(Story continues on next page)Dr. O'Corry-Crowe with Guillemot chicks

and Birds

BULLETIN

Belugas on the horizonEvery summer for the last five years,Associate Research Professor GregO’Corry-Crowe, Ph.D., has left Florida’stropical heat for Alaska. This year hewent as far north as one can go inAlaska, spending part of the summeron the Chukchi Sea, the body ofwater hemmed in by the ArcticOcean to the north and the BeringStrait to the south. The objective wasto continue the beluga whalepopulation study that he has beenconducting for 18 years. At first itdidn’t look promising. For weeks, Dr.O’Corry-Crowe and his colleaguesanxiously watched precious time slipaway as erratic pack ice kept thebelugas out of reach. Eventually, therest of the team had to leave, butGreg stayed on and waited forconditions to improve. His patiencewas rewarded, allowing him to workwith the native community and Dr.Robert Suydam (North Slope BoroughDepartment of Wildlife Management)to collect precious samples fromnorthbound migrating whales that willsupport a suite of studies on genetic

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DECEMBER 2011

BELUGAS AND BIRDS, CONTINUED.

Broken summer pack ice in the Chukchi Sea

Guillemot chicksP. 2

structure, foraging ecology, health, contaminantsand adaptation – key elements of a multidisciplinaryprogram to understand the effects of a changingArctic on marine apex predators and thecommunities who depend on them.

Birds in boxesFinished with this year’s beluga field work, Greg wentfrom the Chukchi Sea to the Beaufort Sea to workwith Dr. George Divoky on seabirds at his remoteresearch outpost on Cooper Island, 25 miles east ofBarrow. If the Chukchi Sea study sites are seriouslyremote, Cooper Island is positively desolate. Otherthan Drs. Divoky and O'Corry-Crowe, the onlymammals on that island were the occasional polarbears. In fact, to protect the birds from polar bears,Dr. Divoky sets out hardened-plastic cameras casesthat are used by the black guillemots as nesting

boxes. Dr. Divoky, who has spent 40 years conductingbehavioral studies of this rare bird, invited Dr. O'Corry-Crowe to spend time observing the birds. The intentwas to determine how genetic and ecological toolscan complement Dr. Divoky’s longterm study.

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Sabine's gull at nesting colony onCooper Island, the Beaufort Sea

Report

Momentum has been building this year. We movedback into the renovated Edwin A. Link building, wehave envisioned what Harbor Branch can contribute toscience and society in the next five years in a newresearch plan, we hosted an open house on NationalEstuaries Day, and soon thereafter we joined FloridaAtlantic University in celebrating the 50th anniversary ofthe university and the 40th anniversary of HarborBranch. And that’s just the beginning; there’s a lot moreon the horizon.

FAU-Harbor Branch scientists and engineers have beendoing much more than attending events and planningfor the future. Their work continues from the poles to thetropics, as you will see in these pages. For instance, onthe North Slope of Alaska, our scientists studied belugawhales. On the continental slope off Florida’s southwesttip, our researchers discovered deep coral reefs.Our engineers, working with unmanned, autonomousvehicles provided by Battelle Memorial Institute’s BluefinRobotics, logged over 450 miles to develop long term,wide ranging understanding of critical marine habitatsin the Gulf of Mexico.

The faculty and staff of Harbor Branch join me in wishingyou all the best for the season and the new year.We also look forward to seeing you at our OceanScience Lecture Series, the dedication of the newmarine science building on January 24, and our firstgala event, Love Your Lagoon, on February 10.Momentum is building.

Margaret S. Leinen, Ph.D.

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Three adult black guillemots on breeding colony, Cooper Island: note the leg bands used as

individual identifiers

If there are no humans, can there be human impact?By understanding more about the fitness ofindividual birds Drs. Divoky and O'Corry-Crowecan begin to unlock the factors that influencefitness and population viability and ultimatelyecosystem structure and function.

The objective – whether studying belugas orbirds – is to assess the extent of human impact,in these, some of the most remote corners ofthe planet.

