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CHESAPEAKE BIOLOGICAL LABORATORY | SOLOMONS, MDJUNE 2024ISSUE 94Lab LinesIN THIS ISSUE:DIRECTOR’S VIEW 1IN CASE YOU MISSED IT 2-3RECENT AWARDS & PUBLICATIONS 4NEW FACES 4IN THE NEWS 5SAFETY CORNER 6Its congratulations abound this month! I’d like to start by con-gratulating Drs. Laura Lapham and Andrew Heyes who were both promoted to Professor and Research Professor respec-tively. Congratulations also go to Alicia Clarke, Cindy Ross, and Brandon Young for promotion to FRA II and to our students who graduated at the 2024 UMCES commencement on May 31 st at IMET.Speaking of student successes Matt Stefanak was awarded an Explorers Club Washington Group Exploration and Field Re-search grant and congratulations to Allison, Amir, Anna, Sye-da (and other students) for having their Patuxent River paper accepted for publication in Estuaries and Coasts. This follows Amir’s presentation of this work at the Annual Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation conference last November. This work epitomizes the goals for our Issue Study Group classes as this paper was produced as the product from the Spring 2023 ISG class ‘MEES718A Long term Change in the Patuxent Estuary’. Congratulations to all, including the Instructors, Laura Lapham, Jeremy Testa, Lora Harris and Ryan Woodland. One of our PhD student alumni – Christina Goethel who is an Assis-tant Research Scientist in Jackie Grebmeier’s laboratory (and a visiting Assistant Professor at St. Mary’s College of Maryland) has been featured in a recent Women in STEM book highlight-ing her career path in the sciences.There’s lots of activity around campus too, REU students and Interns are deep into their projects and scientists are out in the eld, in the Chesapeake Bay and beyond collecting data. Construction around campus is underway, the rst with the build of the new Chesapeake Analytics Building. We have completed the interviews for the new Assistant Professor hire in Fisheries Ecology. More to come on this soon! I’d like to thank you all for a great showing for seminar and meeting attendances and to the facilities and maintenance teams for again ensuring our campus remains welcoming and a pleasant environment to work in.1

In Case You Missed ItCOMMENCEMENT May 31, 2024The University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science commencement was held on May 31, 2024. This years keynote speaker was Rick Spinrad, Ph.D. Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmo-sphere and NOAA Administrator. Congratulations to all our UMCES graduates!DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHYKohma Arai Marine Estuarine Environmental Sciences/Ecological Systems Advisor: Dr. David Secor, Chesapeake Biological Laboratory The role of Connectivity and spatial structure on the population dynamics of marine shesBenjamin Colbert Marine Estuarine Environmental Sciences/Ecological Systems Advisor: Dr. Helen Bailey, Chesapeake Biological Laboratory and Dr. Arthur Popper, University of Maryland Fish bioacoustics: From basic science to policyMASTER OF SCIENCEDanielle Quill Marine Estuarine Environmental Sciences/Ecological Systems Advisor: Dr. Ryan Woodland, Chesapeake Biological Laboratory Spatiotemporal distribution of Chesapeake Bay mysids in the Choptank and Patuxent Rivers, MarylandKaitlynn Wade Marine Estuarine Environmental Sciences/Earth and Ocean Systems Advisor: Dr. Michael Wilberg, Chesapeake Biological Laboratory Eects of environmental variables and changes in seasonal patterns on spatial distributions of Jonah crabs (Cancer borealis) and Atlantic rock crabs (Cancer irroratus) in Georges Bank and the Mid-Atlantic Bight, USADETERMINED TO BE EXTRAORDINARY by Dawn HeimerChristina Goethel, Assistant Research Scientist in Jackie Grebmeier's lab has been featured in a new book! (available on Amazon) Representation matters. Cultural stereotypes can discourage girls from considering STEM elds as viable career paths. Seeing successful women in STEM elds can inspire and motivate young girls to pursue STEM careers. When they see someone who looks like them achieving great-ness, it reinforces the belief that they can do it, too. ‘Determined to be Extraordinary’ isn't just a book – it's an invitation. An invitation to be inspired, to dream bigger, and to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the phenomenal women shaping our future.2

