When people are hungry they look for food, maybe a cheeseburger. But what happens to microorganisms in the ocean when they get hungry? Do they perish, live or grow? Sean Anderson, a 24-year-old student at the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography, answered those questions researching the feeding habits of heterotrophic protists—microscopic ocean […]
Continue reading "URI Graduate Student Studies Feeding, Growth Habits of Microscopic Organisms in Ocean"Tag: Biological Oceanography
URI students to study subtropical ecosystem in Bermuda
When most people think of Bermuda, cruise ships and golf come to mind. University of Rhode Island biology and marine biology students are spending their spring break on the island for another reason—to study its subtropical habitat. URI’s Graduate School of Oceanography and College of the Environment and Life Sciences are coordinating the week-long trip, […]
Continue reading "URI students to study subtropical ecosystem in Bermuda"Big Thinkers – Susanne Menden-Deuer
URI Press Release
Continue reading "Big Thinkers – Susanne Menden-Deuer"Graduate School of Oceanography Scientist Receives International Award
University of Rhode Island oceanographer Susanne Menden-Deuer, an expert in the behavior of plankton, has won an international award for her work. The associate professor at the Graduate School of Oceanography will receive the Hutner Prize from the International Society of Protistologists during its annual meeting this summer in Moscow. The organization is the largest […]
Continue reading "Graduate School of Oceanography Scientist Receives International Award"Cleary Studies Copepods North of Arctic Circle
Alison Cleary spent six months at the top of the world recently studying what tiny crustaceans eat, kayaking in the light at midnight—and carrying a rifle to protect her from polar bears. Cleary, who graduated from the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography in May 2015 with a doctorate in oceanography, says the […]
Continue reading "Cleary Studies Copepods North of Arctic Circle"Oceanographic Analysis, Assays, and Techniques
GSO seismologists advanced the science of detecting and analyzing pressure waves caused by earthquakes, landslides, and nuclear explosions through development of a novel modeling approach called full-wave seismic analysis. This method extracts much more information from these phenomena than captured by older, standard ray-tracing methods. GSO’s high-powered computer clusters allow detection of small seismic events […]
Continue reading "Oceanographic Analysis, Assays, and Techniques"Deep Microbes
Recent discoveries by GSO biogeochemists in samples from Deep Sea Drilling Program (DSDP) cores taken from the Pacific Ocean have significant implications for the nature and global distribution of life in the sediments of the subseafloor. For example, estimates of Earth’s total living biomass are now 10-45 percent lower than previously thought, and the depth […]
Continue reading "Deep Microbes"Microbial and Planktonic Diversity
GSO scientists characterize the genetic diversity and distribution of planktonic populations globally over time, space, and in different marine ecosystems. This provides an understanding of basic processes of speciation, selection, and adaption, and how plankton respond to their environments. Examining physical influences on phytoplankton form and function shows how small-scale turbulence affects cell and colony […]
Continue reading "Microbial and Planktonic Diversity"Food Web Dynamics
GSO researchers study interactions among phytoplankton, zooplankton, and fish to develop an understanding of how energy is transferred and how carbon is exported in polar, temperate, and tropical ecosystems, both coastal and oceanic. By examining the importance of ice algae in Arctic copepod diets and the feeding behavior of Antarctic krill, scientists decipher how the […]
Continue reading "Food Web Dynamics"From Data Collection to Modeling
Modeling of fish populations and their trophic interactions is an essential element for defining targets for sustainable fisheries, and estimating benefits of rebuilding stocks. The effects of seasonal migrations of interacting fish species and population feeding habits are modeled by GSO fisheries biologists to better explore the consequences of different harvest strategies and changes in […]
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