Christian Sumalpong - Guam EPSCoR

August 4, 2025August 4, 2025

Collector donates thousands of shells to UOG Biorepository

EPSCoR 20250627 RobLasley ShellsMiniBlitz 8

A retired shell enthusiast recently donated thousands of shells to the Guam NSF EPSCoR Biorepository, many of which were collected on Guam during the 1960s, to be added to its historical collection.

Warren B. Carah, author and engineer, spent his teenage years in Guam from 1960 to 1964, when his family relocated due to his father’s service as an officer in the U.S. military. Carah attended Tumon High School, now known as John F. Kennedy High School, and spent his after-school hours searching for shells in Tumon Bay with his friends.

“We went to our lockers, got our spear guns out, and took the old Japanese elevator that went from the cliff down to the beach and we spent the rest of the day shelling, we went to just about every beach on the island,” Carah said.

Aside from Tumon Bay, Carah and his friends also frequented Apra Harbor, Malesso’, Cocos Island, and Tarague Beach in Andersen Air Force Base.

“I used to spend many, many hours out there at night. The bottom would literally be crawling with the very large cone shells, olive shells, and cowrie shells and during the day, it would look barren but at night, everything had come out,” Carah stated.

The donated shell collection includes around 4,000 shells from Guam, the Philippines, Australia, North America, and Africa.

Carah is aware of the difference in shell conservation now compared to how it was in the 1960s. “I think nowadays, most anybody that collects shells on Guam is quite aware of the fact that they have to let that resource go after they had found it, photographed it perhaps.,” Carah said, adding, “That didn’t exist in the early 1960s, but we still practiced conservation. There was no point in us collecting dozens and dozens of the same shell. We would collect one or two and our efforts would then go to find a new species.”

The Guam NSF EPSCoR Biorepository works to consolidate and expand Guam’s natural history collections and provides state-of-the-art digitization, imaging, and mapping of local and regional marine fauna and flora.

Regarding the importance of this donated shell collection, Robert Lasley, Ph.D., assistant professor and curator of crustacea at the UOG Biorepository, describes it as “valuable for establishing a historical baseline, as well as for studying different species to better understand Guam’s biodiversity. It also allows researchers to compare what may have existed in certain localities in Guam back in the ‘60s to what is being found now.”

Carah had been sitting on his shell collection for almost 60 years before ultimately deciding to donate it to a place that can benefit from its possession.

“I sent a letter to the dean of the biological sciences group there at the University of Guam and she evidently then turned that over to Dr. Lasley, and then he contacted me via email and we’ve been corresponding ever since,” Carah said.

Lasley stated that Carah’s shell collection includes the exact day it was collected and the precise location where it was gathered. “So he not only did these collections, but he kept a lot of good data and took really good care of them. In fact, you can see how well he packaged this stuff and sent it to us in really good condition,” he said.

The Biorepository houses thousands of coral specimens, crustaceans, fishes, algae, and other organisms to serve as an archive of the biodiversity found within the Micronesian region. Lasley explained that modern tools now allow for the collection and global dissemination of data from these specimens. He added that, eventually, all of them will be photographed, and their locality data will be gathered and entered into the curatorial database

“We’re going to get all the locality data from all these, and we’ll put them into our curatorial database, but then serve them online globally so any researcher anywhere in the world can access this information,” Lasley said.

July 23, 2025August 4, 2025

UOG Biorepository, Marine Lab and NAVFAC host sea sponge workshop

Participants of the UOG Marine Lab & NAVFAC Porifera workshop gather after a sea sponge specimen collecting session.

The University of Guam Marine Laboratory and Guam NSF EPSCoR Biorepository conducted a two-day workshop focused on Porifera—commonly known as sea sponges—bringing together researchers, students and marine professionals for hands-on learning and fieldwork.

Held on May 29 and 30, and conducted in partnership with the Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC), the workshop detailed the diversity of Porifera species in Guam’s waters, specifically in Apra Harbor. Participants learned basic taxonomy methods used by sponge biologists and also took part in an off-site specimen collection session.

The workshop’s main presentation was delivered by Jan Vicente, Ph.D., a researcher at the University of Hawaiʻi Manoa’s ToBo Lab, and Gustav Paulay, Ph.D., professor of biology at the University of Florida. Having researched sponges in Hawaiʻi for a decade, Vicente discovered similarities between sponge species found in Guam harbors and that of those in Hawaiʻi.

