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Steven Y. Newell

Senior Scientist, Marine Institute, University of Georgia, Sapelo Island, GA 31327; fax: 912-485-2133; e-mail: newell@uga.edu

Adjunct Professor of Marine Sciences, Department of Marine Sciences, School of Marine Programs, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602-3636

Education

BS, University of Miami, Biology, 1967, magna cum laude
MS, University of Miami, Institute of Marine Sciences, Biological Oceanography, 1969 (NSF Graduate Fellow, 1967 - 1971)
PhD, University of Miami, RSMAS, Biological Oceanography, 1974 (F.G. Walton Smith Award for outstanding dissertation research)

Editorial Posts

I have spots at Aquatic Microbial Ecology, Mycoscience, Scientia Marina, and the Manual of Environmental Microbiology. I served 5 to 11-year terms at Mycological Research, Marine Ecology Progress Series, and Microbial Ecology.

Research Areas

I'm a microbial ecologist, and my specialty is the study of eukaryotic, mycelial decomposers. The two central groups of organoosmotrophs in this category are fungi (see also fungi2 ) and oomycotes (See also zoosporic-mycelial2 and zoosporic-mycelial3 ).. (Note that the fungi and the oomycotes, though both mycelial decomposers, arrived at this growth/food-capture strategy independently -- they are not close evolutionarily -- the oomycotes are closer systematically to diatoms than they are to fungi.) My main focus among the fungal groups is the ascomycetes, because I work primarily in the saltmarsh, where ascomycetes (e.g., Phaeosphaeria spartinicola) are the principal microbial secondary producers based on the shoots of marshgrasses. The marine oomycotes are mostly in the genus Halophytophthora, the most common species of which is H. vesicula. I am particularly interested in the following aspects of the ecology of eukaryotic mycelial decomposers:

a) Productivity (patterns of net change in standing crop, and instantaneous rates of production in nature via measurement of rates of membrane synthesis)

b) Fates of the material produced (efflux from the natural solid substrates as ascospores or zoospores, as ingesta of animals, etc.)

c) Impacts of the production (import/export of nitrogen and phosphorus, release of volatiles [e.g., dimethylsulfide])

d) Impacts of human perturbations upon the production (e.g., toxic pollutants released into saltmarshes), and impacts of the production upon human pollutants (e.g., potential bioremediation via fungal degradation of toxic pollutants)

e) Interactions among eukaryotic mycelial microbes and other microbes and invertebrates (e.g., unwinding the relationship between saltmarsh ascomycetes and saltmarsh periwinkles, which eat both fungal mass and plant mass, and require fungal conditioning of their grass-shoot food)

Current and Recent Projects

a) I am responsible for the fungal component of the Georgia Coastal Ecosystems LTER, along with several key partners (Mary Ann Moran, Alison Buchan, Justine Lyons, Erin Biers, Tim Hollibaugh). We are going to be measuring fungal living-biomass content and fungal productivity in standing-decaying ramet-forming marsh plants at ten stations in three seaward-landward transects (salinity range, 30s to zero g salts per liter). In addition, as a Directed-Study subproject ("Decomposer Consortia Experiments") now centered at LTER Station 6, we are measuring fungal species diversity direct-microscopically and via DNA technology (ascomycete-specific PCR/cloning/sequencing, and PCR/T-RFLP). Prokaryotic species diversity is being determined in parallel (16S rDNA sequencing). NSF funded.

b) Seasonal, interannual, and multilatitudinal analysis of patterns of fungal standing-crop dynamics and instantaneous fungal productivity for two saltmarsh grasses (Spartina alterniflora and Juncus roemerianus). Marshes examined range from Florida to Maine. When the project ends in 2000, with luck, four years of data will be in hand, and firm projections of fungal production per square-meter marsh will be possible. NSF/OCE-funded.

c) Assessment of impact of toxic pollutants upon the ascomycetes of the saltmarsh ecosystem. Pollutants include mercury, methylmercury, polychlorinated biphenyls, and toxaphene. Sites studied are Superfund sites (LCP Chemical Site), or on the Superfund-possible list. EPA/NCERQA-funded.

d) Examination of interactions of marsh invertebrates ( saltmarsh periwinkles , saltmarsh coffeebean snails , a talitrid amphipod) with the marshgrass-shoot decomposition system. With Manuel Graça, University of Coimbra, Portugal. Key preliminary conclusion: periwinkles take fungal material more selectively than the other two invertebrates, and may inhibit fungal productivity; coffeebeans and amphipods take fungal material non-selectively, and may stimulate fungal productivity. Funded by UGMI Visiting-Scientist Program.

e) Summer-intern research for 1999. Another recent summer intern for SYN (Jennifer Wasowski [now J. Mansfield]) (publication: Newell, S.Y., and J. Wasowski. 1995. Sexual productivity and spring intramarsh distribution of a key salt-marsh microbial secondary producer. Estuaries 18:241-249). Summer-intern research for 2001, with dual mentoring by David Porter and me.