BELUGAS AND BIRDS, CONT’D.

New Deep Coral HabitatsRecently, scientists from FAU’s Harbor BranchOceanographic Institute led an expedition to collectsamples, environmental data and images from someof Florida’s previously unmapped and unexploreddeep coral ecosystems. The NOAA CooperativeInstitute for Ocean Exploration, Research andTechnology (CIOERT) expedition was co-funded byNOAA’s Office of Ocean Exploration and Researchand the NOAA Deep Sea Coral Research andTechnology Program.

The goal of the Florida Shelf Edge Exploration II(FLoSEE II) expedition, carried out aboard NOAA’s

R/V Nancy Foster between September 19th andSeptember 30th, was to map and characterize thefish communities of some of Florida’s deepest coralreefs. In order to study these ecosystems—some atdepths reaching 600 meters—Harbor Branchscientists and colleagues from the University ofConnecticut utilized the Kraken 2 (K2) remotelyoperated vehicle (ROV). K2 completed 26 dives,overcoming not only the challenges of ocean depthbut also the challenges of working in the strong flowof the Florida Current.

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This rocky reef found off the Florida Keys, 800 ft deep, is millions of years old and provides habitat to a variety of fish and invertebrates including roughy fish, venus fly-trap anemones,

crinoids, seastars, black corals, sea whips and sponges

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The fragile coral (white bush) Lophelia pertusa grows as bushes up to 3 ft which cap this newly discovered 150 ft reef off Marathon Key at a depth of 1,800 ft; the coral provides habitat

for hundreds of species of invertebrates and fish such as this morid codling

These stylaster corals come in a variety of pastel huesand form extensive fields covering deep sea mounds on

Pourtales Terrace off the Florida Keys

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The first leg of the cruise focused on the Pulley Ridgeregion off Naples, Florida – the deepest knowntropical coral reef ecosystem off the southeast US.Through sonar mapping and the use of the ROV’shigh-definition camera, FLoSEE scientists discoveredextensive essential habitat along Pulley Ridge forvarious grouper species. They also collectedevidence suggesting that the live coral cover in thearea has declined dramatically since the 1990s whenthe US Geological Survey performed photographictransect surveys there.

The Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) off the FloridaKeys were studied during the second leg of theexpedition, including the East Hump MarineProtected Area and Pourtales Terrace.

K2 collected 100 hours of high-definition video andnearly 6,000 digital photographs over the course ofthe cruise, in addition to over 150 samples ofinvertebrates, fish and algae. Water quality datacollections, plankton tows, laser optic planktonsensing and multibeam sonar surveys of thestudy areas were also conducted aboard theNancy Foster.

Additionally, Harbor Branch engineers launched anautonomous Bluefin glider (see p. 11) during themission to embark on a month-long deployment inthe Florida Current to swim up and down the watercolumn, sampling the environment, all the whiletransmitting data back to Harbor Branch via satellite.

hboi.fau.edu

On March 15th, 2010, we stepped into the MarineScience Building for the first time. Not knowing whatto expect, we were nervous yet hopeful. Today, weview our experiences with a grateful smile. We arechemistry technicians for the Marine Biomedical &Biotechnology Research Program, administered byDr. Amy Wright. Using a deep-water marine sponge,our assignment is to extract compounds, purify themvia a series of chromatography runs (or separation ofmixtures) and enter them into a “library”. Thecompounds are passed on to other team members,whom we hope one day will realize the dream ofsaving pancreatic cancer victims. So how do wedo it?

The sponges we analyze were collected years ago,when we were only toddlers. This job, however,afforded us an amazing opportunity to board the R/VSeward Johnson for its final Harbor Branch researchcruise. We plunged to about 300 feet below thesurface in the Johnson-Sea-Link submersible and sawwhat it was like to select and harvest the attractivesponges with the robotic “hands” of the submersible.This was exciting, but the most thrilling part of ourjob is the opportunity to find a compound that willsave lives.