“It’s kind of crucial to have taxonomy workshops at local scales so that we can standardize the methods that we use in different places,” Vicente explains.

Following the presentation, participants of the workshop learned common sponge identification practices using in-person samples. “Some had never seen a sponge before and they went from never seeing a sponge before to identifying different spicule types, to carrying field descriptions as best as possible,” said Vicente.

Spicules are structural elements of a sponge made from calcium carbonate or silica that serve as their skeleton and are major factors in differentiating sponge species.

The workshop went outdoors for its second day as the researchers and participants conducted a sponge specimen collection session. The group convened at Outhouse Beach, a popular scuba-diving spot in close vicinity to Apra Harbor, and spent the morning collecting numerous specimens for identification and categorization back at the UOG Marine Lab. Once they returned to campus, the rest of the afternoon was used for identifying, photographing, and labeling these specimens before they head to storage in the Biorepository.

During a NOAA cruise to Guam in 2017, Vicente collected fresh porifera specimens to use in DNA comparisons against specimens found in Hawaiʻi. These comparisons confirmed to him that the same species of Porifera can be found both in Guam and Hawaiʻi. Through this discovery, Paulay connected Vicente with Robert Lasley, Ph.D., assistant professor and curator of crustacea at the UOG Biorepository, and the group concluded that a sponge workshop held on Guam would be significantly beneficial.

“It was a great opportunity to bring my knowledge from the harbors in Hawaiʻi, because a lot of the species that we find here and the harbors here are found in Hawaiʻi as well, and it’d be interesting to see what are the vectors involved in distributing those species,” Vicente stated.

He also cited the Marine Lab’s access to running seawater and its variety of scientific instruments specializing in studying sponge morphology as reasons to have the workshop here on Guam.

The workshop itself proved to be a success in Vicente’s eyes. Research compounded from years of surveys up until this very workshop has shown the team that local species of Porifera are part of an even bigger species complex originating all the way out from Singapore.

“These specimens that are sitting in museums right now from the ‘90s might be able to yield enough DNA to provide good sequences, but these fresh specimens that have been collected now are going to create even better data because sequencing technology now is amazing,” Vicente said.

Regarding what comes next after the workshop, Vicente hopes that in the next couple of years, there will be a better understanding of the species—providing not only insight into the workshop’s objectives, but also into the evolutionary history of these organisms, what drives them, how they speciate, and how they are connected across the Pacific archipelagos.

On Thursday, May 29 and Friday, May 30, 2025, researchers and students alike gathered at the University of Guam Marine Lab for a Porifera (sea sponge) workshop.

Conducted by the UOG Marine Lab and NAVFAC, the workshop detailed the diversity of porifera species in our local waters, specifically in Apra Harbor. Participants were educated on basic porifera taxonomy methods used by sponge biologists and also took part in an off-site specimen collection session.

The workshop’s main presentation was delivered by Jan Vicente, Ph.D., researcher at the University of Hawaii, Manoa’s ToBo Lab, and Gustav Paulay, Ph.D., professor of Biology at the University of Florida. Having researched sponges in Hawaii for a decade, Vicente discovered similiarities between sponge species found in Guam harbors and that of those in Hawaii. “It’s kind of crucial to have taxonomy workshops at local scales so that we can standardize the methods that we use in different places”, Vicente explains.

Following the presentation, participants of the workshop were taught common sponge identification practices using in-person samples. “Some had never seen a sponge before and they went from never seeing a sponge before to identifying different spicule types, to carrying field descriptions as best as possible”, said Vicente. Spicules are structural elements of a sponge made from calcium carbonate or silica that serve as their skeleton and are major factors in differentiating sponge species.

EPSCoR 20250529 PoriferaWorkshop 125 — *Jan Vicente, Ph.D., researcher at the University of Hawaii, Manoa’s ToBo Lab, demonstrates basic sea sponge identification methods through a microscope.*

During a NOAA cruise to Guam in 2017, Vicente collected fresh porifera specimens to use in DNA comparisons against specimens found in Hawaii. These comparisons confirmed to him that the same species of porifera can be found both in Guam and Hawaii. Through this discovery, Paulay connected Vicente with Robert Lasley, Ph.D., Assistant Professor and Curator of Crustacea at the UOG Biorepository, and the group concluded that a sponge workshop held on Guam would be significantly beneficial.

