Te biodiversity of the Indian River

Lagoon (IRL) is widely touted as

being the highest of any estuarine
system in North America. Almost
900 invertebrate species, well over
half of the total number of animals
in the IRL, have been recorded
in the 156-mile stretch of water.
But having a list of animals
that are present is far different
than understanding the species
distribution and abundance, so Smithsonian researchers
set out to accomplish the latter by conducting a year-long
IRL Invertebrate Inventory with funding from the Disney
Worldwide Conservation Fund.
In December 2009, researchers
deployed Autonomous Reef Monitoring
Structures (ARMS) at eights sites
along the IRL, spanning 120 miles from
Ponce Inlet to Jupiter Inlet. Te ARMS,
pictured at right, were specifically
designed to provide appropriate hiding
and/or settling space for dierent types of invertebrates
hard surface for barnacles, crevices for crabs, and mesh into
which worms and larvae can nestle, for example. Six ARMS
were deployed at each site; three units were collected after six
months in the water, the remaining units were collected after
twelve months. Environmental conditions, such as water
temperature and salinity, were recorded at each deployment
site at the time the units were deployed and collected.
Dr. Valerie Paul, director of the Smithsonian Marine
Station (SMS) and Dr. Christopher Meyer, Research Zoologist
at the National Museum of Natural History (NMNH), headed
up a team of researchers that included scientists, postdoctoral
fellows and students from Florida Museum of Natural History,
Virginia Museum of Natural History, and University of
Louisiana at Lafayette, as well as Smithsonian scientists from
SMS, NMNH and the Smithsonian Environmental Research
Center. Teir task was to disassemble the ARMS and then separate,
identify, count, photograph and catalog what would eventually
number over 1200 specimens representing more than 300 species
across 12 phyla. Researchers also preserved voucher specimens for
each unique species, representative organisms used for taxonomic
identication and DNA barcoding.
With such a wealth of information, scientists and resource
managers now have a baseline of data that outlines broad-scale
patterns across the IRL. Te study will allow researchers to use
the ARMS in the future to identify shifts in overall diversity or
in an individual species distribution and abundance over time.
Additionally, the Invertebrate Inventory may act as an early
detection system for invasive species. During the course of the
project, two invasive bryozoans, also known as moss animals,
were recorded for the rst time in the IRL.
Perhaps most importantly, the method of collection
using ARMS follows a standardized protocol, which allows
researchers to compare the diversity and abundance of
IRL invertebrate species with those of marine and
estuarine sites
around the
wor l d, i nc l udi ng
Australia, Hawaii, and
on the South Pacific
island of Moorea. Such
cross-comparisons may
one day provide critical
insights for conservation,
pol i cymaki ng and
management activities.
F o r m o r e
i nformation on the
invertebrates of the
Indian River Lagoon, visit
the IRL Field Guide online
at www.sms.si.edu. SMS
Taking Stock of the Lagoon
Smithsonian scientists conduct invertebrate inventory
Laura Diederick, Education Specialist
Smithsonian Marine Station | 701 Seaway Drive, Fort Pierce, FL 34949 | 772.462.6220 | www.sms.si.edu
Teaching Teachers Science2
Blennies in Belize 2
New Staff, Grants, Publications 3
SMEE Update 4
News
In this issue:
3 4
Every animal was sorted into small containers,
identified (if possible) to Genus level, labeled
with the site from which they were collected,
counted and catalogued, just like the bristle
worms pictured here.
The Smithsonian Marine Station at Fort Pierce Summer 2011
2
Researchers spent
many long hours
sifting, sorting
and cataloguing
the often-tiny
invertebrates col-
lected from eight
sites in the IRL.
SMS
Teaching Teachers About Scientific Research
Bringing scientists and educators together is just one
goal of COSEE Florida (Centers for Ocean Sciences
Education Excellence), a regional collaboration in
which the Smithsonian Marine Station (SMS) is a
lead partner. Tis summers launch of the Research
Experience for Pre-service Teachers (REPT) program
is one way COSEE Florida is meeting this goal. Te
REPT program gave six students enrolled in Indian
River State Colleges Middle School Science Education
program an opportunity to experience scientific
research rsthand through a seven week internship.
