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R/IS-22
RDTE Facility: Establishing a Moblile Test platform on the Chesapeake Bay as Part of the Marine Resource Center
Principal Investigator:
Mario N. TamburriStart/End Year:
2008 - 2011Institution:
Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, University of Maryland Center for Environmental ScienceTopic(s):
Strategic focus area:
Resilient ecosystem processes and responsesDescription:
The Maritime Environmental Resource Center (MERC) is a State of Maryland initiative that will be providing test facilities, information, and decision tools to address key environmental issues facing the international maritime industry. The primary focus is to evaluate the mechanical and biological efficacy and costs and logistical aspects of ballast water treatment systems and assess the economic impacts of ballast water regulations and management approaches. We are proposing to enter into a Cooperative Agreement with NOAA Ballast Water Management Demonstration Program to establish the physical MERC RDTE-Facility, a MARAD barge into a test platform. The work/Plan of this proposal will focus on the conversion of a MARAD barge into a test platform that will be able to evaluate system performance under the different physical and biological condition's found throughout the Chesapeake Bay.
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Featured Fellow
Leone Yisrael is a cephalopod-loving scuba diver, cook, and loves to try new activities. She conducts genetic analysis and fieldwork at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center through the Coastal Disease Ecology Lab.
Featured Research Project
Developing a habitat model for mysids, an important link in Chesapeake Bay food webs
Mysids are important mesozooplankton prey for many species of fish in Chesapeake Bay and are an important link in transferring energy from lower to upper trophic levels. Mysids also serve as biological vectors for benthic-pelagic coupling due to their diel vertical migration and omnivorous prey-switching behavior, which makes mysids important regulators of food web architecture. Despite their central role in coastal food webs, surprisingly little is known about mysid ecology and dynamics in Chesapeake Bay.
