NSF East Asia and Pacific Summer Institute (EAPSI) for FY 2013 in Japan

Conley Keats R, Coos Bay OR

Investigators

Abstract

This action funds Keats Conley of University of Oregon to conduct a research project in Biology during the summer of 2013 at Hiroshima University in Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. The project title is "Behavior and Survival of Moon Jellyfish (Aurelia aurita) Larvae Under Various Environmental Conditions." The host scientist is Dr. Shin-ichi Uye. Moon jellyfish (Aurelia aurita) mature in June-August in Hiroshima Bay and release free-swimming larvae called "planulae." This study investigates the behavior and survival, or physioecology, of planulae under various environmental conditions (temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, light). Planulae are also eaten by common filter feeding organisms, such as oysters, mussels, and tunicates. This research measures the feeding rates on the planulae by these organisms. Since larvae generally have very high mortality rates, environmental factors such as these can have large impacts on survival, subsequently affecting adult jellyfish abundance. This work carries social and economic significance because some regions have experienced increasingly frequent and severe jellyfish blooms, which present a grave threat to some fishing industries, aquaculture farms, tourism and coastal industry. In Japan, blooms of moon jellyfish have imposed significant costs on fisheries by clogging and bursting fishing nets. In the U.S., the notorious "slime bank" of the Bering Sea is seasonally unfishable because of jellyfish abundance; blooms, therefore, present a global economic threat, not just a national one. Broader impacts of an EAPSI fellowship include providing the Fellow a first-hand research experience outside the U.S.; an introduction to the science, science policy, and scientific infrastructure of the respective location; and an orientation to the society, culture and language. These activities meet the NSF goal to educate for international collaborations early in the career of its scientists, engineers, and educators, thus ensuring a globally aware U.S. scientific workforce. Furthermore, results from this EAPSI research collaboration on jellyfish larval response to different environmental parameters may ultimately be used to help predict variations in populations, conveying societal benefits by helping various industries to manage the socioeconomic damages imposed by jellyfish. The EAPSI host researcher is a member of a national counter-jellyfish project (STOPJELLY), leading the development of new technology to predict and control jellyfish outbreaks; through this collaboration, the EAPSI fellow is acquiring exposure to such technologies, which may ultimately have applications for coastal management and policy. This project also helps enhance the average citizen?s scientific understanding of jellyfish by using the Newport Aquarium, which attracts over 40,000 students each year, as a site for a public display on the significance of research findings.