UMCES Chesapeake Biological Laboratory P.O. Box 38 Solomons, MD 20688-0038

THE MISSION of the CHESAPEAKE BIOLOGICAL LABORATORY - one of three academic research campuses comprising the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science - is a two-fold one: to develop and promote excellence in marine research and graduate education, and to share with the larger scientific community and the people of Maryland the results of its ongoing exploration of the natural world. Founded in 1925 by zoologist Reginald Truitt, a visionary scientist from Maryland's Eastern Shore, CBL was the first (and now oldest) state-supported marine laboratory on the United States East Coast. Having grown and matured from its modest beginnings in an 8' x 10' fishing shanty beside Solomons harbor, CBL has now become an acknowledged leader in marine ecosystem studies, environmental geochemistry and toxicology, and fisheries science and management.

RESEARCH & EDUCATION

Research at CBL is conducted on a modern, Bay-side campus comprising 14 laboratory and administrative buildings. Extramural funding support comes not only through competitive grant awards from Federal agencies such as NSF, EPA, DOE and NIH, but also from state funds administered primarily through the MD Department of Natural Resources. In cooperation with other units of the University System of Maryland (USM), CBL currently participates in several System-wide graduate education programs. While the Lab itself does not offer degrees, its faculty hold appointments within the USM, and CBL graduate students study / matriculate under the auspices of the USM Graduate School.

PUBLIC SERVICE

CBL serves the people of Maryland with its active involvement in a variety of outreach and public service programs on coastal and watershed management, regional fisheries management, and environmental planning and conservation. Expertise is available to citizens and local / state legislators for providing objective opinions and information on environmental matters. CBL is also a founding member of SEARCH - the Solomons Environmental and Archaeological Research Consortium - that unites the unique and varied expertise of six regional research organizations. Working with the Maryland Sea Grant Extension office (based here at CBL), the Laboratory engages in a diverse suite of outreach activities, ranging from conducting seminars, conferences, workshops and demonstrations, to producing educational materials such as videos, "fact sheets," and newsletters.

Please visit the CBL Home Page to learn more about us ....

• 14 buildings with over 100,000 sq. ft. of administrative and lab space.

• Short-term on-campus housing facilities for both students and visiting faculty.

• State-of-the-art facilities and instrumentation for trace level analyses of a variety of organic and inorganic compounds in aquatic and atmospheric environments. Major instrumentation includes: gas and liquid chromatographs, coupled gas chromatograph / mass spectrometer system, liquid scintillation counters, alpha spectrometer, scanning spectrophotometer, ion chromatograph, atomic absorption spectrophotometers, CHN elemental analyzer, DOC analyzer, and a variety of field sampling and scientific instrumentation. Contractual services for state-of-the-art nutrient analyses are available from CBL Analytical Services.

• Controlled Environment Facilities for the experimental study of marine organisms, including temperature-regulated walk-in chambers, a flow-through seawater system providing heated, chilled and/or filtered seawater, and year-round continuous culture of a variety of zoo/phytoplankton species. The Ecophysiology Laboratory is a multi-use facility for respiration studies of larval to adult-sized fish and other taxa, under computer-controlled and monitored conditions of temperature and salinity in six, 200-gallon tanks and two swim-tunnel respirometers.

• A professionally-staffed, specialized Research Library provides access to computerized literature searching, reference assistance, interlibrary loan services, and customized "literature profile" search capabilities. The on-site collection contains over 48,000 volumes (6,100 books and 28,500 bound periodicals), as well as an indexed collection of local / state / federal documents and international cooperative reports. Over 200 active journal subscriptions are currently supported, in addition to an excellent national and international collection of historical reference materials dating from the late 1800's. The library is a part of the University System of Maryland Libraries Consortium, with access to the system-wide computerized on-line catalogue (Victor) and data-base system (CARL).

