Patricia Thibodeau, University of Rhode Island
Tatiana Rynearson, University of Rhode Island
Project Location
University of Rhode Island-Bay Campus
Project Description
Dissolved nutrients are critical to aquatic ecosystems by fueling algal blooms and supporting productive fisheries, but in excess lead to oxygen depletion that can cause fish kills. Narragansett Bay (NBay) represents a small northeast US estuary that has been heavily loaded with sewage effluent nutrients since the late 1800s. Managed nutrient treatment in NBay aimed to achieve a goal of reducing effluent dissolved inorganic nitrogen inputs by over 50% by 2012 and phosphorus inputs have declined significantly since the 1970s. Within NBay, long-term water quality (temperature, salinity, and nutrients) and plankton abundance (chlorophyll a and species counts) have been monitored at a fixed station since 1959, representing one of the longest time series in the world. Thus, this dataset provides a unique, long-term perspective on the effects of waste-water treatment on the ecosystem in this estuary.
This SURF project will utilize 60-years of water quality data in NBay to determine how changes in waste-water treatment affect nutrient concentrations and phytoplankton abundance (e.g., algal blooms) overtime. The student will increase their understanding of the ecology of NBay as well as data literacy by learning how to organize and analyze long-term water quality data using computer programming. Results from this project will verify model results predicting the future effects of nutrient changes in NBay and aid in identifying human-caused effects on bottom-up controls of the NBay food web.
This project involves primarily lab or computer work
Required/Preferred Skills
Skills in data analysis and mathematics (i.e., computer science, engineering, statistics) with experience working in excel and some coding knowledge are preferred. A strong willingness to work independently as well as with others.
Will students require their own transportation to field sites and/or other off-campus locations?
No
Rhode Island EPSCoR is funded by the National Science Foundation under EPSCoR Research Infrastructure Improvement Award #OIA-1655221 (Sept. 2017-Aug. 2022). Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.