Recent References

Newell, S. Y., D. Porter, and W. L. Lingle. 1996. Lignocellulolysis by ascomycetes (Fungi) of a saltmarsh grass (smooth cordgrass). Microsc. Res. Techn. 33:32-46.

Newell, S.Y. 1996. The [14C]acetate-to-ergosterol method: factors for conversion from acetate incorporated to organic fungal mass synthesized. Soil Biol. Biochem. 28:681-683.

Cantrell, S.A., R.T. Hanlin, and S.Y. Newell. 1996. A new species of Lachnum on Spartina alterniflora. Mycotaxon 57:479-485.

Newell, S.Y. 1996. Re: Ergosterol as a fungal-mass index. Inoculum 47(2):10.

Newell, S.Y., T.L. Arsuffi, and L.A. Palm. 1996. Misting and nitrogen fertilization of shoots of a saltmarsh grass: effects upon fungal decay of leaf blades. Oecologia 108:495-502.

Nakagiri, A., S.Y. Newell, T. Ito, T.K. Tan, and C.L. Pek. 1996. Biodiversity and ecology of the oomycetous fungus Halophytophthora, pp. 273-280. In I.M. Turner, C.H. Diong, S.S.L. Lim & P.K.L. Ng (eds.), Biodiversity and the dynamics of ecosystems (DIWPA Series Volume 1). DIWPA, Singapore.

Newell, S.Y. 1996. Established and potential impacts of eukaryotic mycelial decomposers in marine/terrestrial ecotones. J. Exp. Mar. Biol. Ecol. 200:187-206.

Newell, S.Y., and J.W. Fell. 1996. Cues for zoospore release by marine oomycotes in naturally decaying submerged leaves. Mycologia 88:934-938.

Gessner, M.O., and S.Y. Newell. 1997. Bulk quantitative methods for the examination of eukaryotic organoosmotrophs in plant litter, pp. 295-308. In M. McInerney, L. Stetzenbach, C.J. Hurst, G. Knudsen, and M. Walter (eds.), Manual of environmental microbiology. ASM Press, Washington, DC.

Newell, S.Y., and J.W. Fell. 1997. Competition among mangrove oomycotes, and between oomycotes and other microbes. Aquat. Microb. Ecol. 12:21-28.

Kneib, R.T., S.Y. Newell, and E.T. Hermeno. 1997. Survival, growth and reproduction of the salt marsh amphipod Uhlorchestia spartinophila reared on natural diets of senescent and dead Spartina alterniflora leaves. Mar. Biol. 128:423- 431.

Fell, J.W., and S.Y. Newell. 1998. Biochemical and molecular methods for the study of marine fungi, pp. 259-283. In K.E. Cooksey (ed.), Molecular approaches to the study of the oceans. Chapman & Hall, London.

Newell, S.Y., T.L. Arsuffi and L. A. Palm. 1998. Seasonal and vertical demography of dead portions of shoots of smooth cordgrass in a south-temperate saltmarsh. Aquat. Bot. 60:325-335.

Newell, S.Y. and L.A. Palm. 1998. Responses of bacterial assemblages on standing decaying blades of smooth cordgrass to additions of water and nitrogen. Int. Rev. Hydrobiol. 83:115-122.

Bacic, M.K., S.Y. Newell and D. C. Yoch. 1998. Release of dimethylsulfide from dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) by plant- associated salt marsh fungi. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 64:1484-1489.

Kohlmeyer, J., B. Volkmann-Kohlmeyer, and S.Y. Newell. 2001. Marine and estuarine mycelial Eumycota and Oomycota, in press. In G.M. Mueller, G. Bills, H. Burdsall & A. Rossman (eds.), Measuring and monitoring biological diversity. Standard methods for fungi. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC.

Newell, S.Y. and V.D. Wall. 1998. Response of saltmarsh fungi to presence of mercury and polychlorinated biphenyls at a Superfund Site. Mycologia 90:777-784.

