:: Lab Visit from UiTM students ::

On 27th December 2012 and 7th January 2013, we welcomed Mr. Syazwan and his students from the Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Mara, Penang to our lab to share some information on algae culture for their final year projects.

Mr. Syazwan and his students

 Even though it was a short visit, we hope that the students managed to acquire some knowledge in which they can apply in their project. We are looking forward to our future collaborations; feel free to visit us again next time.

Cheers

:: New Culture Room ::

At last, our micro algae got a new home, and it is definitely bigger than before.

Working chamber

Laminar flow 

Culture racks with fluorescent light

Growth chamber for polar species 

With this new culture room and our existing expertise, we are planning to create our own micro algae culture collection. Hopefully, everything will go according to the plan.

Cheers

:: New Member ::

We, the members of USM Plankton Lab are very happy to welcome Dr. Sharifah as the new member of USM Plankton Lab. We look forward to working with you and we wish you all the best.

Name: Syarifah Rahmah Syed Muhammad

Position: Post Doctoral Fellow

Institution: Centre for Marine and Coastal Studies, USM

Research: Fish Nutrition, fish breeding, fish culture

6th Malaysian International Seminar on Antarctica (MISA6 2013)

ONLINE REGISTRATION AND SUBMISSION OF ABSTRACT/PAPERS CAN BE DONE AT

http://misa6.webstarts.com

Field Work at Sedim River & Air Itam River

On 10th November 2012, we were given an opportunity to help 22 undergraduate students with their field work for BAT 201 class (Limnology). We departed from USM at 8.30 am  and headed to Air Itam River in Penang before going to Sedim River in Kedah. There, we measured all parameters (DO, TDS, temperature, velocity, depth, pH, conductivity) at three different areas (shaded area, open area, and under the bridge). We also took water samples triplicate at each area for water quality analysis. 

 Air Itam River

We spent 1 hour at the first location, and by the time we arrived at our second location, it was 11 am.

Sedim River

There, we measured all same parameters at two different areas which were the pool area (deeper, flows at slow velocity & turbulence) and the riffle area ( shallow, flows at high velocity & turbulence).

Students prepared to measure parameters

Once we completed our tasks, we took the opportunity to walk on the Tree Top Walk, the world's longest canopy walk.

Tree Top Walk

River view on Tree Top Walk

memory on Tree Top Walk

At 6.00 pm, we happily went back with a memorable experience.


p/s : more pictures

Seminar : '' Better Bread " An Environmental Genomic Challenge

Seminar: Comb Jellyfish, Corals, and Mangroves of the Caribbean Sea

                       Speaker: Dr. Ulrich Niermann
                       Date: 6 July 2012
                       Time: 3.00 p.m.
                       Venue: Meeting room 107,
                                    School of Biological Sciences
                                    Universiti Sains Malaysia

Abstract: 

The sea walnut (Mnemiopsis leidyi), a comb jellyfish, was transported accidently in ballast water of petrol ships from its native habitat America to Europe. It invaded the Black Sea during the late 1980’s. It spread over the Caspian and Mediterranean Sea in subsequent years and conquered the northern European Seas during 2006. Dr. Niermann studied behavior of this comb jelly in one of its native subtropical habitats in the waters off Belize a little state south of Mexico. This state owns not only extended Mangrove areas but as well the second largest barrier reef of the world (after the Great Barrier Reef of Australia). Dr. Niermann will introduce these unique coral - and surprisingly colorful Mangrove ecosystems and will inform about their basic structure, their meaning for the human and of changes during the last decades due to climatic impacts and extensive anthropogenic exploitation.