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Dr. Marshall's experience in Latin America has centered on research needs for coastal zone
management issues including oil spill impacts on seagrass bed associated fauna, protected
area design and resource surveys, port impact assessments, mining impacts, habitat
restoration, and fisheries research. He has lived and worked in Colombia, Panama, Honduras
and Nicaragua.
He was Scientist-in-Charge for the Bahia Las Minas Oil Spill Project at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in the Republic of Panama from 1986 to the end of the project in 1993 (see below for link to the publication). This project focused on the impact of the oils spill on benthic communities (plants, fish, infauna, and epifauna) within seagrass meadows. He also surveyed coral reefs for signs of oil damage during the initial six months of the MMS project in Panama. In 1989, he was a Presidential Task Force Witness to oil damage to seagrass meadows in Panama. He recently (1992-1996) surveyed estuarine fish communities in coastal lagoons and the extensive seagrass meadows of the Miskito Coast of Nicaragua. This work served as part of a resource inventory for the newly established Miskito Coast Protected Area and was completed under a contract with the U.S. Agency for International Development through Tropical Research and Development (Gainesville, FL. In 1993-94 he and a team of Colombian scientists completed a biodiversity (including invertebrates, fish, and avifauna) assessment of healthy and dead mangrove forests within the Cienaga Grande, Colombia, as a baseline study for the ongoing attempt to restore the mangrove forests of the Cienaga Grande. He also completed a survey of seagrass meadows at the Atlantic and Pacific entrances to the Panama Canal, prior to possible new work on canal structures. This project was funded by the Interamerican Development Bank and was managed by the University of Panama and ANCON (a Panamanian NGO). In Honduras, during July 1997, Dr. Marshall completed a rapid ecological assessment of a protected area at Punta Izopo near Tela for Wildlife Conservation International. In 1998 he surveyed the marine and estuarine areas of the Jeanette Kawa National Park, Honduras, for WCS. This area includes mangrove forest, a mixed species tropical wetland forest, and an estuary. In Florida Dr. Marshall has been under contract to Lewis Environmental Services, Inc., since May 1996, to provide consulting services in support of several projects. These projects include 1) monitoring plant growth and ground water elevations and salinities at a mangrove restoration site at Clam Bay, Naples, Florida; 2) surveying and mapping seagrasses and mangroves at the site of a new port to be constructed near Guayama, Puerto Rico; 3) providing benthic sorting services for a long-term monitoring project at the Cargill/Gardinier chemical plant on Tampa Bay; and 4) translating various LES documents from English to Spanish. At Mote Marine Laboratory he conducted numerous studies of the coastal ecosystems of Florida including an assessment of marsh and mangrove changes in response to freshwater withdrawals from the Manatee River. Dr. Marshall served on the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) on water quality problems for the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary Program. He also serves on the Technical Advisory Committees of the Sarasota Bay and the Charlotte Harbor National Estuary Programs. |
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Seas at the Millennium by Charles Sheppard (Editor) |
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