There Are Seven New Masters of Marine and Environmental Studies Graduates. Join Us in Celebrating Them!
Seven students graduated from the University of the Virgin Islands Masters of Marine and Environmental Studies program this month despite significant challenges presented by COVID-19. These students are no strangers to adversity and in fact three of the graduates are part of what are lovingly called the “Hurricohort”, those who began their program just before hurricanes Irma and Maria.
Theirs was not an easy journey. Success was not guaranteed…it was won by doing the next hard challenge each day. So join us as we celebrate them, these seven, who deserve to take a bow and relish what they have achieved.
Abstracts can be read here.
Jan-Alexis Barry
To learn more about how parasitic isopods affect reef fish in St. Thomas, Jan-Alexis Barry examined population impacts and behavior changes that the parasitic isopod Anilocra Chromis had on Brown Chromis from five different sites (Flat Cay, Brewers Bay, Coki Bay, Great Lameshur Bay, and Fortuna Bay) by examining gonads and using a “gutwash” technique to remove small parasites from the body, gills, and gut of the fish. Barry learned that gonad sizes differed between fish from different sites, parasite infection varied among fish and energy level differed between parasitized versus unparasitized fish.
Jan-Alexis holds a small arrow crab.
File photo.
Jan-Alexis enjoys some diving while conducting his thesis research.
Photo: Kyle Jerris
Karli Hollister
An aggressive crusting red algae has been competing with corals around St. Thomas. This algae, Ramicrusta textilis was the focus of Karli Hollister’s thesis; she identified the alga at nine sites around the island. Hollister used high-resolution 3D photogrammetry to measure the algal growth rate on stony corals, projected growth rates of patches of the alga and compared agal growth and abundance with urchin density. Hollister learned that R. textilis affected several coral species differently with some corals being poorer competitors than others, that the alga is fast growing and, interestingly, less alga was found in areas with more sea urchins.
Karli photographing R. textilis growth on corals in St. Thomas, USVI.
Photo: Joseph Townsend
A star coral being overgrown by the red algae, R. textilis, in St. Thomas, USVI. Photo: Karli Holister
Naomi Huntley
Again, to learn more about Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease (SCTLD) infecting corals around St. Thomas, Naomi Huntley investigated how the microbial community of corals shift during infection, how microbial community response differs between coral species, and in which tissue the microbial infection originates by exposing six species of coral fragments to the disease in a flow through seawater system. Huntley also used a sequencing approach to identify shifts in when a coral is infected with the disease and similarities in microbiota composition to the Florida outbreak.
Naomi is sampling coral mucus as part of the disease transmission experiment at the Center for Marine and Environmental Science, University of the Virgin Islands. Photo: Amanda Long
Naomi is measuring disease lesions caused by Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease in St. Thomas, USVI. Photo: Dan Mele
Jessica Levenson
To learn more about the origin of the juvenile hawksbill sea turtles who make Brewers Bay and Hawksbill Cove, St. Thomas their home, Jessica N. Levenson collected DNA samples from 58 juvenile turtles. Ten unique signatures were identified and compared against data gathered at other sea turtle nesting sites in the Caribbean. Levenson learned that most of the juvenile turtles in our area are from the Leeward side of Barbados, although some are from nesting populations in Nicaragua, Sandy Point, St. Croix and Guadeloupe.
All turtle work at University of the Virgin Islands was conducted under NMFS permit #15809 and VI Department of Fish and Wildlife Endangered Species Research Permit # DFW16051T.
Jessica holding a juvenile hawksbill sea turtle.
Photo: Savannah Geiger
Jessica performing mixed stock analysis using mtDNA to gather information about juvenile hawksbill sea turtles in Brewer’s Bay and Hawksbill Cove, St. Thomas, USVI. Photo: Kelly Stewart
Sonora Meiling
To learn more about the Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease (SCTLD) infecting corals around St. Thomas, Sonora Meiling investigated how the disease spreads through water, the role of bacteria in SCTLD transmission, identified differences in how coral species are affected and finally quantified injuries to the coral across species using a laboratory-based disease transmission experiment and 3D photographic models. Meiling learned that the disease does not transmit from disease filtered (0.2 μm) nor disease unfiltered water. In addition, the rate of tissue loss from the diseases changes through time, but is the same across species of corals.
Sonora taking a break from thesis research to do some hiking. Photo: Vinsun Bryan
Sonora using underwater transects to survey Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease (SCTLD) in St. Thomas, USVI. Photo: Marilyn Brandt
Amber Packard
To learn more about how parasitic isopods affect reef-associated fish in St. Thomas, Amber Packard investigated the relationship between parasitic isopod, Gnathia marleyi, and four species of territorial damselfishes through lab experiments looking at rates of parasite infection and fish behavior. Packard learned that infection by the parasites were different between the species of damselfishes and that fish prefer areas without the parasitic isopods.
Amber working in the lab. Photo: C. Vondriska
A small larval fish covered in parasitic isopods, specifically Gnathia marleyi. Photo: Amber Packard
Zola Roper
To learn about how marine debris affects beaches on St. Croix, St. Thomas and St. John, Zola Roper examined amount of debris, weight of debris, how participation from volunteers affected debris and overall composition of debris items using 28 years of marine debris data collected during the Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanups that take place every year in the territory. Roper learned that this data provides key insights to inform marine debris prevention efforts, including education, outreach, and policy that can be targeted to a specific island and/or the USVI in general.
Zola at the Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation conference in Mobile, Alabama where she presented her thesis research. Photo: H. Forbes Jr.
Zola at an International Coastal Cleanup with bags of marine debris collected along Kingman Island, D.C. Photo: NOAA affiliate