Research fellow: Molly Fehon
Hometown: Durham, CT
Major: Marine Biology
School: Roger Williams University
Faculty mentor: David Taylor
Project: Temperature‐mediated changes in blue crab Callinectes sapidus abundance in the Narragansett Bay and its trophodynamic effect on winter flounder Pseudopleuronectes americanus populations

From her perch on a lab stool, Molly Fehon tracks the impact of climate change on Narragansett Bay through the stomach contents of blue crabs. She started working on the project as a freshman, in the lab of David Taylor, RWU associate professor, marine biology.

This summer, Fehon earned a slot in the Rhode Island NSF EPSCoR Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) program and continues her involvement with the project under Taylor’s guidance.

The SURF 2015 class of 38 students is working in the labs of faculty mentors at RI NSF EPSCoR partner institutions. The fellowship provides a stipend so the students can conduct research full time.

The experience will wrap up with the 8^th Annual RI SURF Conference, a collaborative event co-sponsored by RI NSF EPSCoR and Rhode Island IDeA Network for Biomedical Research Excellence (RI-INBRE). Held at the University of Rhode Island, the conference features SURF student posters from both EPSCoR and INBRE and draws an audience of more than 400 faculty, students and administrators from across the state.

As water temperatures have warmed, blue crabs have expanded their range northward from Chesapeake Bay, showing up in abundance in Rhode Island waters, Fehon explains. The SURF project seeks to understand how the presence of blue crabs affects the dwindling native population of winter flounder, a key player in the local benthic, or bottom, ecosystem.

Taylor takes the students in the field to collect samples in seine nets. Back in the lab, Fehon dissects the crabs, taking out their stomach and analyzing the content, which is not an easy job since the crabs chew their food to the consistency of a fine paste.

While that provides a snapshot of what they ate within a specific timeframe, Fehon explains, stable isotope analysis focusing on carbon and nitrogen isotopes in the muscle tissue offers a more comprehensive view of foraging habits.

Taking a break from her microscopic work to talk about her research, Fehon describes the excitement of showcasing the data to the Annual Benthic Ecology meeting in Quebec during spring break, funded by the RWU provost’s office. This summer, SURF enables her to continue researching and expand her results.

“It makes me more sure that research is something I’m interested in and want to continue doing,” she says. “I’m thinking, ideally, I would like to be a college professor and have research on the side. I think that would be perfect.”

The next step for the rising junior is to start looking at graduate school. Although she hails from Connecticut, Fehon says she has grown to love the Ocean State and hopes to stay here if she can.

Story and photos by Amy Dunkle