“It was a great opportunity to bring my knowledge from the harbors in Hawaii, because a lot of the species that we find here and the harbors here are found in Hawaii as well, and it’d be interesting to see what are the vectors involved in distributing those species,” Vicente stated. He also cited the Marine Lab’s access to running seawater and its variety of scientific instruments specializing in studying sponge morphology as reasons to have the workshop here on Guam.

EPSCoR 20250529 PoriferaWorkshop 175 1 — *The workshop participants begin the classification process following a morning of sea sponge specimen collection near Apra Harbor.*

The workshop itself proved to be a success in Vicente’s eyes. Research compounded from years of surveys up until this very workshop has shown the team that local species of porifera are part of an even bigger species complex originating all the way out from Singapore. “These specimens that are sitting in museums right now from the ‘90s might be able to yield enough DNA to provide good sequences, but these fresh specimens that have been collected now are going to create even better data because sequencing technology now is amazing,” Vicente explains.

In regards to what is to follow after the workshop, Vicente hopes that “in the next couple of years, we’ll have a better understanding of what the species are, which is going to provide not only information about the objectives of the workshop, but also the evolutionary history of these organisms, what drives them, how they speciate, and how are things connected around the archipelagos in the in the Pacific”.

December 6, 2024December 6, 2024

Graduate research assistants continue to make impact

Grace McDermott displays coral samples at the Mote Marine Lab in Sarasota, Florida. Photo courtesy of Grace McDermott.

As the year 2024 reaches its end, four former Guam NSF EPSCoR Graduate Research Assistants (GRA) share where they are now, and how their time at the University of Guam helped them get there.

The Guam NSF EPSCoR Graduate Research Assistantship (GRA) is a 3-year program that allows graduate students with a Bachelor of Science in Biology or related studies the chance to fully immerse themselves in their fields. Within the program, GRA student researchers can engage in fieldwork and utilize various oceanographic research instruments to investigate coral reefs and further develop research for their theses.

Carlos Tramonte studied under Bastian Bentlage, PhD, from 2020 to 2023, focusing on coral species replacements on the island’s reef flats. More specifically, Tramonte spent much of his time investigating coral-associated Symbiodiniaceae and their response to environmental stressors. Currently residing in Oahu, Hawaii, Tramonte is in his second year of the University of Hawaii’s Institute of Marine Biology PhD program.

EPSCoR 241031 CarlosTramonte 2 — *Carlos Tramonte conducting coral reef field work in Oahu, Hawaii. Photo courtesy of Carlos Tramonte.*

“My time at UOG laid a lot of the groundwork for everything I do today. The skills I developed in project design, data analysis, and environmental science, along with my first real experience in Pacific reef ecosystems as a graduate student, have been essential”, says Tramonte. “UOG’s programs helped solidify my commitment to Pacific conservation and gave me the tools to pursue complex projects, such as this current research on reef biodiversity.”

Now an official member of the Guam NSF EPSCoR Biodepository team, Kelsie Ebeling-Whited, initially did research on the spawning of sixbar wrasse fish under project director Terry Donaldson, PhD from 2017 to 2020.

Regarding her academic stint in the EPSCoR Biodepository, Whited describes that it “helped me discover my interest in historical collections and museum work.” Her transition to a full-time role with the team allowed her to continue the work she started as a GRA student researcher.

Therese Miller also studied under Bentlage for her 2020-2023 GRA experience, in which she investigated bacterial communities living within staghorn coral, most specifically Acropora pulchra. She also studied communities of bacteria living in Porites cylindrica and Porites lobata as part of an Guam NSF EPSCoR-funded project, which included transplantation experiments and coral monitoring/sampling.

Miller now resides in Nelson, New Zealand and is working towards her PhD in Marine Science through the University of Auckland. Her current research involves following migration routes of two freshwater eel species native to New Zealand: Anguilla dieffenbachii and Anguilla australis schmidtii.

EPSCoR 241203 ThereseMiller — *Therese Miller (front middle) and her colleagues at sea in New Zealand. Photo courtesy of Therese Miller.*

Miller had just recently completed a five-week long research voyage in her and her peers collected seawater samples from Wellington to New Caledonia.

