|
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]
|