The Salem State Biologist Issue Twelve Summer-Fall 2009 From the Chair Dr. Fregeau welcomes all new Freshman and Transfer students to the Biology Department and Salem State College. All students are invited to a more ‘formal’ welcome during the “Meet your Major” event that will be held on Monday October 5th, 2009 at 11am in Slater Lecture Hall (MH444). You will hear about the research interests of all professors and be able to chat with them over pizza, cookies and soda. The Biology Department is a large department with 22 full-time faculty and Dr. Fregeau reports that the department has now grown to some 417 students! The Department also services the whole college, welcoming over 400 non-major students each semester, studying various courses including BIO121 Diversity of Life and BIO200 Anatomy and Physiology I.

Now that October is upon us, Dr. Fregeau would like to remind all students that advising begins on Thursday October 22nd, continuing until November 4th, 2009. If you are new to the department and are not sure who your advisor is, please check your Navigator account or the bulletin board opposite the Biology Office (MH404). There is a significant change to advising this year, in that there are no set days for the different classes (Freshman, Sophomores, Juniors and Seniors), rather all students can meet with their advisors at any time during the advising period. Most of you will have met the Biology and Chemistry and Physics Administrator, Deb Germano, while waiting for either of the two Chairs. Deb will be away for the next 8 weeks or so while she undergoes hip-replacement surgery. We all wish her a successful and speedy recovery!

Faculty News Dr. Lisa Delissio has successfully received a National Science Foundation Grant totaling almost $300,000 to improve the teaching of the life sciences in certain school districts (middle and high schools) in Massachusetts and Puerto Rico. The project name is “The Atlantic Project for the Biological Sciences”. Dr. Delissio is the primary investigator and Salem State College the lead partner. The partnership includes the University of Puerto Rico at Humacao; the Puerto Rican Department of Education; TERC – a non-profit educational research and development organization; the International Center for Research and Education; and Salem Public Schools.

assist in, and learn about, general animal care and husbandry. I prepare food for the seals, clean exhibits, make ice toys for the animals, conduct enrichment sessions and have the opportunity to speak in public presentations. The seals are trained in a way that allows them to “think” and trust is built-up between seal and trainer to the degree that the trainers can touch the seals to help gauge the health of the animals. The Aquarium has 7 Harbor seals (5 females and 2 males) and 5 Northern Fur seals (3 females and 2 males). The seals are fed a diet of capelin, herring and squid with the Northern Fur seals particularly fond of squid! I hope to become a marine mammal trainer when I graduate from college, and the experience and knowledge I am gaining as a volunteer will help me increase my chances of success.”

Dr. Delissio states that the exciting project is: “… to create a professional development program for middle- and high school teachers.” She further asserts that the program is “… to strengthen the teaching of life sciences with a focus on the needs of Latino students.” Dr. Joe Buttner presented at various meetings during the summer including a workshop on water quality in recirculating aquaculture systems hosted by the Western Massachusetts Center for Sustainable Aquaculture. See ‘Cat Cove Marine Facility’ for more details of activities at our leading aquaculture facility.

Student News Mario Masso (Marine Biology) is a Sophomore in the Biology Department. He writes of his experiences volunteering at the New England Aquarium in Boston. “The mammals that I am working with are Harbor and Northern Fur seals and I

Mario Mosso and his ‘charge’ at the New England Aquarium

Kelan Joshua (Aquaculture) is a new transfer student, hailing from California. He writes: “I finished up at San Francisco State University with a degree in illustration, but no longer had the drive to pursue a career in the Arts. I spent the next 2 years working a number of jobs to support my fish “habit”. At any given time, I maintained about 300 gallons worth of heavily-planted freshwater aquaria where I kept and bred cichlids, characins and anabantids. With the

hobby came an interest in a number of areas, including: techniques for farming ornamental fish, status of wild populations, degradation of their natural habitats, aquaculture needs and methods in those developing areas and, aquaponics. I spent some time traveling, heading to Utah, Puerto Rico, and making midAugust and late-December trips out to the East Coast to visit my girlfriend’s family on the South Shore. The area grew on me and we started talking relocation. Salem State College was actually the first to come up when I searched for New England Aquaculture programs. I read great things about Cat Cove and the growth in the department. Along with location and our economic situation, it was a good fit. Art majors weren’t required to do a lot of math and science so I have my prerequisite work cut out for me. I’m looking forward getting familiar with the community, facilities and resources here at Salem State.”

