The RSF is happy to announce that it is moving it’s aquaculture research lab to the Indianapolis, IN area. Our current lab and 100+ gallon broodstock system will be shut down this month. The fish and invertebrate broodstock we have acquired over the last several years will be sent to the RSF breeder network participants and returned once the new aquaculture system is established and stable.

We are excited about the move as the new space will provide the necessary space for a research lab, a broodstock system, and several research and growout tanks. A thread on the discussion forums will be started once we begin construction of the new lab.

The Reef Stewardship Foundation is announcing a new opportunity for taking a leadership role on our Board of Directors (BOD). Following a recent change to our bylaws (see details here) the RSF BOD has been reorganized and a new position, Research Director, is now open to interested applicants. The position announcement follows:

Title: Research Director

Voting status: BOD member with full BOD and membership voting rights

Minimum Requirements:

1. Terminal degree required (Ph.D) in marine biology, invertebrate biology, vertebrate biology (with marine ornamental focus), zoology, or a closely related field.

2. Minimum of 10 years experience in the marine ornamental industry, preferably in a research or leadership role.

3. Minimum of 3 years previous research grant experience, preferably with raising of marine animals, zooplankton, and/or live larval foods.

Preferred Qualifications:

1. Minimum of one year of continuous membership with the Reef Stewardship Foundation. Preferably with familiarity of our past research and grant efforts.

2. Knowledge of survey methodology, data analysis, statistical research methods, and/or preparing research grant reports.

3. Previous committee experience in either academia or the marine ornamental industry.

4. Previous PI or co-PI experience on research grants. Preferably with experience in writing and submitting grant proposals.

Position Duties:

This position is initially a volunteer BOD position with a one year term, renewable for a longer term upon mutual agreement of all BOD members. Salary may be available depending on grant funding and would be a negotiated contract on a grant by grant basis.

The research director will be a full BOD position with responsibilities including, but not limited to:

A. assist the Board of Directors in recruiting new members and in arranging public speaking engagements.

B. lead and/or assist the Board of Directors with program development and an ongoing research agenda.

C. assist the Board of Directors with writing and/or editing of grant proposals, grant progress reports, and finding new sources of funding.

D. assist the Board of Directors in determining the best approaches to increase credibility of the research efforts conducted by the Foundation with the intent to increase the chances of funding for future projects and the ability to publish peer reviewed research articles or books.

E. shall perform all duties incidental to the office of Research Director and such other duties as may be prescribed by the Board of Directors from time to time.

Note: Anyone interested in this position must be nominated for the position by a current RSF paid member and cannot nominate themselves.

Once a nomination is made and accepted by the nominee then 1) a cover letter explaining how the nominee meets the qualifications for the position and 2) a full CV, should be submitted to info (AT) reefstewardshipfoundation.org (replace the (AT) with a @ symbol, we are doing this to avoid spam).

This position will remain open until filled.

The Reef Stewardship Foundation an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer. Members of protected classes and individuals with the ability to contribute in meaningful ways to the RSF’s continuing commitment to cultural diversity, pluralism, and individual differences are encouraged to find an RSF member to nominate them and submit an application.

Please contact info (AT) reefstewardshipfoundation.org with any inquiries regarding the position.

Live adult copepod at 400x
Nikon Labophot-2 microscope

RSF's new Nikon Labophot-2 research microscope

The RSF research and aquaculture lab received a major upgrade today with the arrival of our Nikon Labophot-2 microscope (see image).The purchase of the microscope was made possible by a grant award from the Norcross Wildlife Foundation in 2008. After a lengthy search of available microscopes, both new and used, we finally selected the Nikon Labophot-2. The Nikon improves and adds to our lab’s capabilities compared to our existing microscopes and should allow us to apply for new research grants that we previously could not have performed.

Some specifications of the microscope:

Nikon Labophot 2 Phase Contrast Microscope with
10x widefield eyepieces
binocular viewing head
5 place objective holder
mechanical stage with x and y movement
turret phase condenser with phase annuli for 10x
20x, 40x,100x and 1 brightfield setting
10x Plan Phase , 20x Plan Phase, 40x Plan Phase
100x Plan Phase Oil objectives.
6 volt 20 watt halogen variable intensity illuminator
Nikon trinocular head with 3 positions, 100% viewing, 50/50 viewing, 100% photoport.

With the existing lenses we have the nice capability to resolve objects as small as 10-15 microns without using the 100x oil objective. When we launch our larval foods project in late 2010 or early 2011, the oil objective can be used to resolve objects as small as 2-3 microns. After setting up the microscope we took a few test images (see below).

The RSF would like to thank the Norcross Wildlife Foundation for making this possible and the owner of of Arc Micro Optics

Arc Micro Optics logo

Arc Micro Optics logo

, Phil Hutcheson, for helping us find the perfect microscope to match our needs. We highly recommend that anyone considering doing larval imaging or larval foods work to contact Arc Micro Optics first. Most other microscope vendors did very little to understand our needs and attempted to sell us microscopes that would not have met the RSF requirements.

Live adult copepod at 400x

Live adult copepod at 400x

Adult copepod at 200x

Adult copepod at 200x taken with the Nikon Labophot-2 microscope

In July, 2008 the Reef Stewardship Foundation submitted its first Research grant proposal titled “Research and Education Presentation System” to the Norcross Wildlife Foundation.

Norcross Wildlife Foundation

Norcross Wildlife Foundation Logo

The grant was submitted to obtain funding for a high quality microscope to conduct larval food work, life cycle studies, and other various other microscopic work. The grant also requested money for a laptop to manage the microscope’s images and to display the images to audience during RSF presentations.

The RSF is happy to announce the news that the Norcross Wildlife Foundation has awarded the foundation $3,000 to purchase the requested equipment. Bids for equipment will be requested immediately and purchases are planned by June, 2009. We will post an update once the equipment is in use. While the equipment will primarily benefit our research program area, the microscope and laptop will also benefit our other program areas.

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