{"id":82,"date":"2016-07-27T13:51:39","date_gmt":"2016-07-27T17:51:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/cschneider\/?page_id=82"},"modified":"2025-02-17T13:38:13","modified_gmt":"2025-02-17T18:38:13","slug":"lab","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/cschneider\/lab\/","title":{"rendered":"Lab"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"DSCN3445\"<\/h2>\n

Todd Chengsupanimit ’13, Amy Kivela ’12 and C. Schneider at Pleasure Beach intertidal, Waterford CT, March 2012.<\/p>\n

The Marine Flora of Bermuda<\/span><\/h2>\n

My lab focus at present involves molecular-assisted alpha-taxonomic\u00a0(MAAT) and biodiversity studies of attached warm-temperate to tropical red, green and brown attached marine algae, particularly from the western Atlantic. Currently, we are\u00a0investigating the flora from the intertidal to deep subtidal waters of the Bermuda islands and offshore seamounts, and the phytogeographic relationships with the southeastern US, Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, South America and eastern Atlantic islands. We use techniques of morphological analysis\u00a0along with multi-gene DNA sequencing to analyze the collected marine algae . Our studies are significantly clarifying our\u00a0understanding of phylogenetic relationships and distributions of the marine flora. They also are helping to establish a new database to help assess\u00a0effects of climate change on species composition in the islands.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>My lab uses DNA sequencing or “barcoding” of nuclear, chloroplast and mitochondrial DNA of hundreds of freshly collected marine\u00a0specimens, in comparison with information in online databases (GenBank, Barcode of Life Database [BOLD]) as a supplement to traditional morphological\u00a0investigations with conventional tools and historic literature. We have been barcoding the species of Bermuda\u00a0since 2010 in conjunction with Chris Lane\u2019s (T’99) URI lab and Gary Saunder\u2019s UNB lab. \u00a0For a summary of what we have done in Bermuda see the ‘Bermuda seaweeds<\/a>” page. Many of the marine species reported for Bermuda in the 1800s were mistakenly\u00a0identified as European species. Work in my lab has helped to show that a large proportion of these are distinct new species for the western\u00a0Atlantic Ocean. We now know that several of the ~450 Bermuda species of red, green and brown algae are phenotypically variable, while others have been discovered to be\u00a0cryptic species residing under the same taxonomic binomial. \u00a0Still others, novel species and genera, have been found to be quite distinct and\u00a0not previously identified or described in the scientific literature. The information gathered in our lab is bringing the Bermuda flora into sharper\u00a0focus, and is increasing our recognition of the extent of endemism in these distant islands.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Systematics and Ecology of Vaucheria<\/em> species<\/span><\/h2>\n

A systematic\/ecological investigation of an important mud stabilizing yellow-green alga, Vaucheria<\/em>, involves collections and observations in various Connecticut freshwater wetlands, as well as the manipulation of cultures in the laboratory. Various species are collected from ponds, rivers, streams, marshes, and drainage ditches throughout the state, and cultured in the lab with the purpose of isolating clonal populations. Most of the species in this genus worldwide are broadly euryhaline, which means that, unlike most other living organisms, they can acclimate from freshwater to full-strength sea water or even greater salinity. Some of the research problems of interest to my lab, aside from basic taxonomy and distribution of local populations, include comparisons of reproductive behavior of Vaucheria<\/em> under a variety of temperature and photoperiod conditions, chemical constituencies of the various species that reside sympatrically, and the effects of salinity, desiccation, extremes of temperature, hypoxia and anoxia, and environmental pollutants on the survival of the several species isolated from Connecticut habitats.<\/p>\n

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Schneider Lab Photos<\/span><\/h2>\n
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Maggie Cassidy (’19) in my Tolland lab. She worked here on her senior honors thesis research when Trinity closed all of its on campus labs during the 2020\u20132021 Covid-19 pandemic, “Molecular-assisted alpha taxonomy of the genus Dasya<\/em>\u00a0(Delesseriaceae, Rhodophyta) from the euphotic and mesophotic zones off Bermuda.”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Elias Peterson (’19) at his poster, \u201cA molecular-assisted alpha taxonomic (MAAT) study of some western Atlantic Solieriaceae (Gigartinales)\u201d, presented at the 58th Northeast Algal Symposium, Salem State University, Salem, Massachusetts.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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\"Members
Members of the Trinity Algae Lab attending the 49th Northeast Algal Symposium in April 2010 at Roger Williams University, Bristol, RI. L to R: Dan McDevit (’01), PhD candidate UNB; Chris Lane (’99), Assist. Prof. URI; Riley Lane with dad, Schneider; Gina Filloramo (’10), Lilly Hancock (’08), grad student URI; Elisabeth Cianciola (’10) [winner of the President’s Award at NEAS for best undergraduate presentation]; Justin Pool (’08), grad student Ohio University; Thea Popolizio, grad student in Chris’ and Trinity labs.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Members
Members of the Trinity Algae Lab attending the 51st Northeast Algal Symposium in April 2012 at the Schoodic Point Education and Research Center, Acadia Nat’l Park, Winter Harbor, Maine. L to R: Thea Popolizio, grad student in URI and Trinity labs; John Perella, honorary member; Gina Filloramo (’10), grad student UNB; Craig Schneider; Todd Chengsupanimit (’13); Amy Kivela (’12); Chris Lane (’99), Assist. Prof. URI; Dan McDevit (’01), Asst. Prof. Edison College.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Key West expedition, April 2013. L to R: Chris Lane, Thea Popolizio, Schneider, Dan McDevit<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Members
Members of the Trinity Algae Lab attending the 53rd Northeast Algal Symposium in April 2014 at Salve Regina University, Newport, RI. L to R: Chris Lane (’99), Assoc. Prof. of Biology, URI; Nik Schultz (’14); Gina Filloramo (’10), grad student UNB; Craig Schneider; John Perella, honorary member; Thea Popolizio, grad student in URI and Trinity labs. Nik presented his senior research on western Atlantic Lobophora<\/em>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"IMG_0671\"
Schneider lab members spring 2014.\u00a0L to R: Nik Schultz ’14, Schneider, Dylan Spagnuolo ’17, Thea Popolizio (grad student)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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\"IMG_0225\"
Former Schneider lab members at\u00a069th Phycological Society of America annual meeting, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in August 2015.\u00a0L to R, Chris Lane ’99, Nik Schultz ’14, Schneider, Gina Filloramo ’10.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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56th annual meeting of NEAS, Mt. Washington, Bretton Woods, NH, April 2017. L to R: Schneider, Thea Popolizio, Chris Lane ’99<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Phong Quach, Seaweed lab research student, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, valedictorian Trinity College, Class of 2017<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Todd Chengsupanimit ’13, Amy Kivela ’12 and C. Schneider at Pleasure Beach intertidal, Waterford CT, March 2012. The Marine Flora of Bermuda My lab focus at present involves molecular-assisted alpha-taxonomic\u00a0(MAAT) and biodiversity studies of attached warm-temperate to tropical red, green and brown attached marine algae, particularly from the western Atlantic. Currently, we are\u00a0investigating the flora […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":866,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/cschneider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/82"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/cschneider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/cschneider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/cschneider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/866"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/cschneider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82"}],"version-history":[{"count":51,"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/cschneider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/82\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":835,"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/cschneider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/82\/revisions\/835"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/cschneider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}