Greg Hiller
BRS Moderator
The next BRS meeting will be held at the Framingham Elks Lodge, 450 Union Ave, Framingham, MA. April 27th Sunday from 2-5 PM
We will have a soft coral Id workshop and talk by soft coral expert Prof. Catherine S. McFadden from Harvey Mudd College in California. This will be a chance to get any soft corals in your tank Id'ed to genus level, maybe even to species for some corals. To genus level a good quality photo I believe is all that's needed (according to Prof. McFadden). However, if you want to id to species you will need to bring the coral in, or at least bring specific tiny snippets of tissue in (from different parts of the coral). I'll let Prof. McFadden elaborate when it gets closer to the meeting time. We should have all the equipment necessary to run the workshop brought in by some BRS members (microscopes, etc.).
We will have the standard frag swap and general mayhem. No word yet on whether any local shops will set up a table.
We will also resume our monthly novice reefkeepers lecture series (given by Greg H.), this month's topic is 'Calcium and Alkalinity Maintenance - How to Setup, Build (if you like), and Operate a Calcium Reactor'. This topic was touched on in the last novice lecture, but we will review and go into more detail, talk about different designs, pros and cons, problems to avoid, and general tips for operation.
Tentative schedule for the meeting (this schedule may change, check back to this thread for updates as we get closer to the day of the meeting):
2 -2:30 PM - Meet and greet
Presentation set up time - new members registration - folks milling about chatting about their tanks - chance to meet and chat with the guest speaker - time to purchase BRS coffee mugs, hats, polo shirts - library book signout and return - turn samples in for water testing - chance to pick up 2008 BRS calenders, etc. More about these club benefits can be read here:
http://www.bostonreefers.org/forums/showthread.php?t=49878
2:30 PM - 3 PM - Novice Reefkeepers lecture and question and answer session - topic listed above
3 - 3:15 PM - Announcements - raffle items descriptions - introductions of new members, etc.
3:15 - 3:45 PM - Guest Speaker Cathy McFadden -
3:45 - 4:15 PM - Soft Coral ID workshop
4:15 PM - Raffle drawing
4:15 - 5 PM - Frag swap mayhem and general member to member reef chat. Clean up
Reminder: we try our best to keep the meeting on time, but there are a lot of things that are out of our control, so the times are subject to change, do not take these times as gospel please. Check back to this thread for updates as we get closer to the day of the meeting.
So, again the details:
Where: Framingham Lodge of Elks
450 Union Ave
Framingham, MA
When: Sunday, April 27th, 2008
Time: 2 -5 PM
Prof. McFadden's Bio:
Education & professional experience:
B.S., Yale University
Ph.D., University of Washington
Postdoctoral Researcher, University of California, Davis
NATO Postdoctoral Fellow, Port Erin Marine Laboratory, Isle of Man
Research Associate, University College, Dublin
Assistant Professor, Harvey Mudd College
Associate Professor, Harvey Mudd College
Research Associate, Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History
Professor of Biology, Harvey Mudd College
Research Interests
Professor McFadden’s research addresses the evolutionary relationships of marine organisms, primarily corals belonging to the cnidarian sub-class Octocorallia. She and her students use a variety of molecular techniques to address the phylogenetic relationships among higher taxa of octocorals, relationships of genera and species boundaries in the soft coral family Alcyoniidae, and the evolutionary consequences of hybridization between species in the soft coral genus Alcyonium. Much of the ongoing work in the lab focuses on the construction of a detailed molecular phylogeny for subclass Octocorallia as part of the NSF-funded Cnidarian Tree of Life Project (see http://cnidarian.info/).
Publications
See: http://www.biology.hmc.edu/people/faculty/mcfadden.html
We will have a soft coral Id workshop and talk by soft coral expert Prof. Catherine S. McFadden from Harvey Mudd College in California. This will be a chance to get any soft corals in your tank Id'ed to genus level, maybe even to species for some corals. To genus level a good quality photo I believe is all that's needed (according to Prof. McFadden). However, if you want to id to species you will need to bring the coral in, or at least bring specific tiny snippets of tissue in (from different parts of the coral). I'll let Prof. McFadden elaborate when it gets closer to the meeting time. We should have all the equipment necessary to run the workshop brought in by some BRS members (microscopes, etc.).
We will have the standard frag swap and general mayhem. No word yet on whether any local shops will set up a table.
We will also resume our monthly novice reefkeepers lecture series (given by Greg H.), this month's topic is 'Calcium and Alkalinity Maintenance - How to Setup, Build (if you like), and Operate a Calcium Reactor'. This topic was touched on in the last novice lecture, but we will review and go into more detail, talk about different designs, pros and cons, problems to avoid, and general tips for operation.
Tentative schedule for the meeting (this schedule may change, check back to this thread for updates as we get closer to the day of the meeting):
2 -2:30 PM - Meet and greet
Presentation set up time - new members registration - folks milling about chatting about their tanks - chance to meet and chat with the guest speaker - time to purchase BRS coffee mugs, hats, polo shirts - library book signout and return - turn samples in for water testing - chance to pick up 2008 BRS calenders, etc. More about these club benefits can be read here:
http://www.bostonreefers.org/forums/showthread.php?t=49878
2:30 PM - 3 PM - Novice Reefkeepers lecture and question and answer session - topic listed above
3 - 3:15 PM - Announcements - raffle items descriptions - introductions of new members, etc.
3:15 - 3:45 PM - Guest Speaker Cathy McFadden -
3:45 - 4:15 PM - Soft Coral ID workshop
4:15 PM - Raffle drawing
4:15 - 5 PM - Frag swap mayhem and general member to member reef chat. Clean up
Reminder: we try our best to keep the meeting on time, but there are a lot of things that are out of our control, so the times are subject to change, do not take these times as gospel please. Check back to this thread for updates as we get closer to the day of the meeting.
So, again the details:
Where: Framingham Lodge of Elks
450 Union Ave
Framingham, MA
When: Sunday, April 27th, 2008
Time: 2 -5 PM
Prof. McFadden's Bio:
Education & professional experience:
B.S., Yale University
Ph.D., University of Washington
Postdoctoral Researcher, University of California, Davis
NATO Postdoctoral Fellow, Port Erin Marine Laboratory, Isle of Man
Research Associate, University College, Dublin
Assistant Professor, Harvey Mudd College
Associate Professor, Harvey Mudd College
Research Associate, Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History
Professor of Biology, Harvey Mudd College
Research Interests
Professor McFadden’s research addresses the evolutionary relationships of marine organisms, primarily corals belonging to the cnidarian sub-class Octocorallia. She and her students use a variety of molecular techniques to address the phylogenetic relationships among higher taxa of octocorals, relationships of genera and species boundaries in the soft coral family Alcyoniidae, and the evolutionary consequences of hybridization between species in the soft coral genus Alcyonium. Much of the ongoing work in the lab focuses on the construction of a detailed molecular phylogeny for subclass Octocorallia as part of the NSF-funded Cnidarian Tree of Life Project (see http://cnidarian.info/).
Publications
See: http://www.biology.hmc.edu/people/faculty/mcfadden.html
