IN THIS ISSUE
  > Director's Report
    Dr. Robert Furgason
  > Coming of Age
    HRI's first six years
  > Dr Paul Montagna
    HRI's new endowed chair
  > Law of the Sea
    March 22-24, 2007
  > Secrets of the Gulf
    HRI goes live
  > Invasive Species
    Dr. Tom Shirley
   
 
 Dr. Paul Montagna
    HRI's newest endowed chair
    
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Dr. Paul Montagna became the HRI's third endowed chair when he came onboard in 2006 to head up the ecosystem studies and modeling program. Before joining the HRI staff, he worked with the University of Texas Marine Science Institute in Port Aransas.
   The HRI's other two endowed chairs are Dr. Tom Shirley, whose specialty is biodiversity, and Dr. Richard McLaughlin, whose specialty is marine policy and law.
   Montagna and his staff are studying how organisms control and regulate marine ecosystems and coastal environments. Much of their research information is used to help guide resource management decisions.
   Their day-to-day work includes collecting data on bottom-living organisms and on water quality. Using this data, they study the effects of freshwater inflow, water quality and contaminants.
   Rick Kalke, is Montagna's field coordinator and lab manager. In early March, he and two HRI researchers were in the field getting benthic macro-fauna samples to study the environmental effects of the newly built
  Dr Paul Montagna - HRI
Packery Channel. Packery is one of six areas they are studying in the Texas Coastal Bend area.
    
  Dr. Paul Montagna's staff members, Terry Palmer and April Gossmann (top left), join field coordinator and lab manager Rick Kalke (driving boat) in early March to collect benthic macro-fauna samples to study the environmental effects of the newly built Packery Channel.
Photos by Carrie Robertson
 © 2007 Harte Research Institute