Changing of Tides
Annette Mehr

B.F.A. 2013 University of Rhode Island
Art Advisor: Barbara Pagh, URI Art and Art History
Science Advisor: Anna Malek, URI Graduate School of Oceanography

Weekly trawls conducted by the Graduate School of Oceanography have been collecting data about the fish community in Narragansett Bay for more than 50 years. The study has shown long-term trends in marine life abundance, environmental conditions, and ecosystem dynamics. Since 1960 the temperature in the Bay has increased almost two degrees Celsius. Coincidentally, the abundance of phytoplankton has decreased, and the fish community has shifted from vertebrate and bottom dwelling species that prefer cooler temperatures to invertebrate species that tolerate a more moderate climate and feed primarily on phytoplankton in the water column. Also, the trawls have shown an increase in anomalous marine life, including tropical species such as the puffer fish, often brought into the Bay by way of the Gulf Stream.

Inspired by data collected by the GSO fish trawl, six species were chosen to represent the shift in the community brought about by increasing temperatures in the Bay. Pen and ink stippling, a traditional scientific illustration technique, was used to create the images on paper, handmade and hand-dyed by the artist.

Each sheet of paper is a different shade of blue representing each species’ preferred temperatures—darker blue for cooler temperatures, lighter blue for warmer temperatures. The left-to-right placement reflects each species abundance—left for decreasingly abundant bottom dwelling species, right for increasingly abundant pelagic species.