UCSB RESEARCHERS PARTICIPATE IN JASON PROJECT

January 23, 2003

Caselle, science coordinator for PISCO (Partnership for Interdisciplinary Studies of Coastal Oceans) and assistant research biologist at UCSB's Marine Science Institute, will appear in five live segments while diving in the water just off Anacapa Island during the second week of the JASON project.

She will explain how the circulation patterns in the Channel region influence the communities that live on near-shore reefs. As part of the curriculum for JASON XIV, she took a student host with her to compare intertidal areas north and south of Point Conception. They learned that because the Channel is warmer and nutrient depleted compared to areas north of Point Conception, the diversity and abundance of marine algae and organisms is low. The opposite is true to the north of Point Conception.

During her live video segments she will show techniques for monitoring kelp forests and explain how kelp reefs form habitat for marine animals. She will explain how to count organisms in quadrants or cubes of ocean and how important it is to have baseline data in order to see changes over time.

On the JASON web page Caselle explains some of her current work: "Very generally I am interested in understanding near-shore marine ecosystems and specifically understanding the pathways of larval dispersal in marine organisms and the connections between populations. I have done this work in tropical and temperate reef systems, but PISCO studies only the West Coast of the U.S. from Washington down to Southern California. I am also interested in fisheries ecology and how to better understand and manage our marine resources."

Caselle said she is spending an extraordinary amount of time on the JASON project but that it's worth it to be able to reach the millions of school children that JASON serves

- See more at: http://www.news.ucsb.edu/2003/011675/ucsb-researchers-participate-jason-project#sthash.Xjd8Y2n1.dpuf

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