Student Research Abroad Many of us have been fortunate enough to travel abroad where one’s senses are “tweaked” by strange smells, flavors, sights, sounds and occasionally vibrations! The Biology Department now has an Undergraduate Research Abroad Committee that aims to help our students fulfill, perhaps a long held dream, to study abroad. We have had students visit Indonesia, South Africa, Mozambique and Honduras over the past two summers. This semester we have visits by a number of British organizations that help students achieve their dream. On ‘Frontier’ Monday October 5th (www.frontier.ac.uk) will be having an introductory session at 11am in MH537. Operation Wallacea (www.opwall.com)

will be visiting on Monday October 19th at 11am in Slater Lecture Hall. Sarah Peck was one of summer ‘adventurers’! She writes: “This summer I had the chance to travel to Honduras and spend a month with Operation Wallacea. The day after I arrived at Cusuco National Park, we packed up our gear and headed into the jungle for three days and nights, living off the food we brought and sleeping in tents. While in the jungle, we saw bees and beetles and specifically jewel beetles, only found in Cusuco, that are worth around $300 dollars (some are worth up to $500). Some of the group even caught glances of puma in the area! My second week was spent down the mountain in Buenos Aires learning Spanish. In between lessons we took walks to the waterfalls and spotted hummingbird nests. My last two weeks were spent in Rio Esteban, a coastal community filled with friendly people with a beautiful culture, and Cayo Menor, a small bay island off the eastern coast. It was here that I received my scuba certification and ‘graduated’ from the Reef Ecology course. This trip truly was a trip of a lifetime!”

Sunset on a Honduran beach!

Faculty Travels Abroad Interested in traveling to do research or conservation work and not sure what you can afford? I spent a fair bit of time this summer checking out various books and some individual programs. I highly recommend a book called Volunteer Vacations (McMillon, B., et al, 2009 http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/22836556 4&referer=brief_results). This is not a comprehensive book of all opportunities but a solid list of options with basic information included for each. Some programs in the book are based in the U.S. and Canada, but many are abroad. Within Volunteer Vacations you would discover where to do research on medicinal compounds at a rainforest research station in Brazil for $500 per month (http://www.iracambi.com/english/stude nts.shtml) volunteer at an elephant rehabilitation camp in Thailand, study dolphins off the coast of South Africa, Mauritius, Mozambique (http://www.dolphinstudies.co.za/researc h.html), track big cats in Kenya (http://www.conservationafrica.net/about /Mission-Statement.html), learn horticulture techniques in an extremely dry climate in Spain, learn organic – sustainable farming hands-on, or volunteer assisting health care professionals in Peru http://www.crossculturalsolutions.org/ I have a little bit of experience as a volunteer abroad. In January 2009, I did volunteer work with a co-op business in Costa Rica called AMURECI (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9B3 YAXF4BeU) through an organization called Cross Cultural Solutions. In November 2009, I will do some training and try different kind of research that does not involve test tubes (!) by joining a San Francisco State

University team and the Oceanic Society at their coral reef site in Belize. If seeing and doing Biology in one of these ways sparks your interest, I encourage you to speak with your advisor, Dr. Fisher, Dr. Delissio, or me. Happy Travels! - Dr. Tracy Ware

Yield to Polar Bears Please! Many of use would love to be able to see a road sign like the one above, although, personally, I might like to be in a rather large vehicle! Husband and wife team, Drs. Anita Shea and Ed Sweeney, were lucky enough to join a Scandinavian Arctic cruise recently. For those who do not know, Drs. Shea and Sweeney were both Chairs of the Biology Department in the past and are now enjoying their retirement. Dr. Shea writes of their trip: “The goal was Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago, nearly 80 0 north latitude at the meeting of the Barents, Greenland and Norwegian Seas. Its largest island is Spitsbergen, location of the northernmost “town” in the world, Longyearbyen (pop. 2500). Summer was the best time to approach Svalbard when the pack ice was retreating fast enough

to access Spitsbergen and see the wildlife and astonishing mountain landscapes glistening with year-round snow and glaciers as well as the black patches of exposed shoreline, irregular ice floes and open water in the same viewing frame.

narrow glacier base is fed by a huge glacier above covering many km2 stretching back toward the Swedish border.

Wildflowers in the Loen valley.

Dr. Anita Shea with “bergies” behind!

To attain this goal, Anita and Ed Sweeney flew to the quaint city of Bergen, Norway to join the crew, naturalists and 140 passengers on the National Geographic Explorer (a 365 foot modified ice breaker operated by Lindblad Cruise Line). We were all to become a close-knit family before our 18 day odyssey was concluded. For the first seven days, the ship worked its way up the coast of mainland Norway visiting fjords, isolated villages, the magnificent Lofoten Islands and Tromso before we headed west into the open sea. The size of the ship enabled visits to many types of fjords. Broad Nordfjord sheltered gentle slopes and verdant farmlands. After docking near the head of this fjord, a bus ride provided access to the Loen Valley to observe the stocky Norwegian horse and increasing varieties of wild flowers such as campion and carnivorous plants. A hike up a horse-shoe curved trail led to the base of Briksdal Glacier. The cloudy blue glacial lake was replete with “bergies”. As is most common, this

