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Team detects deep-sea contaminationVIMS researchers have detected manmade contaminants in the tissues of deep-sea squid and octopi. The team's discovery helps explain elevated contaminant levels recently found in whales and other marine mammals, many species of which depend on deep-sea squid and octopi for food. Detected contaminants include tributyltin (TBT), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and brominated diphenyl ethers (BDEs). Read the press release. |
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SunTrust gift supports VIMS
graduate studentsThe SunTrust Mid-Atlantic Foundation has made a 5-year, $100,000 grant to the VIMS Foundation to establish an endowed fellowship for graduate students enrolled in the School of Marine Science at VIMS. Read more. |
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Aquaculture survey shows rising trendsA survey by researchers with the Sea Grant program at VIMS shows that shellfish farmers planted more than half a billion clams and 18 million oysters in Virginia waters last year. The annual survey, which began three years ago, marks the first effort to track economic trends in shellfish aquaculture in the Commonwealth. Read more. |
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Seagrass restoration
effort with volunteersThe seagrass program at VIMS is collaborating with The Nature Conservancy to use volunteers, especially recreational divers and snorkelers, to help collect eelgrass seeds this spring in the seaside bays of Virginia's Eastern Shore. The seed-collection effort, tentatively scheduled to take place between May 31 and June 16, is the largest to date, with a goal of harvesting up to 20 million seeds. Read more. | ||
VIMS refines storm-tide predictionsWith the official start of the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season on June 1, a team of VIMS researchers continues to pursue its long-term goal of providing street-level predictions of storm-tide flooding along the Chesapeake Bay shoreline. Emergency managers will be able to use this information to alert individual neighborhoods during hurricanes and nor'easters. Read more. |
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"Scientist for a Second" photos now availableDiscover what you might look like in your new career as a marine scientist. These "green screen" photos were taken during Marine Science Day on May 17th. Click here to view. |
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Research by Dr. Vincent Saba of VIMS and colleagues provides the first evidence of a link between declining numbers of leatherback sea turtles in the Eastern Pacific Ocean and the climatic phenomenon of El Niño. The research, which appears in the May issue of Ecology, has been selected as a "highlight
of the recent literature” by the editors of Science magazine. Read more. |
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Research by VIMS graduate student Heidi Geisz and colleagues shows that DDT and its breakdown products persist within the tissues of Adélie penguins, three decades after use of the powerful pesticide was banned in most countries. The findings raise concern about the potential cumulative effects of contaminants on penguins and other Antarctic predators. Read more. |
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Bay grasses up but still short of goalVIMS researcher Bob Orth, leader of Virginia's annual survey of underwater grasses (also known as submerged aquatic vegetation or SAV), joined with other scientists to issue the Chesapeake Bay Program's yearly report on grass health in the Bay and its tidal rivers. Says Orth, "While we saw a slight increase in SAV baywide in 2007—due in part to increases in the very large and dense beds in the upper Bay and upper Potomac River—overall there is concern about SAV in many areas because of declining water clarity." Read the full press release here. |
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Strange Days at VIMSVIMS researchers featured prominently in the National Geographic series "Strange Days on Planet Earth," which aired on local PBS stations on April 23. The "Strange Days" series, which deals with human impacts on the oceans, explored VIMS' on-going studies of mycobacteriosis in Chesapeake Bay striped bass during the episode "Dirty Secrets." Read press release | View broadcast schedule | Purchase DVD |
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VIMS Dean and Director John Wells bestowed service and student awards on selected individuals from the VIMS community during
the Institute's 2007 Award Ceremony in Watermen's Hall.Read Service Award Citations | Read Student Award Citations |
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Ferguson gift supports graduate studentsFerguson Enterprises of Newport News has pledged $75,000 to the Virginia Institute of Marine Science to support graduate student education and public outreach at the Gloucester Point campus. Read more. |
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Norfolk Dredging gift helps VIMS make historyA major gift from Norfolk Dredging Company will help VIMS researchers advance their studies of seafloor history and ecology. VIMS will use the funds to purchase an automatic core logger that can uncover a wealth of environmental data from seafloor sediment cores. Read more. |
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Chesapeake Bay Watch Chesapeake Bay Watch is a continuing program designed to engage the public in issues regarding the living resources and natural history of the Bay. Topics range from current issues to plant and animal species to seasonal changes in the Bay and other topics of general interest. Twelve clips of these public service announcements can be seen here. |
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