Marine Biological Association of the UK

Plymouth Waterfront Corella eumyota and Undaria pinnatifida survey

alexandra street — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 09:25:11 +0000

Plymouth Waterfront Corella eumyota and Undaria pinnatifida survey

The Marine Biological Association’s SHARC group would like to invite fellow MBA Members to join them in a hunt for the non native seasquirt Corella eumyota and the Japanese kelp (wakame) Undaria pinnatifida on Plymouth’s waterfront on Saturday 25th February 2012.

These two species are relatively new arrivals thought to be increasing in abundance on Plymouth’s coast, and which have become invasive elsewhere around the world. These surveys will form part of a longer term monitoring project being undertaken by the group. We will also be searching for and recording other non-native species during our visit.

The survey is open to all levels of expertise however you must be a current Member of the Association to participate. To join the MBA visit: www.mba.ac.uk/membership

We will be meeting at the MBA Laboratory (http://g.co/maps/yvpkp) at 11.30 am for a short introductory talk about the two species including training in how to recognize them. We will then be walking down to the foreshore aim to be finished by 16.00.

For booking or more information, please email: events@mba.ac.uk

MBA Postgraduate Conference

alexandra street — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 14:57:57 +0000

The Marine Biological Association Postgraduate Conference is an annual scientific gathering of postgraduate students doing research in marine biology and related fields. The event serves as an invaluable opportunity to present your research to other fellow students and marine biologists in a friendly environment.

The 9th MBA Postgraduate Conference will be proudly hosted for the first time by University College Cork (UCC) from 21st to 24th May 2012. UCC and the School of Biological Earth and Environmental Sciences (BEES) have a long history of research in marine biology. Several marine projects are currently undertaken by students in different research groups of BEES and are involved with fisheries management, shell fish aquaculture and marine mammal conservation to mention just a few.

The Abstract Submission and Registration is now OPEN.

Please visit the web-site: http://www.corkmbaconference.com/

Director, Sir Alister Hardy Foundation for Ocean Science

alexandra street — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:07:54 +0000

DIRECTOR

SIR ALISTER HARDY FOUNDATION FOR OCEAN SCIENCE (SAHFOS) Plymouth, Devon, UK

http://www.sahfos.org

SAHFOS wishes to appoint a Director to lead the Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) Survey and other activities of the Foundation. Could you be the next leader of this internationally-recognised, small but dynamic research organisation?

Continuous Plankton Recorders have been towed by merchant ships belonging to many nations for over 5 million nautical miles, resulting in the collection of more than 200,000 plankton samples, primarily from the North Atlantic but increasingly from other oceans. The CPR survey is the longest running and geographically the most extensive marine ecological survey in the world.

Using this historical time series and the skills of a dedicated team of researchers and analysts the Survey provides globally-recognised scientific and policy-relevant information on environmental and climatic changes in marine ecosystems. SAHFOS has recently initiated a global alliance of similar surveys.

SAHFOS Council invites applications for the appointment of a Director. This is a unique opportunity for a scientist with vision and motivation to lead the staff and research to ensure the Foundation builds on its reputation for excellent and relevant science. The Council is open to employment arrangements such as joint positions with a University or a secondment from the candidate’s present institution.

Presentations and interviews will be held in Plymouth, Devon on 26 and 27 April 2012.

To apply send electronically a covering letter, CV and names and contact details of three referees by 16 March 2012 to:

Marion Smith, SAHFOS, The Laboratory, Citadel Hill, Plymouth, PL1 2PB Tel: 01752 633271. E-mail: masm@sahfos.ac.uk

