Gianna LourencoThe University of Rhode Island Watershed Watch Program (URIWW) is a statewide volunteer water quality (WQ) monitoring program. Its goal is to emphasize the importance of water quality (WQ) issues and our role in affecting WQ, educating volunteers, promoting environmental stewardship, while generating credible data to facilitate good decision-making. We do this by engaging the public to monitor local waters using established methods and quality control and assurance techniques to produce reliable information. Trained volunteers are equipped to collect field data and water samples, which are analyzed in our state-certified our lab.
Lakes, ponds, rivers, and coastal lagoons and embayments reflect the activities in the lands and waters that surround or lie upstream of them. Monitoring can help identify sources of pollution and provide information leading to more effective management of these critical water resources. We encourage residents to understand the need to cooperatively manage and improve the quality of all the water bodies within a watershed in order to keep Rhode Island’s bays, estuaries, and freshwater resources healthy.
This research will show the importance of volunteering with this organization, what the volunteers learn, and the importance of educating the public on the local waters in order to promote stewardship. The continuation of monitoring adds data to our multi-year database to detect trends in water quality throughout the state, increasing the value of those data each year.
Gwenyth EmeryAmerican Woodcock (Scolopax minor) is a cryptic shore bird whose population has been declining since the 1960’s due to the loss of early successional habitat used for breeding and roosting. In order to ameliorate the loss of habitat, it is important for managers to understand habitat characteristics which influence foraging site selection, as woodcock often forage in proximity to early successional habitat. Previous research has suggested that woodcock use soil color to identify foraging sites, however no research has assessed whether woodcock use surface or subsurface soil color to select where to forage (Rabe et al. 1983). We flushed radio-tagged American Woodcock (n=8) and analyzed soil surface color, soil subsurface color, and general soil moisture at each woodcock’s flush site, within five meter of the flush sites, and fifty meters away from the flush site. Our data suggests that woodcock utilize soil surface color and higher moisture content in selecting where to forage.
Haley KenyonThe Sandbar shark, Carcharhinus plumbeus, has been found all over the world, with global distributions reaching from the North Western Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, Tasman Sea, Western Australia, Hawaii and the Gulf of Gabes. Within each subpopulation, variations in life history characteristics were observed. Four hypotheses were constructed as to why there could be variation within the different subpopulations of the species; variation between the life history characteristics are correlated to latitude, sea surface temperature (SST), energy content/diet and Chlorophyll-A concentration. By using information collected from journal articles, an understanding as to where the sharks congregate was gained, as well as data for each life history characteristic within these regions was analyzed to see the similarities or differences between them and how latitude, average sea surface temperature, Chlorophyll-A concentration and energy content within their diet could have a direct influence on these six subpopulations. Energy content/ diet of a normalized 1,000-gram diet that was constructed for each sandbar shark within each different subpopulation showed an inverse relationship between life history characteristics and energy content/diet. There is still much to learn as to why these patterns are occurring, but this research is a great starting point.
Hannah BalquistIn modern society humans consume and dispose of an abundance of plastics. Recently, attention has been drawn to the accumulation of microscopic particles known as microplastics in ecosystems worldwide. Much of the current literature in the field of microplastic research uses concentrations which are much higher than what are currently found in our oceans. The purpose of this study was to learn how environmentally relevant concentrations of microplastics in the water column impact the development of free-floating sea star larvae. Larval cultures were established and exposed to three different concentrations of microplastics. The cultures were sampled at four points throughout the study and the larvae were photographed under the microscope and their development analyzed. There was no significant difference found between the development of the different treatments in the laboratory. These results suggest that at current concentrations, microplastics are not having a severe impact on the development of sea star larvae. Future studies can further explore more types of microplastics as well as other free-floating larval species.
