Bioindicators Workshop

An Overview

This workshop highlights specific protocols and analysis tools used by NCCOS scientists to assess ecosystem health. These tools focus on using indicators of organismal well-being to estimate population-level health, habitat quality, and ecosystem change in response to environmental factors. The Bioindicators Workshop encompasses:

• Field sampling of live organisms and health observations,
• Lab-based techniques to assess animal health, and
• Incorporation of bioindicators into biogeographic assessments and modeling.

 

 

2014 Bioindicators Workshops

Drs. Lonnie Golsalves and Gretchen Messick from the NCCOS Center for Coastal Environmental Health and Biomolecular Research (CCEHBR) Cooperative Oxford Laboratory (Oxford, MD) facilitated two “Bioindicators of Ecosystem Health” workshops for ECSC students and faculty. The first workshop took place September 9-11, 2014, in Tallahassee, Florida, at Florida A&M University (FAMU), and the second was September 15-17, 2014, at the University of Texas-Brownsville (UTB). These workshops highlighted specific protocols and analysis tools used by NCCOS scientists to assess ecosystem health. These tools focus on using indicators of organismal well-being to estimate population-level health, habitat quality, and ecosystem change in response to environmental factors. The learning objectives for these workshops were as follows:

• Increase student knowledge of bioindicators used in NCCOS programs to characterize ecosystem health. Focus on living resources and observations of gross pathology, histopathology, disease markers, biochemical and molecular techniques, and ecotoxicology;
• Improve student understanding of how to incorporate these techniques into ecosystem characterization and ecological processes. In addition, provide real examples of how NCCOS incorporates bioindicators into biogeographic, forecasting/modeling, and ecosystem services data products;
• Improve the scientific basis for coastal resource management by developing tools and research products to characterize, evaluate, and forecast coastal and marine ecosystem responses to natural and human induced stressors;
• Promote the transfer of NCCOS technology/capabilities to ECSC students/faculty for use during ongoing and future research initiatives.