This week was a challenging week for the students as they put together their thoughts and ideas for their first research prospectus presentation. Many of our students are working on projects that deal with climate change and sea level rise. One of our students Ashley Hartman is looking at algae to estimate the sea ice extent over time. Understanding ice extent is vital to understanding past climate. Alexa Leone is using sensors to measure wave energy as a function of pressure to understand different shorelines and how they attenuate wave energy. With increasing sea levels and higher storm surge, it is important to know what living shorelines work best to protect natural shorelines. Ashley Belknap is looking at a local estuary and how different sources of nitrogen might lead to dinoflagellate blooms. With increased nutrients and higher temperatures, there are more algae blooms worldwide.

            Two of our other students are looking at other issues in the Hampton Roads area. Anna Healsey is looking at different hydrocarbons found in oysters in the Lafayette River. After sampling the oyster tissues, she can characterize where the hydrocarbons are coming from and quantify their amounts. Lastly, we have a student (Ashley Kosloski) leeches in a brackish waterway in southeast Hampton Roads. There have been leeches found in the mouths of largemouth bass. The cocoon stages of the leeches seem to be on Blue Crabs. She is going to examine the gut contents of the leeches to see if they are feeding on the Blue Crabs.

            The group is enthused and we are very excited as these projects get started and see how much they can accomplish before their mid-summer presentations.