Tuesday, 12 September 2006 01:00
Forcasting with Cuba
The forecast path of Tropical Storm Gordon puts the system over the Island of Bermuda. The Bermuda Weather Service says people should take the storm seriously. Meanwhile forecasters at the National Hurricane Center in Miami say if the storm follows its predicted path it should veer well off the U-S-Coast. The forecasts are the result of cooperation among meteorologists from all the nations impacted by the Atlantic hurricane season. W-G-C-U’s Valerie Alker has more.
Published in
WGCU News
Friday, 18 August 2006 01:00
Test Tube Coral Babies
Marine scientists are creating "test-tube coral babies," hoping offspring will take root to help restore part of a coral reef damaged by a ship grounding in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.
A team of University of Miami marine science researchers, led by National Marine Fisheries Service ecologist Margaret Miller is collecting coral eggs and sperm this week during an annual reproductive ritual. Most corals in the Keys, Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean release eggs and sperm into the water a few days after the full moon in August. In the wild, eggs and sperm randomly mix and fertilize to become coral larvae. Some of it takes root to serve as foundation blocks for new coral. Miller provides artificial labs on the backs of boats for the fertilization.
“In our case they’re doing it in a dish or in a cooler on the back of the boat and it’s a fairly labor intensive process over several days of changing their water essentially, siphoning off some of the waste products that are in the water and providing them fresh sea water sort of over the next week or so during this phase when they’re little blobs swimming around.”
Beginning this weekend, Miller's team plans to take the larvae to a 400-foot freighter that ran aground off Key Largo in 1984. The grounding destroyed nearly five thousand square feet of corals.
Using money from fines the ship's owners paid, much of the site was restored in 2002, but there has not been evidence of any hard coral growth.
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Marine scientists hope "test-tube coral babies" will take root to help restore a tract of reef ravaged by a 1984 ship grounding off the Florida Keys. This week a team of University of Miami marine science researchers is collecting coral eggs and sperm during an annual
reproductive ritual, dubbed “coral spawning”. National Marine Fisheries Service ecologist Margaret Miller explains what happens next.
“We will be taking these coral larvae of reef building coral species, enclosing them around some of these limestone artificial structures that were built back in that area in the hopes that they will be able to settle and indeed return to being a coral reef in that area as opposed to some limestone structures.”
Looking like an upside-down, underwater snowstorm, most corals in the Keys, Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean release eggs and sperm a few days after the full moon in August. In the wild, eggs and sperm randomly mix and fertilize to become larvae. Some take root to become foundation blocks for new coral.
A team of University of Miami marine science researchers, led by National Marine Fisheries Service ecologist Margaret Miller is collecting coral eggs and sperm this week during an annual reproductive ritual. Most corals in the Keys, Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean release eggs and sperm into the water a few days after the full moon in August. In the wild, eggs and sperm randomly mix and fertilize to become coral larvae. Some of it takes root to serve as foundation blocks for new coral. Miller provides artificial labs on the backs of boats for the fertilization.
“In our case they’re doing it in a dish or in a cooler on the back of the boat and it’s a fairly labor intensive process over several days of changing their water essentially, siphoning off some of the waste products that are in the water and providing them fresh sea water sort of over the next week or so during this phase when they’re little blobs swimming around.”
Beginning this weekend, Miller's team plans to take the larvae to a 400-foot freighter that ran aground off Key Largo in 1984. The grounding destroyed nearly five thousand square feet of corals.
Using money from fines the ship's owners paid, much of the site was restored in 2002, but there has not been evidence of any hard coral growth.
-----
Marine scientists hope "test-tube coral babies" will take root to help restore a tract of reef ravaged by a 1984 ship grounding off the Florida Keys. This week a team of University of Miami marine science researchers is collecting coral eggs and sperm during an annual
reproductive ritual, dubbed “coral spawning”. National Marine Fisheries Service ecologist Margaret Miller explains what happens next.
“We will be taking these coral larvae of reef building coral species, enclosing them around some of these limestone artificial structures that were built back in that area in the hopes that they will be able to settle and indeed return to being a coral reef in that area as opposed to some limestone structures.”
Looking like an upside-down, underwater snowstorm, most corals in the Keys, Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean release eggs and sperm a few days after the full moon in August. In the wild, eggs and sperm randomly mix and fertilize to become larvae. Some take root to become foundation blocks for new coral.
Published in
WGCU News
Tuesday, 21 February 2006 00:00
Stem Cell Research
The Florida Legislative session begins next month. One bill lawmakers will debate would create a stem cell research institute at Florida Gulf University.
The bill, filed by Senate Democrat Dave Aronberg, would establish the FGCU Institute for Stem Biology. Research would focus on adult stem cells, skirting religious and ethical issues associated with embryonic stem cells. FGCU’s director of Biotechnology, Dr. Randall Alberte, says the school has state of the art research facilities and faculty that can lead the way in establishing a niche in this emerging field.
“It turns out that when you harvest adult stem cells, they’re from cord blood cells or bone marrow, less than 10 percent is stem cells and some of the opportunity to select and harvest that community is an opportunity that is not been achieved today and we believe we can exploit some new and emerging molecular recognition tools that will allow you to grab those cells out of a mixed population and identify them.”
Alberte says FGCU would also partner with other institutions both in the private and public sectors. Senator Aronberg’s bill earmarks 32 million dollars for the stem cell research institute. It has bi-partisan support. Its House sponsor is Republican Representative Paige Kreegal of Punta Gorda who is also a medical doctor.
The bill, filed by Senate Democrat Dave Aronberg, would establish the FGCU Institute for Stem Biology. Research would focus on adult stem cells, skirting religious and ethical issues associated with embryonic stem cells. FGCU’s director of Biotechnology, Dr. Randall Alberte, says the school has state of the art research facilities and faculty that can lead the way in establishing a niche in this emerging field.
“It turns out that when you harvest adult stem cells, they’re from cord blood cells or bone marrow, less than 10 percent is stem cells and some of the opportunity to select and harvest that community is an opportunity that is not been achieved today and we believe we can exploit some new and emerging molecular recognition tools that will allow you to grab those cells out of a mixed population and identify them.”
Alberte says FGCU would also partner with other institutions both in the private and public sectors. Senator Aronberg’s bill earmarks 32 million dollars for the stem cell research institute. It has bi-partisan support. Its House sponsor is Republican Representative Paige Kreegal of Punta Gorda who is also a medical doctor.
Published in
WGCU News