiotics have a social effect, because they can benefit the population as a whole."

The findings may help scientists answer questions about the natural role of antibiotics in human contexts.

"The research has the potential to bridge gaps in our understanding of the relationships between plants and humans and their non-disease- and disease-causing bacterial flora," said Robert Fleischmann, a program director in the Division of Biological Infrastructure for the National Science Foundation.

"We use antibiotics to kill pathogenic microbes, which cause harm to humans and animals," said Polz. "As an unfortunate side effect, this has lead to the widespread buildup of resistance, particularly in hospitals where pathogens and humans encounter each other often."

In addition, the results help scientists make sense of why closely related bacteria are so diverse in their gene content. Part of the answer, they say, is that the diversity allows the bacteria to play different social roles.

Social differentiation, for example, could mitigate the negative effects of two species competing for the same limiting resource--food or habitat, for instance--and generate population level behavior that emerges from the interaction between close relatives.

"Microbiology builds on the study of pure cultures," said Cordero, "that is genotypes isolated from their population. Our work shows that we need to start focusing on population based phenomena to better understand what these organisms are doing in the wild."

-NSF-

Media Contacts Bobbie Mixon, NSF (703) 292-8485 bmixon@nsf.gov

Program Contacts Robert Fleischmann, NSF (703) 292-7191 rfleisch@nsf.gov

Principal Investigators Otto Cordero, Massachusetts Institute of Technology ottoxcordero@gmail.com

Co-Investigators Martin Polz, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (617) 253-7128 mpolz@mit.edu

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency that supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering. In fiscal year (FY) 2012, its budget is $7.0 billion. NSF funds reach all 50 states through grants to nearly 2,000 colleges, universities and other institutions. Each year, NSF receives over 50,000 competitive requests for funding, and makes about 11,000 new funding awards. NSF also awards nearly $420 million in professional and service contracts yearly. 

Useful NSF Web Sites:
NSF Home Page: http://www.nsf.gov
NSF News: http://www.nsf.gov/news/
For the News Media: http://www.nsf.gov/news/newsroom.jsp
Science and Engineering Statistics: http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/
Awards Searches: http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/

 The National Science Foundation (NSF) 

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Science: Earth from Space: A southern summer bloom

Hi My Friends: A VUELO DE UN QUINDE EL BLOG., In this Envisat image, a phytoplankton bloom swirls a figure-of-8 in the South Atlantic Ocean about 600 km east of the Falkland Islands.HI-RES JPEG (Size: 770 kb)

HI-RES TIFF (Size: 12 179 kb)
In this Envisat image, acquired on 2 December 2011, a phytoplankton bloom swirls a figure-of-8 in the South Atlantic Ocean about 600 km east of the Falkland Islands. Different types and quantities of phytoplankton exhibit different colours, such as the blues and greens in this image.
Earth-observing satellites like Envisat can monitor these algal blooms. Once a bloom begins, an ocean colour sensor can make an initial identification of its chlorophyll pigment, and therefore its species and toxicity.

Credits: ESA

During this period in the southern hemisphere, the ocean becomes rich in minerals from the mixing of surface waters with deeper waters. Phytoplankton depend on these minerals, making blooms like this common in the spring and summer.
These microscopic organisms are the base of the marine food chain, and play a huge role in the removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and the production of oxygen in the oceans. By helping to regulate the carbon cycle, phytoplankton are important to the global climate system.
Different types and quantities of phytoplankton exhibit different colours, such as the blues and greens in this image.
Earth-observing satellites like Envisat can monitor these algal blooms. Once a bloom begins, an ocean colour sensor can make an initial identification of its chlorophyll pigment, and therefore its species and toxicity.
Since the phytoplankton are sensitive to environmental changes, it is important to monitor and model them for climate change calculations and to identify potentially harmful blooms.
Envisat’s MERIS instrument acquired this image on 2 December 2011 at a resolution of 300 m. ESA
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SCIENCE: One if by Land, Two if by Sea? Climate Change "Escape Routes"

Hi my Friends: A VUELO DE UN QUINDE EL BLOG., The study was supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF), and performed in part through the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis at the University of California at Santa Barbara.Escaping climate change: one if by land, two if by sea? No, according to recent results. Similar movement rates needed for animals and plants on land and in the oceans.

One if by land, two if by sea?
Results of a study published this week in the journal Science show how fast animal and plant populations would need to move to keep up with recent climate change effects in the ocean and on land.
The answer: at similar rates.
The study was supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF), and performed in part through the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis at the University of California at Santa Barbara.
"That average rates of environmental change in the oceans and on land are similar is not such a surprise," says Henry Gholz, program director in NSF's Division of Environmental Biology.
"But averages deceive," Gholz says, "and this study shows that rates of change are at times greater in the oceans than on land--and as complex as the currents themselves."
Greenhouse gases have warmed the land by approximately one degree Celsius since 1960. That rate is roughly three times faster than the rate of ocean warming. These temperatures have forced wild populations to adapt--or to be on the move, continually relocating.
Although the oceans have experienced less warming overall, plants and animals need to move as quickly in the sea as they do on land to keep up with their preferred environments.
Surprisingly, similar movement rates are needed to out-run climate change. On land, movement of 2.7 kilometers (1.6 miles) per year is needed and in the oceans, movement of 2.2 kilometers (1.3 miles) per year is needed.
"Not a lot of marine critters have been able to keep up with that," says paper co-author John Bruno, a marine ecologist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "Being stuck in a warming environment can cause reductions in the growth, reproduction and survival of ecologically and economically important ocean life such as fish, corals and sea birds."
"These results provide valuable insights into how climate will affect biological communities worldwide," says David Garrison, director of NSF's Biological Oceanography Program.
The analysis is an example of the value of synthesis research centers, Garrison says, in addressing society's environmental challenges.
"With climate change we often assume that populations simply need to move poleward to escape warming, but our study shows that in the ocean, the escape routes are more complex," says ecologist Lauren Buckley of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, also a co-author of the paper.
"For example, due to increased upwelling, marine life off the California coast would have to move south [rather than north] to remain in its preferred environment."
"Some of the areas where organisms would need to relocate the fastest are important biodiversity hot spots, such as the coral triangle region in southeastern Asia," says lead author Mike Burrows of the Scottish Association of Marine Science.
Whether by land or by sea, according to these results, all will need to be on the fly.
-NSF-
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