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USGS and Integrated Science at First International Symposium on Mangroves as Fish Habitat
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) cosponsored and participated in the First International Symposium on Mangroves as Fish Habitat held in Miami, Fla., April 19-21, 2006. This symposium, organized by Joseph Serafy and Shauna Slingsby of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Rafael Araujo of the University of Miami, and Doreen DiCarlo of the Florida Center for Environmental Studies, was designed to bring together scientists of different backgrounds and disciplines to exchange ideas, approaches, and methods for studying mangroves and their function as fish habitat. Held at the Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, the symposium drew 150 scientists from 25 countries. Carole McIvor, USGS research biologist and wetlands task leader for the USGS Tampa Bay Study, was heavily involved in this symposium. Her research group from the USGS Florida Integrated Science Center (FISC) contributed four talks and one poster, and she coauthored two additional contributions with non-USGS colleagues. Carole also moderated a session focused on the topic of community ecology and connectivity. The topics presented by her research group covered the long-term effects of hurricanes on mangrove habitats used by fish and terrapins, aquatic food webs in various mangrove community types, the effects of flow modifications on fish and juvenile blue crabs, and the use of hydrological techniques to better quantify fish. Papers and posters presented included work done by research-group members Adam Brame, Kristen Hart, Justin Krebs, Victor Levesque, Noah Silverman, and Lauren Yeager. Bill Loftus, also of FISC, attended the symposium as well. Carole was excited to participate and recognized the opportunity to expose her research group to internationally known scientists, as well as to new ways of thinking. "This symposium allowed us to widen our horizons beyond our Florida study sites to mangrove environments in other parts of the world, where the geomorphologic, hydrologic, and cultural settings may be quite different." The symposium crossed the narrow boundaries of conventional scientific disciplines, highlighting the use of hydroacoustics to track tidal migrations of fish, the use of microchemistry of fish otoliths (ear bones) to infer nursery habitats, and the use of stable isotopes to infer food-web linkages. Other contributions ranged from the population biology of single species to landscape-level integration of mangrove with adjacent habitats, such as seagrass beds and coral reefs. "The USGS was proud to be able to sponsor this event," said Carole. "Symposiums that integrate across scientific disciplines like this ensure that science programs have increased value to natural-resource managers and the public."
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in this issue:
USGS Studies Aid Puget Sound Recovery
USGS FISC Participates in 2006 Marine Quest Geography Team Visits USGS Woods Hole Science Center USGS Participates in Career Fairs at MIT USGS Scientist Attends Annual Field Trip for 20th Year National Ocean Sciences Bowl Competitors Tour Laboratories in Woods Hole WHSTEP Science and Math Safari Explores Use of Sound in Ocean Research
USGS Biologist Contributes Technical Expertise to Dive-Rescue Class
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U. S. Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological Survey
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