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Teacher
Research Experience in Long Island Sound
(view
slideshow of data collection and research activities)
The National
Undersea Research Center at the University of Connecticut (NURC),
the National Marine Fisheries Service Milford Laboratory (NMFS),
the U.S. Geologic Survey (USGS), the Connecticut Department
of Environmental Protection's Long Island Sound Resource Center
(LISRC) and Connecticut Sea Grant collaborated to provide five
Connecticut teachers a Teacher Research Experience in Long Island
Sound (TRELIS) to explore the underwater habitats of the Sound.
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The SeaBOSS
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In August,
2007 five high school and middle school teachers worked with
NURC, NMFS, UConn and USGS scientists on board the NMFS Research
Vessel the Loosanoff deploying the USGS's "Sea Boss"
to collect video and still images of the ocean floor and collect
sediments for grain size analysis. Teachers participated in
a day long workshop the week before that provided an overview
of the geologic history
of Long Island Sound and The SeaBOSS
overviews of ongoing research
and mapping efforts from USGS and NURC scientists. The research
cruise on the RV Loosanoff provided teachers and students with
insights into the Long Island Sound ecosystem, and the opportunity
to conduct all facets of a research cruise including planning,
deck operations, data collection, and logging.
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TRE participants review bathymetric map
in preparation for launching SeaBOSS |
Larry Poppe,
USGS, was principal investigator of the primary research project
which involved mapping the distribution, extent, and character
of shell beds around cape-associated shoals off the north shore
of Long Island. These shell beds are ecologically and sedimentologically
important.
Ecologically, shell beds form a critical habitat that shelters
juveniles and benthic infauna from mobile predators, provide
a hard substrate for sessile fauna and flora, and supply food
for boring species. These characteristics have been shown to
furnish a benthic complexity that benefits numerous species.
Sedimentologically,
shell beds form a transitional environment between conditions
favoring the process of coarse bedload transport and those favoring
processes related more toward sorting and reworking.
Other research
projects and principal investigators included appraising bottom
variability at control sites for fish studies around Charles
Island (Ron Goldberg, NMFS) and examining sponge and soft coral
habitats on isolated deep-water bathymetric highs (Ivar Babb
and Peter Auster, NURC).
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TRE participants examine a sediment sample
on the deck of the Loosanoff |
Results of
the cruise will eventually be woven into teaching materials
and posted on Web sites of the Woods Hole Science Center and
Long Island Sound Resource Center. Teachers will generate maps,
video tapes and other teaching materials from the research that
will become part of a Education link on the new Web site developed
by NURC and CT-DEP called "An
Underwater Tour of LIS". |
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