Why We Love Our JobWhat’s it like to work at Harbor Branch? Here’s how two staffers see it.

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Jennifer Sandle holds a collection bucket containing a sea fan during the 2010 Deepwater Horizon

Oil Spill Research Expedition

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In order to analyze the compounds, we first usechromatography equipment to see if the spongecontains any compounds. If it does, we use a liquidchromatography mass spectrometer to determine themolecular weights of the compounds. With thesemolecular weights, we search a “compounddatabase” to try to identify the compounds. For newcompounds, we want to know their structures, whichbrings us to the nuclear magnetic resonanceinstrument (NMR). After running a small sample on theNMR, we analyze the data, which comprises many“peaks” at different numerical values (chemical shifts).These peaks are characteristic for the chemicalcompounds and help define the structures. Dr. Wrightand our amazing postdoctoral investigators continuethe quest from here. While we hope that someday wewill find the cure, we also agree with Dr. Wright: “Anycompound can be exciting!”

Dr. Joshua Voss was one of 10 Elon University alumniwho were honored by Elon’s alumni association ata ceremony on October 22. Josh was one of twohonorees in the Young Alumnus category.Congratulations, Josh!

Below is the Elon University Alumni Association’sannouncement of Dr. Voss’ award:

Young Alumnus of the Year Award:Dr. Joshua D. Voss '01

A Florida native, Josh Voss spent much of hischildhood on the shores of the Sunshine State and hehas dedicated his career to conducting significantmarine research that protects and preserves hisbeloved coastline. Josh currently serves as anassistant research professor as part of the RobertsonCoral Reef program team at Florida AtlanticUniversity's Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute,where he has developed cutting-edge techniques

that assess the impact of climate change and oilexposure on corals. The techniques were invaluablein the summer of 2010, when Josh was assigned tolead a project to study how the corals in the WestFlorida Shelf were affected by the Deepwater Horizonoil spill.

During his work, Josh was featured in segments thataired on NBC's "Today" and "Dateline" news shows,as well as The Weather Channel and MSNBC.The important workundertaken by Josh andhis team will be used in thecoming years as abaseline to determine theeffect of the oil spill onmarine environments andto support individual andgovernment efforts torecoup damages.

“Any compound can be exciting!” - Dr. Amy Wright

Young Alumnus of theYear:

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WHY WE LOVE OUR JOB, CONTINUED

Sandle and Talas in front of the Johnson-Sea-Link submersible

Your response to last year’s Deepwater Horizon disasterappeal is serving two very important ends: Helpingadvance our research and understanding of perhapsthe most significant environmental tragedy of our time,and providing rare and dynamic educational opportuni-ties to young scholars who may join the next generationof marine science researchers. Two Harbor BranchScholars Awards – one In Memory of Donald Antaya andone In Memory of John J. and Cornelia V. Gibson – havefostered research into the effects of oil and dispersant oncrustaceans, mollusks and coral. Two additional researchassistantships funded by many generous donors haveenabled investigations of sponge microbial populationsand oyster reef communities.

As you may have read earlier in this issue, both legs of therecent FLoSEE II expedition included graduate studentswho had the opportunity to hone their lab and field skillsthrough active participation and immersion during thissix-day, multi-disciplinary research and monitoring cruise.The at-sea experience was followed by a rigorous,laboratory-based research course.

The goal of the Immersion in Ocean Science program isto introduce students to a variety of research techniquesused in marine science. To get a sense of the workperformed on the cruise and the students’ extraordinaryexperiences, read more about it by going to the FLoSEEwebsite: http://flosee2.wordpress.com/

Next year’s expedition will not have adequate fundsavailable for this kind of student participation. We areasking for your support. As you consider your year-endgiving, we hope you will consider supporting theimportant work we do to train the next generation ofocean scientists.