In Melfjord, the ship beached right at the mouth of the glacial melt, and guided hikes along the rocky shore and through a young birch forest were available. At each new site, the reflected colors seemed to be brighter and sharper, the rock layers of the worn, uplifted fjord walls seemed more complex and the air was fresher and cleaner. The ship crossed the Arctic Circle at Troena at about 11:30 p.m. and “the family” celebrated by sharing a cup of spicy, spiked glög with the few townspeople who kept the general store open to greet the arrivals. The last stop on the mainland was Tromso, a busy international port where the unusual, white Arctic Cathedral dominated the landscape. A field trip into the highlands here was the first exposure to true arctic tundra vegetation including many species of carnivorous plants along with sparse shrubs and a few hardy, stunted trees. The museums, run by local fishing families, told the story of dependence on the sea for survival in a very isolated environment. With the required pilot on board, the NG-Explorer headed west to Flugoya (Bird Island) nesting site for millions of sea birds. After circling the island in zodiacs and returning the pilot near

Tromso, the ship headed to the open Barents Sea. The sharp eyes and 24 hour watch of many on board led to unexpected sightings of minke and humpback whales, three individual blue whales as well as migrating sea birds.

Whale bones on Bear Island.

View from the National Geographic Explorer

Very early the next morning, the ship reached Bjornoya (Bear Island) hidden in dense fog, Intrepid Captain Leif Skog said, “Let’s go for it”, so passengers, leaders and crew piled into zodiacs. As the fog lifted, puffins, guillemots, razorbills, arctic terns, murrs, fulmars and many other species, resting, nesting, feeding, and defending, rewarded the Captain’s decision. Also, on Bear Island, skirted by three major ocean currents, the beaches were littered with sun bleached whale bones and wrecks of fishing and defensive vessels echoing the natural and human history of this region.

At Iskbuta the ship reached more solid pack ice so the passengers, accompanied by armed crew, were deployed in zodiacs to look for signs of polar bears. The rules were to stay tightly with your group and keep silent. Huge paw prints were found right at the edge of the ice where the zodiacs paused for photos. A flurry of activity near the land-ice pack border proved to be a 500 lb. female bear attacking a 300 lb. harp seal at a breathing hole and dragging it to safer ice, subsequently ravaging its guts in short order and leaving the carcass for waiting gulls. All together, Anita and Ed saw 16 polar bears. Two mothers with cubs were particularly endearing. Over the course of about two hours, one mother and her cub found themselves on two different floes.

And now on to Svalbard! The beautiful, mountainous, glacier-covered skyline of Svalbard was the major backdrop for the next six days. Approaching southern Spitsbergen, there was clear open water, so the Captain sailed north along the island’s eastern coast as far as the ice floes and pack ice allowed.

Mother and cub separated!

At first mama was focused on the problem, but baby was totally unconcerned that he was being carried away with the fast-moving current. Then mama rose to her feet, moved to edge of her floe, and stretched sternly toward the cub that still was unmoved. Mama barked a warning with no apparent response. Finally, the cub slowly rose and swam toward mama; it climbed on the ice, shook and frolicked furiously, and joined his mama safe in the warmth of her side and confident that dinner would be caught shortly! Heading to southwest Spitsbergen, there were occasional bear hunter’s cabins. One in Hornshund symbolized the formerly active string of huts which supported a lucrative existence for those hardy souls who could withstand extended bitter cold and loneliness. Polar bear hunting is no longer allowed in Norway; the bears are totally protected and seem to be thriving in this area. Svalbard supports a polar bear population estimated at 3000 today. On the other hand, the walrus population is not yet responding as positively to its protected status. After 17 days at sea, the National Geographic Explorer anchored on its 16th sunny morning. For a last time, the passengers and crew loaded into zodiacs, this time along with their luggage. After a brief tour of Longyearbyen, the University of the Arctic (graduate and research studies only), the Svalbard Museum and the local art gallery, the passengers headed to the airport for transfer to Oslo and home. It was clear that the 2500 local residents are a hardy, simple people who live in a colorful, delicate environment.”

Cat Cove Marine Facility The ‘crew’ at Cat Cove had another busy summer working with numerous animals including soft shell clams and squid!

Cat Cove Crew Summer 2009 – left to right: Dana Monteiro, Dr. Mark Fregeau, Cheyenne Azadan, Heather Tierney, Julie Greenwood, Scott Weston, Ashley London, Prof. Ted Maney, Echo Bradt and Dr. Joe Buttner (“Dr. Joe”).

During the summer we continued monitoring soft shell clams in Boston Harbor as a collaborative effort with the MA Division of Marine Fisheries. We are now in our fourth year of monitoring, which involves both the Department of Biology and the Department of Geology. Dana Montiero initiated an on-going Independent Study (BIO 408N) to hatch, maintain and rear larval squid. Dana has long possessed a keen interest in squid and now has the opportunity to work with them directly, hopefully validating his interest and setting the stage for graduate studies.