Students worked in pairs at one of three local research
facilities, including SMS, to complete a short research
project in collaboration with mentor scientists.
Kim Demet and Lisa Kelly were selected to work
at the Smithsonian Marine Station with Dr. Teresa
Meickle, Dr. Jennifer Sneed, and Dr. Valerie Paul on
their continuing project monitoring cyanobacterial
abundance and formation of blooms (large population
increases that can be environmentally harmful) in the Indian
River Lagoon (IRL). As part of their internship, Kim and Lisa
assisted with measurements of the size and density of the
blooms at four sites in the IRL to determine the extent of
each bloom. Additionally, they investigated the impact
these blooms may have on lagoon organisms by extracting
chemical compounds from one type of cyanobacteria,
Lyngbya majuscula, and testing various concentrations
of the compounds in herbivore feeding experiments and
antimicrobial and antifungal experiments. Te students
were trying to determine if higher concentrations of the
chemical extracts would reduce the feeding rate of the
sea urchin, Lytechinus variegatus, or aect the growth
of bacteria and fungi found at the sites from which the
cyanobacterium was collected.
At the conclusion of the program, participants
presented a scientic poster of their research to an
audience that included both scientists and educators.
Tey also created a short video presentation addressing
a common misconception about science.
I remember being young and thinking scientists
were old guys in lab coats, said Lisa. Tis summer
changed everything I thought I knew about scientists. To
learn more about this program or to view the students
videos, visit www.coseeorida.org. SMS
Theresa Meickle, Postdoctoral Fellow
Smithsonian Scientists Discover New Species
M. Scott Jones, CCRE Program Coordinator
Top: Dr. Jennifer Sneed
discusses a project with
REPT participant, Kim
Demet. Bottom: Dr. The-
resa Meickle checks an
instrument before REPT
participant Lisa Kelly takes
a reading.
Tere is often more than meets the eye when it comes to
fish- something that Dr. Carole Baldwin, a researcher at
the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History,
and her colleagues discovered
rsthand while conducting research
at the Smithsonians Carrie Bow
Cay field station in Belize. They
combined modern genetic analysis
with traditional morphological
comparisons to re-examine fish
species that were, in some cases,
originally described over 100 years
ago and found what were once
thought to be three species of
Starksia sp. blennies, were actually
ten distinct species.
Starksia blennies are small sh
with elongated bodies, found on
rocky and coral reefs in the western
Atlantic and eastern Pacic oceans.
While using DNA barcoding to match larval sh to their adult
forms, Baldwins team noticed contradictions between the
preliminary genetic data and the current species classication.
Further investigation revealed new species in numerous groups
of shes, including Starksia blennies.
DNA analysis has oered science a great new resource to
Pictured above are three
of the seven species of
blenny discovered by
Dr. Carole Baldwin and
her team.
examine old questions, said Dr. Baldwin. Tis discovery
is a perfect example of how DNA barcoding is illuminating
species that weve missed before, particularly small cryptic
reef shes like Starksia blennies. We dont know where we
stand in terms of understanding species diversity, and our
work suggests that current concepts may be surprisingly
incomplete.
Teir paper examines the genetic lineages within
each of the three original blenny species. Only when
diagnostic morphological features supported the genetic
data did they recognize them as a new species. Traditional
morphological analysis, such as comparing patterns of
pigmentation and numbers of n rays, were used to solidify
their ndings. Te teams DNA data already suggests that
other types of Caribbean sh may also represent species
complexes that break into multiple, geographically distinct
species after further study and force re-examination of
traditional concepts of speciation in the Caribbean.
