Mia J. Tegner Memorial Research Grant in Marine Environmental History and Historical Marine Ecology

Tegner Winners 2008 |2007 |2006 |2005 | 2004 | 2001

The 2008 grant recipients have just been announced

Application guidelines: available in PDF form or HTML.

About the Research Grant
In the face of increasing evidence that the world's oceans are in trouble, MCBI established the Mia J. Tegner Memorial Research Grant in Marine Environmental History and Historical Marine Ecology. This grant is among the first in the world awarded specifically to help scientists document the composition and abundance of ocean life before humans altered marine ecosystems. This information is crucial for helping lawmakers, regulators, managers and activists set appropriate targets for marine conservation efforts.

Support for the 2008 program is provided by the Oak Foundation.

Dr. Mia J. Tegner, a marine biologist at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, lost her life in January 2001 while carrying out research off Southern California. She studied the ecology of kelp forest communities and abalone populations, and was particularly interested in understanding how marine populations and ecosystems have changed as a result of human activities. This pioneering research earned her appointments as a Pew Fellow in Marine Conservation and as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She was an author of the cover paper in the July 27, 2001 issue of the prestigious journal Science on "Historical overfishing and the recent collapse of coastal ecosystems" which showed that life in the sea was vastly more numerous until spreading human populations and improved fishing technologies devastated marine species and ecosystems.

Mia J. Tegner Memorial Research Grant was started to honor her memory by MCBI with funding from the Oak Foundation and the Christensen Fund.

WINNERS OF THE TEGNER MEMORIAL RESEARCH GRANT

2008

• Dr. David Addison (American Samoa Community College, America Samoa), Dr. Arielle Levine (Pacific Island Fisheries Center, USA) and Marlowe Sabater (Department of Marine and Wildlife Resources, American Samoa) , “Uncovering the historical ecology of marine conditions, resource use, and management in American Samoa: an interdisciplinary analysis of fishing activities through time”

• Jessica Carilli (U.C. San Diego, USA) “Reading the past from coral cores: a test of ecological resilience in the Line Islands”

• Drs. Ratana Chuenpagdee and Kurt Kornekis (Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada), “Changing gears, changing grounds: An environmental history of changing fishing practices in Newfoundland, Canada”

• Jack Kittinger (University of Hawai’i – Manoa USA) “Quantifying historical anthropogenic impacts to ecosystem integrity in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands”

• Loren McClenachan (U.C. San Diego, USA) “Developing historical baselines for the Hawaiian monk seal”

• George Roff (University of Queensland Australia) “Shifting baselines on the inshore Great Barrier Reef – evidence of a historical collapse of coral communities following European settlement”

• Dr. Raphael Sagarin (Duke University USA) “The indelible stain of human impacts on Plicopurpura pansa populations in Mexico;”

• Jennifer Schultz (University of Hawai’i – Manoa USA) “Status of the Hawaiian monk seal prior to human exploitation and management”

• Ruth Thurstan (University of York UK) “Overfishing in the early 19th century and the origins of the trawling controversy in the British Isles”
• Dr. Elizabeth Watson (University of California Davis USA) “Establishing historic and prehistoric baselines for tidal marsh extent in central Californian estuaries undergoing tidal marsh restoration and rehabilitation”

2007

• Marcus Barber, James Cook University, Australia, “Indigenous environmental memories and past ecological conditions in coastal Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia.”   This project will integrate anthropological, historical, and marine scientific information to evaluate changes in Aboriginal land in Northern Australia over the last 200 years.  Through the use of indigenous memories and oral histories of environmental change, the output from this project will assist managers in developing conservation plans for the region.

• Adrian Jordaan, Stony Brook University, USA “Is the recovery of cod along the Maine coast limited by reduced anadromous river herring populations?”  Atlantic cod populations vanished from the coast of Maine more than 50 years ago.  To better understand the past ecological conditions that supported these populations, this project will utilize historic texts and maps to reconstruct prey populations in the area and to evaluate the impact of human activities on these resources.      

• Deborah McArdle, U.C. Santa Barbara, USA, “A life history approach to interpreting and predicting resilience: historical response of an exploited marine species to fluctuations in fishing and climate.”  This study will employ novel approaches to analyze more than 100 years of data on the California spiny lobster to develop baseline conditions for these populations.  The output from this study should provide a new approach for interpreting historical baselines and trends in the abundance of populations of exploited marine organisms and provide insight for managing California spiny lobster populations.

• Hem Nalini Morzaria Luna, Centro Intercultural de Estudios de Desiertos y Océanos, Mexico, “Historical ecology of coastal wetlands of the Northern Gulf of California.”  Through assessments of local ecological knowledge of fishing efforts and written and oral accounts of past ecological conditions, this project will reconstruct historic conditions of coastal wetlands in the Northern Gulf of Mexico.  This information will be used to help government entities and conservation groups develop appropriate conservation and management measures for these habitats.

