Credits Special Thanks
This project would not have been possible without the contributions and infinite endeavors of several other people. One of the best experiences of this project was the interaction we had with other people from our coaches to scientists around the world. We would like to thank the following:Scientific Credits
- Mrs. Rollins- Our computer teacher and coach who raised our interest in the project. She spent endless hours of her own time instructing, teaching, organizing, and helping with our projects.
- Ms. Terry- Administrator of Virginia Beach City Public Schools computer system who taught us all types of fundamentals and served as a great coach.
- Mr. Paxton- Thanks for getting us interested in computers! We miss you!
- Our Parents- The people who were always there for us no matter what. They inspired us and taught us about a far more important subject- life.
- Dr. Jane Fromont- Although we corresponded with many scientists, Dr. Fromont contributed amazing amounts of information to our web page. We were completely lost in some areas before she helped us out! (Look in other sections to hear more about her and the other scientists listed here.
- Dr. Eduardo Hajdu- Dr. Hajdu was the main contributor in the area of chemical studies. He provided us with very detailed information and was very involved in our project.
- Dr. Floyd Sandford- We would like to thank her for her extensive information on hermit crab sponges- a very interesting topic!
Over the course of our project, we discovered that we needed more in-depth research. We needed professional perspectives into the sponge world. With the help of a mailbase, we contacted several scientists from around the world via e-mail. The scientists were encouraging, helpful, and interested in our project. Without their contributions, we could not have developed our web page to at least an acceptable degree. They enriched the experience so much for us and we'd just like to thank those who really contributed to our page:Dr. Jane Fromont
Curator of Marine InvertebratesWe would like to thank Dr. Fromont for the numerous publications she so generously (and expediently) sent us on her extensive studies of reproductive biology and taxonomy of sponges. Due to the fact that her information had so much intellectual value and in-depth details, we probably would have never located as developed information on the web. Dr. Fromont has been involved with several organizations throughout Australia such as the Sir George Fisher Centre. As a porifera and marine biologist she has studied sponge reproduction, species descriptions, and using biochemistry to differentiate between species (chemotaxonomic relations).
Department of Aquatic Zoology
Western Australian Museum
Francis Stree, Perth, WA6000, Australia
Phone:(61)89427 2745
Fax:(61) 89427 2882Dr. Eduardo Hajdu
National Museum, Department of InvertebratesDr. Hajdu was extremely helpful in the creation of our web pages concerning bioactive compounds within sponges. Since these areas are relatively new fields of study, he offered us priceless resources. He sent us several publications. Visit one of his sites. Click here.
Federal University of Rio De Jaeiro
Telephone/Fax (+5521) 5681149/5681290/5681314/5681319/56811352/5688262Dr. Floyd Sandford
Professor of Biology, Conservation, Environmental Studies, Hermit Crab Sponge ResearchDr. Sandford is the one of the more eminent scientists in the field of hermit crab sponge study. Presently, she and her students travel to Dog Island, Florida to study these special sponges. For our project, she donated several publications which helped us to better understand the topic.
Coe College
1220 First Avenue NE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 54021
Telephone: 319-399-8576Dr. Jose Lopez
Assistant Scientist, Division of Biomedical Marine ResearchAt Harbor Branch, Dr. Lopez works in the molecular evolution and genetics of marine invertebrates. He also teaches college level courses pertaining to his work. Access any one of his pages below:
Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute
5600 US 1 North
Ft. Pierce, FL 34946
Phone:800-333-4264, ext. 478
Fax: 561-461-2221
Geocities Site
Harbor Branch Site
Course Web page
Porifera Mail BaseDr. John Hooper
Acting Director, Natural Environment ProgramDr. John Hooper is currently working with his colleagues to create a web site. When finished, the site will discuss biodiversity and bioprospecting. Currently, here is the link to the Queensland Museum
Queensland Museum
PO Box 3300
South Brisbane, QLD, 4101, Australia
Fax: +61-7-3846-7722Dr. Jean Vacelet
Oceanology Center of MarseilleDr. Vacelet provided us with insight towards the carnivorous sponge. To learn more, visit the Oceanology Center's web site.
Station Marine d'Endoume
Rue Batterie des Lions
13007 Marseille, France
Telephone: 33 4 91 04 16 27
Fax: 33 4 91 04 16 35Dr. Gert Woerheide
Marine Biology LaboratoryIn the waters of the Great Barrier Reef, Dr. Woerheide has worked a lot with Astroclera sponges. Check out Home page
Queensland Museum
Queensland Cultural Centre
PO Box 3300
South Brisbane, QLD, 4101, Australia
Fax: + 61-07-3840 7664
Office Phone:+ 61-7-3840 7664
Literary Publications
In order to conduct our research, we utilized several scientific papers. Below is a bibliography of those papers. The creators of this page are very grateful for these contributions from Dr. Fromont, Dr. Hajdu, and Dr. Sandford. Their information enriched our page and our own knowledge.
- Fromont, Jane. "Aspects of the Reproductive Biology of Xestospongia Testudinaria (Great Barrier Reef)." Australia: Proceedings of the Sixth International Coral Reef Symposium, 1988. pages 685-692.
- Fromont, Jane. "Chemotaxonomic Relationships Within and Comparison Between Orders Haplosclerida and Petrosida using Sterol Complements." Biochemical Systematics and Ecology. Volume 22, No. 7. 1994. pages 735- 752.
- Fromont, Jane. "Descriptions of Species of the Haplosclerida (Porifera:Demospongiae) Occurring in Tropical waters of the Great Barrier Reef. The Beagle Townsville, QLD4811, Australia: Sir George Fisher Centre for Tropical Marine Studies, 1993. pages 7 - 40.
