{"id":62231,"date":"2011-07-27T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-07-27T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/uri-student-examines-competition-among-seaweeds-responsible-for-algae-blooms\/"},"modified":"2011-07-27T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2011-07-27T00:00:00","slug":"uri-student-examines-competition-among-seaweeds-responsible-for-algae-blooms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2011\/07\/uri-student-examines-competition-among-seaweeds-responsible-for-algae-blooms\/","title":{"rendered":"溏心vlog免费B站 student examines competition among seaweeds responsible for algae blooms"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\tEast Haddam, Conn., resident to report results at July 29 conference<\/p>\n


\n\tKINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 July 27, 2011 \u2013 Two species of seaweed are primarily responsible for most of the harmful algae blooms that occur in Narragansett Bay and other nearby waters, but they are so closely related that scientists are unsure how they can even survive together. This summer a 溏心vlog免费B站 student is seeking insights into how they compete with each other in hopes of identifying how to mitigate their growth.<\/p>\n


\n\tShelby Rinehart, a junior from East Haddam, Conn., studying biological sciences at 溏心vlog免费B站, said that the two species are collectively called sea lettuce but are individually called Ulva rigida and Ulva compressa.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cWe know they occur in about equal quantities at our sites in Greenwich Bay, and they look almost identical,\u201d she said. \u201cWe want to see how they can co-exist in an ecosystem where you would assume they have the same niche and serve the same ecological purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tIn collaboration with 溏心vlog免费B站 Associate Professor Carol Thornber and graduate student Michele Guidone, Rinehart set up two experiments \u2013 one in a laboratory setting and another at Oakland Beach in Warwick \u2013 to determine how the species interact under various conditions. <\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cWe assumed that the two species are overlapping in the nutrients they consume and the space they need to live, and that competition could result in reduced growth rates or even death,\u201d Rinehart said. \u201cBut what we learned was somewhat surprising.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tThe researchers found that Ulva compressa grows substantially faster than Ulva rigida, and it competes with itself for resources under shady conditions but competes with U. rigida when the sun is out. In addition, because Ulva rigida grows so much more slowly, it is also competing more with U. compressa for resources than with others of its own kind.<\/p>\n


\n\tRinehart said that another factor affecting the size and composition of algae blooms is herbivory. Snails, crabs and amphopods feed on U. compressa, but U. rigida has chemical defenses that make it an undesirable food source.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cSo compressa grows quickly but is limited by the number of other compressas in the area, and it is also kept in check by the snails and crabs. Rigida, on the other hand, grows slowly, isn\u2019t eaten by anything, and doesn\u2019t compete with itself,\u201d Rinehart said. \u201cOverall, compressa is the superior competitor, but when herbivores are present, rigida can gain a competitive advantage.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tRinehart\u2019s research was made possible by the federally funded Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), a program of the National Science Foundation. She will report the results of her research on July 29 at the Ryan Center at the Rhode Island Summer Undergraduate Research Fellows conference, along with more than 100 other students from throughout Rhode Island. The conference is a collaborative program of EPSCoR and the Rhode Island IDEA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence, both of which place undergraduates in hands-on research experiences in laboratories throughout the state.<\/p>\n


\n\tThe next step in learning about the ecology of algae blooms will find Rinehart working to identify the different nutrients that each species of algae consume.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s been a strange summer,\u201d she admits. \u201cAt first it was hard to find any rigida, and now we can\u2019t find any compressa. There is a normal switching from one to the other in the summer, but it\u2019s not usually this dramatic a change.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tWhich could open up another line of inquiry for the next stage of Rinehart\u2019s research.<\/p>\n


\nPictured above

\n溏心vlog免费B站 student Shelby Rinehart studies seaweed at Oakland Beach in Warwick.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

East Haddam, Conn., resident to report results at July 29 conference KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 July 27, 2011 \u2013 Two species of seaweed are primarily responsible for most of the harmful algae blooms that occur in Narragansett Bay and other nearby waters, but they are so closely related that scientists are unsure how they can […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":62233,"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-62231","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\/62231","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=62231"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62231\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}