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Alicia Helms, System-Wide Monitoring Program Coordinator
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System-Wide Monitoring Program Coordinator
Currently, at the South Slough reserve, I am responsible for implementing the System-Wide Monitoring Program. This includes monthly field & lab work for data collection, sample processing, and equipment maintenance at nine sites including water quality and nutrient stations as well as a weather station.
For the SeagrassNet Global Monitoring Program, I lead quarterly eelgrass
(Zostera marina) sampling efforts at Valino Island; this program was established in 2001 and continues to document the status of seagrass populations at 70 sites in 23 countries.
As part of a pilot project between the NERRS & NANOOS (Pacific Northwest ocean observing system regional association of the Integrated Ocean Observing System--IOOS), I am preparing for the installation and maintenance of a real-time water quality site targeted to make real-time water quality data products available for shellfish growers in the Pacific Northwest.
Background and Experience
Other projects include assisting with estuarine wetland reference site projects to establish a network of sites for long term data collection and analysis; serving as a team leader on two research cruises aboard the NOAA R/V McAruthur II; maintaining a climate station that is part of NOAA’s Climate Reference Network; and participating in secretive marsh bird surveys.
I gained extensive experience with the ecology of gooseneck barnacles, Pollicipes polymerus during my graduate thesis work at OIMB. I developed a unique tagging technique using the fluorochrome calcein to study growth and recruitment of larval and juvenile gooseneck barnacles. This calcein mark glows when viewed with epiflourescence and was used in my experiments to distinguish between new recruits and already settled recruits as well as to determine growth rates of juvenile barnacles.
I studied the ecology of burrowing shrimp, Neotrypaea californiensis, in Willapa Bay, WA while working at the Aquatic Ecology lab at WSU-Vancouver. In particular, I monitored larval stages of the ghost shrimp along with associated water quality variables to determine distribution and abundance of populations to contribute to the larger goal of finding alternative solutions for commercial oyster growers using pesticide (carbaryl) to control ghost shrimp populations.
I am also interested in the biology of marine and estuarine invasions, in particular the interactions among native and non-native species as well as responses of native and non-native species to climate change.
Curriculum Vitae
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