{"id":65979,"date":"2007-11-13T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2007-11-13T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/uri-student-cruises-to-alaska-for-research-on-diatom-diversity\/"},"modified":"2007-11-13T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2007-11-13T00:00:00","slug":"uri-student-cruises-to-alaska-for-research-on-diatom-diversity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2007\/11\/uri-student-cruises-to-alaska-for-research-on-diatom-diversity\/","title":{"rendered":"溏心vlog免费B站 student cruises to Alaska for research on diatom diversity"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\tBaltimore native uses DNA fingerprinting to understand

\n implications of global warming<\/p>\n


\n\tKINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 November 13, 2007 \u2013 溏心vlog免费B站 senior Melissa Mercier has gone scuba diving off Honduras, San Salvador, Bonaire, Cozumel and many other tropical locations, but it was her time on a month-long research cruise off the coast of Alaska last summer that generated the most excitement.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cThe opportunity came up at the very last minute, and I was hesitant about going, but I\u2019m happy I went because it was an amazing experience,\u201d said the marine biology major from Baltimore, Md. \u201cYou can sit and listen in class, but when you\u2019re sitting on a boat talking with scientists from all over the country, you learn a lot more. It just sticks with you.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tMercier\u2019s research expedition to Alaska, and a related cruise to the Sargasso Sea she participated in during spring break last March, was part of a National Science Foundation-funded study of the diversity and distribution of diatoms, single celled organisms found abundantly in every water body on Earth.


\n\t\u201cWe\u2019re doing DNA fingerprinting of the diatoms to compare those we found in the Sargasso Sea with those in Narragansett Bay and those in Japan and Alaska and elsewhere,\u201d she explained. \u201cWe want to know how the same species may differ in different places.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tWorking in collaboration with 溏心vlog免费B站 Professors Tatiana Rynearson and Bethany Jenkins, Mercier and a team of graduate and undergraduate students are trying to learn whether diatoms differ due to changing environmental conditions, which may have implications for understanding the effects of global warming.<\/p>\n


\n\tMercier and the other researchers worked in shifts around the clock collecting water samples, filtering out the diatoms, and storing them at \u201380 degrees.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cI spent a lot of time isolating single diatoms under the microscope,\u201d she explained. \u201cIt\u2019s helpful to get a good look at exactly what you\u2019re working with so you have a better understanding of what you\u2019re doing. I saw a lot of species in Alaska that we didn\u2019t find in the Sargasso.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tDuring her down time on the cruise, Mercier played games and watched movies with the other student researchers. \u201cThey were a good group of people to hang out with,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n


\n\tShe was also impressed with the abundant wildlife she saw in the waters around Alaska, including porpoises, sea lions, bald eagles, giant starfish, and the first whales she has ever seen. \u201cAnd the scenery was amazing! The mountains were incredible and we saw beautiful sunsets,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n


\n\tBut it wasn\u2019t all fun. The research vessel was stuck in a three-day storm that forced the crew to shut down the ship due to the high seas. \u201cThe boat was really rocking and we got tossed around a lot trying to sleep,\u201d Mercier said. \u201cDuring those days we couldn\u2019t do any work, everything had to be tied down, and it was hard to eat or to maneuver around on the boat.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tAs the 溏心vlog免费B站 student enters her senior year, she is already looking to the future and planning for graduate school.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cI really like the genetic aspects of the research we\u2019re doing, and the genetic techniques I\u2019ve learned can be used with a lot of other organisms,\u201d Mercier said. \u201cWhatever I end up doing, I definitely want it to involve some kind of field research.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Baltimore native uses DNA fingerprinting to understand implications of global warming KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 November 13, 2007 \u2013 溏心vlog免费B站 senior Melissa Mercier has gone scuba diving off Honduras, San Salvador, Bonaire, Cozumel and many other tropical locations, but it was her time on a month-long research cruise off the coast of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":65982,"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-65979","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\/65979","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=65979"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65979\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65982"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}