Sharon Louise Smith is an American marine ecologist known for her work on zooplankton and their ability to respond to climate change. Smith was Professor Emeritus at the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science at the University of Miami. [1]
Smith obtained a B.A. in biology from Colorado College in 1967, followed by a M.S. in zoology from University of Auckland in 1969, and a Ph.D. in Zoology from Duke University in 1975. [2]
Smith became interested in ocean science as a 10 year old sailing with her parents on a freighter traveling from New York to Buenos Aires. [3] When she started college, she had plans to be a doctor but changed to zoology after concluding that she was not cut out to be a medical doctor. [4] Following graduate work at Duke, Smith did post-doctoral research at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia [3] and then spent more than a decade at Brookhaven National Laboratory. While at Brookhaven, Smith investigated the Somali Current during the monsoon season with multiple research cruises in the 1970s. [5] [4] In 1993, Smith moved to the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences where she later became the Dean of the Undergraduate Program in Marine Science. [6]
Smith's research into the ecology of zooplankton and nutrient cycling started with her Ph.D. research [7] which concluded that while zooplankton excreted ammonia and urea in a coastal estuary, zooplankton were not the main source of regenerated nitrogen. [8] In the Greenland Sea, Smith examined the dynamics of nutrient cycling by zooplankton and the phytoplankton prey [9] and egg production by copepods. [10]
Smith has been involved in multiple research projects in the Arabian Sea. With funding from the National Science Foundation starting in 1994, she was the lead investigator for the management of the United States component of the Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (JGOFS) Arabian Sea Process Study. [11] At the end of the JGOFS Arabian Sea program, Smith reflected upon the key results of the program including carbon cycling in the region, the possibility that the region is a natural iron enrichment experiment, and how the paleoceanographic data from the region may allow predictions about marine ecosystems' response to climate change. [12] [13] In 2006, Smith received a Fulbright Scholar Award to conduct additional research in the Arabian Sea and teach at the Sultan Qaboos University in Muscat, Oman. [14] While in Oman, Smith examined the shifts in the copepod community during the changing Southwest Monsoon and concluded that the copepods were adapting to the strength of upwelling by altering their reproductive strategy. [15] During this project Smith jointly published two books on the taxonomy of copepods in the region [16] [17] which were the first peer-reviewed taxonomic information on zooplankton in the Arabian Sea. [18]
In the Arctic, Smith has worked on how global warming and changes in sea ice will alter the availability of food for small organisms. [19] In 2004, Smith was part of a team who observed walrus pups abandoned offshore by their mothers who likely left to follow retreating sea ice, [20] research that was covered in the local Ketchikan, Alaska newspaper [21] and national press. [22] Smith serves on the Science Steering Committee for the Bering Ecosystem Science section of the Arctic Research Consortium of the United States (ARCUS). [23] Smith had been nominated to join the Arctic Research Commission, but when she noted that she was not a fan of George Bush's approach to economic and foreign policies, the interview process was stopped. [24]
In 2008, Smith was named the sponsor for the Celebrity Solstice a cruise ship run by Celebrity Cruises [25] [26] which makes her the first ocean scientist to serve as a ship's sponsor. [27] During the ceremony launching the ship Smith, a two-time cancer survivor, encouraged people to "be [their] own best advocate and insist on what's right for you" when advocating for regular cancer screenings. [6]
Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is a country located in West Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of the Persian Gulf. It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen, while sharing maritime borders with Iran and Pakistan. The capital and largest city is Muscat. Oman has a population of nearly 4.7 million and is ranked the 124th most-populous country. The coast is formed by the Arabian Sea on the southeast, and the Gulf of Oman on the northeast. The Madha and Musandam exclaves are surrounded by United Arab Emirates on their land borders, with the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman forming Musandam's coastal boundaries.
Oman is the site of pre-historic human habitation, stretching back over 100,000 years. The region was impacted by powerful invaders, including other Arab tribes, Portugal and Britain. Oman once possessed the island of Zanzibar on the east coast of Africa as a colony. Oman also held Gwadar as a colony for many years.
The walrus is a large pinniped marine mammal with discontinuous distribution about the North Pole in the Arctic Ocean and subarctic seas of the Northern Hemisphere. It is the only extant species in the family Odobenidae and genus Odobenus. This species is subdivided into two subspecies: the Atlantic walrus, which lives in the Atlantic Ocean, and the Pacific walrus, which lives in the Pacific Ocean.
