Catch the latest updates from our Hatchery …and so much more!
From the Director
Typically, Fall can be a “take a breath” time after the summer interns depart and the field season begins to wind down. This is definitely not the case this year! Four graduate students advised by PEARL scientists successfully defended their dissertation and these students are now in the final stages of making revisions and corrections before graduating from Morgan State’s Bio-environmental Science program this Fall.
So, a huge shout-out to PEARL’s graduate students - Abubakar Ringim, Shivish Bhandari, Muhammad Sulyman, and Sara Rostampour. Congratulations!
I’d like to take a bit of time to reflect on their journey. These students - they each started in the very challenging year of 2020. Some were living in the U.S. for the first time. And these challenges were compounded by the trials and tribulations of doctoral research. They had arrived equipped with broad disciplinary expertise in the environmental sciences and then worked narrow and deep to develop highly specialized toolkits in ecological modeling, shellfish genomics, and the human dimensions of wildlife management. Two students - Shivish Bhandari and Abubakar Ringim - committed to living on-site at the PEARL laboratory to more effectively engage with their research. Living in a rural area with limited amenities, and adjusting to a new climate and culture –the challenges were numerous. Nevertheless, our graduate students persevered.
This also is an opportunity to reflect on PEARL’s journey. When I came to PEARL in 2015, we had a fantastic summer intern program. But our contribution to graduate education left something to be desired. Our lab made a strategic decision to refocus efforts on supporting Morgan State graduate education. PEARL scientists have committed substantial amounts of time to seeing that these students receive the top-notch training they deserve. While these four aforementioned students will shortly be moving to other career opportunities, three new Morgan graduate students have joined the PEARL team this Fall. No resting on their laurels for PEARL scientists - we are keeping the pathway open for the next generation of Morgan graduate students.
Again, big-time congrats to our students and our staff for their efforts in reaching the finish line. Four newly minted PhDs. A job well done!
Aquaculture Interns - Shelby Dittman (St. Mary’s College of Maryland, recent graduate), Jack Hartsig (University of North Carolina - Wilmington), and Thomas White (Eckerd College, recent graduate) worked with the PEARL Aquaculture team this summer.
Shelby’s project focused on oyster larvae - “From Spat to Spectacular: Egg Quality Assessment and Probiotic Intervention in Oyster Larvae”
Jack’s project also focused on soft shell clams - “Subtidal Solutions: Investigations of the Subtidal Culture Methods of Soft Shell Clams”
Thomas’s project focused on soft shell clams - “In Hot Water: Analyzing Mortality Patterns in Soft Shell Clams Under Thermal Stress”
(Left-Right) Halina Saydam , Imani Washington, Lilah Shepherd, Dr. Amanda Knobloch
Biogeochemistry Interns - Halina Saydam (Washington College, Senior), Lilah Shepherd (Virginia Tech, Sophomore), and Imani Washington (Morgan State University, Junior) all worked with in the Biogeochemistry lab this summer.
Halina’s project focused on source analyses of organic matter - “Carbon Cycling in Tidal Marshes and Oyster Aquaculture: Source Analysis Using CDOM Slope Ratio and fDOM SF Ratio”
Lilah’s project focused on water quality - “TSS and Chlorophyll-a Survey in Tidal Marshes and Oyster Aquaculture”
Imani’s project focused on dissolved organic matter - “Comparing DOC & CDOM Concentrations of Tidal Marshes and Oyster Aquaculture Farms”
Shelby Dittman
Thomas White
Jack Hartsig
Education News
Coastal Ecology Interns - This year, we had interns working on three different ecology projects: Sara Dapp (St. Mary’s College of Maryland, Senior), Britt Douglas (St. Mary’s College of Maryland, recent graduate), Morgan Martinez (University of California - Berkeley, recent graduate), Motunrayo Okubanjo (Morgan State University, Junior), and Duke Ogoti (Morgan State University, recent graduate).
