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Northern Gulf Institute - DISL Award Winners Dr. Tina Miller-Way |
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At the annual conference of the Northern Gulf Institute (NGI) last week, three DISL graduate students won awards for their efforts. Ms. Lauren Showalter won 3rd place in the ‘Oral Presentations - Student Competition. Lauren is a Master's candidate at the University of Alabama and is working with Dr. John Dindo at DISL. Lauren's presentation, "Biomagnification of mercury in the Mobile Bay ecosystem" addressed mercury concentrations in fishes and birds common in Mobile Bay and the potential for mercury transfer to humans. Steven Scyphers, a University of South Alabama Master's candidate in Dr. Sean Powers' laboratory at DISL, won 2nd place for his poster "Restored oyster beds as natural breakwaters for estuarine shorelines." Steven's research examines the impacts of restored oyster reefs on shoreline erosion rates, fish abundance and seagrass colonization. Charlie Martin, who is working on his Ph.D. with Dr. John Valentine, won 3rd place for his poster titled "Impacts of invasive Nile tilapia on coastal food webs." This invasive fish both decreases the survival and changes the habitat of native species. The Northern Gulf Institute, a NOAA Cooperative Institute, focuses on high-impact research and education programs in ecosystem-based management, coastal resiliency, climate change and geospatial data visualization in order to measurably contribute to the health, productivity and resiliency of the northern Gulf of Mexico, defined as the region from the Suwanee River in Florida to the Texas - Louisiana border. NGI includes five partner institutions: Mississippi State University; the University of Southern Mississippi; Florida State University; Louisiana State University; and the Dauphin Island Sea Lab. |
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