Cool term project idea: Stella Architect model

So, I finished teaching for the first time: Biological and Chemical Oceanography. I taught the chemistry portion, while Dr. Matt Ajemian taught the biology portion. Overall, what a ride! I think in the end most students walked away with a decent understanding of Chemical Oceanography, but it was certainly a struggle condensing it to a half-semester, especially since I taught for a 3-hour block every other Monday (its nice to have my weekends back, BTW).

I certainly learned a lot and made a ton of mistakes, but I did get some nice feedback from a few students regarding our term assignment, which was to make a box model in a program called Stella Architect. The inspiration came from a graduate level class that I took from Dr. Philippe Van Cappellen at Georgia Tech, Global Biogeochemical Cycles. It was one of my favorite activities during my tenure as a grad student, and I created a global model of the arsenic cycle. I thought it turned out pretty darn well... Anyways, check the last page of the syllabus for the assignment for the students this past semester. The students were to create a box model to simulate some aspect of chemistry, biology, or both as related to their research. The students are able to purchase a semester-long license to Stella for about $60.

We had some really great topics, including:

• Degradation of PAHs in marine sediments
• Carbon budget of a karst blue hole
• Brevetoxin impacts on loggerhead sea turtles
• Iron citrus fertilizer: a possible marine pollutant?
• Predicting anthropogenic impacts to leatherback sea turtles
• Shells: what are they good for? (Ocean acidification / shellfish behavior coupling)
• Trophic transfer of microcystins to a top predator in the Indian River Lagoon
• Larval dispersal of Niphates erecta (a marine sponge) in the Florida Keys
• Modeling the nitrogen cycle in a closed aquaculture system
• Modeling the effects of ocean acidification on marine bivalves
• Indian River Lagoon water quality and prospective shellfish restoration
• Benthopelagic coupling and transport of organic matter to the benthos by marine sponges
• Upper trophic level biomass transfer in the IRL focusing on perturbations to bull shark populations
• Lemon shark physiology and energetics
• Oxygen production and consumption modeling in an aquaculture pond

Here is the sponge larvae transfer model:

Here is the HAB toxin model, simulating a pulse of Microcystin toxins from Lake Okeechobee into the Indian River Lagoon, followed by uptake by fish and sharks:

Here is the marine bivalves/ocean acidification model:

Here is an example of the ocean acidification model. The student simulated the transfer of carbonate ions.

Pretty neat stuff! Please contact me if you are interested in more details of how we implemented this project.