In Case You Missed ItCBL scientists successfully completed lucky PAX cruise #13. We started the Patuxent River science cruises back in 2018, and on May 31, many of the labs on campus were involved in one way or another to keep the time series going. We used two small boats to sample 4 stations along the river. A huge thanks to Cindy Ross and Janet Barnes for their fearless leadership at the helm of the boats. And to the crew Stefanie, Kaitlyn, and Iman. We also thank the behind the scenes action from the Testa and Harris lab. This was truly a group eort!!Patuxent River Wade In The annual Patuxent River Wade in event occurred on Sunday June 9th at the Jeerson Patterson Park. This de-cades long event led by the late Senator Bernie Fowler and now his grandson, Cody Fowler, highlights the health of the Patuxent River by measuring how murky the water is – wading in and seeing how deep you can go before you can’t see your shoes. This year that depth was 25”, although it was a rather windy day and the water was pretty choppy. See the wall in the Bernie Fowler Labora-tory to compare this number to other years and for back-ground on the event! A number of speakers spoke, in-cluding Congressman Steny Hoyer, DNR Secretary Josh Kurtz (intro-duced by MDP Secretary Rebecca Flora), Buddy Hance (Chair of the Calvert County Board of Commissioners), Kate Fritz, (CEO, Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay), Carys Mitchelmore (In-terim Director, UMCES CBL) and Scott Knoche (Director, PEARL Laboratory). I would like to thank those of you who came out and partici-pated in the Wade in and especially to those who ran the two displays, the overall CBL booth (Jessica McGlinsey) and the Dolphin watch one (Tom and Gail Miller, Matt Stefanak and Brian Marx). So hold the date – next year’s event is June 8th at 1pm, same place!Juneteenth Celebration event Jeerson Patterson ParkSamara Nehemiah led CBLs participation at the Juneteenth Celebration on Saturday June 15th at Jeerson Patterson Park and Museum. It was a great day, our displays were being challenged by the wind but the sh tank display and mummied sturgeon were huge hits! Thank you to all of the volunteers for the day, Samara Nehemi-ah, Lael Collins, Jerry Frank and Kaitlynn Wade.3

New FacesRiniya Countiss is a Human Resources Coordinator for our campuses located in Solomons (Chesapeake Biological Laboratory), College Park (Maryland Sea Grant), and Frostburg (Appalachian Laboratory).Jonathan Ballard is working with Mike Wilberg this summer in the IN FISH Internship program.Zorah Williams is working in Lisa Wainger's lab as an intern this summer.Maddalena Funya & Cedric Magen joined us in June as well. Maddalena Funya is working for Tom Miller. Cedric Magen will be reporting to Jackie Grebmeier and Lee Cooper.Recent Publications & AwardsRowe CL. 2024. Thermal-metabolic relationships in hatchling snapping turtles during simulated seasonal cooling. Acta Oecologica 124:104007.Explorers Club Washington Group Exploration and Field Research Grant ($5250) awarded: Matt Stefanak (PhD Student) the grant will be applied to research costs for Matt's dissertation work.Dreiss, A., Azarnivand, A., Hildebrand,A., Ahmadi,S., Ali, S., Lucchese,V., Zhang,Q., Lapham, L., Woodland, R., Harris,L., Testa, J. (2024) Controls on Oxygen Variability and Depletion in the Patuxent River Estuary and Coasts. This is UMCES archive number 6384 and the paper is Open Access.4

