D O I N G C I T I Z E N S C I E N C E I N S E N S AT I O N A L S A LT M A R S H E S A N D O T H E R B L U E C A R B O N H A B I TAT S

D A W N B A Z E LY

– A B O U T S A LT M A R S H E S

Hudson Bay Salt Marshes

– F R E D C O O K E , P R O F E S S O R E M E R I T U S Q U E E N S U N I V E R S I T Y

Salt Marsh in Norfolk, East Anglia

B L U E C A R B O N

• photosynthesis

• what drives life is… a little current, kept up by the sunshine”

• Albert Szent-Györgi (Noble Prize in Physiology)

• the NOBEL.ORG website is FABULOUS

B L U E C A R B O N

• Blue carbon —

• the long term storage of carbon in plant habitats growing in coastal lands and near-shore marine environments

C E C . O R G

• COMMISSION FOR ENVIRONMENTAL COOPERATION

• CHMURA ET AL. 2016

• NAFTA (CAN-US-MEX)

T H E M A R S H R I V E R AT L A P É R O U S E B AY, H U D S O N B AY

• Estuary

• Inter-tidal

• Water has lower salinity levels than the ocean

• Salinity gradients

Less salty

More salty

S T. L A W R E N C E R I V E R & T H E G U L F O F S T. L A W R E N C E

- M A N Y O F T H E S A M E S P E C I E S A S I N O T H E R S A LT M A R S H E S - B U T W E D O N ’ T J U S T S E E S A LT M A R S H E S

B E Y O N D T H I S E S T U A R Y

Anticosti Island

Nova Scotia

I ’ M A L S O A C I T I Z E N S C I E N T I S TI ’ M A P R O F E S S O R I N A FA C U LT Y O F S C I E N C E , A N D

– E R I C L A R S O N , “ W H AT I S C I T I Z E N S C I E N C E ? ” M A S H A B L E . C O M

“anybody who voluntarily contributes his or her time and resources toward scientific research in

partnership with professional scientists”

– B T W, I T ’ S N O T A N E W I D E A , J U S T A N E W - I S H N A M E

“Why Citizen Science?”

CouncilofCanadianAcademiesreport:ScienceCulture:WhereCanadaStands2014h9p://www.scienceadvice.ca/en/assessments/completed/science-culture.aspx

– S C I S TA R T E R . C O M

“Science we can do together.”

– F R O M M A N G R O V E W AT C H . O R G

Mangrove Citizen Science

M A N G R O V E S - W A R M E R C O A S TA L & E S T U A R I N E Z O N E S

• global distribution

• protect shorelines

• important habitat

• are disappearing

– D I S A P P E A R I N G AT T H E R AT E O F 2 % P E R Y E A R

“Mangroves - the kidneys of the coast.”

By ChandraGiri - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18319881

– I N G R E D I E N T S

🤓 professional scientist(s) "# interested citizens 🔬a research project e.g. long-running snow goose study on Hudson Bay involved dozens of volunteer citizen scientists… including members of this 1981 banding crew

The recipe for doing salt marsh citizen science

R E C I P E F O R D O I N G S A LT M A R S H C I T I Z E N S C I E N C E

• Ingredients:

• professional scientist(s)

• interested citizens

• a research project…

• I HAVE ONE!

St Kilda Archipelago

St. Kilda is a UN World Heritage Site:geology, archaeology and seabirds

Evacuated in 1930 due to the isolation and squalid conditions of the small population - life was hard and unsustainable

http://www.kilda.org.uk/cultural-traditions.htm

Soay sheep - a feral, unmanaged crashing population (always) with no predators

– B Y I A N C A L D W E L L - O W N W O R K , C C B Y 2 . 5 , H T T P S : / /C O M M O N S . W I K I M E D I A . O R G / W / I N D E X . P H P ? C U R I D = 1 7 4 1 5 4 2

On the most northern Orkney Island, North Ronaldsay, sheep feed mainly on seaweed

By Fred Hsu (Wikipedia:User:Fredhsu on en.wikipedia) - Photo taken and uploaded by user, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1559678

By Maximilian Dörrbecker (Chumwa) - Own work using this map: Robert S. Steneck, Michael H. Graham et al: Kelp forest ecosystems - biodiversity, stability, resilience and future. In:

Environmental Conservation 29 (4), p. 436–459, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=14541999

By Hannah Robinson, Attribution, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4091858

My fungal endophyte project

Some of this grass has a microscopic fungus living inside it — a symbiont — that makes poisons to defend the grass against the sheep

“St. Brianan sheep grazed grass had higher endophyte infection, when

inspected visually.”

Lots of grasses have endophytic fungi

fungi evolved from pathogenic or disease-causing ancestors

these endophytes live entirely in the host grasses

are systemic Schardl et al. 2004. Symbioses of grasses with seedborne fungal endophytes. Ann. Rev. Plant. Biol.

Epichloë festucae - part of an evolutionary continuum

Left flower

has external, spore-producing stromata (HORIZONTAL transmission)

Right flower

regular flowers transmit fungal hyphae via the seeds, and their seedlings (VERTICAL transmission) Picture from Schardl website: http://www.ca.uky.edu/agcollege/plantpathology/schardl/schardl.htm

S Y M P T O M L E S S E N D O P H Y T E S O F F E S C U E G R A S S S P E C I E S

The life cycle has vertical transmission

Images either D. Bazely or Wikimedia

Herbivore

Grass Fungus

?

🌾🐑

🐑🍄

🌾🍄

Endophytes make alkaloids

Ergot & other alkaloids have lethal and sub-lethal effects on the herbivores of the endophyte’s host grasses

Ref: Schardl et al’s Alkaloid-Making Fungal Symbionts essay for Plant Physiology 5th ed. Online.

Why? It’s the Ecology & Evolution of the Interaction

Are these endophytic fungi mutualists or parasites? It depends on the situation Conceptual model: Nora Saona

S O U R C E : W I K I M E D I A — R E D F E S C U E , F E S T U C A R U B R A

O L D F E R R Y H O U S E , M U L L , S C O T L A N D

• 100% of tillers of Festuca rubra sampled in the field had the endophyte!

• Compared with 0-60% infection elsewhere in Wales and Mull, Scotland

When possible, I try to expand the dataset showing the presence of fungal endophytes in red fescue grass

the green line shows where we previously sampled red fescue grass

A B O U T P E R M I T S & W H E R E Y O U C A N S A M P L E … U N I V E R S I T Y R E S E A R C H E R S A R E G O V E R N E D B Y L A R G E S E T S O F T R I - C O U N C I L G U I D E L I N E S …

I W I L L B E R E G I S T E R I N G T H I S C I T I Z E N S C I E N C E P R O J E C T O N T H E O C C U R R E N C E O F F U N G A L E N D O P H Y T E S I N F E S T U C A R U B R A G R A S S , W I T H VA R I O U S W E B S I T E S & B E C L A R I F Y I N G H O W B E S T P E O P L E C A N S E N D U S D R I E D S H O O T S O F T H I S G R A S S F O R T E S T I N G

T H E S E D ATA A R E M A D E P U B L I C LY AVA I L A B L E : T H AT ’ S O P E N S C I E N C E ! S E E Y O R K S PA C E , A N I N S T I T U T I O N A L R E P O S I T O R Y

T H E O P E N A C C E S S D I G I TA L W O R L D

• is opening up new research findings…

• …like rediscovering the rare plant, Braya pilosa, from locations described in old notebooks

• …read about the Smithsonian field book project (http://naturalhistory.si.edu/rc/

fieldbooks/)