Muscat is the capital and most populated city in Oman. It is the seat of the Governorate of Muscat. According to the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI), the total population of Muscat Governorate was 1.72 million as of September 2022. The metropolitan area spans approximately 3,500 km2 (1,400 sq mi) and includes six provinces called wilayats, making it the largest city in the Arabian Peninsula by area. Known since the early 1st century AD as an important trading port between the west and the east, Muscat was ruled by various indigenous tribes as well as foreign powers such as the Persians, the Portuguese Empire and the Ottoman Empire at various points in its history. A regional military power in the 18th century, Muscat's influence extended as far as East Africa and Zanzibar. As an important port-town in the Gulf of Oman, Muscat attracted foreign traders and settlers such as the Persians, Balochs and Sindhis. Since the accession of Qaboos bin Said as Sultan of Oman in 1970, Muscat has experienced rapid infrastructural development that has led to the growth of a vibrant economy and a multi-ethnic society. Muscat is termed as a Beta - Global City by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network.
Diel vertical migration (DVM), also known as diurnal vertical migration, is a pattern of movement used by some organisms, such as copepods, living in the ocean and in lakes. The adjective "diel" comes from Latin: diēs, lit. 'day', and refers to a 24-hour period. The migration occurs when organisms move up to the uppermost layer of the water at night and return to the bottom of the daylight zone of the oceans or to the dense, bottom layer of lakes during the day. DVM is important to the functioning of deep-sea food webs and the biologically-driven sequestration of carbon.
Celebrity Solstice is the lead ship of the Solstice class of cruise ships operated by Celebrity Cruises. Built by Meyer Werft in Papenburg, Germany, she was floated out on 10 August 2008, and christened by ocean scientist Professor Sharon L. Smith at a ceremony in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States, on 14 November 2008. The first post-Panamax vessel in the Celebrity fleet, she features innovative interior design and onboard amenities, including an ocean-going live grass lawn, a glassblowing studio, and a 12 deck-high atrium.
Calanus finmarchicus is a species of copepod and a component of the zooplankton, which is found in enormous amounts in the northern Atlantic Ocean.
Acartia hudsonica is a species of marine copepod belonging to the family Acartiidae. Acartia hudsonica is a coastal, cold water species that can be found along the northwest Atlantic coast.
Bawshar is one of the wilayats of Muscat, in northeastern Oman. The province borders wilayat Muttrah in the east and Muscat International Airport in the west, it overlooks the Sea of Oman from the north. It contains several archaeological sites and the Qurm Nature Reserve Ramsar site.
A planktivore is an aquatic organism that feeds on planktonic food, including zooplankton and phytoplankton. Planktivorous organisms encompass a range of some of the planet's smallest to largest multicellular animals in both the present day and in the past billion years; basking sharks and copepods are just two examples of giant and microscopic organisms that feed upon plankton. Planktivory can be an important mechanism of top-down control that contributes to trophic cascades in aquatic and marine systems. There is a tremendous diversity of feeding strategies and behaviors that planktivores utilize to capture prey. Some planktivores utilize tides and currents to migrate between estuaries and coastal waters; other aquatic planktivores reside in lakes or reservoirs where diverse assemblages of plankton are present, or migrate vertically in the water column searching for prey. Planktivore populations can impact the abundance and community composition of planktonic species through their predation pressure, and planktivore migrations facilitate nutrient transport between benthic and pelagic habitats.
Deborah K. Steinberg is an American Antarctic biological oceanographer who works on interdisciplinary oceanographic research programs. Steinberg's research focuses on the role that zooplankton play in marine food webs and the global carbon cycle, and how these small drifting animals are affected by changes in climate.
Barrow Canyon is a submarine canyon that straddles the boundary between the Beaufort and Chukchi seas. Compared to other nearby areas and the Canada Basin, the highly productive Barrow Canyon supports a diversity of marine animals and invertebrates.
Karen Frances Wishner is an American oceanographer currently at University of Rhode Island and an elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Her interests include coastal shelf and zooplankton behavior and environment, and has published her findings.
The lipid pump sequesters carbon from the ocean's surface to deeper waters via lipids associated with overwintering vertically migratory zooplankton. Lipids are a class of hydrocarbon rich, nitrogen and phosphorus deficient compounds essential for cellular structures. This lipid carbon enters the deep ocean as carbon dioxide produced by respiration of lipid reserves and as organic matter from the mortality of zooplankton.
Cindy Lee is a retired Distinguished Professor known for her research characterizing the compounds that comprise marine organic matter.
Ann Bucklin is Professor Emeritus of Marine Sciences at the University of Connecticut known for her work using molecular tools to study zooplankton. Bucklin was elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1995.
Carin Jessica Ashjian is an American biological oceanographer who is an associate scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. She studies how the physical environment influences the distribution of plankton in the Beaufort Sea.
Kendra Lee Daly is an oceanographer known for her work on zooplankton, particularly in low oxygen regions of the ocean. She is a professor at the University of South Florida, and an elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Stephanie Louise Pfirman is a professor at Arizona State University known for her work on sea ice, pollutants in sea ice, and how sea ice is changing over time. She is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Callianira antarctica is a species of ctenophore that physically resembles Mertensia ovum, but lacks the oil sacs. Just like other ctenophores, over 95% of its body mass and composition is water.
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