Rutgers Marine Field Station: On the Edge of Climate Change

RU Marine Field Station by Micah Seidel

As the facility marks its 50th anniversary, here is a look back at its history and how it developed into a crucial research station in New Jersey.   Rutgers Marine Field Station stands at the heart of where climate change is happening the fastest in the world, providing a unique and crucial window into the future for researchers.  A former U.S. Coast …

Feasible Surfclam Husbandry Techniques for Northeast Shellfish Growers

Surfclams have a spawn-to-sale production cycle as short as 12-18 months. Photo credit: Michael Acquafredda.

Editor’s note: Michael Acquafredda (GSNB’19) earned a doctoral degree in Ecology and Evolution in the Rutgers School of Graduate Studies A study that provides technical aspects of Atlantic surfclam (Spisula solidissima) husbandry supports the feasibility for the culture of the species in the U.S. Northeast region. “Overall, successful surfclam nursery culture aligns well with the Northeast’s established shellfish farming framework, and …

Rutgers Awarded $12.6 Million Grant to Create Oyster Habitat for Coastal Resilience

Oysters in a cement setting experiment from Richard Riman’s laboratory.

The university-led project is in response to a broader effort to protect critical coastal civilian and Department of Defense infrastructure and personnel at risk of climate change. Rutgers has been awarded $12.6 million by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop an oyster-based shoreline ecosystem to help protect coastlines from storm damage, flooding and erosion. The Rutgers-led project, …

Rutgers Shellfish Breeding Program Enters the Genomic Era

Ximing Guo (right) and Sam Ratcliff examined selective bred oysters at Rutgers Cape Shore Farm. Micah Seidel

A consortium of scientists led by Rutgers University has developed a high-density DNA chip for the eastern oyster to better research and breeding. The Rutgers shellfish breeding program, an ongoing project supported by the Atlantic States Marine Fishery Commission and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Marine Fishery Service, is testing a high-density DNA chip for genomic selection, which is expected …

Rutgers Science and Outreach Onboard the R/V Atlantis

The PUFINS science and educator team and R/V Atlantis coring crew pose on the back of the deck of the ship. Photo: Erin Sharpe.

By Lauren Neitzke Adamo, assistant teaching professor, Institute of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences In June 2022, a team of scientists and educators embarked on a 14-day expedition in the North Atlantic Ocean onboard the R/V Atlantis in search of deep-sea mud. Led by chief scientist and professor, Liz Sikes, Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences and primary investigator and University of Washington …

Prof. Elisabeth Sikes Awarded 2022 SCAR Medal for Excellence in Antarctic Research

Liz Sikes on board the RV Thomas Thompson in 2018 during the CROCCA-2s voyage to the Southern Indian Ocean. Ile Amsterdam, in the background, is one of the most remote islands in the Southern Ocean.

Elisabeth Sikes, professor in the Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences, has been jointly awarded the 2022 SCAR Medal for Excellence in Antarctic Research by the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR). Sikes and 2022 co-recipient Professor Pippa Whitehouse of Durham University, UK, received the award on August 5 as part of the closing session of the SCAR 2022 Open Science Conference. Sikes’ …

Rutgers Board of Governors Professor Paul Falkowski Profiled by the National Academy of Sciences

Rutgers Board of Governors Professor Paul Falkowski. Photo credit: Yuan Gao, Rutgers University, Newark, NJ.

This profile first appeared in the journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Paul Falkowski spent much of his research career analyzing the activity of aquatic microorganisms, which captured his interest early in life. As a child, growing up in a New York City Housing Project in Harlem, he received a small fish tank from a family friend, and his father …

Celebrate the Rutgers Marine Field Station with Inaugural Special Collections Apparel

Working with the Rutgers University Marine Field Station, University Communications and Marketing developed a merchandise special collection to celebrate the Marine Field Station’s 50th anniversary preserving the coastal ecosystem for sea life in New Jersey. The Marine Field Station is in Tuckerton, New Jersey. Pictured are two of the six designs.

University Communications and Marketing has introduced a new initiative to showcase points of pride at Rutgers through a limited-edition collection of retail merchandise, only available online and at the University Bookstore. SEBS and NJAES have been selected to kick off the series, just in time for the Rutgers University Marine Field Station (RUMFS) to celebrate 50 years of preserving the …

Cultivating Super Corals Alone Is Unlikely to Protect Coral Reefs From Climate Change

coral

Restoration efforts need to be conducted at much greater spatial and temporal scales to have long-term benefits A popular coral restoration technique is unlikely to protect coral reefs from climate change and is based on the assumption that local threats to reefs are managed effectively, according to a study co-authored by Rutgers, Coral Research Alliance and researchers at other institutions. …

Nuclear War Would Rewire the Physical, Biological and Ecological States of Oceans

sea turtle

Rutgers scientist helps produce world’s first large-scale study on how nuclear war would affect marine ecosystems. Even the smallest nuclear war would devastate ocean systems, leading to sharp declines in fish stocks, expansion of ice sheets into coastal communities and changes in ocean currents that would take decades or longer to reverse, according to a Rutgers researcher and an international …