The Social Shark Network

Posted on January 27, 2012 by Chuck

ResearchBlogging.orgRecently Jason Goldman at the great blog The Thoughtful Animal (if you have any interest in animal behavior at all, you should be following it) put up a post titled “Sharks With Friends.”  In that post, he summarizes a recent paper showing that blacktip sharks (Carcharhinus melanopterus) from schools with the same individuals.  Social behavior in sharks is a big interest of mine because my Masters thesis study animal, the mighty spiny dogfish (Squalus acanthias) is among the most social sharks out there, forming huge schools as they migrate along the coast.  However, this recent paper is not the first to study social behavior in sharks, though it does have a really cool result and methodology that I’ll got into later.  Though dolphins and octopuses get a lot of credit for being the smartest creatures in the sea, sharks may be just as complex in their social behavior, meaning they might be capable of hatching world domination schemes just as diabolical as those of the cetaceans and cephalopods.  Sharks also have the advantage of being able to eat dolphins and octopuses.  I for one welcome our finned overlords.

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Posted in behavior, ecology, research blogging, sharks | Leave a comment

Science Online 2012 – The Aftermath

Posted on January 24, 2012 by Chuck

Good times. From scio12.com.

I’ve officially survived my first Science Online, and returned mostly intact.   This gathering of scientists, journalists, bloggers, and others came together in Raleigh from Wednesday to Saturday, and created one of the most unique conference experiences I’ve had so far.  Never have I seen such a diverse group of people have so much in common.  Never have I felt that sitting on Twitter while someone is giving a presentation was absolutely vital.  Never have I heard so many references to duck genitalia.

One of the things I try to do here is provide good coverage of the conferences I attend.  I’m going to try to do justice to Science Online, but there was quite a bit going on, both online and in the physical world.  The #scio12 hashtag is still pumping out tweets, so be sure to check there for the inevitable flood of recap posts with different perspectives from mine.  Some names may be changed to protect the not-so-innocent.  On with the recap.

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Posted in conference, dorkiness, linkage, North Carolina, ScienceOnline | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Getting Psyched for Science Online

Posted on January 16, 2012 by Chuck

Scio12.com

Later this week I’ll be journeying to Raleigh, North Carolina for Science Online 2012, a celebration of all things science on the internet.  Rather than the traditional “see a bunch of talks” format that I’m used to at conferences, Science Online is composed of a series of discussion sessions, with the presenters as moderators rather than, well, presenters.  The full agenda can be seen here, and includes such diverse topics as cybersecurity, writing for popular magazines, dealing with journalists, blogging for conservation, the state of women in science blogging, figuring out your audience, and more.  Audience members are encouraged to join the discussion in each session, and I’m looking forward to seeing that in action.

The extracurricular activities are pretty slick too.  The lab and museum tours include the Duke Lemur Center, several of the Triangle-area labs and museums, and even a visit to a tattoo parlor well-known for producing awesome science-themed designs.  Also, there will be an open mic, which I will be playing at (I’m thinking a short set of ocean-themed punk/alternative songs, since traditional sea shanties will be well-covered already.  Any song suggestions welcome).

As with previous conferences, I will do what I can supplying regular updates here and on the Twitter feed, so stay tuned (Science Online is, as you might guess, pretty encouraging of live-blogging the sessions).  Look for the #scio12 hashtag.  For those who are n00bz like me, here’s a helpful guide.  Looking forward to meeting some of the people I’ve been reading.

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Three Fisheries Management Stories

Posted on January 12, 2012 by Chuck

Usually I leave short commentary and links to interesting news on Twitter, but three recent stories piqued my interest and warrant more discussion here.  And no, none of them are about whale trading, which has been covered far better by others in the blue blogosphere.  Instead, these stories involve sea creatures that actually breathe water and the people who try to make a living off of them.

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Posted in fisheries management, linkage, milestone, NOAA, North Carolina, rhode island, spiny dogfish | 3 Comments

Ageing Spiny Dogfish: Are We Doing it Wrong?

Posted on January 9, 2012 by Chuck

ResearchBlogging.orgWelcome to the first post in 2012.  It’s probably good to start the new year off with a doozy, and in keeping with the theme of this blog, it involves that scrappy little shark everyone loves to hate.  Spiny dogfish are possibly the most well-studied shark species, by virtue of being relatively common and easy to handle, but there is always room to learn something new or revisit something we thought we knew (especially with regards to dogfish ecology).  One of the best-known features of spiny dogfish is its longevity and slow growth, but a new paper by researchers from the University of New Hampshire and the University of New England shows that the specifics of spiny dogfish age and growth are not written in stone.

