Dr. Eric Montie wins S.C. Governor’s Award for Excellence in Scientific Research
Listening to marine life and involving students in scientific discoveries garnered Dr. Eric W. Montie, associate professor in the Department of Natural Sciences, a 2021 Governor’s Award for Excellence in Scientific Research at a Predominately Undergraduate Institution. This statewide award recognizes Montie’s strong research program in soundscape ecology, which focuses on estuaries, and his contributions to developing the next generation of scientists.
“His work has helped safeguard the wellbeing of our South Carolina coast and is especially important to ensure the longevity of the many South Carolina economic engines that are dependent on pristine sea life,” wrote Gov. Henry McMaster in a proclamation about Montie’s award.
Since 2013, Dr. Montie and his team of USCB students have been recording the underwater soundscape of the May River in Bluffton. From 2017 to 2019, they expanded soundscape monitoring to Charleston Harbor, Chechessee Creek, Colleton River, and the North Inlet-Winyah Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve. In 2020, NOAA Integrated Ocean Observing Systems (IOOS) and the Southeast Coastal Ocean Observing Regional Association (SECOORA) invested in Dr. Montie’s lab, and he founded the “Estuarine Soundscape Observatory Network in the Southeast” (ESONS). The Spring Island Trust also supports Dr. Montie’s work.
He and his students use acoustic recorders to capture the underwater soundscape. Their recordings provide information on the behavior of snapping shrimp, spawning patterns of fish, foraging patterns and communication of bottlenose dolphins, and noise levels associated with human activity. The long-term goal is to ‘eavesdrop’ on key behaviors of marine animals that can change rapidly or gradually in response to environmental changes and human impacts, thus providing a measure of resilience or shifting baselines in a globally changing environment.
Dr. Montie’s lab also runs the Lowcountry Dolphin Conservation Program, where students help conduct dolphin surveys, and studies salinity and fecal coliform levels in the May River.
Dr. Montie earned a bachelor’s degree in Zoology at the University of Rhode Island in 1993, did post-baccalaureate work in Biochemistry at Harvard University, and earned his doctorate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology/Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Joint Program in Biological Oceanography. He has taught at USCB since 2011.
Dr. Eric Montie (left) is pictured with former USCB student Bradshaw McKinney, who
started the university’s seining program to examine biological diversity in the May
River estuary. McKinney and other USCB students and recent graduates have deployed
and retrieved acoustic recorders as part of the Estuarine Soundscape Observatory Network
in the Southeast (ESONS).