Remote Ecologist

It's great to share a win, and a follow-up on my previous post with newly-settled coral primary polyps! Our collaboration in Colombia was successful in settling critically endangered elkhorn coral (Acropora palmata) from our sexual propagation efforts over the past two weeks. When they settle and metamorphose, corals begin to express GFP (green fluorescence protein), making them easily counted under a UV lamp. (See the green dots on the photo). The same protein is used as a tool in neuroscience research to track neuronal migration in developing brains. I counted over 2000 primary polyps this way on both classic ceramic tiles and experimental substrates (Maria Rosa's 3D-printed tiles and Novum Coral), using experience from counting jelly polyps. This effort represents an expansion of the sexual propagation capacity in Colombia, in conjunction with collaborations of a number of other locations. These efforts will further support our long-term efforts to complement the Fundacion CIM-Caribe's fragmentation and nursery transplantation with sexually-propagated corals that enhance the population genetics of the areas in restoration. Thanks so much to the teams that made this possible: Remote Ecologist, Fundación CIM Caribe, CORPAMAG, Centro de Vida Marina - Santa Marta, OdySea Aquarium, Oceanario Islas del Rosario - CEINER, The Ballard Foundation, and many others! #coral

Happy World Oceans Day! This week we are celebrating by checking on our seagrass plantings from last fall to see how this new planting technique worked out. Many thanks to Bill Lucey, Maria Rosa, Save the Sound, Connecticut College, and 11th Hour Racing for supporting this project. Collaboration is truly how we can pool resources in the non-profit and academic arena to make meaningful progress towards conservation and research objectives in the marine environment. These institutions alone contribute effort to three of our programmatic areas of focus: coastal restoration (seagrass and salt marshes), marine debris, and coral restoration. We are adding collaborators and funders gradually, with the aim of creating long-term viability, funding, institutitonal knowledge transfer, and scale for these programs and more. How are you celebrating World Oceans Day?

This Earth Day, I'd like to share some of the inspiring places that have kept us going as a team at Remote Ecologist and with our partners. The teams that have worked with us to restore coral reefs in the Caribbean, both by fragmentation and by sexual propagation in the laboratory after spawning events, have been inspired by the coral stands you see below. Functional ecological systems, whether marine or terrestrial, need complexity. It is that physical and systemic complexity that we are going for - it is what produces the kinds of ecological services that keep the ecosystem resilient to disruption. In the temperate zone, we are working to use clams to replant eelgrass beds in Long Island Sound (data pending!). Mangroves and marsh cordgrass protect intertidal coastlines and help to transition to the terrestrial zone. Lastly, forests and rivers feed into watersheds and provide vital connectivity for fauna and nurseries for young. The animals that depend on these places, whether sea turtles and finfish in the marine areas or birds and mammals in upland areas, need these places to be connected and healthy. As an organization, we've been extremely fortunate to collaborate with a range of Remote Ecologist staff and volunteers and individual university laboratories, NGOs, and aquariums and zoos to complete research, conservation, and outreach programs. We have a different role to play in each project, per the tools and funding we have at hand in each. Here's hoping to many more years of collaboration and advancement of these programs! Many thanks to all our volunteers and collaborators this Earth Day for helping us to advance scientific knowledge about these organisms and systems, and for the daily grind to clean corals, plant seedlings, and glue seeds. We are incredibly grateful!

While being a principal investigator (PI) can be the epitome of a "be your own boss" scenario, this plays out differently depending on the overall demands of the institution in which you are housed and how you manage your time and energy professionally and personally. Which type of institution type you end up in, along with ways to navigate advancement, are other critical pieces to the science and conservation career puzzle. Having found "lightning in a bottle" a few times, I have been trying to capture the component elements as we've been building our collaborative team at Remote Ecologist. I have navigated this with a classical tenure-track job, as a research scientist at a private company, a non-profit research and conservation job, and as a non-profit founder at Remote Ecologist. All came with specific challenges for advancement, some of which were inextricable from the success and trajectory of the program at-large. Leadership changes always had the most profound impact on productivity and direction, and how well the team was able to stay committed to the departmental/organizational continuity. Maintaining institutional knowledge, and a daily commitment to small wins, lessened those leadership upheavals. Getting the "lightning in a bottle" scenario has happened a few times for me, but keeping that synergy can be tricky and fleeting. I can boil it down to a few components that were key in these scenarios (by no means is this list exhaustive): Trust Autonomy (With Mentorship/Guidance) Codeveloped Growth Plan and Assessment Clear Institutional Direction and Buy-In From Staff Professional Growth and Networking I talk about this a bit more on Remote Ecologist's blog: https://lnkd.in/egH7arpi

???????? Belgian female entrepreneurs are redefining their trade with their creativity, innovation, and resilience. As we continue celebrating #WomenInBusiness, we feature the inspiring journeys and pioneering spirits of four US-based businesswomen with Belgian roots. ?? Our final guest is Catherine Jadot, PhD. What are your main responsibilities right now? I’m the founder and CEO of a consulting firm that focuses on climate change issues on small island nations. We work mainly with local governments. Our projects range from ecosystem restoration to developing roadmaps to strengthen the islands’ resilience to #climatechange. What inspired you for this career? My very first scuba dive was in Brussels. I started diving when I was 8 years old, simply because the swimming pool in our neighborhood had an open house. Afterwards I dove at the same swimming pool for the next 15 years. And through that experience I discovered the world, the #ocean, and the passion for this incredible #ecosystem. What is a memorable project that you have been working on? One of the projects that I’m deeply involved with right now is a project financed by the #EU called the Green Overseas Programme. Its goal is to bolster resilience against climate change in 25 overseas countries and territories. I have the opportunity to really understand the impact?of climate change. The challenges that I see in Greenland are not the same as in Tahiti, for instance. What are the biggest challenges facing you in this field? For me personally working in climate change and the “#blueeconomy” has been very challenging in recent years. When you work as a scientist everything is doom and gloom, and I had the feeling that I couldn’t make a difference. You have to find ways to stay motivated, and you have to force yourself to look at the bright side. As an entrepreneur you have all these challenges that are as rewarding as demanding. In the blue economy one of the most significant challenges that I see is that you have to bridge the gap between environmental #sustainability and economic stability. I can’t look only at sustainability because this is not how the world works. If I want to have a tangible impact on the world I need to make sure that the solution that I’m bringing matches how the world works. What is your key message to all the other young people in this field? First of all, you have to be resilient because it is not easy. You still have way more investments that are damaging the environment than those that have a positive impact. Being a female is positive because we have a unique perspective that brings valuable benefits to our projects. This has been proven in many studies. We need to embrace resilience as our strength. And you also need to realize that you will have setbacks and hard times, but you need to have your passion and perseverance. You need to be adaptable so that you can turn obstacles into opportunities. www.howitdoesntend.com #Womenshistorymonth