“There is a constant engagement with others in the EPSCoR community that forces a broader perspective. … EPSCoR brought me to the table. It helped me see my contributions as valuable and was huge for my professional development.”

Gordon Ober
University of Rhode Island
Ph.D. candidate; ecology and ecosystem science
RI EPSCoR graduate fellow

Ask Gordon Ober about the impact of his 2012-13 Rhode Island NSF EPSCoR graduate fellowship and the University of Rhode Island Ph.D. candidate gives an unequivocal response.

“It’s meant everything,” says the Kittery, Maine, native as he eyes the summer 2016 conclusion of his doctoral work. “I honestly don’t know where I would be without the funding.”

Without the support, Ober says, he would not have been able to set up his research project investigating the impact of climate change on the marine ecosystems and food webs of Narragansett Bay.

Equally important, he adds, “EPSCoR had faith in me to produce this project. EPSCoR made me more competitive for everything I’ve done, from getting the grant and starting my project to all of these other avenues. It’s given me a leg up, for sure.”

Now supported by a substantial national fellowship, Ober is in the final stages of writing his dissertation while he continues to work in the lab of URI Associate Professor Carol Thornber, principal investigator of the RI EPSCoR grant. The project he designed investigates the impact of ocean acidification on macroalgae, which holds implications for the overall health of the marine ecosystem.

Ober sought to test the impact of increasing amounts of carbon dioxide (CO₂) in ocean waters — which drops the pH level, causing ocean acidification — on fleshy macroalgae. Much of the acidification research to date has focused on calcifying species such as corals and bivalves.

Using three local, coastal species (two algae, Fucus vesiculossu and Ulva lactuca, and one snail, Littorina littorea ) Ober manipulated the CO₂ level based on Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) projections to gauge how the species’ responses and interactions might change. He adjusted for nutrient and CO₂ levels to test algae growth and, in a third experiment, added in the snails to track how acidification might impact feeding rates.

“Under future climate conditions, opportunistic species might see significant increases in growth, which could lead to shifts in dominance and where species grow,” Ober explains. “But, herbivores (such as snails) may act as a built-in control if consumption can quell algal growth.”

Ober’s findings indicate projected ocean acidification rates will alter the current balance of growth and consumption. Adding CO₂ and nitrogen increased Ulva growth by four times while the eating rate of the snails failed to keep pace with the excess growth. He also charted the respiration rate of the snails and found that the herbivores experienced significant stress under ocean acidification.

Working in the Thornber lab and being a part of the EPSCoR community also provided Ober the opportunity to work on other research projects, including a RI Science and Technology Advisory Council (STAC) grant, which investigated the ability of marine organisms to adapt to climate change.

“If you are a marine organism and the environment is changing, you have three options — move to find a more suitable environment, adapt to change, or die,” Ober says. “A lot of organisms don’t have the ability to move, so they either adapt or perish.”

Initially, the team sought to study how the tiny mysid shrimp evolved and adapted to climate change across multiple generations. But, unable to collect enough specimens, the researchers changed tack and looked at how two species found in Narragansett Bay performed in warmer water. One species hangs out at the bottom of the ocean; the other likes to travel to the top of the water column to feed.

The species that moves up and down the water column experiences a range of temperature. For example, in some seasons, water at the bottom can be six to eight degrees cooler than water at the surface. Consequently, Ober explains, the organism seems to be able to adapt to a water temperature that warms by 2 degrees.

“These organisms play a very critical role in the food web,” Ober says. “Most people in Rhode Island don’t even think about these tiny shrimp, but they’re an important species. When recreational and commercial fish are young, they are eating these mysid shrimp. If they’re gone or there are less of them, it’s going to cause a ripple effect.”

Ober also collaborated with another EPSCoR graduate fellow, URI Ph.D. student Rose Martin, to investigate the impact of sea level rise and salt marsh grasses. The pair found that as salt marshes face more inundation from rising water levels, certain species of grasses will die off and decay, altering the delicate balance of the salt marsh ecosystem.

“What I think is important about EPSCoR and, particularly, my fellowship, is that it wasn’t just a matter of ‘here’s a lump sum of money, go do your work,’” Ober says. “There is a connection the whole way through. You get to meet other people, see what they’re doing and keep the conversation going. There is a constant engagement with others in the EPSCoR community that forces a broader perspective.”

The Thornber lab gave him the chance to pursue his interests, Ober says, and the EPSCoR fellowship allowed him to get his project up and running. He participated in conferences and the larger discussions about where the field of climate change research is heading.

As a young, emerging scientist, Ober says he felt his work was appreciated and carried weight: “I was invited to meetings with other professors; EPSCoR brought me to the table. It helped me see my contributions as valuable and was huge for my professional development.”

Story and photos by Amy Dunkle | RI NSF EPSCoR