Members of the DEEPEND Consortium presented their research at the 15th Deep-Sea Biology Symposium held in Monterey, CA September 9-14, 2018. This conference is held every three years and organized by the Deep-Sea Biology Society, brings deep-sea researchers from all over the world together to share their findings and discoveries. There were seven DEEPEND oral presentations and eight poster presentations. Our DEEPEND Consortium Director, Dr. Tracey Sutton (NSU), gave a plenary talk, entitled “On the importance of baselines in deep ocean stewardship” and also served as co-chair for the Pelagic Systems session occurring over two separate days. The Pelagic Systems session included oral presentations by Dr. Rosanna Milligan (NSU) on lanternfishes and NSU Master’s student, Ryan Bos, on microplastic ingestion by deep-sea fishes and shrimp. Other oral presentations were given by Drs. Bracken-Grissom and Danielle DeLeo (FIU; deep-sea shrimps), Drs. Joe Lopez and Cole Easson (NSU; bacterioplankton), Ph.D. candidate Travis Richards (TAMUG; deep-pelagic food webs), and M.S. student Sebastian Velez (FAU; pelagic habitat use of juvenile snappers). Poster presentations were given by Dr. Sutton (bathypelagic fish feeding; mesopelagic fish parasites), April Cook (NSU; dragonfish reproduction), Joe Lopez (NSU; bacterial symbionts of anglerfishes), and Dr. Heather Judkins (USF; cephalopods of the Gulf of Mexico).
Florida Atlantic University graduate student, Richard Jones, won two travel awards, which funded his travel to this conference. One award was granted by DEEPEND, using funds from provided by Rock the Ocean’s Tortuga Music Festival. Proceeds from this event were donated back to the non-profit organizations (like DEEPEND), who participated in this educational and entertaining event. The other travel award was granted to Richard for winning Best Student Poster at the FAU Environmental Sciences Program retreat. We are very proud to announce that Richard’s poster presented in the Pelagic Systems session won Best Student Poster by the Judge’s Committee! The poster was entitled “Ecology of the barracudinas (Paralepididae) in the Gulf of Mexico.” The Deep-Sea Biology Society awarded him a one year membership and a £100 cash prize. You can read more about his experience on Richard’s blog here. You can read the abstracts for these posters on the Deep-Sea Biology Symposium website or go directly to the pdf here.