Further Particulars

Background

The Sir Alister Hardy Foundation for Ocean Science (SAHFOS) is an international centre of excellence in marine plankton ecology and taxonomy. The Foundation is a UK-registered international charity funded by the UK Government (Defra and NERC) and a consortium of international agencies. It manages the Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) Survey – the longest and most geographically extensive marine ecological survey in the world. Since 1931, the Survey’s monitoring programme has been based on the collection of plankton using CPRs towed by volunteer merchant ‘ships of opportunity’ along regular monthly shipping routes in the North Sea, North Atlantic, Arctic, North Pacific and Southern Oceans. Recently, the Foundation has spearheaded a global initiative that will link existing sister CPR surveys and initiate new surveys from around the world, forming a more comprehensive global sampling strategy. The dataset of plankton biodiversity (~500 taxa) created from these tows provides a unique historical record of environmental and climatic indicators. It is used worldwide by marine scientists and policy makers to address marine environmental management issues such as harmful algal blooms, biodiversity, pollution, eutrophication and fisheries, as well as climate change. SAHFOS scientists also contribute to the IPCC and other international assessments.

The Foundation is governed by a Council – for further details see

http://www.sahfos.ac.uk/research/publications/annual-report.aspx. SAHFOS is based in Plymouth overlooking Plymouth Sound, and is co-located with the Marine Biological Association of the UK in its Citadel Hill laboratory.

The major aim of SAHFOS is to maintain the geographic and temporal coverage of the CPR Survey thus providing an accessible, reliable and up-to-date time series for scientific research and for the assessment of plankton ecosystems. Research is conducted to exploit the unique sample record collected over the past 80 years, in order to understand how climate and other environmental changes have and are affecting the living resources of the oceans.

Appointment

The Foundation is seeking to appoint a committed and enthusiastic scientist of international standing to fill the post of Director that became vacant on the recent retirement of Professor Peter Burkill.

Candidates will be scientists with distinguished careers in marine and/or global environmental research. In addition to their scientific experience, they should also demonstrate abilities for:

applying innovative approaches to fundraising;
leading and managing survey resources;
communicating science and policy to a variety of audiences;
negotiating research contracts.

The successful candidate will be a strategic thinker with a vision for the future of the Foundation.

The Director is responsible for the annual turnover of approximately £2.2M and 34 full and part time staff consisting of specialist plankton analysts, researchers, technicians and administrators who all play an

integral part in the CPR and the work of the Foundation generally. He/She will promote and participate in an active research programme, including work by resident and visiting scientists, for exploiting and interpreting the SAHFOS database.

The Director, as Secretary to the Foundation’s biannual Council Meetings and AGM, will be required to:

Provide leadership, vision and commitment in implementing the strategic goals of the Foundation;
1. Promote SAHFOS research so that maximum benefit is obtained, particularly in order that the CPR’s invaluable archive is properly exploited;
2. Maintain and develop the CPR Survey through negotiation of new research contracts and ensure it is both scientifically excellent and relevant to national and international policy needs;
3. Further enhance the national and international profile of SAHFOS by adopting an outward facing approach involving new partnerships and collaborations.

Together with senior personnel, the Director will:

Appoint staff, review their performance, advise Council on existing and new personnel policies and, when approved, implement them;
Review the Foundation’s Science Strategy and Development Plan and present and discuss it with Council;
Determine an annual budget for the Council’s approval and monitor financial performance between Council meetings;
Manage the Foundation’s resources effectively and ensure the accountability of the Council to the Charity Commission, Information Commissioner’s Office, HM Revenue and Customs and Registrar of Companies, as well as to beneficiaries and staff;
Advise and assist Council in identifying needs for compliance with the law, including Health & Safety.

At interview candidates will be asked for their strategic views of the future of SAHFOS and in particular how the existing close working relations between SAHFOS and the co-located Marine Biological Association of the UK can be further developed.

The appointment will be for an initial term of five years with the option to renew.

Expected salary will reflect the role and the calibre of the appointed candidate and will be broadly in the Civil Service Grade 5/6, NERC Band 2 or University Senior Manager/Professorial range. SAHFOS operates a Group Personal Pension Plan; a sum equivalent to 10% of the employee’s annual salary will be contributed to the plan by the Foundation on successful completion of the 6-month probation period.

