A. O. Dennis Willows - US grants

The Friday Harbor Laboratories (FHL) of the University of Washington is a marine station focussed upon research in zoology, oceanography, botany and fisheries. It is located in the San Juan Islands where an unusual diversity and richness of marine life occurs. Research projects conducted at FHL have helped to reveal the important ecological relationships which underlie the health and stability of the marine environment; have determined the effects of physical, biological and environmental factors on eggs, larvae and juveniles of the many invertebrate and plant species which reside at the base of the marine food web; and have led to the development and use model organisms for the study of embryos, functional morphology and physiology. This project will fill a major gap at FHL. The marine environment is richly endowed with planktonic fishes. This is especially true in the Pacific Northwest region. However, surprisingly little is known about the identity and role of most fish larvae in the plankton. Furthermore, a great deal is yet to be learned about the physiology and mechanics of adult fish, especially non-commercial species. The project will provide funds to construct and equip a laboratory to allow work in these areas.

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9311701 Willows The Friday Harbor (FHL) is the marine biological facility of the University of Washington. It offers biological resources and scientific facilities in support of the work of marine scientists from national and international institutions. FHL is located in the San Juan Islands in the State of Washington at the junction between Puget Sound, Juan de Fuca Strait and Georgia Strait where an unusual diversity and richness of marine life occurs. Topics of research range from cell biology to community ecology and engage zoologists, fisheries biologists, Oceanographers, botanists, paleobiolgists, and researchers from various biomedical fields. Some organisms are studied because of their ecological importance, others because they are useful models for the study of ecological, developmental, or physiological processes. At FHL, a high priority is placed upon providing a suitable environment (instrumentation, field biological resources, logistical support) for research that requires marine organisms. Although over 90% of the FHL operating budget comes from State of Washington, over 65% of the scientific people whose work is supported by FHL are from institutions outside the State of Washington. The University of Washington has recently completed an extensive review of physical facilities, and academic programs of the FHL. Recommendations include extensive replacement and modernization of facilities over 10 years. The University has committed significant resources to the first component of this modernization program. This project will provide for replacement of one microscope, as a part of that renewal. ***

This project will assist in upgrading the equipment component in the context to a 10-year modernization plan for FHL research support facilities and in particular a laboratory for marine molecular biology. The equipment along with existing instruments, will be part of a new laboratory and will permit nucleotide sequencing at FHL. Choice of the molecular biochemical focus, the new building and the equipment selected from a longer list, were by a process involving committee-led, open meetings and many potential users.
Forty-five others were polled by e-mail.

The equipment will be especially helpful to developing fields of research in ecology, systematics, neurobiology, muscle physiology and bioluminescence. The facility and its equipment will be coupled to a particularly rich biological diversity, and it is therefore hoped that new opportunities in presently unknown fields of inquiry will also develop.

The Friday Harbor Laboratories (FHL) is a marine biological field station of
The University of Washington, located in the San Juan Islands at the junction of Juan de Fuca and Georgia Straits. FHL was sited originally at this location in 1903 because there is an unusual biodiversity present. This biological richness attracts scientists as students in widely divergent fields from national and international universities and research institutions who require field or laboratory resources for the conduct of their work/studies.

ABSTRACT

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A. O. Willows
FSML Housing for Visiting Researchers and Students at Friday Harbor Laboratories

The Friday Harbor Laboratories (FHL) of the University of Washington has initiated a program to invite up to 8 research groups/year, each group made up of an independent researcher plus her/his graduate and post-doctoral colleagues and 5-8 undergraduate apprentices, to conduct research at FHL for a 3-month period. Four such groups were selected and invited to FHL in 1999, and 6 in 2000, with FHL providing laboratory and field facilities plus full salary to the faculty, graduate research assistants, and support personnel (computer staff, marine and instrumentation technologists, administrative staff), and stipends to the student participants. FHL will expand this program to incorporate groups from around the US and abroad. FHL plans to provide an increased, intense, academic year opportunity for research people and undergraduate apprentices to take advantage of FHL field, laboratory and housing facilities, and to focus upon current, important research opportunities in marine sciences. In order for the station to be able to accommodate more national/international participants, FHL will build two new duplex housing units with financial support provided by this award and the University of Washington.