Sara Dapp worked on the Blue Crab Survey - “PEARL Blue Crab Survey: Analysis of Size and Environmental Factors”
Britt Douglas worked on the Blue Crab Survey - “Analysis of Callinectes sapidus Catch and Environmental Data”
Morgan Martinez worked with biofouling - “Observing the Fouling Community: Use of Fouling as Ecological Indicators and to Characterize Marsh Habitats”
Motunrayo Okubanjo’s project focused on biofouling“Exploring the Use of Bacterial Colonies as Indicators of Estuarine Habitats and Health”
Duke Ogoti’s project focused on microplastics - “Creating an In-House FTIR Spectral Library for Environmental Microplastic Identification”
Morgan Martinez and Montunrayo Okubanjo
A HUGE thank you to the PEARL mentors who worked with these amazing interns this summer!
front row (l-r): Montunrayo Okubanjo, Imani Washington, Lilah Shepherd, Sara Dapp. back row (l-r): Britt Douglas, Jack Hartsig, Duke Ogoti, Thomas White, Halina Saydam, Shelby Dittman, Morgan Martinez
Sara Dapp
Britt Douglas
Duke Ogoti
Education News
Hands-On with PEARL: Science & Community Stewardship
The PEARL was busy with events over the last few months! We had tables at Children’s Day on the Farm (JPPM), the Patuxent River Wade In (JPPM), Oysters, Brews, and Blues (CCA), and the MSU STEM Extravaganza (MSU).
We also hosted students from STEMcx, a Baltimore based organization that provides underrepresented minority students with STEM opportunities and interns from the Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology. Both groups were able to tour the PEARL facility to learn more about the exciting research happening here!
Interns Morgan Martinez, Britt Douglas, Shelby White, and Sara Dapp with U.S. Representative Steny Hoyer at the Patuxent River Wade In.
Coastal Biogeochemistry News
Biogeochemistry at the PEARL
The Biogeochemistry Lab at the PEARL has been busy throughout the last several months. Two projects are ongoing in the lab, one funded through NSF and one funded through the Federal Earmark the PEARL received last year. The NSF project focuses on developing a better understanding of carbon cycling in both tidal marshes and oyster aquaculture facilities. The second project, funded through the PEARL’s Federal Earmark, focuses on comparing carbon cycling in three shoreline types: a natural shoreline with a tidal marsh, a shoreline that has undergone traditional restoration methods, and a shoreline impacted by oyster aquaculture.
Dr. Amanda Knobloch deploying equipment at the Potomac River sampling site.
Several pieces of equipment have been installed in the lab, allowing for more analyses of carbon and organic matter, and lab work and fieldwork methods have been developed and refined. While there have been some setbacks in developing these methods and testing the equipment, the Biogeochemistry Lab has officially started its two year sampling process for both projects above. Samplings will occur in three locations, each with two to three sampling sites: the Eastern Shore (Cambridge, MD), the Potomac River (Tall Timbers, MD), and the Patuxent River (near the PEARL).
Lilah, Imani, and Halina all donned waders this summer to help deploy carbon monitoring equipment.
Three summer interns joined the lab this summer: Halina Saydam, Lilah Shepherd, and Imani Washington. They each focused on different measured parameters as part of the carbon cycling projects. Halina focused on using both colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM) and fluorescent dissolved organic matter (fDOM) to determine the source of organic matter in tidal marshes and oyster aquaculture facilities. Lilah studied total suspended solids (TSS) and chlorophyll-a concentrations in both areas. Imani focused on dissolved organic carbon and CDOM concentrations. They all did a great job in the lab this summer, and we are so proud of the awesome work they accomplished!
Environmental Economics News
The PEARL Environmental Economics Team is receiving funding for two projects from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and the Maryland Port Administration
Project 1: Determine
recreational angler spending related to the recreational harvest fishery for blue catfish.
We're excited to share a new project funded by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources led by Principal Investigator (Dr. Scott Knoche) and Senior Research Economist (Dr. Kehinde Ojo). The project will examine the economic impact of recreational blue catfish fishing in Maryland. This study will provide critical insights into angler spending on blue catfish fishing trips. Recreational anglers will be surveyed about their fishing habits and related expenses. The results will allow comparisons to be made between the blue catfish fishery and other important fisheries in the state.
Project 2: Evaluation of Maryland Port Administration Programs for Social Benefit
PEARL economists Dr. Scott Knoche and Dr. Kehinde Ojo will collaborate with the Univ of MD Center for Environmental Science to assess community preferences and economic values tied to these areas, aiding environmental managers in decision-making and highlighting the benefits to local communities. Maryland Port Administration programs provide important social and economic benefits through their support of coastal blue-green spaces development such as Hart-Miller Island.