The head of a juvenile squid

During summer 2009, the Cat Cove Marine Laboratory hosted several tours including 13 participants in Northeastern University's "Coastal Ocean Science

Academy" for high School students. One participant, Jake Samborn from Swampscott H.S. is exploring an Internship at the Cat Cove Marine Laboratory. If details are navigated successfully, Jake will be the fifth high school student to intern at the facility. Other students originated from Acton, Ipswich, Lynn and Marblehead.

Brian Preziosi and Julie Greenwood sampling on Snake Island

Dr. Joe was requested to present on different aspects of aquaculture at several meetings, including: • Ipswich Town Hall Meeting on Public Aquaculture, Ipswich, MA (2 June 2009) • 2nd Annual Living Green and Renewable Energy Fair, Salem, MA (13 June 2009). • Joint Legislative Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies, Gloucester, MA (24 June 2009) • Concerns of the Massachusetts Aquaculture Industry on the draft Ocean Management Plan, Boston, MA (14 September 2009). During summer/fall 2009, 3 million clams were produced and distributed to coastal communities throughout the commonwealth.

Biological Society Greg Bingham, the current President, reports” “Don’t forget the family and friends carnival and BBQ is Saturday October 3rd, the Biological Society and Dive Club will co-host a table at the carnival. We will have a touch tank and buoyancy activity. Then on Friday October 9th we are going to have a Cat Cove cleanup and BBQ. After we clear the area of debris we will relax with some good food. On Friday October 23rd students and professors will sit down to chat over a beer or two at ‘The Beerworks’. A student vs faculty volleyball game is pending for Friday November 13th if we can get the O’Keefe gym. Regular updates on BioSociety events will be sent throughout the semester via e-mail.” Students from the BioSociety will be signing students up for the Society at the “Meet your Major” event on Monday October 5th at 11am in Slater Lecture Hall.

Alumni News Joseph Kivaa (2008) passed the NMTCB national exam to become a certified NMT. He has also accepted a job with DigiRad Imaging as an NMT. Mae Taylor (2007) continues with her Masters Program at Nova Southeastern University in Florida. This summer she was co-author on a scientific paper (D.W. Kerstetter & M. L. Taylor. (2009). Live Release of Big Eye Sand Tiger Odontaspis noronhai [Elasmobranchii: Lamniformes] in the western North Atlantic Ocean. Bulletin of Marine Science 83: 465-469) and also a ‘President’s Faculty R & D Grant’ winner – see (http://www.nova.edu/cwis/vpaa/facscho lar/winners0910/017.html).

Employment and Internship Tips

Aquatic and environmental biology sites: www.ejobs.org

Salem State College has a very active Career Services Office – why not take a visit to their web page: http://www.salemstate.edu/1767.php?

Also try: http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/ Biotechnology/Pharmaceutical try: http://massbio.org www.novobiotic.com/careers.htm www.healthecareers.com

For the latest information on Career Service seminars visit: http://www.salemstate.edu/3082.php Dr. Ware in Biology suggests ‘Informational Interviewing’ as a way of finding employment when you graduate. She writes: “Informational Interviewing (aka 'job shadowing' or 'career interviewing') is a powerful technique for uncovering opportunities and making contacts for years to come. (LinkedIn and FaceBook can prolong those contacts too.) I required an informational interview from 12 of my Bio Seminar students who said it was the most frightening assignment and also the most beneficial (and for many, quite enjoyable) for their confidence. Career Services offers an excellent handout for download on Informational Interviewing. http://www.salemstate.edu/career_servic es/Infointer.pdf Info Interviewing reaps benefits for Freshmen to Seniors, as an early career exploration method, and also as a job search method nearing graduation. Students wanting to know more about how to set up or prepare for this kind of meeting with a professional in a discipline that interests them can contact Janet Neely at Career Services [email protected]), or their academic advisor or Dr. Ware.”

An Interesting Read Ever wondered about the history behind taxonomy and phylogeny? Try Carol Kaesuk Yoon’s new book “Naming Nature – The Clash Between Instinct an Science”. (W.W. Norton & Company $27.95 at Barnes and Noble)

Website of the Moment The Massachusetts Association of Biology Teachers suggests the following 2 web sites that may interest upper level students in the cellular and molecular field. Genes to Cognition online http://www.g2conline.org/ Dolan DNA Learning Center (new features) - http://www.dnalc.org/ Ever wondered what your carbon footprint is? Go to: http://www.earthday.net/footprint/flash.h tml

Upcoming Issues Next issue will be out in early December. Please send all articles in word format to Ryan Fisher at [email protected].