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CORVALLIS, Ore. - Oregon Sea Grant, a marine research, outreach, education and communication program based at Oregon State University, is awarding $1.7 million in competitive, federally funded research grants for 2016-18.

The grants will go to eight principal investigators at OSU, Oregon Health & Science University, and the University of Oregon for research into marine-related issues.

"Oregon Sea Grant is committed to supporting the science needed to address challenges facing our coastal communities and ecosystems," said Shelby Walker, director of Oregon Sea Grant. "These projects reflect a broad array of issues important to the future of coastal Oregonians, communities and our environment."

The projects and their principal investigators are listed below (click on the links for additional information):

• "Indexing the vulnerability and adaptive capacity of marine shellfish to combined stressors of ocean acidification and hypoxia," Francis Chan, OSU Department of Integrative Biology. (Co-PIs are Eli Meyer and Kristin Milligan, OSU; and Steven Rumrill, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife) More information.

• "Does ocean productivity contribute to dune ecosystem function? Connecting wrack subsidies to Oregon dune coastal protection and conservation services," Sally Hacker, OSU Department of Integrative Biology. (Co-PIs are Peter Ruggiero and Francis Chan, OSU) More information.

• "Distribution and degradation of the anti-diabetic drug, Metformin, and its breakdown product, guanylurea, in the Columbia River basin," Tawnya Peterson, OHSU Institute of Environmental Health. (Co-PI is Joseph Needoba, OHSU). More information.

• "Utilizing uranium-to-calcium ratios to determine best management practices for shell planting and oyster culture to mitigate ocean acidification impacts," Alyssa Shiel, OSU College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences. (Co-PIs Adam Kent and George Waldbusser, OSU). More information.

• "Improving coastal ocean forecasting and visualization through collaboration in discovery, learning and practice," Ted Strub, OSU College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences. (Co-PIs Flaxen Conway and Alexander Kurapov, OSU). More information.

• "Predatory impacts of large medusa on ichthyoplankton in the Northern California Current," Kelly Sutherland, University of Oregon's Oregon Institute of Marine Biology. (Co-PI Richard Brodeur, NOAA's Northwest Fisheries Science Center). More information.

• "Evaluating the vulnerability of Oregon seagrass beds to eutrophication," Fiona Tomas Nash, OSU Department of Fisheries and Wildlife. (Co-PIs Steven Rumrill and Anthony D'Andrea, ODFW; James Kaldy, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; Bree Yednock and Joy Tally, South Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve; and Renee O'Neill, OSU). More information.

• "Competing effects of relative sea-level rise and fluvial inputs on blue carbon sequestration in Oregon salt marshes," Robert Wheatcroft, OSU College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences. (Co-PIs Laura Brophy and Michael Ewald, Institute for Applied Ecology; Erin Peck, OSU). More information.

As part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's nationwide Sea Grant College Program, Oregon Sea Grant receives a share of congressionally appropriated research dollars every two years to award via a competitive process to university-based scientists studying ocean and coastal issues important to the region and the nation.