Pamela Reynolds

by Pamela Reynolds, ZEN Coordinator

Coordinating the ZEN is awesome. Not only do I have the opportunity to interact with incredibly smart and wonderful researchers across the globe, but I am constantly impressed with their creativity and talent. From writing marine ecological haikus to crafting algae and sea creature art, the ZEN partners continue to surprise me.

Here’s a video recently sent to me by Eduardo Infantes, a postdoc with Per Moksnes’ who assisted with the ZEN projects this past summer in Sweden. This video produced by Eduardo shows how the Swedish team used the experimental protocols and materials we sent them from VIMS to implement an experiment testing for predator effects in eelgrass beds at their field site in Gullmar Fjord. The video features Drs. Moksnes, Johan Eklov and Lars Gamfeldt, and grad student Jonas Thormar at the Kristineberg Marine Station on the west coast of Sweden. Just think how much shorter and more exciting scientific papers could be if they all included links to online video methods with fun soundtracks like this! 

I’ll let Eduardo and some of the other ZEN scientists tell you in more detail about the experiment (affectionately called the “Podsicle” approach) in another blog post. Until then, enjoy the movie!