Virginia Institute of Marine
Science (VIMS)
Featured Institution Interview
In a recent analysis of
Essential Science IndicatorsSM data from
Thomson
Reuters, the Virginia Institute of Marine
Science (VIMS) entered the top 1% among institutions
publishing in the field of Environment & Ecology
with the highest total citations, with 124 papers cited
a total of 1,706 times between January 1, 1999 and June
30, 2009. Their current record in this field includes
137 papers cited a total of 1,807 times up to August
31, 2009. VIMS is also in the top 1% in the field of
Plant & Animal Science, with 315 papers cited 2,936
times for the current period.
This month,
ScienceWatch.com takes a closer look at VIMS, its history
and research projects, and talks with some of the scientists
who have contributed to its citation achievements.
Zooplankton Ecology and Climate Change: Deborah Steinberg
Dr. Deborah K. Steinberg came to VIMS in 2001, and is Professor of Marine
Science. Her work deals with zooplankton ecology and physiology, coastal
and deep-sea food webs, nutrient cycling, particle flux in the ocean, and
using long-term datasets to study the effects of climate change on
zooplankton. A big order, and her research takes her all around the world,
from the Antarctic to the Amazon. "I just love looking through the
microscope at zooplankton because they're very diverse," she says. "Every
time I look at a sample, I always see things I haven't seen before. And
because I work in different environments, from tropical and polar areas to
the Chesapeake Bay, the zooplankton communities are different in all of
these different places."
One of Steinberg's papers that has garnered attention in the research
community is the 2004 Marine Ecology-Progress Series article,
"Production of chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) in the open
ocean by zooplankton and the colonial cyanobacterium Trichodesmium
spp.," (Steinberg DK, et al., 267: 45-56). "Oceanographers
are interested in dissolved organic matter in the oceans because bacteria
use it in their metabolism, and it's another source of carbon in the ocean,
which is a hot topic now because of
global
warming," she explains.
What Steinberg and her coauthors discovered is that zooplankton produce
CDOM as well—previously, it had been thought that this was the realm
of phytoplankton, the microscopic plants. "And not only do zooplankton
produce CDOM, but different types of zooplankton produce unique color
signatures related to the types of CDOM they produce.
"There are a number of ecosystem services
[seagrasses] provide. For example, they act as
habitat for various creatures, as food for others;
they spread nutrients throughout the system, and
they can be water-quality indicators."
-Robert Orth
The amount of carbon in the ocean is a hot topic with regard to the matter
of global warming. "The oceans take up about half the carbon dioxide that
enters the atmosphere through fossil-fuel burning—this carbon dioxide
diffuses into the surface waters of the ocean and phytoplankton take it up
during photosynthesis, and then this carbon gets transferred down into the
deep ocean in a number of different ways. The deeper you can transport that
carbon into the deep oceans the longer it stays there because of the way
oceans circulate," Steinberg explains. "The problem is as the oceans take
up more carbon dioxide the delicate balance of its carbonate buffering
system is disrupted and the ocean is slowly acidifying. It's a problem in
terms of coral reefs, and basically anything that makes a
calcium carbonate shell, including some zooplankton and phytoplankton."
Part of Steinberg's research involves studying how that carbon circulates
in the ocean. Some of the ways include zooplankton consuming phytoplankton,
then excreting fecal pellets that sink into the ocean; there are also
zooplankton that migrate daily through the "twilight," or mesopelagic zone
of the ocean—an area between the reach of the sun and the deep, dark
ocean—transporting the carbon with their movements.
Steinberg is also involved in a long-term project at the Palmer Antarctic
Research Station, looking at the effects of climate change on the
ecosystem, on everything from bacteria to penguins. Her role is, of course,
to look at the effects on zooplankton. "This area is one of the
fastest-warming areas on earth—the amount and duration of the ice
there is shrinking all the time, and this has an effect on the ecosystem,"
she says.
Robert Diaz Looks at Bioturbation and Dead Zones
Dr. Robert Diaz has been with VIMS since 1979, and says it's "like what you
think a marine lab would be—very laid-back, and a beautiful setting
by the sea. That has never changed, although the country has become much
more built up than it was 30 years ago, it's still a nice place with good
vistas and lots of interesting work going on." Diaz's work focuses on two
main areas: bioturbation, or the way in which marine animals interact with
sediments from the shallow waters to the deep sea, and dead zones, areas of
low dissolved oxygen in the water.
