Mentor(s)

Susanne Menden-Deuer, Erica Ewton & Pierre Marrec, Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island

Project Location

University of Rhode Island – Bay Campus

Project Description

Rhode Island’s economy is blue and is critically dependent on the Narragansett Bay ecosystem, which is fueled by a productive, coastal food web. Intense dependence on this ecosystem and energy needs, such as developments of wind farms offshore necessitate understanding the structure and function of the Narragansett Bay ecosystem, which motivates Rhode Island Coastal Ecology Assessment Innovation and Modeling (RI-CAIM) project.

There are still fundamental knowledge gaps on how these mostly microbial food webs function and what effects anthropogenic and natural disturbances have for the Narragansett Bay food web now, and in the future. This project will gain fundamental and mechanistic insights into how primary production is affected by predation. Predation is the single largest loss factor for marine primary production, significantly altering the amount and trajectory of carbon flow through oceanic food webs. Many biological and environmental factors can affect the rates of predation in the ocean. This project will combine laboratory and field work to examine the abundance and activity of marine microbes under manipulated and natural environmental conditions.

There is a possibility to join weekly field sampling trips to Narragansett Bay or possibly a one-week cruise to waters off Rhode Island. The project will emphasize methodological skill development, such as instrument usage through use of a wide variety of analytical procedures (e.g., physiological rate measurements, flow cytometry, microscopy, image analysis, modeling, depending on the applicants interest).

This project involves field, lab and computational work

Required/Preferred skills

To succeed, students need motivation, reliability, attention to detail, ability to multi-task, interest in ecology, willingness to work hard, ability to work both in the laboratory and at sea, willingness to learn. Introductory courses in ecology. All training provided.

Will the project require transportation to field sites? No

Is this project open to Surf Flex? Yes

In which core facilities might student conduct research? Marine Science Research Facility @ URI-GSO

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