Seminars

Upcoming Seminars Past Seminars

University Programs’ Seminar Series highlights current and ongoing research by visiting researchers, along with DISL faculty and students. The seminars are open to the community and can be attended in person or via zoom. It’s a great opportunity to learn more about what is happening in the marine science community.

Seminars are usually held on Fridays at 12 p.m. CST in the Richard C. Shelby Center for Ecosystem Based Fisheries Management Building on the Dauphin Island Sea Lab campus.

Next Seminar

Date: Friday, May 3

Time: 12 p.m. to 1 p.m.

Seminar: The World May Not Be Your Oyster: A Study of Threshold Responses and Habitat Use

Speaker: Erin Reschke, Ph.D. Student, Lehrter Lab

Zoom Link

Seminar Summary:

In the northern Gulf of Mexico, oyster reefs not only face natural stress related to predation and natural variability, but also anthropogenic stress from harvest, sedimentation, hypoxia, and climate change.

Coastal sea surface temperature is projected to increase by two to four degrees celsius by the end of the 21st century and the warming trend may also be increasing marine heatwave and hypoxia events. This study seeks to quantify mortality, growth, and feeding rate impacts of marine heatwave and hypoxia conditions on juvenile oysters; examine the influence of predator cues in combination with climate change stressors on spat growth and development; and use eDNA metabarcoding methods to assess species’ habitat utilization of oyster reefs.

Understanding the frequency and duration of stressor events and their effects on oysters may help us to predict how these and other estuarine species will fare in the future.

Erin’s Bio:

Erin Reschke is a first year PhD student in the Lehrter lab and is a Biologist with US Environmental Protection Agency in Gulf Breeze, FL. Erin completed her undergraduate and master’s degrees at UNC Wilmington (BS Marine Biology, MS Marine Science).

Her Master’s in Science thesis was entitled “Trophic transfer and habitat use: Assessing the pre-restoration impact of the Faka Union Canal in southwest Florida” and looked at the impact of a canal system on seasonal water quality changes and trophic relationships in the Ten Thousand Islands in SW Florida.

Her current work focuses on threshold establishment for oysters under climate change scenarios and oyster habitat, but her interests also include estuarine modeling, trophic ecology/food web dynamics, and restoration.

Zoom Link

Past Seminars

Some seminars are archived on the Dauphin Island Sea Lab YouTube Channel.

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

  • January 22 - Joel Fodrie, UNC, Chapel Hill - Landscape Effects on the Fisheries Ecology and Ecosystem-service Delivery of a Temperate Estuary.
  • February 5 - Dr. Lee Smee, Texas A&M Univ. Corpus Christi - The World is my Oyster: Predator-Prey Interactions, Chemical Cues, and Genetic Diversity on Oyster Reef’
  • February 26 - Dr. Jeff Morris, University of Alabama, Birmingham
  • March 5 - Dr. Christopher Anderson, Auburn University
  • March 12 - Dr. Patty Sobecky, University of Alabama
  • March 16 - Dr. Richard B. Anderson, FIT
  • April 2 - Dr. Chuck Amsler, University of Alabama, Birmingham
  • May 21 – Dr. Bill Dennison, UMCES

2014

  • November 6 - Dr. Eric Peatman, Auburn University – “Fitting Mobile-Tensaw Delta Bass into the Black Bass Puzzle: New Molecular Tools and New Insights”
  • November 21 - Dr. Mark Butler, Old Dominion University – “Lobster Tales: Homelessness, Pestilence & Alien Encounters"
  • December 4 - Dr. Ari Daniel, Independent Science Reporter & Producer - “Carving Story out of Science”