• John Nevill, Seychelles, “Establishing an historical baseline for the Seychelles shark fishery to enable enhanced conservation and management.”  Several different shark species have been historically fished from the waters of the Seychelles archipelago.  To better understand the impact of these extractive practices, this study will utilize a range of historic data sets to establish baseline population data for shark, which can help guide current efforts of shark conservation and management.

• Daniel Tonnes, University of Washington, USA, “Age and ecological role of old-growth drift wood in Puget Sound.”  Drift wood is a common feature of nearshore environments in the Pacific Northwest, where it may have an unique ecological function.  This project will utilize carbon dating of this wood to better understand past habitat conditions in nearshore regions of Puget Sound and to identify the potential impacts human activities, such as tree harvest, on drift wood dynamics.

• Lance van Sittert, University of Cape Town, South Africa, “Ecological inventory of South African Guano Islands Administrative Inventory – 1890-1950.”  This project will reconstruct baseline conditions of seabird populations in the Benguela Current in order to better characterize ecological change in the system over the past several decades.  This reconstruction will be accomplished through extensive seabird archives from multiple management agencies over more than 100 years.

• Sancia van der Meij, National Museum of Natural History Naturalis, The Netherlands, “Changes in species compositions in assemblages of stony corals and mollusks in Jakarta Bay and the Thousand Islands archipelago, Java Sea, Indonesia (1920-2005).”  Coral reefs support a wide range of habitats that, in turn, sustain economically important fisheries and tourism in Jakarta Bay.  This study will utilize past scientific collections, old publications, and historical documents and nautical maps to assess the composition and diversity of coral reefs in the area and will use this information to evaluate the effects of human settlement and urbanization on these coral reef ecosystems. 

• Bas Verschuuren, Foundation for Sustainable Development, The Netherlands, “Integrating Cultural and Spiritual values in Marine Biodiversity Monitoring and Management in the Coastal Zone of Northern Australia”.  This collaborative project seeks to relate the cultural importance of coastal resources to indigenous peoples to management efforts aimed at sustainable develop and conservation. The project will explore the last 20,000 years of traditional ecological knowledge that has evolved in this region.

2006

• David Bailey, (UK) from the University of Aberdeen in the United Kingdom for his work documenting long term changes in Pacific and Atlantic deep sea fish communities.
• David Jacobs and Ryan Ellington, (USA) from the University of California - Los Angeles, in the USA for their research establishing a baseline for estuarine community diversity in the Northern Gulf of California. These estuarine systems have been significantly altered in recent years, and are in further threat from shrimp farming and development.
• Deborah Thiele, (Australia) from Deakin University in Australia for her work conserving endangered dolphin species on the Kimberley Coast, Australia. This remote region is largely unexplored, but is facing rapid expansion of human activities.

2005

• Jo Marie Acebes, (Philippines) Oxford University, "Historical whaling in the Philippines: origins of 'indigenous subsistence whaling', mapping whaling grounds and comparison with current known distribution".
• Darrin Drumm, (New Zealand) University of Otago, "Tracking a millennium of reef exploitation and ecological impacts of human interactions with the reefs of the southern Cook Islands: a study of archaeological, anthropological and contemporary evidence".
• Heather Lazrus, (USA) University of Washington, "Global climate change in the South Pacific: traditional environmental knowledge and community responses on Polynesian Atolls".
• Joelle Prange, (Australia) Marine Studies Program, University of the South Pacific, "Integrating scientific and local indigenous knowledge of coral reef communities of the Great Astrolabe Reef, Fiji".
• John Reed, (USA) Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution, "Effects of bottom trawling on a deep-water coral reef".

2004

• Mark Baine and Linus digim'Rina, (Papua New Guinea), University of Papua New Guinea, "An examination of the changing face of Papua New Guinea coastal fisheries over time and with coastal development, evidenced through a social and ecological study of traditional fishing practices in the Port Moresby area and the Bwemapou Lagoon, Trobriand Islands."
• Todd Braje and Jon Erlandson, (USA) University of Oregon, "10,000 years of ecological interactions between humans, otters, shellfish and kelp forests: the archaeology and historical ecology of San Miguel Island, California."
• Stefan Claesson and Karen Alexander, (USA) University of New Hampshire, "Historical Fishing Grounds Mapping - Gulf of Maine."
• Joshua Drew, (USA) Boston University, "Reflections of the Past: Evaluating current Marine Protected Areas in a Historical Context."
• Daniel Gomez-Uchida, (Chile) Oregon State University, "Are we overfishing genomes? Testing the genetic effects of historical harvesting in exploited rockfish populations."
• Benjamin Kahn, (Australia) APEX Environmental, Indonesia Oceanic Cetacean Program, "Historical changes of large migratory marine life diversity and abundance in the Solor-Alor Straits, Indonesia's major Indo-Pacific marine corridor: Perspectives from Lamalera, the last traditional community of sea hunters in SE Asia."
• Geoff Moore, (UK) University of Glasgow, "The benthos of the Clyde Sea area (Scotland) prior to commercial fishing."
• Seth Newsome and Daniel Monson, (USA) UC Santa Cruz, "Historical Perspective of Killer Whale (Orca orcinus) Trophic Interactions in the North Pacific: d13C & d15N Analysis of Killer Whale Teeth."
• M.L. Deng Palomares, (Philippines) U. British Columbia, "Shifting the baseline: a knowledge-base of fish abundance anecdotes from early European explorations."
• Janna M. Shackeroff and Larry Crowder, (USA) Duke University, "Traditional Ecological Knowledge, Oral Histories, and Historical Information: Reef Fisheries in Milolii, Hawaii."
• Colette Wabnitz, (UK) University of British Columbia, "Ecological functions, seagrass distribution and the conservation biology of green turtles in the Caribbean (Chelonia mydas)."