Informal enquiries regarding the post may be directed to the President of Council, Professor Peter Liss, FRS (p.liss@uea.ac.uk; Tel: 44 (0)1603 592563).

UK Marine Science Events Calendar goes live

admin — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 13:56:57 +0000

The Marine Biological Association has been working with the Marine Science Coordination Committee to develop a freely accessible events calendar for national and international events relevant to marine scientists. The driver for this was the recognition that information on marine conferences, workshops and meetings emerges piecemeal and while some schedules collating these events exist, they are fragmented and appear across a number of different organisations. An on-line marine events schedule will therefore capture this information in one place with the following key aims:

To enable more effective deployment of staff and timings of communication activities so as to make the greatest impact on the target audiences.
Raise awareness within the wider scientific community of what events are taking place.
Encourage greater publicity of marine events by the media.
Aid planning of events (i.e. avoiding timetable clashes)

The calendar can be found at http://marinescienceevents.co.uk/ where you can also sign up and your event for free.

To keep up to date on the latest events you can subscribe to the RSS feeds or follow the calendar on Twitter.

Ideas and artwork of MBA scientists on display at the Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery

anne-flore laloe — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 10:30:55 +0000

The work of MBA Scientist Walter Garstang (1868-1949) is at the centre of a new exhibition called “Forms Most Beautiful” at the Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery. Garstang was famous for disagreeing with Ernst Haeckel’s theory of recapitulation which stated that embryos went through all stages of evolution in the womb. Garstang used his studies of larval forms in his Easter Classes held at the MBA to attempt to disprove this. He was never able to successfully do so, but he was shown to be right in 1996 after an extensive study by Professor Mark Richardson, now at the University of Leiden.

The exhibition is also displaying drawings and watercolours by Marie V. Lebour (1876-1971), another MBA Scientist who studied larval forms and plankton.

For more information, please visit the Plymouth City Council’s website.

The exhibition runs until 21 April 2012.

Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery is open Tuesdays to Fridays from 10.00 to 17.30, and Saturdays from 10.00 to 17.00. Admission is free.

HRH Prince of Wales launches International Sustainability Unit (ISU) Marine Programme

guy baker — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 17:17:02 +0000

The MBA’s Dr Olivia Langmead attended the launch of HRH Prince of Wales’ International Sustainability Unit (ISU) Marine Programme Launch on Friday 3 February at the Fishmongers Hall in London. The aim of the ISU’s Marine Programme is to build consensus globally on how the positive examples of sustainable fisheries management seen around the world can be replicated at scale.

In his keynote speech, the Prince outlined a positive future for the future of global fish stocks. Responses to the Prince were given by Commissioner Maria Damanaki, the European Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries and the Rt. Hon. Richard Benyon MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Natural Environment and Fisheries. Olivia advised the ISU on marine protected areas science in spring 2011 and was delighted to attend the programme launch.

Benthic Taxonomy Summer School at MBA 18-29 June 2012

alexandra street — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:56:26 +0000

Benthic Taxonomy Summer School 18th – 29th June 2012

The two week Benthic Taxonomy Summer School provides students with hands-on experience, working in the marine environment and an introduction to species identification skills. The course will build upon practical sampling and identification skills which many students will have gained during related undergraduate degree courses and provides skill and experience vital to those wishing to pursue a commercial or academic career in Marine Biology.

During the first week students have the opportunity to carry out both intertidal and subtidal sampling, using equipment that is routinely used for both commercial and academic collections. Samples collected in the field will be sorted and identified back in the laboratory giving students a taste of the biodiversity found in British seas. The second week of the course focuses on the identification of marine polychaetes and amphipods, two of the most commonly encountered groups of benthic invertebrates.