Newell, S.Y. and D. Porter. 2000. Microbial secondary production from saltmarsh-grass shoots, and its known and potential fates, pp. 159-185. In M.P. Weinstein and D.A. Kreeger, Concepts and controversies in tidal marsh ecology. Kluwer, Amsterdam. (Abstract of this MarshConf98 paper)

Graça, M.A.S., S.Y. Newell, and R.T. Kneib. 2000. Grazing rates of organic matter and living fungal biomass of decaying Spartina alterniflora by three species of saltmarsh invertebrates. Mar. Biol. 136:281-289.

Newell, S.Y., V.D. Wall, and K.A. Maruya. 2000. Fungal biomass in saltmarsh-grass blades at two contaminated sites. Arch. Environ. Contam. Toxicol. 38:268-273.

Newell, S.Y., L.K. Blum, R.E. Crawford, T. Dai, and M. Dionne. 2000. Autumnal biomass and productivity of saltmarsh fungi from 29 to 43 degrees north latitude along the United States Atlantic coast. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 66:180-185.

Newell, S.Y., and K.L. Zakel. 2000. Measuring summer patterns of ascospore release by saltmarsh fungi. Mycoscience 41:211-215.

Newell, S.Y. 2001. Fungal biomass and productivity, pp. 357-372. In J.H. Paul (ed.), Methods in Microbiology. Volume 30. Marine Microbiology. Academic Press, New York.

Newell, S.Y. 2001. Multiyear patterns of fungal biomass dynamics and productivity within naturally decaying smooth-cordgrass shoots. Limnol. Oceanogr. 46:573-583.

Newell, S.Y. 2001. Fungal biomass and productivity in standing-decaying leaves of black needlerush. Mar. Freshw. Res. 52:249-255.

Newell, S.Y. 2001. Spore-expulsion rates and extents of blade occupation by ascomycetes of the smooth-cordgrass standing-decay system. Bot. Mar.44:277-285.

Sarma, V.V., S.Y. Newell and K.D. Hyde. 2001. Koorchaloma spartinicola sp. nov., a new marine sporodochial fungus from Spartina alterniflora. Bot. Mar. 44:321-326.

Gessner, M.O. and S.Y. Newell. 2002. Biomass, growth rate, and production of filamentous fungi in plant litter, pp. 390-408. In C.J. Hurst, G.R. Knudsen, M.J. McInerney, L.D. Stetzenbach and M.V. Walter (eds.), Manual of environmental microbiology. Second edition. ASM Press, Washington, DC.

Newell, S.Y. 2002. Fungi in marine/estuarine waters, pp. 1394-1400. In G. Bitton (ed.), The encyclopedia of environmental microbiology. Wiley, New York.

Buchan, A., S.Y. Newell, J.I.L. Moreta and M.A. Moran. 2002. Analysis of internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions of rRNA genes in fungal communities of a southeastern U.S. saltmarsh. Microb. Ecol. 43:329-340.

Newell, S.Y. and J.W. Fell. 2002. Halophytophthoran zoospores versus mangrove protozooplankters, pp. 135-144. In K.D. Hyde, S.T. Moss and L.L.P. Vrijmoed (eds.), Marine mycology: the organisms, ecology and applied aspects. Fungal Diversity Press, Hong Kong.

Newell, S.Y. 2003. Fungal content and activities in standing-decaying leaf blades of plants of the Georgia Coastal Ecosystems research area. Aquat. Microb. Ecol. 32:95-103.

Lyons, J.I., S.Y. Newell, A. Buchan and M.A. Moran. 2003. Diversity of ascomycete laccase gene sequences in a southeastern U.S. salt marsh. Microb Ecol. 45:270-281.

Buchan, A., S.Y. Newell, M. Butler, E.J. Biers, J.T. Hollibaugh and M.A. Moran. 2003. Dynamics of bacterial and fungal communities on decaying salt marsh grass. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 69:6676-6687.

Silliman, B.R. and S.Y. Newell. 2004. Fungal farming in a snail. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 100:15643-15648.

Kohlmeyer, J., B. Volkmann-Kohlmeyer and S.Y. Newell. 2004. Marine and estuarine mycelial Eumycota and Oomycota, pp. 533-545. In G.M. Mueller, G.F. Bills and M.S. Foster (eds.), Biodiversity of fungi. Inventory and monitoring methods. Elsevier Academic Press, Amsterdam.