FHL is located at the junction of Juan de Fuca and Georgia Straits, at a site of unusual biological diversity. FHL supports research from molecular and cell biology along a scale of increasing spatial dimensions to animal behavior and community ecology and has traditionally encouraged innovative and cross-cutting original research by eminent scholars, researchers, and students in wide ranging fields, including zoology, oceanography, botany, and basic biomedical sciences.

This award provides partial support for construction of new visitor housing at the University of Washington's Friday Harbor Laboratory (FHL). The housing will be used in support of an innovative scientific research apprenticeship training program that brings together teams composed of faculty mentors, graduate students and undergraduate apprentices who work in residence at the Laboratory for 10 weeks during the academic year. Teams are selected from a national pool of applicants by an external review committee on the basis of written applications. The success and growth of this program has created a need for additional, modern housing at the FHL, most of whose existing housing units were built to serve as summertime housing. The program has a major impact on the numbers and quality of undergraduate and graduate students who opt for professional contributions to very high quality research programs nationally and internationally. Through direct involvement with world-class mentors, students learn how leading edge research is done, what some of the key questions in marine science fields are, and what career opportunities exist.

Many animals are apparently capable of detecting and orienting to the earth's magnetic field. This is particularly true in environments where visual clues are not reliable, such as underwater, underground, or in the air out of visual contact with land. Despite the widespread existence of an ability to sense the earth's magnetic field in animals we do not yet understand what such a sensor might look like, or how it works. Researchers have found that the seaslug Tritonia detects, and orients to the earth's magnetic field. It's brain is accessible in a living, nearly freely behaving state, and permits monitoring responses to magnetic field changes in single identified brain cells, through electrodes placed inside neurons. This project will attempt to find the magnetic receptors, observe their detailed structure in the transmission electron microscope, and determine how they may work in Tritonia. It is hypothesized that there may be tiny, membrane bound magnetic particles in these cells that are connected to the internal skeleton of the cells. Magnetic fields tugging on the magnet particles may thereby signal the cell membrane, and in this way create an electrical wave that informs the brain. This project will provide new insights into how magnetic fields alter the responses and behavior of any animals having such particles in their cells. It will also provide a training experience for undergraduate students with an interest in research through an apprenticeship training program associated with the project.

A grant has been awarded to the University of Washington, under the direction of Dr. Dennis WIllows to provide funds to replace microscopes for laboratory investigations, and an outboard powered skiff for nearshore and intertidal fieldwork at the Friday Harbor Laboratory (FHL). The microscopes are needed to maintain the basic research and teaching infrastructure, and the boat will replace one that is decrepit and unusable. FHL is located at the junction of Juan de Fuca and Georgia Straits and Puget Sound, at a site of unusual biological diversity and opportunities for coastal ocean studies. FHL supports research from molecular and cell biology along a scale of increasing spatial dimensions to animal behavior and community ecology. It has traditionally encouraged innovative and cross-cutting original research by eminent scholars, researchers, and students in a wide range of fields including zoology, oceanography, botany, and basic biomedical sciences. With help from this request, they hope to establish and sustain for at least 3 decades, opportunities for research and training for students and investigators from culturally diverse, national and international institutions in the marine sciences.

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Willows
This award to University of Washington's Friday Harbor Laboratories provides instrumentation to improve the oceanographic and fisheries research capabilities of the research vessel Centennial, operated by UW-FHL in support of its research and education missions. The specific items supported with this award include a split-beam echosounder for fisheries assessment, mid-water trawl net and doors, a net monitoring system for benthic and mid-water trawls, upgrades to the existing remotely-operated vehicle including additional thrusters, a forward-looking sonar system and a manipulator arm, and a hydraulic dock crane for loading and off-loading the vessel. These improvements will be of substantial advantage to scientists using the vessel in their research during 2005 and future years.
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