Bioturbation is actually a concept that dates back to Charles Darwin; he
postulated that animals living in the soil greatly affected processes
within the soil, and he was right. The composition of organic matter, the
cycling of nutrients, the burial of organic matter on geological
time-scales—whether on land on in the water, bioturbation plays a key
role in all of these things.
The term "dead zones" was first popularized by Nancy Rabalais, the
executive director of the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium, and
it's an apt term. "What happens in a dead zone," Diaz explains, "is that
oxygen becomes too low to support fish, crab, and shrimp, and so they
leave, creating an area where fisherman can't catch anything."
Dead zones are in constant flux—some can last a few months, such as
in Chesapeake Bay, the Gulf of Mexico, or Lake Erie, whereas others can
last year-round, such as in the Baltic Sea. The cause of dead zones is
mainly too much primary production. "Basically," says Diaz, "the waters are
too 'green.' If you look at the dead zones around the world, you can see
that the main source of the problem is connected to runoff from
land—agricultural land in particular. It's a land-sea interaction
gone bad. You have the nutrients coming in from the runoff, and they
stimulate the phytoplankton in the water—just like fertilizers on
land stimulate the growth of crops. When this happens in the sea, if you
get too much of it and nobody harvests it, it settles to the bottom,
decomposes, and uses up the oxygen, and if the physics are right, you get a
dead zone."
There is a fair amount of work being done by both researchers and resource
managers to mitigate dead zones throughout the world. There are programs
within the United Nations, as well as programs local to the Gulf of Mexico,
Lake Erie, and Chesapeake Bay to reduce nutrients being drained into the
waters to eliminate dead zones. Diaz is confident that applying management
strategies will lead to improvement. "The trouble with these big dead zones
is the problems are coming from diffuse sources, which are a lot harder to
control and regulate. It's going to take a long time to see any effect," he
cautions.
"There is one really good example of a system that basically went from the
world's second-largest dead zone to having no oxygen problems in a mere
three years," Diaz offers, "and that's the Black Sea's northwest
continental shelf. When the Soviet Union collapsed, the agricultural
subsidies to the farmers in the area, which included land around the
Danube, were simply gone. In a matter of one to two years the nutrient
additions to that area fell by a factor of three to four. In 1990, the dead
zone was measured at 40,000 square kilometers, and by 1993 it was at zero
because of the nutrient reductions."
"So," he concludes, "you can see that if you regulate nutrients going into
the water, you can get rid of these dead zones but I certainly don't
recommend economic collapse as the way of doing it!"
Robert Hale on Persistent Organic Pollutants
Dr. Robert Hale came to VIMS in 1987 from the Mobil Oil Corporation,
Environmental Health & Science Laboratory in Princeton, NJ. His
interest in pollution dates back to growing up in Michigan in the 1970s,
which was, as he says, " highly industrialized and we had issues such as
polybrominated biphenyls in cattle, lampreys in the Great Lakes, and other
problems."
One of his major research concentrations at VIMS is the study of persistent
organic pollutants (POPs), such as
polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and
polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in the aquatic
environment. "As POPs, PCBs & PBDEs represent long-term hazards,
they degrade only slowly. They also can become widely distributed in the
environment, affecting human and wildlife long distances from their
points of usage—for example, from cities to remote polar
zones—and the impacts persist long after their release," Hale
says.
As far as mitigating the effects of various POPs, Hale says the key is
prevention. "Once in the environment, POPs are difficult to remove. The
best approach is prevention. This is one reason for my interest in
so-called 'emerging contaminants.' The 'train has left the station' for
PCBs; their use has been stopped and they have already become distributed
globally. In contrast, PBDEs are still present in common household
products. Production of some PBDE formulations stopped in late 2004,
another (Deca) remains in use. Better industrial stewardship would help for
Deca. All PBDEs in products may find their way into the environment."
"Biosolids," or sewage sludge, their composition and their re-introduction
into the environment as agricultural amendments are another interest of
Hale's.
Pollution and Its Effects: Michael Newman
"I just love looking through the microscope at
zooplankton because they're very diverse. Every
time I look at a sample, I always see things I
haven't seen before."
