Congratulations Kirk

A toast to Kirk Parmenter for being awarded a Wade Stackhouse Fellowship for the 2010-2011 academic year. This is Kirk's second Stackhouse Fellowship, the most prestigious graduate student award in the College of Agriculture, Forestry and Life Sciences.

Benthic Ecology Meeting in Wilmington, NC

The Childress Lab was well represented at the 39th Benthic Ecology Meetings this year in Wilmington, NC. Kirk gave an oral presentation on his blue crab disease morphology research. TJ gave an oral presentation on his octopus predator-prey interactions. Michael gave an oral presentation on the latest simulations of the SCBCRABS model.


Kaighn presents his poster on Hematodinium infection in blue crabs.


The Conservation of Marine Resources creative inquiry team (Adam, Frank, Laura, Anna, Rebecca, Alyssa and Aby) presents their poster on structure and biodiversity in the Florida Keys.


The banquet was on the Henretta, a large dinner cruise steamer that took us on a sunset cruise along the Cape Fear River.


The Childress Lab guys.


The Childress Lab gals.


Both posters won awards as "Outstanding Undergraduate Student Research Posters".

Year in Review: ACE Basin

In September and in December, Kirk and students of Conservation of Marine Resources conducted a quarterly census of blue crabs in the ACE Basin.


The crab catch is down almost 40% from this time last year.


But so is the frequency of the Hematodinium sp. parasite. It appears that above average rainfall this year may have dramatically altered the distribution and frequency of both crabs and parasites.

Year in Review: Florida Keys

In October, our creative inquiry team, Conservation of Marine Resources, conducted a field research project in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.


I think everyone had a great time, but don't take my word for it. Check out their own blog postings on the CMR web blog at http://clemsonconservation.blogspot.com


TJ finished his field work on octopus behavioral syndromes.


He even got a few more movies of octopus in action while at the lab.


Kaighn and Michael captured a non-native asian swimming crab. This was the first record of this species in the Florida Keys.


It was a perfect place to celebrate a couple of birthdays (Kaighn 21 and Michael 45).

Year in Review: Yellowstone

In May Margaret, Jean and I revisited Yellowstone National Park.


The Druid Peak wolves were back on their ancestral territory in the Lamar Valley. We saw the pack nearly everyday during our visit.


As a result, most of the elk, sheep and mule deer remained vigilant when grazing in the valley.


However, this young moose had a different strategy choosing the safety of a back-yard salt-like in Cooke City.


Did I mention that we also saw a lot of bears? Fortunately, not the one that made this track on the trail we were hiking.

Year in Review: Hawaii

In May, I spent three weeks helping Margaret and Kristine with their incredible waterfall-climbing goby research on the Big Island of Hawaii.


On our days off, we explored the coast on snorkel, by kayak and on SCUBA.


We were treated to many wonderful marine invertebrates...


amazing reef fishes...


green sea turtles...


and acrobatic manta rays!

Spring Crab Census

Sunrise over Mosquito Creek, or should we call it Great Swarms of Biting Gnats Creek.

Our home away from home at the ACE Basin NERR Station.

The Childress Lab prepares for another long day of crab collecting and sampling.

Kirk takes inventory of crab assembly line.

TJ wrestles an adult male with anger management issues.

Kate keeping warm on a chilly morning boat trip.

Michael working the Mosquito Creek crab pots in search of the tagged blue crabs.