• A professionally-staffed Computer Center maintains the core CBL fileservers and networking infrastructure, including a high speed, fiber optic based LAN backbone; T-1 line connectivity to the Internet and the USM Interactive Video System; campus e-mail; remote access via a dial-in modem pool; PC, Sun Sparc, and Mac file sharing; and a 24-hr. computing lab for use by faculty, staff and students.

• Deep-draft docking and ship support / maintenance facilities in service to the UMCES Research Fleet: the 65 ft. R/V AQUARIUS and several small outboard-equipped vessels, including the 25 ft. R/V PISCES.

• Shop / fabrication facilities in support of sheet metal, carpentry, refrigeration, and electronics work.

Further information about Academic and Research Facilities at CBL can be obtained from the FACILITIES portion of the CBL www pages ....

Scientific research at CBL encompasses a broad spectrum of the environmental sciences:

ECOSYSTEM STUDIES

Ongoing research in this discipline includes the theory and behavior of marine ecosystems, food web analysis, processes affecting energy and material budgets, physical / geochemical processes, and biotic interactions affecting material cycling and energy flux in marine systems. CBL's location near the geographic center of the Chesapeake Bay has facilitated the Laboratory's ongoing role in monitoring the "health" of the Bay and its watershed. Our scientists and students have helped identify potential causes for the decline in Bay water quality and macrophyte productivity, and lent support to Maryland's vigorous program to reduce nutrient loading and soil runoff from the land. Data from the Bay Monitoring Program have enabled CBL scientists to construct elaborate nutrient budgets that identify major nutrient sources and fates within this complex ecosystem.

A natural outgrowth of such multidisciplinary environmental studies has been the formation of two inter-institutional programs: (1)The University of Maryland Institute for Ecological Economics (UMIEE), that involves scientists and scholars from UMCES, and the University of Maryland, College Park in addressing the full range of interactions between ecological and economic systems; and (2) The Natural Capital Research Group (NCRG), that deals with practical strategic questions about "natural capital", i.e., those components of the natural environment that are valuable, vulnerable, scarce, fragile, or irreplaceable enough to make them potential targets for direct investment in restoration or rehabilitation.

ENVIRONMENTAL CHEMISTRY, GEOCHEMISTRY AND TOXICOLOGY

Environmental chemists and geochemists study the sources, transport and fate of nutrients; natural and anthropogenic organic chemicals; and trace metals in watersheds, freshwater, estuarine, coastal and marine systems. CBL chemists have assumed a leadership role on research involving sources / loadings of pollutants from the atmosphere and the watershed to marine ecosystems such as the Chesapeake Bay. Concomitant studies of biogeochemical processes affecting material cycling in the atmospheric and aquatic systems quantify the potential consequences of human-induced changes to our coastal habitats. Additional research centers on the factors controlling exposure and accumulation of contaminants in aquatic organisms. CBL chemists collaborate in several multidisciplinary research programs, including the EPA Multiscale Experimental Ecosystem Research Center (MEERC).

Current toxicological investigations explore how marine organisms adapt physiologically and biochemically to 'sublethal' anthropogenic stressors (e.g., toxic metals and organics), and how to link those responses to levels of toxicants and adverse effects on tissue, reproduction and growth. These investigations are conducted using state-of-the-science technologies in biochemistry, physiology, molecular biology, and analytic chemistry. Specific areas of interest include: toxicant-induced oyster immune system modulation; organism response to toxic metals, and to organic compounds known to induce endocrine disruption; and effects of chemical stressors on benthic community structure and function.

FISHERIES SCIENCE

Research by CBL fishery scientists focuses on economically and ecologically important fish and shellfish in estuaries and the coastal ocean, with a particular focus on the Chesapeake Bay and the continental shelf in the mid-Atlantic region. Research ranges from fundamental investigations of fish ecology and population modeling, to development of methods, risk assessments and advice on management policies. Faculty members have expertise in life histories, population dynamics, fisheries oceanography, predator-prey relationships, and recruitment mechanisms of marine and estuarine resources. Research on anadromous fishes and estuarine shellfish (e.g. oysters and crabs), as well as interdisciplinary investigations of ecosystems, has been prominent in recent years.

