Del Angel discusses dunes
Meeting prepares for upcoming session
Diana Del Angel, working on her master's degree in HRI's Coastal and Marine Geospatial Sciences Lab under Endowed Chair Dr. James Gibeaut, presented her thesis work at the Texas Chapter of the American Shore & Beach Preservation Association meeting on October 29. HRI hosted the meeting with the objective being to prepare a coastal agenda for the upcoming 82nd Texas Legislative Session. Del Angel's talk was entitled “Dune-beach interactions of nourished and unnourished beaches on South Padre Island, Texas.” The meeting provided an opportunity for coastal researchers, engineers and elected officials to meet with others who share concerns and interests.

Restore America’s Estuaries
HRI students attend conference
HRI Masters Student Lauren Hutchison and PhD Student Brittany Blomberg were awarded scholarships to attend Restore America’s Estuaries’ 5th National Conference on Coastal and Estuarine Habitat Restoration held November 13-17 on Galveston Island. In addition to the conference, Hutchison attended a special workshop session concerning the application of adaptive management to address climate change related challenges. Blomberg attended a field session about Galveston Bay oysters, which included a tour of a local oyster company and oyster restoration sites. Hutchison and Blomberg are both working under HRI’s Endowed Chair for Ecosystem Studies and Modeling Dr. Paul Montagna.

Weaver helps band Red Knots
Also presents his PhD research
HRI PhD Student Doug Weaver presented the preliminary results of his doctoral research at the 2010 Gulf Estuarine Research Society (GERS) Meeting held at the University of Texas Marine Science Institute (UTMSI) in Port Aransas November 3-4. Entitled “Reef Fishes of the South Texas Banks, USA,” his talk was co-authored by HRI's Dr. Wes Tunnell and Dr. Tom Shirley.
   Earlier this fall, Weaver helped tag and document migratory Red Knot shorebirds at the Padre Island National Seashore October 6-9. The tagging program is led by David Newstead, a bird biologist with the Coastal Bend Bays & Estuaries Program, and by Dr. Larry Niles of the Conserve Wildlife Foundation, New Jersey.
   Red Knots undergo extensive migrations of up to 6,900 miles from the Canadian portion of the Arctic Circle in summer to winter grounds at Tierra del Fuego at the southern tip of South America. The scientists captured four birds with geolocators, small devices which record daily position during their annual migrations. This study is the first project to document the detailed annual migratory patterns of a Texas shorebird using these devices.
ARTICLE, VIDEO & PHOTOS AT CALLER.COM
ARTICLE AT SALEM-NEWS.COM

Ahmadia works in Indonesia
Site offers diverse reef environment

TAMUCC PhD student Gabby Ahmadia was interviewed for an Indonesian documentary about the field work she is doing.
Gabby Ahmadia, a PhD candidate in TAMUCC’s Coastal and Marine System Science Program, has recently completed her fifth season of field work at the Hoga Marine Research Station in SE Sulawesi, Indonesia – uniquely located within the “coral reef triangle,” which houses the most diverse reefs in the world. Her doctoral research is focused on examining microhabitat use patterns of cryptobenthic coral reef fishes on different spatial scales. Her PhD advisor is HRI Faculty Associate Dr. Frank Pezold, Dean of the College of Science and Technology at TAMUCC. This past summer, Ahmadia was featured in a short Indonesian nature documentary entitled Expedition.
EXPEDITION INDONESIAN ONLINE VIDEO

Kilgour helps NOAA tag sharks
Long line survey assesses populations

Morgan Kilgour with tagged shark.
Morgan Kilgour participated in the NOAA fisheries fall long line survey this fall. She helped to identify and measure sharks from off the coast of Texas throughout the Gulf of Mexico to the coast of Florida. This is an ongoing study in the Gulf of Mexico to assess shark populations and distributions.

Dalthorp presents poster in Vail
Poster about hydrocarbon seepage
HRI PhD Student Maggie Dalthorp, studying with TAMUCC’s Coastal and Marine System Science Program, was invited to present a poster at the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) Hedberg Research Conference June 8-11 in Vail, Colorado. The research conference's focus was “Applications of Reservoir Fluid Geochemistry” and the title of the poster presented by Dalthorp was “The Relationship of Subsurface Reservoir Properties and Hydrocarbon Sea Surface Slicks in the Green Canyon Area, Northern Gulf of Mexico.” Based on the poster presentation, Dalthorp was asked to prepare a chapter for an AAPG special volume, “Hydrocarbon Seepage from Source to Surface,” edited by Michael Abrams and Tim Berge. The volume is currently under peer review.