For more information, please give Janet Alford a call,772-466-9876. She can provide more background onhow you can make a difference to an aspiring marinescience researcher by making a gift to the Harbor BranchOceanographic Institute – Immersion in Ocean Scienceprogram. Or make your gift online atwww.fau.edu/hboi/Donate.php

THE POWER OF YOUR DIRECT RESEARCH SUPPORT

News

P. 8

This sponge, Aphrocallistes beatrix¸ is the source of aphrocallistin, a compound that inhibits the growth of a resistant breast cancer cell line, and that has served as a one-of-a-kind research topic for a

student intern working under Dr. Amy Wright

SPECIALTY LICENSE PLATE UPDATE

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News

Many people are surprised to learn how much the fourFlorida specialty license plates (SLP) contribute toHarbor Branch research. Those colorful plates do morethan dress up your bumper – they fund work that is vitalto understanding and conserving our estuaries andseas. Although there are more than 122 Florida SLPs(and counting), and we compete against universitiesand professional sports teams, two of our plates areamong the 10 most popular. Why? We think it’sbecause people know that their investment is makinga difference.

For the 2011 fiscal year (7/1/10 – 6/30/11), we arepleased to report the following revenue:

PROTECT WILD DOLPHINS: $1,265,240 – Supports therescue and rehabilitation of sick or injured dolphins,and important education and research initiatives thatincrease awareness about the need to protect wilddolphins and their threatened coastal habitat

SAVE OUR SEAS: $760,675 – Designed by Guy Harvey,the “shark plate” supports Florida marine ecosystemsresearch and education, with emphasis on the estuaryand coral reef ecology that is essential to healthypopulations of fish and other marine life

PROTECT FLORIDA WHALES: $414,825 – This Wyland-designed plate supports research, rescue, rehabilita-tion and education efforts to conserve the 12 whalespecies that inhabit Florida waters, including theNorthern Right Whale – the most endangered of allgreat whale species

AQUACULTURE: $361,000 – Also designed by GuyHarvey, this plate sporting the clownfish supportsdevelopment of environmentally friendly fish farmingto meet the ever-increasing demand for affordable,healthy seafood while easing harvest pressure onwild populations

Funds from every purchase and renewal of theseplates support:

1. Postdoctoral Marine and Environmental InitiativeProgram - Postdoctoral investigators are early-careerresearchers who bring new perspectives to researchprograms, and SLP proceeds help bring this valuableresource to Harbor Branch

2. Core programs – These initiatives are at the heart ofHarbor Branch marine mammal research, and includethe Health & Environmental Risk Assessment;Strandings, Necropsy and Rehabilitation;Epidemiology and Population Health; PopulationBiology and Behavioral Ecology; and Right WhaleResearch

3. Competitive programs – A portion of SLP proceedsare awarded to Harbor Branch researchers through acompetitive proposal process that evaluates andfunds projects based on scientific merit

4. Cost share – Some funding opportunities require theinstitute to provide a portion of the total project cost,and using SLP proceeds to secure additional resourcesin this manner is a powerful use of the funds

Please visit www.MyFloridaPlate.org or contact ourDirector of Marketing of Specialty License Plates (a.k.a.Plate Lady) Carol Harwood at 772-242-2222 orcharwoo1@fau.edu, and she will walk you through theprocess of getting one of these plates on your vehicle. Plus, you will receive a 2 GB USB drive designedto match your plate.

Harbor Branch SLPs also make great gifts for theocean lover in your life, as well as for the personwho has everything. Purchase gift certificates atwww.MyFloridaPlate.org for the gift that keeps ongiving. Every plate makes a difference and youcan too!

INDIAN RIVER LAGOON SYMPOSIUM AND GALA

Mark your calendar for the inaugural Indian RiverLagoon Symposium and gala at Harbor Branch. TheFebruary 9 Symposium will bring together IRL researchand stewardship organizations to share informationand discuss management efforts via oralpresentations, panel discussions and poster sessions.The intent is to establish an annual event that is opento decision makers and the public to help narrowgaps between research and application.

A fundraising gala, Love Your Lagoon, will be held theevening of February 10, and will feature dining(sustainable seafood and other fresh-from-the-fielditems) and dancing under the stars. Come spend abeautiful evening on the Harbor Branch channel witha live auction and special honoree Nathaniel Reed,Vice Chairman of the Everglades Foundation.