2001

• Brian Wysor and Suzanne Fredericq of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette will use their Tegner grant to apply DNA sequencing techniques to determine whether seaweed species off Panama are natives or recent invaders. "I am absolutely delighted and honored to be one of the recipients of a Mia Tegner grant," Mr. Wysor said. "This award will... contribute to an improved understanding of the threat of algal bioinvasions in the vicinity of the Panama Canal," he continued.
  Publications: Resulted in Dr. Wynsor's PhD dissertation, entitled "Biodiversity and Biogeography of Marine Green Algae of the Republic of Panama." Additional publications of the manuscript have been submitted.
• Susanna Fuller and Susan Gass of Dalhousie University in Halifax NS will study the status and distribution of deepsea corals and sponges off Newfoundland, Canada. They will be interviewing fishermen about the abundance of these crucial deepsea structure-forming species before they were largely eliminated by bottom trawling, a fishing technology that drags heavy nets across the seabed.
  Presentations: "An assessment of the distribution and status of deep sea corals in Atlantic Canada by using both scientific and local forms of knowledge," at the International Symposium on Deep Sea Corals in Erlangen, Germany, in September 2003.
  Publications: Gass, S.E.. and J.H.M. Willison (2005). An assessment of the distribution of deep-sea corals in Atlantic Canada by using both scientific and local forms of knowledge. In: Freiwald A., R.J. Murray, editors. "Cold-Water Corals and Ecosystems". Proceedings of the Second Deep-Sea Coral Symposium, Erlangen, Germany, September 2003. Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, pp 223-245.
  A separate publication on sponges is also planned. This Tegner Award also resulted in Ms. Gass's Masters Thesis.
• Peter Auster and Ivar Babb of University of Connecticut-Avery Point and Les Watling of the University of Maine will study the historic distributions of deepsea corals off New England. They will examine historic records for evidence of reefs or thickets of corals before fishing using destructive bottom trawling gear became widespread.
  Presentations: "Distribution of Deepwater Alcyonacea off the Northeast Coast of the United States," at the Second International Symposium on Deep Sea Corals in Erlangen Germany, in September 2003.
  Publications: Watling, L., P. Auster (2005). Distribution of deep-water Alcyonacea off the Northeast Coast of the United States. In: Freiwald, A., R.J. Murray, editors. "Cold-Water Corals and Ecosystems". Proceedings of the Second Deep-Sea Coral Symposium, Erlangen, Germany, September 2003. Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, pp 279-296.
• Joseph Roman of Harvard University in Cambridge MA will use DNA sequencing to estimate populations of great whales before they were killed off by commercial whaling. These methods can provide estimates that are very different from numbers estimated from whalers' logbooks, and can therefore provide independent estimates of whale populations and their role in marine ecosystems.
  Publication: Roman, J. & S.R. Palumbi. (2003, July 25). Whales before whaling in the North Atlantic. Science, 301: 508-510.
• Catherine R. Samson and Graham J. Edgar of the University of Tasmania in Hobart will study the changes in marine habitats in SE Tasmania since European settlement. By taking cores of the sediments, Drs. Samson and Edgar aim to document the disappearance of species and changes in marine ecosystems in this part of Australia since Europeans settled Tasmania in the 1800s.
  Publications: Edgar, G.J. & C.R. Samson (2004). Catastrophic decline in mollusc diversity in eastern Tasmania and its concurrence with scallop dredging. "Conservation Biology" 18:1579-1588.
  Other publications are also planned.
• Angela M. Arnold of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore MD will study the history of Chesapeake Bay food webs before overfishing for oysters and overnourishment pollution in the Chesapeake Bay watershed caused drastic ecosystem changes. From sediment cores, Ms. Arnold will analyze microorganisms that indicate past conditions and use carbon 14 analysis to date sediment layers.