Participants are given the option of attending either or both weeks of the summer school. The summer school will be held at the resource centre at the Marine Biological Association of the UK where students will also have access to the National Marine Biological Library and other MBA resources.
Week 1. Marine Sampling and Species Identification
Week one of the summer school will include an introductory lecture given by John Rundle, an expert aquarist from the Marine Biological Association (MBA), with several decades of experience collecting and breeding marine invertebrates for academic research. This will be followed by an introduction to benthic taxonomy and its role in marine developments and conservation. Intertidal sampling will be carried out on local sandy and rocky shores and subtidal sampling with grabs, trawls and plankton hauls will be carried out onborad the MBA Sepia. Samples collected during this time will be returned to the marine aquariums housed in the MBA and will be identified to species with the assistance of some of MES’s senior taxonomists.
During this week there will also be a series of lectures and practical sessions which aim to familiarise students with the general morphology and diversity of species that exist within the most common groups of marine invertebrates (Crustacea, Annelida, Mollusca, Echinodermata, Cnidaria, Bryozoa, etc). The course will also be supplemented with short lectures on the reproductive strategies of marine invertebrates and practical applications of benthic taxonomy.

Week 2. Marine Polychaete and Gammarid Amphipod Identification
The second week of the Benthic Taxonomy Summer School focuses on the identification of marine Polychaetes and Gammarid Amphipods and will be predominantly lab based with identification sessions guided by experienced senior taxonomists from MES. The first three days will be spent looking at polychaetes using specimens collected in week one as well as those from the MES reference collection. This will expose the students to a wide variety of polychaete families and species and will give them an insight into the diversity that exists within this phylum as well as some of the skills necessary to identify polychaetes.

The final two days of the course will be spent exploring the morphological features which allow us to differentiate between British Gammarid Amphipod families. This section of the course will use the key text for this field, the 1977 book of British Marine Amphipoda: Gammaridea by Roger J. Lincoln.

There will be a number of identification tests carried out throughout the Summer School programme as a means of monitoring the progress of participants. At the end of the course students will be awarded with a certificate which will detail the components of the course in which they have actively participated and the level of competency achieved.

Scheduled course activities will run from 9am to 5pm but the resource centre will also be open to students in the evenings and the taxonomists from MES will be on hand to provide further assistance. This may be particularly useful for students wishing to work on their own samples or those wishing to advance their skills in a particular area of taxonomy.

There are two MBA scholarships available which will contribute £200 towards the cost of this course;

£200 Bursary competition for Benthic Taxonomy Summer School

The Marine Biological Association is offering two £200 bursaries towards the cost of the summer school, open to anyone registering for the above course. Applicants should apply in writing (or email) using the form which can be downloaded from the link below. Applicants are asked to send a short letter/email (max 200 words) outlining why they are attending the summer school, and what they hope to achieve. Successful applicants will agree to produce a short (half page) report for the MBA and MESL websites, as well as a 100 word paragraph for use in MBA and MESL Newsletters on the benefit on receiving an MBA bursary in order to attend the taxonomy summer school.

The deadline for bursary applications is the 13th April 2012.

All details at http://www.seasurvey.co.uk/taxonomy-school/summer-school

Marine Engineering Technician vacancy – SAHFOS

alexandra street — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:00:50 +0000

Marine Engineering Technician

(Part-time 3 days a week)

£20,615.20 per annum (£12,369.12 pro rata)

SIR ALISTER HARDY FOUNDATION FOR OCEAN SCIENCE (SAHFOS) Plymouth, Devon, UK

http://www.sahfos.org

The CPR Survey provides the global scientific and policy communities with a basin-wide and long-term measure of the ecological health of marine plankton. Using consistent and integral methodologies, Continuous Plankton Recorders (CPR) have been towed by merchant ships belonging to many nations for over 5 million nautical miles, resulting in the collection of more than 250,000 plankton samples primarily from the North Atlantic, but increasingly from other oceans. It is the longest running and geographically the most extensive marine ecological survey in the world. SAHFOS is currently funded by the UK Government (Defra and NERC) and a consortium of international agencies.