In the NewsGood News, Bad News in Water Quality Survey (Calvert County Times p. 6) May 30The annual Water Quality Monitoring Program for Tidal Creeks in Calvert County, conducted for the county by [University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science’s] Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, contains some positive and negative news for the environment… Dr. Lora Harris notes some improvements in Solomons Harbor but continuing degradation of the Patuxent River as a whole. Harris explained, “The commissioners have supported a title Water Quality Sampling Program in Calvert County since 1987… the things that we measure are the symptoms of eutrophication, which is the big water quality problem out in the Chesapeake Bay.”A juvenile and an adult crab found during the winter dredge survey used to estimate blue crab abundance in Md. and Va. Photo: Timothy B. WheelerResearchers Prepare for Blue Crab Stock Assessment To Help Guide Future Management (Maryland Department of Natural Resources) May 22A team of researchers is preparing for a large-scale analysis of the blue crab population in the Chesapeake Bay that will help guide future management of the crab shery and investigate factors that inuence the animal’s survival and reproduction… "One of the big reasons we’re doing the stock assessment is that recruitment hasn’t been as good as we expected based on the last assessment," said Mike Wilberg, a professor at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science who is leading the assessment. "We want to take a look at this and gure out why things aren’t Crew on the winter dredge survey boat sort through blue crabs found in the Choptank River. Data from this survey will be included in the stock assessment. Photo by Joe Zimmermann, Maryland Department of Natural ResourcesClick HEREBlue Crab Numbers Down From Last Year, Multi-Year Analysis To Begin (Chesapeake Bay Magazine) May 24 "One of the big reasons we’re doing the stock assessment is that recruitment hasn’t been as good as we expected based on the last assessment," said Mike Wilberg, a professor at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science who is leading the eort. "We want to take a look at this and gure out why things aren’t going the way we expect."5

Safety Corner: RAMPRAMP The Four Principles of Safety Recognize HazardsAssess Risks Minimize Hazards Prepare for Emergencies Laboratory Safety for Chemistry Students, by Robert H. Hill, Jr. and David C. Finster Copyright 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.RAMP is an acronym coined by Robert Hill, Jr. and David Finster in their textbook - Laboratory Safety for Chemistry Students – as a reminder for students to RAMP up for safety. This acronym is also useful for us to remember this when working in the laboratory or even in our home environment. We deal with chemicals and equipment in almost every aspect of our lives - cleaners at home, gasoline for our vehicles, yard and garden chemicals, and the chemicals we work with in the lab. It is very important that you understand the hazards of the laboratory in which you are working. This not only ensures your safety, but also the safety of those around you. Risk management not only involves using chemicals, but also operating the equipment. The most important letter of this acronym is R. If you do not recognize the hazards of your work, you will not be able to asses and minimize the risks nor will you be prepared for emergencies. Please do not take any un-necessary risks when performing an experiment and you should never underestimate the risks involved. An important thing to avoid is to become complacent. You should never think that because you have gotten away with certain behaviors or you have never had an accident, it will always work in your favor. This is not true, accidents do happen. Please remember to perform all your work with safety in mind. IncidentA recent graduate started a new job in a research laboratory. The individual needed to make a large quantity of a formalin solution from formaldehyde. The solution was prepared in a small carboy in the sink. While the employee was making the solution, it spilled in and all around the sink. The new employee left the laboratory without cleaning or reporting the spill. Shortly after this incident, another more experienced employee came into the lab and started to work. This individual, who was not informed of the spill, developed shortness of breath and stumbled into the hallway calling for help. After emergency treatment and hospitalization, it was discovered that he/she had an allergic reaction to formaldehyde and could no longer work in the laboratory.The new employee did not recognize the hazard presented by the formaldehyde; neither did they clean up the spill or report it to a supervisor. Because of the lack of good safety practices, a co-worker was adversely aected. It is also probable that there was also a lack of safety education at the academic institution that the recent graduate had attended. Schools need to think of themselves as stakeholders in workplace safety. It is the institution’s obligation to teach safety principles to their students and ensure they are practiced, thereby not sending graduates to the workplace without good safety habits. So – remember to RAMP up for safety in the laboratory.Hill, R.H., Recognizing and understanding hazards – The rst key step to safety. J. Chem. Health Safety (2018) https://doi.org/10.1016/i.ichas.2018.11.0056