Corophium Working Group Activities

Corophium/Mudflat Ecology Meeting May 26, 2011
The presentations at the Corophium/mudflt ecolgy meeting on May 25, 2011 at Mount Allison University, Sackville, NB are now available online at: http://www.unb.ca/fredericton/science/biology/Faculty/barbeau/mfe2011.html. The presentations include:

1. Mudflat Ecology Meeting Schedule 26 May 2011 - final
2. Myriam Barbeau - Introduction
3. Travis - Gerwing Abiotic and Biotic Mudflat Conditions
4. Justin Murray - Mudflat Sediments
5. Kelan Kennedy - Winter Populations of Corophium
6. Colin McFarlane - Movement of Ice Blocks
7. Will Shim - Trematodes, Snails and Corophium
8. Xi Hu - Math Model with Diatoms, Corophium and Snail Interactions
9. Melissa Hebert - Diurnal and Nocturnal Foraging of Semipalmated Sandpipers
10. Jenna Quinn - Sandpiper Foraging, Prey Availability, and Prey Quality
11. Trevor Bringloe - Corophium Swimming
12. Tony Einfeldt - Corophium Population Genetics
13. David Drolet - Population Modelling Dynamics of Corophium

Corophium Working Group Meeting May 20, 2010
A meeting of the Corophium Working Group was held jointly with researchers working on an NSERC Strategic project : “Modeling the environmental interactions involving a key species in the Bay of Fundy ecosystem in relation to local and global change scenarios” at Mount Allison University on May 20, 2010. Approximately 35 people attended, including everyone involved in the research project, as well as representatives from the Nature Conservancy of Canada, NB Department of Natural Resources, interested BoFEP members, and other academics and researchers with expertise in some aspects of this system. The meeting was chaired by Myriam Barbeau, UNB. The majority of the meeting consisted of a series of presentations on work being conducted in association with this project. Topics included broad-scale sampling of Corophium, interactions between Corophium and sediment properties, winter ecology of Corophium, interactions between mud snails and Corophium, effects of parasites of Corophium and snails on the system, modeling Corophium-snail-diatom interactions, interactions between shorebirds and the mudflat community, factors affecting vertical distribution of Corophium within the sediment, population genetics of Corophium, and population modeling. At the end of the formal presentations, Peter Wells led a brief discussion of the planned Corophium monograph. There is strong interest in completing this work, but it was decided that the Strategic project, which is likely to uncover considerable new information, should be completed first.  Diana Hamilton also presented the Corophium Bibliography, which is a compilation of published work on Corophium. It is currently in the final stages of being updated and will be posted on the BoFEP website as soon as possible. Finally, there was a broad-ranging discussion about the current research program and the type of information that it can provide to partners in the project. For those interested, all presentations from the meeting are posted at the following link: http://www.unb.ca/fredericton/science/biology/Faculty/mudflatecology.html

 Corophium Working Group Meeting April 10-11, 2000 (Summary)
A group of nine biologists met at ACER, Acadia, for 1.5 days (April 10-11), to discuss current research results on Corophium, and most importantly, to map out research plans for summer 2000. People present were: Sherman Boates (NSNRD, Acadia); Peter Hicklin (EC); Diana Hamilton (UNB Fred.); Myriam Barbeau (UNB Fred); Erin Arnold (UNB Fred.); Mike Brylinsky (ACER); Graham Daborn (ACER); Jon Percy (ACAP-CARP; BOFEP); Peter Wells, Chair (EC). Regrets were received from four other members of the WG (Ken Doe, Chris Hawkins, Jon Grant, Valerie Partridge) who were unable to attend.Presentations were made by everyone on Day One, illustrating the extensive research being conducted on this amphipod - community biology (Hamilton - Diamond); population ecology and modeling (Barbeau); shorebird-amphipod linkages (Hicklin); genetics, reproductive biology and parasitism (Boates et al.); meta-analysis of published population data - abundance and distribution (Brylinsky-Daborn-Wells-students); sediment ecotoxicology (Wells); bibliography (Wells); public communication (Percy). A decision was reached to have a full session on the biology and ecology of Corophium at the Fifth Bay of Fundy Science Workshop, at Acadia University, May 2002. Day Two was spent outlining planned field studies for Spring-Summer-Fall 2000, and the coordination of the five known ongoing studies of Hamilton-Barbeau-Hicklin-ACER-Wells- in the upper Bay of Fundy. The WG now has a critical mass of researchers assembled and the opportunity to link studies, share resources to facilitate the research, share data and information, and pursue the goal of developing a comprehensive trophic dynamics model of the role of Corophium in the ecology of the mudflats. Detailed minutes of the meeting will be assembled and distributed shortly, with appropriate attachments.