Examples of recent studies include research on: reproductive dynamics, migrations, and life histories of keystone species such as striped bass and bay anchovy; predator-prey interactions and stock dynamics of fish on Georges Bank; threatened species (e.g. Atlantic Sturgeon) and their potential recovery and/or restoration to Chesapeake Bay; management targets for blue crabs; and trophic interactions among fish and plankton sources.

CBL fishery scientists are concerned about sustainability of exploited fishery resources. To this end, they are developing methods to improve fish stock assessments, and to evaluate the status of exploited or impacted fish, invertebrates, and the habitats upon which they depend. CBL scientists interact with management agencies in the Bay region, throughout the nation, and internationally to provide advice on effects of exploitation, anthropogenic stress, climate change, and habitat issues in the context of emerging principles of ecosystem management.

Further information about ongoing research activities and programs at CBL can be obtained from the RESEARCH portion of the CBL www pages ....

CBL faculty participate in two University System of Maryland (USM) graduate programs offering courses of study leading to both M.S. and Ph.D. degrees: (1) the Marine, Estuarine and Environmental Sciences Program (MEES), and (2) the USM Toxicology Program. In addition, students enrolled in related programs (e.g., Chemistry, Zoology, Microbiology) at any of the USM campuses may conduct thesis / dissertation research at CBL.

• The MEES program emphasizes an interdisciplinary approach to environmental studies, and encompasses physical, chemical and biological disciplines. Students matriculate, and degrees are awarded through UM College Park.

• The Toxicology Program encompasses the broad spectrum of toxicology, including environmental marine toxicological research. Students matriculate and degrees are awarded through UM Baltimore.

• Members of the UMCES Graduate Faculty are full, active participants in both of these programs, and CBL faculty are major advisors to ca. 65 graduate students. Course work is offered on-site, at various other USM campuses, or may be broadcast remotely via the USM Interactive Video Network (UMATS). Student support is available from institutional and research grant funds. Prospective graduate students should contact faculty members with mutual research interests.

Further information about Academic Programs at CBL offered through the University System of Maryland can be obtained from the EDUCATION portion of the CBL www pages ....

ROBERT S. ANDERSON

Professor; Ph.D. 1971, University of Delaware. Comparative immunology of aquatic organisms; immunological responses to infectious diseases; modulation of immunity and disease resistance by environmental chemical contaminants.

JOEL E. BAKER

Professor; Ph.D. 1988, University of Minnesota. Environmental chemistry of surface waters, groundwaters and the atmosphere; mass balance modeling of anthropogenic organic compounds; organic carbon dynamics.

WALTER R. BOYNTON

Professor; Ph.D. 1975, University of Florida. Coastal marine ecology emphasizing nutrient processes at the sediment-water interface; ecosystem modeling; eutrophication; food webs.

H. RODGER HARVEY

Professor; Ph.D. 1985, University of Georgia. Organic geochemistry; sources, transformation, and fate of lipids in the marine environment.

KATHLEEN A. HEIL

Librarian; M.L.S. 1987, University of Maryland. Collection development, library automation, information literacy.

ANDREW HEYES

Research Assistant Professor; Ph.D. 1996, McGill University. Mercury biogeochemistry.

EDWARD D. HOUDE

Professor; Ph.D. 1968, Cornell University. Fisheries science and management; larval fish ecology; fishery oceanography; aquatic resource assessment.

DENNIS M. KING

Research Professor; Ph.D. 1977, University of Rhode Island. Environmental / fisheries economics, ecological restoration; integrated analysis of environmental and economic systems.

ROBERTA L. MARINELLI

Associate Professor; Ph.D. 1991, University of South Carolina. Sedimentary ecology; Animal-sediment interactions; Infaunal recruitment; Benthic primary production; Analytical & numerical modelling of benthic & water column dynamics; Continental margin processes.