We are proud to announce our generous sponsors todate for this inaugural event hosted by The HarborBranch Oceanographic Institute Foundation:

Individual tickets are $125 and are available atwww.indianriverlagoon.org. For information aboutother support and sponsorship opportunities, contactFoundation Executive Director Janet Alford at 772-466-9876 or jmalford@hboifoundation.org.

News

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PNC – Harbor FoundationEvans Properties, Inc.

Misty and Mike Minton and the law firm of Dean, Mead,

Minton & ZwemerJoe and Jennifer Duke

John and Marilyn McConnellJim and Bonita SeitzBill and Laurie Stewart

Marilyn C. LinkIn Memory of Shirley Minton

Saunders Real Estate

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Bluefin Robotics, a Massachusetts-basedautonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) provider, isworking with Harbor Branch to expand the use ofAUVs to carry out monitoring of events, phenomenaand processes in the oceans that require greaterendurance and continuity than a conventional,episodic research cruise allows. This phase of theproject relies on using Bluefin’s Spray Glider AUVs.

Six feet long and eight inches in diameter, thetorpedo-shaped vehicle has two straight wingsamidships and a tailfin holding an antenna and astrobe. The battery powered vehicle has severalcompartments designed to accommodateinstrumentation to support mission objectives.Easily launched by two people from even arecreational vessel, the Spray Glider receivesinstructions and transmits data when it is at thesurface between dives. Missions include following apredetermined track while diving at a set rate,reaching a defined depth, ascending to the surface,sending data, getting new instructions andrepeating the cycle. This pattern can be carried outfor up to six months, giving this vehicle extraordinaryendurance and ablility to provide meaningful data

over timespans that provide robust datasets foranalyses, modeling and predictions.

With seed funding from Bluefin’s parent company,Battelle Memorial Institute, Harbor Branch and Bluefinwill advance glider-based marine science,technology and education. Specifically, the partners’engineering challenge is to develop new and betterinstruments to measure parameters of interest.Harbor Branch will also work with Bluefin to design anew glider design rated to 3,000 meters (9,842 ft).

Of immediate interest and utility is the developmentof tools that can detect the presence of petroleum inthe Gulf of Mexico, Brazilian Basin and offshoreAngola. Current trials are assessing the physicalenvironment in Florida’s Gulf of Mexico waters in theaftermath of the Deepwater Horizon spill. Otherscience objectives include developing better ways ofmaking sense of, and seeing the connectionsbetween the enormous amounts of data beingcollected, and beginning to understand thedistribution of turbulent layers of water in the ocean.

Collaborate to Achieve Enduring

Ocean Monitoring Presence

5600 US1 NorthFort Pierce, FL 34946

Florida Atlantic University, a member of Florida’s State UniversitySystem, was established by legislative act in 1961. in addition toits original 850-acre campus in Boca Raton, FAU has campusesin Fort Lauderdale, Davie, Dania Beach, Jupiter, Port St. Lucieand Fort Pierce. Fully accredited by the Southern Association ofColleges and Schools, FAU is currently servicing 28,000 regularlyenrolled, degree-seeking students through its 10 colleges. FAU’sHarbor Branch Oceanographic Institute is dedicated toexploring the world’s oceans--integrating the science andtechnology of the sea with the needs of humankind. HarborBranch is involved in research and education in the marinesciences; biological, chemical, and environmental sciences;marine biomedical sciences; marine mammal conservation;aquaculture; and ocean engineering.

Gift Shop and Friends of Harbor Branch program office located on site.Hours: Monday-Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Saturday 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Phone: 772-242-2293 • For group tours, please call 772-242-2417 for scheduling.

Harbor BranchFlorida specialty license platessupport research, conservation,

and education.Visit hboi.fau.edu for details.

Ocean DiscoveryCenter!

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WILD DOLPHINSapp for iPad