Maryland DNR biologists Branson Williams, left, and Tim Groves handle two large blue catfish near the Woodrow Wilson Bridge on the Potomac River. The fish were collected using an electroshocking rig. (Bay Journal photo by Dave Harp).
Picture of Hart-Miller Island
Photo Credit: PVinesGIS on Reddit
Environmental Economics News
The PEARL Environmental Economics Team welcomes three Morgan State University graduate students to support its ongoing projects.
Welcome Ebram Victoria, who will be supporting our Baltimore BLUE-CORE Project as the Maryland Sea Grant Fellow.
Ebram Victoria is a PhD student in Architecture, Urbanism, and the Built Environment at Morgan State University and the new PEARL Maryland Sea Grant Fellow. He will be working with the BLUE CORE team to strengthen existing relationships with South Baltimore communities and cultivate a better understanding of their perspectives relating to access to green and blue spaces. He studied Landscape Architecture for his graduate degree, where he discovered his passion to protect and promote human homeostasis- mind, body, and spirit. His dissertation research aims to elevate a conversation around designing with nature to engineer ease, particularly for people living along coastal urban cityscapes.
Welcome Kristen Jones, who will be supporting our Baltimore BLUE-CORE Project as the Center for Urban Health Equity Fellow.
Kristen Jones has earned a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and is pursuing her PhD in Bioenvironmental Sciences at Morgan State University. She is joining PEARL’s Environmental Economics Team for the Maryland Sea Grant Blue Core project. The project aims to improve access to blue spaces for residents of underserved communities in South Baltimore. Her dissertation will broadly focus on access issues related to blue-green spaces in Baltimore City.
Ebram Victoria
Kristen Jones
Environmental Economics News
Welcome Alberta Edinam, who will be working on National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) funded projects: 'Partnership to Advance Aquaculture Economics and Marketing Research and Extension' and 'Sustainable Aquaculture Systems Supporting Atlantic Salmon—Building Capacity of Land-Based Atlantic Salmon Aquaculture in the U.S.'.
Alberta Edinam Adegbe is a first-year, secondsemester MBA student at Morgan State University and graduate assistant with the PEARL Environmental Economics Team. She leverages her project management expertise to ensure efficient execution, data accuracy, and insightful analysis. Alberta’s work is pivotal in uncovering retail grocery store salmon purchasing behavior, including patterns, price premiums for labeled characteristics, and socio-demographic profiles. She is also exploring the emerging market for recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS)-produced salmon, providing valuable insights into this innovative sector.
New Project Commencing!!!
We are starting our project titled “Baltimore BLUECORE: BLUEspace COllaborative REsearch for Urban Coastal Access and Climate Resilience in Baltimore” this Fall 2024. The project is funded by Maryland Sea Grant and with a team that includes PEARL economists (Dr. Scott Knoche and Dr. Kehinde Ojo) in collaboration with two Morgan State University faculty (Dr Samia Kirchner from the School of Architecture and Planning and Dr. Mark Barnes from College of Liberal Arts) and a research professor from UMCES CBL (Dr. Lisa Wainger)
Alberta Adegbe
Fall 2024 Successful Dissertation Defenses!
Abubakar S. Ringim is a Tetfund scholar completing his PhD in Bioenvironmental Sciences. In 2021, Ringim joined the Morgan PEARL and has been working on a dissertation under the supervision of Dr. Scott Knoche titled - “Human Dimensions of Sika Deer Management”. The overarching goal of his dissertation was to understand the management preferences of Sika deer hunters. The Sika deer is a species introduced into Maryland from Asia that has attracted substantial interest from recreational hunters.
PhD Candidate Muhammad Sulyman presented a public seminar and successfully defended his dissertation entitled “Foundational Habitat Change and Ecosystem Impacts on Commercial Fisheries Harvests in the Piankatank River, Chesapeake Bay”. He anticipates completing his doctoral research for a December graduation this year. Muhammad is a TetFund Scholar from Nigeria who arrived at Morgan State University in 2020 and began his work in the Ihde Lab at PEARL in the Fall of 2021.
