Global warming destroys marine life

Global warming is affecting the planet in infinite ways. Robert Whitlatch and a team of researchers are studying the effects rising temperatures in coastal waters are having on marine communities and habitats.

Whitlatch, a professor of marine sciences at the Avery Point campus, has been studying coastal zone marine populations and communities for about 25 years.

"Our main hypotheses are, one, that the warming of coastal waters is resulting in an increasing frequency of invasion of new species resulting in drastic changes in marine communities and habitats, and two, that the faunal changes and lower diversities in stressed habitats make these areas more open to invasion," Whitlatch said.

According to Whitlatch, the study is based at different sites along the Southern New England coast and "will directly test the impact of global climate change on shallow-water marine communities that are most likely to suffer from the poleward spread of species as coastal waters warm," he said.

Dr. Richard W. Osman from the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center in Edgewater, Mass., is the co-principal investigator on the project. Whitlatch and his team are in their second year of the three-year research project.

Once the research and data collection is complete, Whitlatch hopes to publish a number of peer reviewed articles in scientific journals to get the word out on his research results to the scientific community.

"We would like to expend the ideas to a broader regional area, mainly to first see how general the results are - can they be applied to other systems and then try to get a broader understanding of how these systems are reacting to climate change," Whitlatch said.

This project is made possible by a $560,000 grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

"The funds were obtained through a competitive proposal process," Whitlatch said. "The agency announced a call for proposals in the general subject area of multiple stressors in the coastal zone; specifically how land use patterns and climate change may be influencing coastal zone resources and how to develop ways of assisting coastal zone managers in dealing with these issues."

After his proposal was sent to anonymous reviewers and reviewed by a panel consisting of working scientists and members of the EPA, Whitlatch was awarded the grant.

Undergraduate and graduate students from UConn as well as other universities, make up the research team working on the project.

"I very much enjoy undergraduate students in the lab," Whitlatch said. "I think it's a good experience for them to get their feet wet, so to speak."

Jeff Mercer, a graduate student in the marine sciences department, works as a graduate research assistant for Whitlatch.

"Applying to graduate school I was looking to work with a professor who was interested in the marine ecology," Mercer said. "As a graduate research assistant, I work 20 hours per week on Bob's research projects."

"This is a big research experiment with many variables to be addressed," Mercer said. "Hopefully it will help me with designing and conducting experiments in the future."

As the project resolves around coastal marine life, most of the research is completed during the summer months.

"The very active time of the project is during the summer when the organisms are very active," Whitlatch said.

"During the summer I conduct most of the field studies," a Mercer said. "We scuba dive at different sites along the Connecticut coast and record which species are present and take photographs to later determine percent cover of individual species by digital analysis."

"Because we dive at so many different sites along the Connecticut coast, I have become familiar with what types of communities and physical conditions to expect in different areas," he said.

Elizabeth Sedlack, an 8th-semester biology major at Fairfield University, is one of the undergraduates involved with the research project.

"I heard about Dr. Whitlatch's research through a friend who worked with him," Sedlack said. "The project seemed very interesting so I inquired about a position."

Sedlack works during the summer and began researching with Whitlatch last June at Avery Point.

Sedlack says she is mostly involved in data collection, the launching of experiments and maintaining laboratory facilities.

"My winter responsibilities are repairing and maintaining the equipment used in the study, monitoring the lab studies and photographing panels periodically," Mercer said.