“I’m about to start lab-work with the samples I collected from my time at sea, and the molecular biology I learned at UOG has given me plenty of experience for the amount of work I am now expected to do,” Miller explains.

“I also learned other valuable skills during my master’s, such as how to conduct literature reviews, how to organize and prepare my samples, how to work on a team of other researchers, and what the structure of a research-based degree is like.”

Under the guidance of UOG Marine Lab Director Laurie Raymundo, PhD, Grace McDermott studied the phenotypic differences in coral during her GRA program ending in 2023. These days, she works as a biologist and laboratory manager at the Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, Florida, while also preparing to apply for PhD programs.

EPSCoR 241118 GraceMcDermott 2 — *Grace McDermott poses for a selfie in the lab at Mote Marine Lab, Florida. Photo courtesy of Grace McDermott.*

“My time at the UOG Marine Lab helped me cultivate experience organizing and leading experiments in the field and in the lab testing the resilience of corals to stress,” McDermott details. “The accessibility of Guam’s coral reefs provided me with the opportunity to explore my interest in the impacts of future climate change scenarios on marine ecosystems.”

As the year 2024 reaches its end, four former Guam NSF EPSCoR graduate research assistants share where they are now, and how their time at the University of Guam helped them get there.

Now an official member of the Guam NSF EPSCoR Biorepository team, Kelsie Ebeling-Whited, initially did research on the spawning of sixbar wrasse fish under project director Terry Donaldson, PhD from 2017 to 2020.

Regarding her academic stint in the Guam NSF EPSCoR Biorepository, Whited describes that it “helped me discover my interest in historical collections and museum work.” Her transition to a full-time role with the team allowed her to continue the work she started as a GRA student researcher.

Miller had just recently completed a five-week long research voyage in her and her peers collected seawater samples from Wellington to New Caledonia.

Her current research includes running experiments to identify coral species candidates for Mote’s coral restoration and reproduction programs, as well as studying situ coral disease dynamics and novel antibiotic-free treatment efficacy.

“My time at the UOG Marine Lab helped me cultivate experience organizing and leading experiments in the field and in the lab testing the resilience of corals to stress,” McDermott details. “The accessibility of Guam’s coral reefs provided me with the opportunity to explore my interest in the impacts of future climate change scenarios on marine ecosystems.”

October 26, 2024November 25, 2024

Collaborative study yields new research instrument

After a detour to Alabama following the 28th NSF EPSCoR National Conference in Nebraska, Bastian Bentlage, PhD, Associate Professor of Bioinformatics, brought home a newly developed scientific instrument to aid in coral research.

Bentlage, with accompanying graduate research assistant Nikko Galanto, made the journey out to the Dauphin Island Sea Lab, located on Alabama’s Gulf Coast. The lab has been developing the build and circuitry of a new scientific research instrument, as well as the computer models and programs needed to run it. This instrument measures the performance of a coral’s photosystem under heat stress using fluorescent light.

“If you shoot a blue light at a chloroplast, like let’s say an algal cell, not all of the energy from the light is actually seamlessly converted right into making sugars and by extension energy,” Bentlage explained. “So, you can actually measure the amount of fluorescence that is produced and by extension then can make some inferences about the underlying health of the chloroplast.”

With this new method, the researchers hope the instrument will help to identify corals that are most resilient to increasing sea surface temperatures so they may be prioritized for reef restoration.

This particular research project is conducted in collaboration with Kenneth Hoadley, Ph.D., from the University of Alabama and Mark Warner, Ph.D., from the University of Delaware, with Bentlage and Marine Lab director Laurie Raymundo, Ph.D., representing the University of Guam.

The connection stemmed from another proponent of the research project Victor Bonito, Ph.D., director of Fiji-based non-profit Reef Explore Fiji, Ltd. The universities first approached Bonito to write a grant to help expand their existing research. As a graduate of the UOG Marine Lab, it was through Bonito’s recommendation that the UOG Marine Lab be sought out for collaboration.

“It was really interesting for me to visit, to see a different approach to science,” Bentlage mentioned. “I’ve never really thought about, or didn’t know really where you would start to work with someone who was actually in that space where, ‘hey, we’re actually developing the technology to measure certain things.’”

The two universities plan to visit Guam next year to see what results the instrument has found, as well as to conduct their own research and experiments.