Sara Rostampour, a PhD candidate in the Bioenvironmental Sciences program at MSU, recently defended her thesis entitled “Changes in the Chemical Composition and Morphological Structure of Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) under UV Radiation”. Sara has been working under Dr. Chunlei Fan and Dr. YueJin Li. She previously earned her master’s degree in bioinformatics and another in Biotechnology from Morgan State University and Iran, respectively. Her research at NIST has been recognized with an award for her contributions to the characterization of post-consumer plastic materials. Additionally, she has authored and co-authored several articles related to her research.
Shivish Bhandari is a Ph.D. candidate in the Bioenvironmental Sciences program at Morgan State University (MSU). He joined MSU in 2021 and has been working with Dr. Ming Liu at PEARL, where his research focuses on shellfish genetics and breeding. He was awarded the Maryland Sea Grant Fellowship in 2021 and 2022. Before attending MSU, Shivish earned his Master’s degree in Zoology from Tribhuvan University in Kathmandu, Nepal. In August 2024, he was appointed as a visiting lecturer at Texas International University. His research interests include wildlife conservation, ecology, and conservation genetics.
Conference News
PEARL Presents at National Conferences!
Bevans recently presented a portion of her PhD work at the American Fisheries Society’s (AFS) 154th Annual Meeting in Honolulu, Hawaii. The AFS Annual Meeting is a national level conference that focuses on the conservation and management of fisheries worldwide through the presentation of research in the form of symposia and workshops. Thousands of professionals and students attended this year’s meeting. Amanda gave a presentation entitled “Modeling Habitat Change in the Chesapeake Bay and its Impact on the Local Ecosystem and Economy” and also participated in a panel discussion with well-known ecosystem modelers from around the world. Attending her talk and the discussion was former PEARL postdoctoral fellow Dr. Matthew Woodstock, now a faculty member of University of Miami Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Sciences. Nice work, Amanda!
Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association (NAREA) Conference
Dr. Kehinde Ojo presented a PEARL Environmental Economics project at the Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association conference in June 2024, held in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. The project, titled “Valuing Coastal Urban Greenspaces Located in Underserved Communities,” was led by Dr. Ojo with support from Dr. Scott Knoche and Kaitlynn Ritchie.
Dr. Kehinde Ojo presenting at NAREA conference.
PhD Student Amanda Bevans presenting at the AFS conference.
Soft-Shell Clams Aquaculture News
Can You Handle the Heat? Soft Shell Clam Edition
To bolster our research addressing the summer mortality for soft shell clam aquaculture, the Aquaculture Team performed a heat challenge experiment in the hatchery to understand how different culture conditions such as age and body size can impact survival under heat stress for more than three weeks. The results showed that soft shell clams tested in sand were more tolerant to heat stress than those kept exposed in water. Additionally, younger and smaller soft shell clams were more tolerant than larger adult specimens. When the experiment was terminated, a total of 22 soft shell clams survived out of the initial cohort of several hundred clams. These survivors were preserved as heat-tolerant broodstock for spawning in the following year. The deceased soft shell clams were sampled and the date of death was recorded as a measure of their tolerance. Genomic sequencing will be conducted to identify DNA variations that may be associated with heat tolerance, paving the way for marker-assisted selection. This project was funded by the Maryland Sea Grant for 2024-2026.
Meet Aquaculture Team interns!
From left to right: Thomas White- recently graduated senior from Eckerd College, Jack Hartsig- rising sophomore at University of North Carolina Wilmington, and Shelby Ditman- recently graduated senior from St. Mary’s College of Maryland. Not even dead clams from our heat shock experiment could wipe the smiles off their faces! The interns are retrieving the dead clams from our heat shock experiment to save the tissue samples for genomic sequencing.
New Grant Award! Embarking on Triploid Clam Production
PEARL was recently awarded a USDA Northeastern Regional Aquaculture Center aquaculture grant, led by Dr. Ming Liu, to develop triploid soft shell clams with the goal of further enhancing growth rates and reducing summer mortality. Similar to triploid oysters, triploid soft shell clams have three sets of chromosomes, making them sterile. The odd number of chromosome sets makes it difficult for the clams to reproduce The hypothesis is that triploid soft shell clams can allocate more energy towards growth, allowing them to grow faster than the natural diploid soft shell clams and enabling earlier harvests before the onset of summer heat waves. We anticipate that faster growth will also improve the soft shell clams’ survival by reducing vulnerability to predators.