-Deborah Steinberg
Professor Michael Newman has been with VIMS for just over a decade, where
he now holds the title of A. Marshall Acuff Jr. Professor of Marine
Science. "My research and teaching involves pollutant effects," he says.
"Like many my age, an awareness of environmental pollution was as much a
part of coming of age as the Vietnam War and Kennedy’s push for
science education. I remember sitting on a Connecticut beach as a child
watching for dolphins on the horizon, as smoke from a burning dump floated
by. In the drift line of the beach were rusty aerosol cans and tar balls in
addition to skate egg cases and shells. Pollution issues that needed to be
solved were obvious even to young children."
Several of his highly cited papers deal with the effects of polycyclic
aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) contamination, specifically in Fundulus
heteroclitus, the common mummichog. Newman explains, "My wife and I
spent a decade prior to coming to VIMS studying pollutant impacts on animal
populations. The molecular genetics we applied before coming to Virginia
were easily applied to fish populations in the heavily polluted Elizabeth
River. We were able to show that PAH exposure for many generations of this
common fish, F. heteroclitus, resulted in changes in the
population genetics: the exposure was serious enough that the populations
underwent microevolution."
Another of Newman's major projects is to update statistical methods used in
ecotoxicology. "The approaches established in the 1970s to address very
real and immediate problems became the standard methods applied by
pollution scientists and incorporated into EPA regulations. These methods
were borrowed hastily from human toxicology, a field that correctly focuses
on the well-being of the individual. But, except in cases of endangered or
especially charismatic species, environmental scientists are more concerned
about the well-being of ecological populations and communities," he
relates, "A growing number of scientists now realize that the standard
methods applied in ecotoxicology are outdated, generating unsound
scientific conclusions and indefensible regulatory decisions about
population viability or community biodiversity."
Newman views teaching as a key responsibility as well. "Expertise and
innovation in ecological toxicology are essential as the human population
grows and our technologies become more sophisticated and widespread. Useful
new and old ideas must be drawn upon to address concerns as they emerge. So
exposing each generation of environmental scientists to useful ideas and
helping them develop skills for selecting the best approach in the presence
of uncertainty are essential to our well-being," he concludes.
The mandate of VIMS is "sound science for informed management," and this
mandate is carried out in a three-pronged path of research, education, and
advisory service. The goals of VIMS are to "make seminal advances in
understanding marine systems through research and discovery; translate
research findings into practical solutions to complex issues of societal
importance; and provide new generations of researchers, educators, problem
solvers, and managers with a marine-science education of unsurpassed
quality."
The work that VIMS engages in does bring results in all three
areas—as we have seen through the researchers who spoke with
ScienceWatch.com. But their work is only a small portion of what
goes on at VIMS—the institution has hundreds of other projects
underway locally and throughout the world. Some of its historic
achievements that are still in play today include oyster ecology research
as well as juvenile fish and blue crab surveys in Chesapeake Bay. The
annual shark survey begun in 1973 is now the longest running such survey
worldwide. VIMS scientists were key players in the establishment of the
national Sea Grant and Coastal Zone Management programs in the 1960s. The
founding of the Eastern Shore Laboratory helped kick-start the state's
hugely profitable hard clam industry. VIMS' seagrass restoration programs
are among the most successful in the world.
With its state-of-the-art laboratories, fleet of research boats, libraries,
and collections, as well as its partnerships with the US government and
international research institutes, VIMS is well-positioned to lead marine
science research for years to come.
Virginia Institute of Marine Science
Gloucester Point, VA, USA
Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS)'s current
most-cited paper (Biology/Biochemistry) in
Essential Science Indicators, with 333 cites:
Beck MW, et al., "The identification, conservation,
and management of estuarine and marine nurseries for fish and
invertebrates," Bioscience 51(8): 633-41, August 2001.
Source: Essential Science Indicators from
Thomson
Reuters.
Additional Information:
This interview is based on the Virginia Institute of Marine
Science's citation record in the field of Environment &
Ecology, for which the current-most cited paper from
Essential Science Indicators, with 264 cites is:
Worm B, et al., "Impacts of biodiversity loss on
ecosystem services," Science 314(5800): 787-90, 2
November 2006.