{"id":18111,"date":"2018-04-27T13:19:23","date_gmt":"2018-04-27T17:19:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/?p=18111"},"modified":"2019-05-09T10:50:05","modified_gmt":"2019-05-09T14:50:05","slug":"whats-in-the-water-cataloging-the-species-of-narragansett-bay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/2018\/04\/27\/whats-in-the-water-cataloging-the-species-of-narragansett-bay\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s in the water? Cataloging the species of Narragansett Bay"},"content":{"rendered":"
Dr. Joseph DeGiorgis, Professor of Biology at Providence College, is leading an RI C-AIM project which aims to catalog hundreds, if not thousands, of Narragansett Bay species, all identified by a ‘DNA barcode’ developed through his team’s labs, into a searchable database.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For the past 30 years, Dr. Joseph DeGiorgis has been face-to-face with the vast variety of marine organisms living in the waters of Narragansett Bay as a scuba diver for the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) in Woods Hole. Now, the Professor of Biology at Providence College<\/a> is part of a collaborative effort among seven higher education institutions across Rhode Island to catalog all species of Narragansett Bay through a technique called \u2018DNA barcoding.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cWe take a little piece of tissue from each organism and isolate their genomic DNA,\u201d explains DeGiorgis. \u201cIt takes about 45 minutes, a very simple process.\u201d<\/p>\n

Through what is called a PCR reaction, scientists can amplify DNA strands of a particular species, which in turn provides a \u2018molecular signature.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a thumbprint for that species,\u201d notes DeGiorgis.<\/p>\n

The Providence College professor is joining a sizeable group of engineers, scientists, artists, and others on RI C-AIM (Rhode Island Consortium for Coastal Ecology\u2014Assessment, Innovation, and Modeling)<\/a>, a five-year, $19 million initiative funded through the RI NSF EPSCoR program to develop a technological infrastructure for predicting and responding to the changing interactions between chemicals and lifeforms in Narragansett Bay.<\/p>\n

One of RI C-AIM\u2019s specific goals is to promote collaboration among scientists and artists to develop unique, visual platforms for presenting data and fostering broader understanding of scientific observations.<\/p>\n

DeGiorgis has cameras ready to take high-resolution images of each marine species that will complement the barcoding initiative, and he has even created a special mount for the microscopes and cameras on-hand at the newly formed PC Aquatic Studio.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Above: Diatoms such as these are being captured with DeGiorgis camera set-up at PC, whereby he attaches a digital lens to the microscope. Images are an important aspect of the C-AIM project, as they will help researchers visually identify species in the catalog.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI would like [the project] to include a pictorial library which will contain photographs that not only provide a scientific representation for each species, but also captures the aesthetic beauty of this marine life,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

The Woods Hole resident is working side-by-side with RI C-AIM\u2019s Neal Overstrom, director of the Edna Lawrence Nature Lab at the Rhode Island School of Design<\/a>, as well as Oceanographer\/Taxonomist Dr. Jan Rines<\/a> at the University of Rhode Island, to match the barcoding results with known species.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou really need those taxonomic expertsbecause just having a photograph of the critter and the DNA barcode doesn\u2019t mean anything unless you accurately know what the species is,\u201d emphasizes DeGiorgis. \u201cSuccess with these organisms will require collaboration, and there is no real way to tell when you have every species. What if a jellyfish from Florida swims into the bay during the summer one year and then doesn’t show up again for a decade?\u201d<\/p>\n

But are the species of Narragansett Bay not already well-known? Yes and no, says DeGiorgis.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of my favorite papers estimates that the number of species on the planet is approximately 8.7 million, but only about 1.8 million currently have been identified taxonomically,\u201d he says. \u201cTo me, it is so crazy to think that if you were doing DNA barcoding, there is a very good chance you will find novel species.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn New England, you have three world-class marine institutes\u2014MBL, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, and the University of Rhode Island\u2014piled on top of each other studying mostly the same critters, so Narragansett Bay could be the best studied body of water in the world. But there is still a possibility.\u201d<\/p>\n

To date, DeGiorgis\u2019 team has collected DNA barcoding information on 60 organisms, but with thousands of species yet to be sampled, the goal is that the project can be sustained beyond C-AIM\u2019s current five-year grant.<\/p>\n

Cataloging the bay\u2019s organisms, from the tiniest diatoms to the largest fish, will take time, but DeGiorgis notes that much of the process is simple and inexpensive, and thus involving students and citizen scientists in helping RI C-AIM researchers collect and code species is a real possibility.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a very grassroots type of thing,\u201d says DeGiorgis. \u201cAt the extreme ends of it, you can have top experts looking at the taxonomy and phylogenetic relationships of these species as well as junior high and high school kids and hobby scientists.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the project has all of this potential for outreach, getting local communities and schools involved at all levels. We would very much welcome others to participate.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more information about DeGiorgis\u2019 work and RI C-AIM, visit https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/<\/a> or contact DeGiorgis at jdegiorg@providence.edu<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Written by Shaun Kirby, RI C-AIM Communications & Outreach Coordinator<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For the past 30 years, Dr. Joseph DeGiorgis has been face-to-face with the vast variety of marine organisms living in the waters of Narragansett Bay as a scuba diver for the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) in Woods Hole. Now, the Professor of Biology at Providence College is part of a collaborative effort among seven higher […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1994,"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":[15,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-front-page-slider-post","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18111","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\/1994"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18111"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18111\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31679,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18111\/revisions\/31679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/rinsfepscor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}