. Coast watch. Marine resources; Oceanography; Coastal zone management; Coastal ecology. SEA SCIENCE ONE looking at the rings of a felled tree. Each ring serves as a marker in time, chronicling years of drought and disease, years of growth and abundance. Sometimes, foresters use the rings to tell us about our own history. A 100-year-old tree was only six when the Titanic sank, but 95 on 9/11— and lived through many historical milestones in between. Chris Taylor, a researcher at North Carolina State University's Center for Marine Science and Technology (CMAST), studies the past through rings to
. Coast watch. Marine resources; Oceanography; Coastal zone management; Coastal ecology. SEA SCIENCE ONE looking at the rings of a felled tree. Each ring serves as a marker in time, chronicling years of drought and disease, years of growth and abundance. Sometimes, foresters use the rings to tell us about our own history. A 100-year-old tree was only six when the Titanic sank, but 95 on 9/11— and lived through many historical milestones in between. Chris Taylor, a researcher at North Carolina State University's Center for Marine Science and Technology (CMAST), studies the past through rings too. As part of an Fishery Resource Grant (FRG) project, Taylor spends his time studying the rings found in the otoliths of southern flounder. As a fish grows, calcium carbonate material is deposited, forming a bony structure in the fish's "ear" — the otolith — to help keep the fish balanced. The rings of the otolith are laid down for each day and year of growth. Fishery biologists use these rings to age fish, much like foresters aging trees. But much more than age can be gleaned from otolith rings. As the rings are added, chemical elements from the surrounding water body incorporate into each layer. "Layers added while the fish are in estuaries have higher concentrations of barium and lower concentrations of strontium, for example," says Taylor, who is examining these chemical signatures to track how southern flounder use various coastal aquatic habitats. A mass spectrometer and laser operated by the Wood's Hole Oceanographic Institute in Massachusetts affords Taylor the fine detail needed to examine the tiny otoliths. "Using a laser, we can sample very small amounts of the otolith — within and between rings — in regions that would represent winter, spring, summer and fall," he says. Taylor uses chemical cues found in the rings to determine how long the fish are in can learn a lot by estuaries versus how long they remain offshore. The
Size: 1711px × 1460px
Photo credit: © The Book Worm / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookcollectionunclibra, booksubjectoceanography
