Papers and Paperwork

This week was a busy one at the lab, with presentations, paperwork, and projects. As I make more progress with my own research, I am going back through the literature on oyster mortality to evaluate how my findings compare to those across the United States. Additionally, I am looking at how other researchers calculate mortality, as there are a few different types of calculable mortality and multiple ways to calculate many of these mortality metrics. As I want to be able to draw direct comparisons with the published literature, I have to evaluate the language the authors use to describe their methods and the calculation methods, as some metrics may over- or underestimate mortality.

Additionally, this week I finished and sent off paperwork for a potential collaboration with two other Mississippi universities. This paperwork is brand new to me, as it is for a permit to conduct research on vertebrates. The permitting paperwork requires a detailed description of the work, the purpose of the research, documented alternatives to the specific methods, and additional forms depending on the extent of the research, the chemicals involved, and the handling and housing methods for the animals. Our goal in submitting this permit is to conduct stomach content analyses for fish collections in the Mississippi Sound to inform our ecosystem model. This work is part of a workforce development initiative, seeking to get local undergraduate and graduate students involved in marine and coastal science careers in their communities. We will not hear back from the approval committee for between two to six weeks, but stay tuned for updates on this project.

Additionally, I forgot to mention that I have made some small changes to the website. I have included additional tabs under the Research page, which link you to the various projects I am working on. Each project page includes a description of the work, the questions I am trying to answer with this work, and any upcoming events or talks related to the project. Feel free to check out these new features of the website.