THOMAS J. MILLER

Professor; Ph.D. 1990, North Carolina State University. Fish ecology; oceanography; aquatic ecology; fish early life history, especially feeding; physical-biological interactions.

CARYS L. MITCHELMORE

Assistant Professor; Ph.D. 1997, University of Birmingham, UK. Aquatic toxicology; investigating molecular, biochemical & cellular responses of aquatic organisms to inorganic & organic pollutants.

MARGARET A. PALMER

Professor and Director; Ph.D. 1983, University of South Carolina. Restoration ecology, patch dynamics & spatial ecology; stream ecosystem function & invertebrate biodiversity; urban stream ecology

KENNEDY T. PAYNTER

Associate Professor; Ph.D. 1985, Iowa State University. Comparative physiology of estuarine organisms; Oyster disease biochemistry

CHRISTOPHER L. ROWE

Associate Professor; Ph.D. 1994, Pennsylvania State University. Effects on population and community-level processes of bioenergetic constraints resulting from environmental pollutants and natural abiotic stresses.

JOHAN SCHIJF

Assistant Professor; Ph.D. 1992, University of Utrecht, The Netherlands. Pathways of trace metals into marine ecosystems, trace metal sorption on hydrated organic and inorganic surfaces, analytical geochemistry.

DAVID H. SECOR

Professor; Ph.D. 1990, University of South Carolina. Ecology of marine & estuarine fishes; fish life history & migration studies, fisheries science & management.

MARCELINO T. SUZUKI

Assistant Professor; Ph.D. 1997, Oregon State University. Marine microbial ecology; application of molecular approaches to the study of aquatic microbes; quantification of gene abundance/expression; molecular phylogenetics; environmental genomics.

JACQUELINE TAKACS

Regional Marine Specialist, Sea Grant Extension Program; M.S. 1995, University of Maryland. Aquaculture, pond management; environmental education and outreach.

MARIO N. TAMBURRI

Research Associate Professor; Ph.D. 1996, University of South Carolina. Chemical ecology of aquatic organisms; Non-native species; Larval settlement & recruitment; Coastal sensor technologies

ROBERT E. ULANOWICZ

Professor; Ph.D. 1968, The Johns Hopkins University. Ecosystem network analysis; food-web studies; ecological thermodynamics.

LISA A. WAINGER

Research Associate Professor; Ph.D. 1997, University of Maryland. Risk analysis & decision support tools for prioritizing natural resource management options, Invasive species risk assessment, Wetland restoration prioritization, Ecological & economic indicators for communicating relative costs & benefits of natural resource change.

MICHAEL J. WILBERG

Assistant Professor; Ph.D. 2005, Michigan State University. Fish population dynamics, stock assessment, harvest policy development and evaluation.

DAVID A. WRIGHT

Professor; Ph.D. 1973, University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, U.K. Comparative physiology; effects of inorganic pollutants on marine / estuarine organisms; biotoxicity assays; exotic species.

Further information about CBL faculty and their ongoing research can be obtained from the FACULTY portion of the CBL www pages ....

The Chesapeake Biological Laboratory (CBL) was founded in 1925, and with its sister campuses on Maryland's Eastern Shore (Horn Point Laboratory) and mountainous foothills (Appalachian Laboratory) became a part of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES) in 1973. It is located in Solomons, MD on the Western Shore of the Chesapeake Bay, approx. 65 miles SSE of Washington, DC. Driving times to the Laboratory from each of the three major airports serving the Washington / Baltimore corridor range from 1 1/2 to 2 hours, although adverse traffic and weather conditions can (and frequently do) lengthen these estimates. Its mid-Bay location at the mouth of the Patuxent River places it within easy reach of the diverse aquatic and terrestrial habitats of one of the world's largest estuarine ecosystems.

More detailed directions and annotated maps to CBL can be obtained from the DIRECTIONS portion of the CBL www pages.