Image: In the spirits of FRC preparing for their set off to Sapelo Island, Dr. Damon Gannon, Associate Director of the UGA Marine Institute on Sapelo Island, presented student research that he and his colleagues oversee in this critical environment on the Georgia coast the evening of October 7th. The University of Georgia Marine Institute, or UGAMI, provides a space for students to flourish in their research studies. A few areas of research that are offered at the institute are Behavioral Ecology, Bioacoustics, Fisheries Science, Immunology, Limnology, Ornithology, and much more. During the Sapelo Island Academic Panel, Dr. Gannon presented research students have been working on in Sapelo. The first presentation covered the immune response in white shrimp by Ali Minning. White shrimp are one of the most important commercial shrimp but suffer from black gill disease which can harm the market. Black gill disease is a build up of melanin on the gills of white shrimp, which slows down the activity of the shrimp and lowers their chance of survival. Because shrimp are invertebrates, they lack an adaptive immune system to fight back the disease. In addition, because white shrimp don't produce melanin, a strong component to a natural immune system, having the parasite of black gill disease is that much more harmful. In order to conserve and recover the shrimp, it's important to understand the immune response a shrimp has. To test, white shrimp were brought into the lab and given 24 hours to get accustom to the new environment. Then, the shrimp under went monofilament surgery before being released in an active proPo (melanin) system. After various time trials, the monofilament was retrieved and statistics of percent of monofilament covered and darkness of melanin were recorded. Both the results of percent of melanization and color scale values increased the longer the shrimp was in the proPo system. The next presentation covered the ecology of Southern stingrays by Abbey Pylant. Southern stingrays, or Dasyatis americana, are distributed between New Jersey to Florida, as well as the Gulf Coast. Their diet consists of primarily crustaceans, making them part of the consumer family. The questions about Southern stingrays that were explored were how the spatial position in the estuary affects the trophic position of the Southern stingray and where do the southern stingrays "fit" in the food chain. In order to investigate these questions, the original location of the stingrays were Duplin River, Doboy Sound, Hunt Camp, and Marsh Landing. Having varying positions in the estuary will help determine whether spatial position affects trophic position. Hunt Camp had the least dangerous stingray and Doboy Sound had the most dangerous stingray. Both Marsh Landing and Duplin River had moderately dangerous stingray. Relative to their locations, the closer inland a stingray was, the least dangerous it was, but the farther out to ocean the stingray was, the more dangerous it would be. In terms of where the Southern Stingray fits in the food chain, it follows a trend of being found higher on the chain than most consumers. The last presentation covered the abundance of microplastics in the Altamaha River Delta by Daniela Llarena. The Altamaha River Delta sits between Darien and Sapelo Island and microplastics are often found in this area. Through data, Llarena concluded that the source of microplastics is near the coast of Darien or at the top of the river, holding over 100+ microplastics per 4 Liters, while the abundance of plastic decreases as she moves out towards the ocean. In addition to learning from Dr. Gannon about white shrimp, stingray, and microplastics, a student panel of Sapelo veterans shared their experiences FRC can look forward to. Some of the social bonding events they participated in were yoga on the beach, exploring the island on bikes, building a large bonfire, stargazing on the back of trucks, and traveling to the lighthouse on golf carts. Some of the academic events that they participated in were listening to the sounds of fish with microphones and trying to guess what they heard and planting sugarcane. While the Sapelo veterans consisted of those of different years, majors, and backgrounds, all have learned something new from the island and all agree that Sapelo was a great escape to enjoy nature.