Te teams combined molecular and morphological
approach has not only increased the number of currently
recognized species, it serves as an example of the
continuing nature of scientic discovery. Because the
resiliency of marine ecosystems to human exploitation may
be linked to species richness, an improved understanding
of the diversity and distribution of reef life is necessary for
conservation and management of reef resources. SMS
New Grants
Valerie Paul received an award of $32,984 from Mote
Marine Laboratory for the project entitled, Inuence of
marine microbes on coral recruitment in the Florida Keys.
Valerie Paul received an award of $15,000 from the Link
Foundation for the project entitled, Graduate student
training in marine sciences FY 2011-2012.
Valerie Paul, Raphael Ritson-Williams, Scott Jones and
Nicole Fogarty received an award of $21,500 from the
Smithsonian FY11 Endowment Program for the project
entitled, Population dynamics of threatened Caribbean
acroporid corals at Carrie Bow Cay, Belize.
Bjorn Tunberg received an award of $148,586 from Te
Department of the Army, U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, for
the project titled, CERP: Benthic Infaunal Monitoring of
the St. Lucie Estuary and the Southern Indian River Lagoon.
Selected Publications
Borja, A., B. G. Tunberg. 2011. Assessing benthic health
in stressed subtropical estuaries, eastern Florida, USA
using AMBI and M-AMBI. Ecological Indicators
11: 295-303.
Fong, Peggy and Valerie J. Paul. 2011. Coral reef algae, IN:
Corals Reefs: An Ecosystem in Transition, Z. Dubinsky
and N. Stambler (Eds.). DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-
0114-4_17. Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
Gunasekera, Sarath P., Chivas S. Owle, Rana Montaser,
Hendrik Luesch and Valerie J. Paul. 2011.
Malyngamide 3 and cocosamides A and B from the
marine cyanobacterium Lyngbya majuscula from
Cocos Lagoon, Guam. J. Nat. Prod. 74: 871-876.
Kwan, Jason Christopher, Teresa Meickle, Dheran Ladwa,
Max Teplitski, Valerie Paul, and Hendrik Luesch. 2011.
Lyngbyoic acid, a tagged fatty acid from a marine
cyanobacterium, disrupts quorum sensing in Pseudomonas
aeruginosa. Molecular BioSystems, 7: 1205-1216.
Morrow, Kathleen M., Valerie J. Paul, Mark R. Liles
and Nanette Chadwick. 2011. Allelochemicals
produced by Caribbean macroalgae and cyano-
bacteria have species-specic eects on reef coral
microorganisms. Coral Reefs 30: 309-320.
Paul, Valerie J., Ilsa B. Kuner, Linda J. Walters, Raphael
Ritson-Williams, Kevin S. Beach, Mikel A. Becerro.
2011. Chemically mediated interactions between
macroalgae, Dictyota spp. and multiple life-history
stages of the coral Porites astreoides. Marine Ecology
Progress Series, 426: 161-170.
Paul, Valerie J., Raphael Ritson-Williams and Koty
Sharp. 2011. Marine chemical ecology in benthic
environments. Natural Product Reports, 28: 345-387.
Sneed, Jennifer M. and Georg Pohnert. 2011. Te green
macroalga Dictyosphaeria ocellata influences the
structure of the bacterioplankton community through
dierential eects on individual bacterial phylotypes.
FEMS Microbiology Ecology, 75: 242-254.
New Faces at SMS and SMEE
Dr. Jenni fer Sneed
received her Ph.D. in
Chemi stry from the
Friedrich Schiller Uni-
versity in Jena, Germa-
ny. Previously an SMS/
Link Fellow, Jennifer
returned in February as
a Postdoctoral Fellow
to study settlement of
coral larvae.
Katherine Papacostas
is a Ph.D. student at
Temple University in
Philadelphia working
towards her degree in
Biology. As an SMS/Link
Graduate Fellow she is
examining the trophic
interactions that influ-
ence the establishment
of invasive species in the
Indian River Lagoon.
SMS/Link Fellow Maria
Herranz is visiting from
Compluteuse University
of Madrid in Spain, where
she is a Ph.D. student in
Biology. While at SMS,
Maria is using dierent
microscopy techniques
to study the development
and morphology of tiny
organisms in the Phylum
Kinorhyncha.
