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Program
Manager
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Dr. Gilbert Rowe
Department Head, Department of Marine Biology,
Texas A&M University at Galveston
Research Interests:
Benthic ecology
Ecosystem function and structure
Carbon and nitrogen cycles
Food chain models
Environmental quality and sustainable development
Dr. Rowe's Homepage
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Research
Scientists |
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Kim Larsen, Assistant Research
Scientists |
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Dr. Kim Larsen is a research fellow in the Marine Biology
Lab funded by BP Petroleum under the deep-sea Biodiversity program. He is
conducting systematic research on deep-sea pericarid Crustacea (Tanaidacea).
The Tanaidacea is a little known group of small crustacean which are
infamous for
their complicated systematics. Many problems with this group are related
to a variable morphology caused by a complicated series of sex-changes.
Kim got his MSc. from the University of Copenhagen, Denmark and his Ph.D.
from Macquarie University, Australia.
More information about Dr. Larsen can be found
Here. |
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Graduate
Students |
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Clifton C. Nunnally, Ph.D
Student, Oceanography |
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My master's research
at TAMU's main campus focused on the community structure of
macrofaunal invertebrates at cold hydrocarbon seeps. I also
investigated the function of the total sediment community at cold
seeps using benthic flux chambers. As a biological oceanography
student I am particularly interested in the benthos and the
deep-sea. My interests in the ocean continue to lie in the
complete ecology of benthic systems, linking structure and
diversity of the fauna to the cycling of carbon within a system.
Patterns of faunal distribution over space are interesting in the
deep-sea since it is an isolated ecosystem. Fauna of seeps and
other chemosynthetic communities should probably behave in a
similar way according to the principles of island biogeography.
The deep ocean is an extreme environment that places a number of
restrictions on life, yet new discoveries are constantly being
made. I would like to think that discovering more about such
inhospitable habitats will not only lead to a better understanding
of our planet but also be integral in the search for life off
world. |
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Archie W. Ammons ,
Ph. D Student, Oceanography |
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I'm a graduate student in the Department of Biology,
studying under Mary Wicksten and Gil Rowe. My training is mostly in marine
ecology and invertebrate zoology. I received my B.S. in marine biology
from Texas A&M University at Galveston. My research interest is in
ecological diversity of deep-sea communities. I look for patterns in
community structure between the highly diverse but minisculemacrofauna,
and try to relate them to both stabilizing and disturbance influences. The
burrowing and/or feeding effects of larger faunas (starfish, crabs, sea
cucumbers) have considerable influence in "shaping" the population
structure of the tiny macrofauna. I would like to determine the scale and
scope of these interactions.
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Yuning Wang, Ph. D
Student, Oceanography |
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My name is Yuning Wang. I am from a very beautiful
seaside city in China, Qingdao. I am a Ph.D student. I've been working on
the DGoMB project with Dr. Rowe for three years, and I think he is a
really great advisor. My research interest is the Ecology of Polychaetes,
especially focusing on polychaetes’ biodiversity and distribution patterns
in the northern Gulf of
Mexico. For me, marine ecology is very interesting, since you can work on
both marine environmental and biological data using different techniques,
such as statistics and GIS, etc, and get useful scientific results, which
contribute exclusively to biological monitor programs and environmental
assessments. |
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Yousra Soliman,
Ph. D Student, Oceanography |
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I am using the deep water amphipods to assess the effect
of oil and gas industry at the Exclusive Economic Zone in the Northern
Gulf of Mexico from a chemical and biological perspective. Amphipods can
integrate the environmental effects in an ecosystem due to their relative
immobility, their sensitivity and their feeding habit. The study aims to
integrate the variations in structure and diversity of the amphipods with
the existed
gradient in the near bottom environmental conditions through multivariate
analysis. Biotic (Biodiversity indices) as well as abiotic factors
(bioaccumulation and toxicity test) will be used to achieve our goal. |
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Chihlin Wei, MS Student,
Oceanography |
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I am from Taiwan, which is
part of western Pacific island chain. The beautiful coast is home to
all kind of fascinating creatures and immediately adjacent to deep
water of the Pacific Ocean. Since the ocean has always been part of my
life, I started to be interested in oceanography. I got my B.S. in
Zoology form the National Chung Hsing University, Taichung, Taiwan in
1999 and came to U.S. in 2002 as a master student in Biological
Oceanography. I have been participating in the DGoMB project since
then and right now work on cumacean (crustacea) in the northern Gulf
of Mexico. My interests are community structure and composition in the
deep sea, biodiversity, invertebrate zoology, and ecological modeling.
In the future, I would like to be involved more extensively in diverse
groups of marine invertebrates, mathematical modeling, and scientific
diving techniques, as well as other field experiments. |
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