Agenda February 22nd, 2002 Meeting

The Corophium Working Group will  meet in Sackville (at CWS) on Feb. 22 from 10:30 to 4 PM  Following is a list of items we would like to discuss:

1) The Corophium and mudflat ecology session at the upcoming BoFEP meeting -
we want to organize the panel discussion that will follow this session -
input on this would be appreciated.

2) We are exploring the idea of a monograph on Corophium and related issues
(sediment, diatoms, other inverts., birds on mudflats, etc. ), and would
like input from others and to gauge interest in participating.

3) Discussion of research being conducted now, and plans for the upcoming
field season - we are not looking at formal presentations here, but it would
be a good idea for members of the group to be aware of what is being done
and what is planned.

4) A poster on the activities of the working group to be presented at the
BoFEP meeting. Peter submitted the abstract for this, and we need to decide
what will go on it.

5) Peter will show us the most up to date version of his Corophium bibliography.

Notes on May 14, 2003 meeting
The Corophium WG of BoFEP met May 14th in Sackville, NB.   Nine persons attended - Diana Hamilton (UNBFred), Myriam Barbeau (UNBFred), Irena Kaczmarska-Ehrman (Mount Allison Univ), Richard Elliot (CWS, Sackville), Andy Didyk (UNB Moncton), Jeff Ollerhead (Mount Allison, Sackville), Peter Wells (CWS, Dartmouth, and Chair), Jocelyne Hellou (DFO-BIO, Dartmouth) and one student from CWS Sackville (Dominique Maillet).  The group met primarily to discuss the status of work on the joint Corophium review paper, plans for the summer months, and progress on other papers. The outline of the review, coordinated by Hamilton and Wells, was discussed and amended; there are now authors for all sections.  Several sections were discussed in detail.  The group hopes to have a first draft of the review completed by fall 2003.  Summer work this season is fairly limited, with some sampling taking place in Shepody Bay for continued contaminant analysis, and the meta-analysis project continued by Mike Brylinsky (ACER, Acadia University). Most effort is being placed on the continuation of sediment sample analysis for contaminants, data analysis, and writing primary research papers. Several papers are in preparation, submitted or are in press. Student projects include those  with M. Burt (UNB Fred) on parasites in Corophium , with M. Barbeau on burrow hole image analysis of density, with J. Hellou on ecotoxicology of PAHs and sewage constituents, and on bird tracking via Corophium (D. Hamilton).  The Corophium bibliography maintained by the group on EndNote now has 500-600 key-worded references on Corophium volutator, and the collections of papers are growing. Contact has been made with the Amphipod specialist Professor Wim Vader in Tromso, Norway, who maintains a global amphipod bibliography and collections.  The WG plans to meet again in September 2003 to review progress on the review.  We are also planning another Corophium-mudflat ecology session at the 6th BoFEP Fundy Science Workshop in Sept-Oct 2004. [Submitted by P.G. Wells]

Bibliography Project Report, November 2008

Project Name: Corophium bibliography
Lead and Primary Personnel: Diana Hamilton, MTA.
Location: Sackville
Primary Purpose/Goal: Complete and post a detailed bibliography related to Corophium volutator.
Project Lifetime & Progress to date: The project was initiated by Peter Wells several years ago. In 2004, students working with Diana Hamilton and Myriam Barbeau began updating the bibliography. Most of the work on it has now been completed, and the plan is to make it available on the BoFEP website in the coming months. [Submitted by Diana Hamilton]