from Dateline (May 8, 2003)
Scientist Works to Protect Our Coastal
Marine Ecosystems
by Dave Reid
Shortly after receiving his doctorate from
UC Irvine in 1971, Steven N. Murray received job offers from Rutgers,
University of Florida at Gainesville and Cal State Fullerton.
Given the nature of his research interest and what he had been studying,
Murray felt Fullerton provided the opportunity for him to be very
productive as a scholar and teacher. “I enjoy teaching and
I very much wanted to be at an institution where teaching was going
to be part of my job,” Murray said.
In 31 years, Murray has distinguished himself as a
teacher, researcher and student of Orange County’s coastal
marine ecosystems. His expertise has led to his nomination to the
newly created National Marine Protected Areas Federal Advisory Committee,
which provides advice and recommendations to the secretaries of
Commerce and the Interior on Marine Protected Areas.
Q: |
How did you get interested
in marine biology? |
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A: |
I’d always had an interest
in nature and science, and I really got interested in marine
biology when I was doing my undergraduate work at UC Santa
Barbara. The campus is located right on the ocean, and I had
the opportunity to take some marine biology classes, which
stimulated my interest in the field. |
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Q: |
Were there particular professors
who inspired you? |
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A:
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My interest was really piqued
by a couple of my professors who engaged us very strongly
in laboratory and fieldwork as part of our undergraduate classes.
I found that it was an enjoyable experience to get out and
observe marine life, take data and come back to the laboratory.
Our labs were open 24 hours a day. Professors weren’t
around all the time but students had complete access to the
labs. It gave a lot of us the opportunity to observe marine
life and work on class projects at night and on weekends.
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Q: |
Do we have anything like
that here? |
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A: |
We do an extraordinary job of
involving our undergraduate students in field and research
work. It’s a little tougher here than at Santa Barbara
where the campus was isolated and a residential environment.
We’re in a more populated area, and our students have
limited free time because of jobs, work, family obligations,
commuting, etc.
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Q: |
But we’re fairly
close to the ocean. |
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A: |
We’re only 40 minutes
to the ocean and places that provide opportunities for study.
I and others routinely use that proximity as part of our classroom
instructional program.
This past fall, I taught a class in coastal ecology. When
there were low tides – which allow us to make observations
and perform field investigations – we would meet at
the loading dock and travel to the shore for the remainder
of the class period.
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Q: |
Could you tell us about
some of your recent grants? |
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A:
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Together with my students, I
am working on two major grant-supported research projects.
My major research projects, which I’ve been working
on since 1994-95, involve marine life throughout Southern
California and particularly on Orange County shores. We’ve
been interested in rocky shore plants and animals and how
human activities have affected the abundances of these organisms.
A subset of this problem is how can we interpret observed
changes that result from natural factors, such as changes
in ocean climate. This work is very complex because we are
in a unique region with regard to ocean conditions, and these
ocean conditions have been changing. At the same time, the
region has become increasingly urbanized and affected by human
activities. The challenge has been to identify how human activities
– particularly, on-site shore activities – have
affected the structure and organization of rocky intertidal
communities. |
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Q: |
Which agencies are funding
your work? |
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A: |
My research mostly has been
funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,
through the University of Southern California Sea Grant Program.
A second major supporter of my research has been the U.S.
Department of Interior, through the Minerals Management Service.
The Pacific Region of the service has done a very nice job
of recognizing the importance of monitoring and following
changes that are occurring in marine populations and communities,
particularly adjacent to oil exploration. They have actively
supported a series of studies to advance our under- standing
of how to monitor shore organisms, how to detect change and
how to look at relationships between human activities, natural
ocean conditions and changing marine populations and communities.
We also have been interacting strongly with officials at the
County of Orange, the Ocean Institute at Dana Point, the state
parks and the city of Newport Beach in efforts to identify
how to improve coastal management, particularly how to best
manage heavily used intertidal areas. |
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Q: |
Are our shorelines in protected
areas? |
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A: |
Most of the Orange County shoreline
is placed inside what are called California Marine Life Refuges.
This means there is some level of shore protection, particularly
protection against collecting invertebrates and seaweeds. My
sea grant research, however, showed that in reality, these shores
are not very well protected. This work led to my involvement
in ongoing controversial efforts to design and improve the protection
of marine ecosystems. In this capacity, I have been serving
as a member of science panels for the state of California and
the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary. Our task has
been to develop science-based designs for improving marine protection
throughout the state and in sanctuary waters. |
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Q: |
And your other major project? |
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A: |
This project involves non-native
seaweeds that have invaded our coast, particularly the “killer
algae” Caulerpa taxifolia. This is a green feather-like
seaweed native to Australia. It is very popular in the saltwater
aquarium trade because the plant is hardy and attractive;
it is one of the few seaweeds that can withstand conditions
in salt-water aquariums. The species was introduced into the
Mediterranean Sea a few years ago. When that occurred it spread
rapidly and created large changes in Mediterranean bottom
communities. In summer 2000, it appeared in Agua Hedionda
in San Diego and in Huntington Harbor. This was very disturbing
and set off an effort to eradicate this species from these
two sites. That eradication effort has been quite costly.
Our studies fall into two categories. The first is that we
(researcher Susan Frisch and I) wanted to identify the availability
of Caulerpa taxifolia and other Caulerpa species in retail
saltwater aquarium stores. I think we identified 16 different
Caulerpa taxa being sold in Orange, Los Angeles and San Diego
counties. Some of these species are known to be potential
invaders. Our work and findings were used to help support
a bill that was passed in the Legislature in 2001 that banned
the sale and possession in California of several of these
species. We’re now working with the Department of Fish
and Game. They have brought us confiscated samples of Caulerpa
for identification and we are working with their wardens to
improve their understanding of Caulerpa and other aquarium
seaweeds.
The second part of our work involves ecological and physiological
lab experiments to determine the degree to which other Caulerpa
species can tolerate local ocean conditions – information
needed to determine whether a given species is indeed a threat
to invade Southern California waters. |
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