{"id":58239,"date":"2016-04-08T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-04-08T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/uris-graduate-school-of-oceanography-scientist-examining-microscopic-organisms-in-narragansett-bay-to-measure-climate-change\/"},"modified":"2016-04-08T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-04-08T00:00:00","slug":"uris-graduate-school-of-oceanography-scientist-examining-microscopic-organisms-in-narragansett-bay-to-measure-climate-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2016\/04\/uris-graduate-school-of-oceanography-scientist-examining-microscopic-organisms-in-narragansett-bay-to-measure-climate-change\/","title":{"rendered":"溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Graduate School of Oceanography scientist examining microscopic organisms in Narragansett Bay to measure climate change"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\t

\nNARRAGANSETT, R.I., April 8, 2016\u2014A 溏心vlog免费B站 oceanographer is studying microscopic organisms at the bottom of Narragansett Bay that could help determine how climate change is changing the bay\u2019s ecosystem. <\/p>\n


\nRebecca Robinson\u2019s research is on diatoms, single-celled organisms found in abundance in the oceans. Diatoms\u2014a type of phytoplankton\u2014are at the base of the food web, feeding everything from zooplankton to fish.<\/p>\n


\nGetting a long-term historical view showing which diatoms are thriving and which ones are in decline could provide insight into the bay\u2019s health in the face of global warming, says Robinson.<\/p>\n


\nFor many years, Robinson and her research team have collected sediment samples on the Bay\u2019s floor. Back in her lab at 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Graduate School of Oceanography, the samples are put in a FloCam, equipment that allows her to rapidly image hundreds of diatoms in a few minutes.<\/p>\n


\nThe process allows Robinson and her team from GSO and Brown University to compare current diatom abundance in the water to sediments that go back 300-plus years.<\/p>\n


\nClimate change is warming Narragansett Bay. GSO scientist Jeremy Collie says temperatures in the bay hit record highs and lows in 2015\u2014the most extreme fluctuations since GSO started surveying the waters 56 years ago.<\/p>\n


\nIndeed, since 1900 the Earth\u2019s atmosphere has warmed by 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit, resulting in rising sea levels, lessening and intensifying rainfall amounts, and more ocean acidification from carbon emissions. Ocean temperatures worldwide are also changing.<\/p>\n


\nRobinson is still in the preliminary stages of her research, but hopes eventually to determine if the \u201cdiatom community\u201d is changing and possibly getting smaller\u2014or if the changes are a natural shift in the ecosystem. <\/p>\n


\nDiatoms are essential to the planet\u2019s health. They are not only the base of the food chain, they also regulate the air people breathe by consuming carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen through photosynthesis.<\/p>\n


\nRobinson is exploring whether the bay\u2019s warmer waters are killing off diatoms\u2014and also examining the impact of storm runoff and wastewater effluent on the organisms.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cWe know the diatom community is changing,\u201d says Robinson. \u201cOut study will allow us to see how far out of the natural bounds these changes might be. If they\u2019re significantly different from anything we\u2019ve seen in the past, we should be ringing an alarm bell. The Bay\u2019s health could be at stake.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nRobinson\u2019s research is supported by the Rhode Island Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research\u2014a National Science Foundation program\u2014and a Rhode Island Science and Technology Advisory Council grant.<\/p>\n


\nPictured above: Rebecca Robinson, an associate professor in the 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Graduate School of Oceanography. Photo courtesy of Rebecca Robinson.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NARRAGANSETT, R.I., April 8, 2016\u2014A 溏心vlog免费B站 oceanographer is studying microscopic organisms at the bottom of Narragansett Bay that could help determine how climate change is changing the bay\u2019s ecosystem. Rebecca Robinson\u2019s research is on diatoms, single-celled organisms found in abundance in the oceans. Diatoms\u2014a type of phytoplankton\u2014are at the base […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":58241,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58239\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}