{"id":12265,"date":"2016-07-22T15:10:43","date_gmt":"2016-07-22T19:10:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/?p=12265"},"modified":"2016-07-22T15:10:43","modified_gmt":"2016-07-22T19:10:43","slug":"surfs-up-2016-ri-undergrads-in-research-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/2016\/07\/22\/surfs-up-2016-ri-undergrads-in-research-4\/","title":{"rendered":"SURF&#8217;s up 2016: RI undergrads in research"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/848\/Castro_Nick.jpg\"  rel=\"lightbox[12265] attachment wp-att-12266\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-12266\" src=\"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/848\/Castro_Nick.jpg\" alt=\"Castro_Nick\" width=\"475\" height=\"640\" \/><\/a>Research fellow:<\/strong> Nick Castro<br \/>\n<strong>Hometown:<\/strong> Hartford, CT<br \/>\n<strong>School:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/\" target=\"_blank\">University of Rhode Island<\/a><br \/>\n<strong>Major:<\/strong> Marine Biology<br \/>\n<strong>Mentors:<\/strong> Danielle Perry, Carol Thorber, Serena Moseman-Valtierra<br \/>\n<strong>Project:<\/strong> Impacts of macroalgal accumulation on salt marsh environments<\/p>\n<p>A long line of plastic bins\u00a0sits outside behind the Ann Gall Durbin Aquarium on the URI Bay Campus, the tall reeds of <em>Spartina alterniflora<\/em>, a haylike grass that grows in local Rhode Island salt marshes, stretching above the containers.<\/p>\n<p>URI senior Nick Castro helps ferry plants back and forth, from the bins\u00a0to a large, boxlike piece of equipment that measures the fluctuation of greenhouse gasses (methane, carbon dioxide, and nitrous oxide) processed by <em>S. alterniflora.<\/em> The project aims to track the impact that two types of algae may have on the grass and its health as it emits and absorbs the gasses \u2014 a critical function for salt marsh health.<\/p>\n<p>For his role in the project, Castro works with fellow SURF student Aidan Barry, URI, to monitor the water levels in the bins\u00a0that imitate the tides in the salt marsh intertidal zone, four hours high and four hours low, keeping valves cleared, measuring grass stem heights, collecting soil cores, and inputting data. Out in the field, Castro helps monitor the grass on five consecutive days at low tide, measuring the algae cover and checking whether the coverage changes as the tides flow in and out.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI studied abroad in the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences (BIOS) program earning my research certification as well as studying coral reefs and ocean acidification,\u201d Castro says. \u201cThat\u2019s why I wanted to work on this project \u2014\u00a0coral have a huge relationship with algae. I want to learn more about it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>One of the SURF program\u2019s benefits, he says, is being part of a team and sharing the responsibilities of the research. And, he adds, unlike academic labs during the school year when experiment\u2019s outcomes are established, the SURF project is open ended.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith this, the answers are unknown,\u201d Castro explains. \u201cYou\u2019re pioneering, finding out new material, and always learning.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Having wanted to be a scientist from a young age, Castro says he hopes to go to graduate school and pursue work in the field of climate change: \u201cI\u2019m open to what I work on specifically, but I would love to do more ocean acidification research and more diving.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right\"><em>Story and photo by Amy Dunkle<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Research fellow: Nick Castro Hometown: Hartford, CT School: University of Rhode Island Major: Marine Biology Mentors: Danielle Perry, Carol Thorber, Serena Moseman-Valtierra Project: Impacts of macroalgal accumulation on salt marsh environments A long line of plastic bins\u00a0sits outside behind the Ann Gall Durbin Aquarium on the URI Bay Campus, the tall reeds of Spartina alterniflora, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[21,51],"tags":[366,570,603,741],"class_list":["post-12265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-surfsup","tag-macroalgal-blooms","tag-rhode-island-nsf-epscor","tag-salt-marshes","tag-university-of-rhode-island"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12265"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12265\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}