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Solving the Mystery of Pfiesteria 



Pfiesteria piscicida is becoming a household term in eastern 

 North Carolina, where the toxic dinoflagellate has been linked 

 to numerous fish kills in recent years. But the cryptic organ- 

 ism is difficult to detect in the environment, leaving folks 

 wondering where and when it will bloom again. Coastwatch 

 staffer Daun Daemon introduces readers to Parke Rublee, a 

 Sea Grant scientist perfecting a gene probe that will uncover 

 the microscopic menace where it lurks 4 



Building a Better Sand Dune 



Beaches of the Southeast could use a little shoring up after last 

 year's storms flattened their dunes and washed away 

 oceanside plants. In Florida, a Sea Grant scientist is working 

 on a way to ease beachfront erosion. Horticulturist Michael 

 Kane is "fingerprinting" the DNA of sea oats — those 

 tenacious oceanfront plants that anchor moving sand — and 

 identifying strains that grow best under certain conditions. 

 Coastwatch staffer Jeannie Faris Norris takes readers to the 

 Florida coast, where Kane's research will ultimately benefit 

 commercial nurseries, regulators and perhaps even North 

 Carolinians who want to restore their own dunes 10 



Spawning New Ideas from an Oyster Shell 



More than 15 years ago, South Carolina Sea Grant biochemist 

 A. P. "Hap" Wheeler began to explore how oysters use 

 proteins to regulate the size and shape of their shells. Now that 

 research is paying off in product development that ranges 

 from more biodegradable diapers to environmentally friendly 

 laundry detergents. Sound unusual? Learn more about 

 Wheeler's research as Coastwatch staffer Kathy Hart explains 

 how oyster proteins may pave the way for biodegradable 

 products in the future 1 5 



A Historian 's Coast: 



In the Great Alligator Swamp 



In the first decades of this century, a sawmill town thrived in 

 the swampland west of Manteo. Buffalo City, according to the 

 unpublished memoirs of Benjamin Nathan Basnight, was a 

 rough-and-tumble town where workers were owned by the 

 company store and vigilante justice ruled. Using Basnight' s 

 reminiscences as a guide, free-lance writer David Cecelski 

 takes readers into the swampy wilderness and brings to life a 

 bustling world of days gone by 19 



Departments 



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Book Review 

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COASTWATCH 



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