SAHFOS is a UK registered charity and invites applications for the part-time post (initially three days a week) of Marine Engineering Technician to be trained in the service and repair of sea going scientific instruments and other activities within a small busy team. To be successful you will have:

A nationally recognised engineering qualification.
Experience of working in a light engineering environment.
Proven ability of working within a team.
Experience of working to deadlines.
A willingness to work out of normal hours when required.
Attention to detail.
Experience in the maintenance of technical records.
A clean full UK driving licence.

The following is desirable but not essential:

Forklift truck licence.
A working knowledge of Microsoft Office and Outlook.
Turning and welding skills.

The 3 days are negotiable. However, all appointments carry liability to extra attendance if required. SAHFOS has a flexible working arrangement in place.

As part of the SAHFOS workshop team you will be trained in the operation, service and repair of the Continuous Plankton Recorder and associated equipment.

SAHFOS operates a Group Personal Pension Plan. A sum equivalent to 10% of the employee’s salary will be contributed by the Foundation on successful completion of the probation period of 6 months; this is not backdated.

The annual leave allowance is 30 days (pro rata 18 days) plus statutory Bank Holidays.

Interviews will be held in Plymouth, Devon on Wednesday 21^st March. References will be sought prior to interview unless advised otherwise.

Informal enquiries concerning the post can be made to Mr Chris Harris or Mr Roger Barnard: Tel 01752 633132.

To apply please send electronically a covering letter outlining how you have met or can meet the essential criteria, your CV and names and contact details of two referees by Friday 24^th February 2012 to:

Lance Gregory Workshop Manager, SAHFOS, The Laboratory, Citadel Hill, Plymouth, PL1 2PB Tel: 01752 633132. E-mail: sahfos@sahfos.ac.uk

Whitsand Bay Cuttlefish tag hunt and strandline survey

alexandra street — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 10:58:06 +0000

Whitsand Bay Cuttlefish tag hunt and strandline survey

The Marine Biological Association’s SHARC group would like to invite fellow MBA members to join them in a hunt for Cuttlefish tags, attached to cuttlebones on the strandline at Whitsand Bay near Plymouth this Saturday 28th January 2012.

The tags were attached to live cuttlefish released into the bay last year as part of the CRESSH project and anyone finding a tag will receive a cash reward. To find out more about the project look here: www.marlin.ac.uk/cresh/ and www.unicaen.fr/ufr/ibfa/cresh/.

We will also be exploring the strandline to find and record other interesting finds, including egg-cases, which we will pass onto the Shark Trust as part of the great eggcase hunt (www.eggcase.org/)

The survey is open to all levels of expertise however you must be a current member of the MBA to participate. To join the MBA visit: www.mba.ac.uk/membership<

We will be meeting at the MBA Laboratory (http://g.co/maps/yvpkp) at 9.30 to car share or 10:30 am – here: http://g.co/maps/8qmju).

For booking or more information, please email: jase@mba.ac.uk

The MBA and the British Antarctic Expeditions: several unique items on display

guy baker — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 15:54:18 +0000

Several unique items relating to the MBA’s involvement in the British Antarctic Expeditions of 1901-1904 (Discovery) and 1910-1913 (Terra Nova) are on display until 14 April 2012 at the Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery, in the exhibition

“From Plymouth to Pole: Scott, Science and the Men Who Sailed South”

Items on display include Edward W. Nelson’s sledge, artwork and correspondence. For more information on the exhibition, click on the flyer below, or visit the Plymouth City Council’s website. Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery is open Tuesdays to Fridays from 10.00 to 17.30, and Saturdays from 10.00 to 17.00. Admission is free.

For further information, see the Scott 100 website and read the article on Collecting in Antarctic Seas in Devon Life.