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Posted in conservation, fisheries management, research blogging, spiny dogfish | 3 Comments

Happy New Year!

Posted on December 31, 2011 by Chuck

From laughinsquid.com

Just wanted to take this moment to wish a happy new year to all readers, fellow ocean bloggers, and people stumbling across this on the internet.  Make sure you have a safe place to land if you overindulge, and may next year make this year pale in comparison.

For some neat end of the year stuff, check out WhySharksMatter’s shark conservation recap, a similar list by Da Shark, the top eleven science hashtags of 2011 (for you Twitter nerds), a Science Sushi year in review, and another at Breaching the Blue.  Then go out and celebrate surviving 2011.

Posted in blogging, dorkiness, linkage, milestone | 1 Comment

Happy Fishmas to All

Posted on December 24, 2011 by Chuck

Whatever your flavor of yuletide cheer, have yourself a quality Christmas Eve.  Here’s that most secular of winter holiday icons giving the gift of tasty fish to sand tiger sharks in Auckland, NZ.

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Dogfish on Tour: Upcoming Travel Plans

Posted on December 21, 2011 by Chuck

Hope everyone’s holiday break is going well.  There are a couple sciencey-type events coming up that I’m planning on attending in the new year.  Both have the added benefit of taking place in North Carolina, which simplifies travel plans nicely.  If you’re in NC in the late winter/early spring, you might see me at:

ScienceOnline: (January 19-21, Raleigh, NC) This annual gathering sees a flock (gaggle? murder?) of science bloggers descend on Raleigh to discuss the nature of science communication online.  I missed this last year but will be there rolling deep with the marine blogosphere.  This is an “unconference” in which the talks are more like discussions, which should be interesting to see.  Several of the sessions are headed up by friends of the blog, so take a good long look at the program.

AFS Tidewater Chapter: (March 8-10, Beaufort, NC) I have a long history with this conference, and this year’s will be in the heart of Southern Fried Science territory.  A much smaller, more low-key meeting than the larger AFS conferences, the Tidewater Chapter meeting includes students, academics, and professionals from Delaware, Maryland, North Carolina, and Virginia.  ECU is hosting this one, and the current President-elect of the Tidewater Chapter is a labmate of mine, so attendance would be practically mandatory for me even if I wasn’t excited to go.  Maybe some of the Dukies will make an appearance?

Keep your calendars marked.

Posted in AFS, conference, North Carolina, ScienceOnline | Tagged | 2 Comments

Who’s Eating Atlantic Salmon?

Posted on December 17, 2011 by Chuck

ResearchBlogging.orgAtlantic salmon (Salmo salar) just can’t catch a break.  Like their Pacific counterparts, Atlantic salmon are anadromous, meaning they live in the ocean as adults, but swim upriver to spawn.  Despite having the evolutionary advantage of being able to spawn more than once in their lives, Atlantic salmon had the bad luck of requiring rivers in areas with some of the most dense human populations on the planet.  Overfishing took its toll, but dam construction and habitat degradation, all resulting from human settling along the rivers, have combined to make wild Atlantic salmon almost functionally extinct.  The species largely exists today in salmon farms and landlocked lakes where it has been stocked.

However, as human efforts doomed Salmo salar, human efforts are also put towards regrowing the population of this tasty species.  Among those efforts is a large-scale hatchery operation in the Penobscot River, which supplies hatchery-raises smolts to the salmon population in the Gulf of Maine.  Unfortunately, life is becoming tougher for young salmon once they leave the safe confines of the river, and the hatchery is seeing diminishing returns of adults returning to spawn.  The Gulf of Maine is full of piscivorous predators that wouldn’t think twice about snacking on some salmon smolts (including, you guessed it, the mighty spiny dogfish) and the local environment is seeing some changes from climate change.  Are changing weather conditions encouraging salmon predators?  And if so, who’s doing the most damage?

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Posted in climate change, conservation, fisheries management, research blogging, skates, spiny dogfish, striped bass | 1 Comment

Interesting Times at NOAA

Posted on December 12, 2011 by Chuck

These guys are pretty busy.

I live!  Thanksgiving break lead into one of the busiest academic times I’ve ever had.  When I was working on my Master’s, I used to think PhD Comics were hyperbole, that there was no way it could be that bad.  Now that I’m actually in a PhD program, I know that things can be much worse.  Thanks for your patience as I dig myself out from under the end of the semester.  But enough about me…

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Posted in fisheries, fisheries management, grad school, NOAA | 2 Comments