Benjamin Sollins is an
SMS/Link Fellow and
a student at Fl ori da
At l antic University,
working towards his
M.S. in Environmental
Science. He is investigat-
ing chemical responses
in red mangroves to in-
festations of a parasitic
herbivore and the result-
ing eects on seedlings.
Chelle King joined the
education sta at SMEE
as an intern in Febru-
ary. She received her
M.S. in Biology from
Truman State Univer-
sity in Missouri in 2010,
where she researched
developmental genetics.
While at SMEE, she has
developed a number of
new hands-on displays.
Julian Prato is visit-
ing SMS from Bogota,
Colombia, where he is
working on his M.S. at the
Universidad Nacional de
Colombia. While in Fort
Pierce, he is studying the
chemical compounds
produced by cyano-
bacteria and the eects
they have on marine
organisms.
Many Thanks to Our Friends
Te sta of SMS extends a warm welcome and a big thank you to new and
renewing members of Friends of the Smithsonian Marine Station who provide
critical support for research and educational programs. For information on
how to become a Friend, call 772.462.0977.
Charles & Janet Alford - Robert & Frances Bangert - Hugh & Carolyn Benninger
- David & Ursula Blackburn - Jack & Sally Chapman - Judith Collins - Dale
Cassens Education Complex - William Jaeckle - Carl & Irene Kehres - Richard
& Susan Kehres - Marilyn Link - Alma Lee Loy - Whitney & Elizabeth
MacMillan - Eleanor Sexton - Sumner Gerard Foundation - Peter &
Jeanne Tyson - Margaret Wisniewski
The first-ever blooms on
SMEEs red mangroves
gave one more reason to
celebrate this year!
Spring was action-packed, and summer is
shaping up to be the same at the Smithson-
ian Marine Ecosystems Exhibit (SMEE)! In
February, we kicked-o our tenth anniversary
year with a celebration of our successful part-
nership with St. Lucie County that included
a name-change. Te facility housing SMEE
was ocially renamed the St. Lucie County
Aquarium in an eort to more accurately re-
ect this community resource. During the an-
niversary kicko event, visitors participated
in seining demonstrations, as well as tours
through the Exhibit and Behind-the-Scenes.
On June 4, we held our sixth annual World
Ocean Day celebration with seining demon-
strations, face painting, crafts, and lots of fun.
Tanks to everyone who came out to both
events and made them such great successes!
Spring was also a time for us to thank our
volunteers during Volunteer Appreciation
Week. Te Aquarium hosted volunteers from
SMEE and SMS with an award ceremony and reception.
Congratulations to volunteers Ronnie DeGarmo, Charlie
Kennedy, John Yoder, Bobby Langley, and Yuka Elwell
Smithsonian
Marine Station
701 Seaway Drive
Fort Pierce, FL 34949
772.462.6220
www.sms.si.edu
Chelle King, Marine Education Intern
Marine Ecosystems Exhibit Update
SMS
News
The Smithsonian Marine Station at Fort Pierce Summer 2011
There is Always Something New at SMEE
on receiving Presidents Volunteer Service Awards!
And though summer is not yet over, we are
already looking ahead to an upcoming collaborative
festival this fall on September 24 in celebration of
National Estuaries Day. SMEE will open its doors
with free admission, bus rides will be available from
the Aquarium to Harbor Branch Oceanographic
Institute, and visitors will have an opportunity to
take boat rides on the Indian River Lagoon.
For upcoming summer and fall events, be sure
to visit our online calendar at www.sms.si.edu/
SMEE or follow our Facebook and Twitter pages
(SmithsonianSMS) for updates, including daily
photos and videos of the wild creatures here at
SMEE! SMS
Sta members of the Smithsonian Marine
Station and the Ecosystems Exhibit
are grateful for the ongoing support
provided by the Florida Fish and Wildlife
Conservation Commission through the
Fish and Wildlife Research Institute. Tese
funds allow us to conduct a number of
research and education activities that
would otherwise not be possible.