Holden FaradayTo search for life, it begins with the detection of biological molecules, like proteins and pigments. Understanding how biomarkers present themselves in data once analyzed by spectroscopy is vital in this search for finding life on Mars and other planetary bodies. The spectroscopy tools used in this research were Raman spectroscopy (RS) and FTIR. Polished gypsum, a common mineral on Mars, was used as a surface to drip either xanthan gum (X.G.) or beta carotene (B.C) onto, this mimics biomarkers on a mineral surface. The results concluded that X.G. was near-impossible to detect on a mineral surface suggesting that detecting EPS would yield unsatisfactory results. As for B.C. it proved to yield exceptional results when analyzed which suggests that on future missions for detecting life on planetary bodies, the molecular bonds of carotenoids will provide strong enough signals to break through the mineral signal that outshines organics often. RS provided better applications than FTIR because it was less invasive, user-friendly, and provided better data of increasing organic presence on minerals. This research allows for future planetary missions to consider searching for the more reliable carotenoids rather than polysaccharides. The use of RS is superior to FTIR in terms of mineral surface detection, and hopefully brings us one step closer to finding signs of life on Mars.
Jacob McNamaraThe attributes of an ideal container media lie within its physical properties: Porosity, Container Capacity, Bulk Density, and Particle Size Distribution. Commercial container media manufactured and sold today meets the ideal ranges of the physical properties because they are made up of mostly Peat Moss and Coir. Both have favorable physical attributes that provide a good base for rooting plants over a growing season but are unsustainable in the ways they are manufactured and shipped. Compost is a readily available and sustainable resource that can be found in any corner of the globe but is not usually incorporated in a commercial media because of its tendency to become very dense in a pot housing a plant after just a few watering's. The Compost Plant is a local compost manufacturing company that wishes to construct a mix they could sell to commercial farmers and to the general public and tasked myself and my project team with developing a container media that incorporates their compost, as well as other amendments typically found in a commercial mix, and meets the physical property ideal ranges for a good container media.
Jessica HanleyBasil Downy Mildew is a plant pathogen that is travelling up the East Coast each summer, infecting basil plants, and leaving them unmarketable for consumption. This has impacted the ability of growers to reliably provide basil to consumers, and new Basil Downy Mildew resistant basil varieties have been developed to combat this problem. We have planted trials here in Rhode Island of both the new resistant basil varieties and established basil varieties growers are currently using to compare crop yields and disease tolerance. Our data shows that the new resistant varieties produce a higher yield of crop and offer more disease resistance than the established varieties currently used by growers. This suggests that growers could potentially avoid losses caused by Basil Downy Mildew by planting these new resistant varieties of basil. Future research may explore Basil Downy Mildew tolerance in ornamental basil varieties.
Jenipher AdamesEthnic and racial minority fishermen are rarely the subject of research done in Rhode Island, although they make up the majority of their demographic. This summer, we traveled to several Rhode Island coastal sites, (e.g. Taylor Point, Fort Wetherill, Rocky Point, India Point, and Save the Bay) to observe, survey, and analyze the fishing practices and behaviors among a diverse population of fishers. We created a survey to target specific questions about their different fishing practices and behaviors, such as fish processing and consumption, as well as the accessibility to the sites at which they fish. In addition to one on one interviews with fishers on site, we were also met with several minority groups, such as Progresso Latino, the African Alliance of Rhode Island, and the Narragansett Tribe, which we used as key informants for our research. Given the large LatinX population in Rhode Island, interviews were conducted in both English and Spanish depending on the native language of the interviewees; the overall surveys were later translated to english. After conducting the surveys and interviews, we transcribed the information and uploaded them into our database to later be analyzed. With the data we collect, we are hoping to assist different communities in gaining access to information concerning health risks and benefits of fish, and try to bridge the gap between them by facilitating workshops based on common interests. We hope that through this research, marginalized communities of coastal fisher in Rhode Island can have better exposure and representation.
Juliane MoraThe New England Cottontail rabbit is a species of rabbit that is now threatened by habitat loss, fragmentation, and the introduction of the Eastern Cottontail rabbit. Wild populations of the species can be found in southern Maine, southern New Hampshire, parts of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New York. There are currently two captive breeding programs in the Roger Williams Zoo and Queens Zoo. The goal of this program is to increase population numbers in order to be released into the wild. Another threat to the New England Cottontail is possible hybridization with the Eastern Cottontail. While hybridization may increase population numbers of the New England cottontail, it could also have genetic consequences on the native species, further increasing the risk of extinction. Because both cottontail species are phenotypically identical, their identification can only be assessed at the genetic level. In order to investigate whether hybridization is occurring between the two species, genetic analysis was conducted by assessing the genetic structure of sympatric rabbit populations in the wild, as well as in individuals in the captive breeding programs of the Roger Williams Park Zoo and Queens Zoo.
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