Aquaculture News
Another Successful Year of Growing Soft Shell Clams to Market Size!
PEARL’s Aquaculture Team has made continuous improvements to the soft shell clam subtidal culture gear based on insights gained from previous field tests. Several new designs were tested from October 2023 through June 2024, with one gear design out performing all the rest, dubbed the “Bird Cage” (MSU Intellectual Property Disclosure IPD-182). This new gear design was able to successfully raise the clams to 2 inches during the deployment period. The new gear was created by our research technician Leigh Wolfe-Bryant. The new design provides increased protection from predators without reducing water flow, which should increase their growth. The average shell length reached 43.3 mm (1.7 inches) during an eight-month field deployment, the largest one being 53 mm (over 2 inches)! The survival rate on average was 86% for our cultured clams, but a happy accident we found was that each cage was able to recruit more than 200 wild baby soft shell clams, resulting in the final number in each cage was about 300 clams. These results are very exciting, showing it is possible to grow and harvest soft shell clams in one year (between two summer heat waves), helping to avoid the risk of summer die-offs. Not only can we successfully grow our cultured soft shell clams, but our gear has proven to be an ideal environment that is providing the clams produced in the natural environment a safe and hospitable environment to grow. Two clams for the price of one!
PEARL is now capable of producing seed annually and plans to expand the tests to more sites. If you're interested in conducting soft shell clam culture tests on your lease, please reach out to Dr. Ming Liu at ming.liu@morgan.edu, or Brittany Wolfe-Bryant at brittany.wolfe@morgan.edu .
Pictured left: Jon Farrington, Facilities Manager, retrieving our clam gear. Middle: A 1-year old soft shell clam being retrieved from our gear. Right: Summer intern, Jack Hartsig, sorting through soft shell clams, checking survival and growth.
Oysters Aquaculture News
Progress in Oyster Breeding
The aquaculture team has been continuously improving oyster seed production, addressing challenges encountered in previous years. These efforts include developing superior broodstock, enhancing water filtration and algae quality, and optimizing breeding protocols. In 2024, Maryland experienced another year of low salinity due to heavy rainfall, which impacted oyster seed production. After an initial setback early in the summer, the team successfully produced roughly 1.5 million eye-spotted larvae from just one spawn. During the culture process, the team experimented with the use of probiotics. By comparing tanks treated with probiotics to those without, the results indicated that probiotics can significantly enhance both survival and growth.
Shown here are pictures of our oyster seed that was spawned in July. These baby oysters have been outside feeding on Chesapeake Bay water for a few short weeks and have already grown so much! There comes a time when we can no longer keep up with feeding these oyster babies in the hatchery and they need to be moved outside to our upweller where the natural environment can provide them with all the algae they need to grow big and strong.
Where in the World are PEARL’s Former Interns? Aquaculture News
Student Updates!
This past summer we had a great cohort of students interning with the PEARL Aquaculture Team. Each had their own project, (some stinkier than others), though they all worked cohesively as a team to carry out our research projects. Our intern Shelby Dittman compared the growth and survival rate of larval oysters with and without probiotics added to the water. Jack Hartsig evaluated softshell clam growth and survival of several different gear types, including gear with sand and without. And finally, our intern Thomas White ran a heat shock experiment comparing several age classes of clams exposing them to the high “summer” temperatures to determine which clams have the ability to survive those harsh conditions. This experiment was able to give us preliminary data that we will be able to use for our newest Maryland Sea Grant Experiment titled “Development of genetic breeding in soft-shell clams (Mya arenaria) to advance a potential new aquaculture species in Maryland”.
Since then, we are happy to report that our two recently graduated aquaculture interns are gainfully employed! Shelby Dittman recently started working at the Florida Medical Entomology Lab where she is cataloging mosquitoes and testing for potentially harmful diseases. Thomas White started a job working at a Queen conch shellfish hatchery in Curaçao with the goal of using aquaculture to restore the natural population of Queen Conch.
Shelby Dittman, a recent graduate of St. Mary’s College of Maryland and aquaculture summer intern, seen hard at work at her new job at the University of Florida’s Medical Entomology Lab which is devoted to the understanding and control of medically important biting insects.
and
Thomas White, aquaculture summer intern
recent graduate from Eckerd College, diving for Queen conch in Curaçao. Orange circles are depicting the Queen conch snails.