- Fromont, Jane. "Descriptions of Species of the Petrosida (Porifera:Demospongiae) Occurring in Tropical waters of the Great Barrier Reef. The Beagle Townsville, QLD4811, Australia: Sir George Fisher Centre for Tropical Marine Studies, 1991. pages 73 - 96.
- Fromont, Jane. "Haplosclerida and Petrosida (Porifera:Demospongiae) from the New Calcedonia Lagoon." Invertebrate Taxonomy. Brisbane, Q4101, Australia: Queensland Museum, 1995. pages 149 -180.
- Fromont, Jane. "Reproductive Biology of Three Sponge Species of the Genus Xestospongia (Porifera:Demospongia:Petrosida) of the Great Barrier Reef." Coral Reefs. Volume 3, 1994. 119-126.
- Fromont, Jane. "Reproductive Biology of Tropical species of Haplosclerida and Petrosida on the Great Barrier Reef." Sponges in Time and Space. Proceedings of the Fourth International Porifera Congress, April 1993.
- Fromont, Jane. "Reproductive Development and Timing of Tropical Sponges (Haplosclerida) from the Great Barrier Reef." Coral Reefs. Volume 13. 1994. pages 127 - 133.
- Fromont, Jane. "Revision of the Marine Sponge genus Caulospongia (Demospongiae:Hadromerida), Part I: Morphological and Skeletal Characters." Records of the Western Australian Museum. Volume 19. 1998. pages 65-89.
- Fromont, Jane. "Structural Characters and Theories in Sponge Taxonomy: When is a Sigma not a Sigma?" Third International Sponge Conference, 1985.
- Hajdu, Eduardo. "8b-Hydroxyptilocaulin, a new Guanidine Alkaloid from the Sponge Monanchora Arbuscula." Journal of Natural Products. Volume 58, No. 7. 1995. pages 1139-1142
- Hajdu, Eduardo. "Antimicrobial Activity of Southwestern Atlantic Shallow Water Marine Sponges(Porifera)." Scientia Marina Volume 57, Edition4. 1993. pages 427-432.
- Hajdu, Eduardo. "Chemical and Pharmacological Characterization of Halitoxin from Amphimedon Viridis (Porifera) from the Southeastern Brazilian Coast." Comp. Biochemical Physiology. Volume 115C, No.2. 1996. pages 155-163.
- Hajdu, Eduardo. "Dimethylisoguanine, a New Purine from the Marine Sponge Amphimedon Viridis." Journal of Natural Products. Volume 60. 1997. pages 729-731.
- Hajdu, Eduardo. "Isolation of Crambescidin 800 from Monanchora Arbuscula (Porifera)." Biochemical Systematics and Ecology. Volume 22, No. 6. 1994. pages 645-646.
- Sandford, Floyd. "Florida Hermit Crab Sponge, a little known 'mobile' sponge from the NE Corner of the Gulf of Mexico, and its Hermit Crab Associaties." Rotterdam, Netherlands: A. A. Balkema Publishers, 1994. pages 273-278.
- Sandford, Floyd. "Gastropod Shell Substrates of the Florida Hermit crab Sponge, Spongosorites suberitoides, from the Gulf of Mexico." Bulletin of Marine Science. Volume 61, Edition 2. 1997. pages 215-223.
- Sandford, Floyd. "Redescription of the Hermit Crab Sponge, Spongosorites suberitoides, (Demospongiae:Halichondrida:Halichondriidae)." Journal of Natural History. Volume 31. 1997. pages 315-328.
- Sandford, Floyd. "Sponge/Shell Switching by Hermit Crabs, Pagurus impressus." Invertebrate Biology. Volume 114, No. 1. 1995. pages 73-78.
Internet Resources
The Internet, as always, was a valuable resource. Visit the sites that we did.
- The University of Berkeley's porifera site. We studied pages about sponge skeletons, body organization, demosponges, calcarea, hexactinellida, morphology, fossil record, choanoflagellata, Vendian period, stromatoporids, and more.
- Invertebrate ZoologyThis page introduces sponge anatomy.
- Discovery of Sponges in Subterranean Waters of South Italy Meet the cave sponges, a rare group of fresh water sponges.
- Origins of the Invertebrates. Discover the history of sponges
- An Encyclopedia Article. A quick sponge reference for those who need a short summary.
- About SpongesA page created by the Sarasota Marine Lab
- Introduction to Sponge ProcessesThis page is an explanatory outline of sponge processes and a little bit about taxonomy.
- Introduction to Porifera Learn about sponges and their various classes. Also, test your own knowledge of sponges.
- History of the Hexactinellida Discover the history of the hexactinellida in the Paleozoic.
Picture Resources
The images on this web site were featured under the following conditions:The images for which we received copyright permission are described according to the site which granted permission:
- The creators of this web page created them entirely from their own resources and skills
- Permission was granted by the holders of the images and their copyrights for usages
- The Biodidac Organization- For copyright permission, view the page. The Biodidac Organization grants permission for pictures from their site to be used on any pages that are educational and non-profit (which we assure you our site is).
- Jane Fromont granted permission of the use of her materials. Her pictures are those entitled 'sterol.gif/jpg'
- Floyd Sandford granted us permission to use the maps of Dog Island which were included in her publications.
- Brandon Fayer issued permission for the pictures entitled "m-por..." and "microcionia"
- Eduardo Hajdu issued permission for us to use the pictures located at his web site.
- Jaap Kaandorp issued permission for us to use the pictures located at his homepage.
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