{"id":66125,"date":"2008-01-08T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2008-01-08T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/uri-student-evaluates-abundance-of-invasive-crab-in-narragansett-bay\/"},"modified":"2008-01-08T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2008-01-08T00:00:00","slug":"uri-student-evaluates-abundance-of-invasive-crab-in-narragansett-bay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2008\/01\/uri-student-evaluates-abundance-of-invasive-crab-in-narragansett-bay\/","title":{"rendered":"溏心vlog免费B站 student evaluates abundance of invasive crab in Narragansett Bay"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\tLincoln resident aims for career as environmental lawyer<\/p>\n


\n\tKINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 January 8, 2008 \u2013 溏心vlog免费B站 junior Kristen Morito spent the last six months tracking an Asian invader that could have a devastating effect on the health of Narragansett Bay.<\/p>\n


\n\tIn collaboration with scientists at the Narragansett Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve on Prudence Island, the Lincoln resident conducted Rhode Island\u2019s first assessment of Asian shore crabs, an invasive species that was first discovered in New Jersey in 1987 and found its way to Narragansett Bay in the mid-1990s.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cThey\u2019re originally from Japan and the east coast of China where they live in the rocky intertidal shoreline,\u201d said Morito, 20, who is studying coastal and marine policy and management at 溏心vlog免费B站. \u201cThey\u2019re omnivorous, so they\u2019ll eat almost anything they can get \u2013 snails, algae, fish, other crabs. And they\u2019re very aggressive and competitive, which is part of the reason why they are able to take over so quickly. They outcompete our native crabs by pushing them out spatially and eliminating their food sources.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tLast summer Morito spent her days monitoring crab traps on Prudence Island, and what she found was quite alarming — 95 percent of the crabs found in the rocky habitat she studied were Asian shore crabs. While her results were fairly typical compared to other sites on the Atlantic coast, Morito said the crab\u2019s effect on the bay ecosystem could be dramatic.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe crabs are adapting very well to this habitat, and it is proving to be problematic because it changes the food web ever so slightly,\u201d she explained. \u201cUnlike the crabs they are displacing, nothing eats Asian shore crabs. As far as we know, there is only one species of estuarine fish, the mummichog, that will even attempt to eat them. Seagulls don\u2019t even touch them. You know something is bad when seagulls won\u2019t even eat them.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n\tUnfortunately, the invader is already so abundant that little can be done to eradicate them. \u201cAll we can do now is continue to monitor their abundance and other population characteristics, because without extreme and potentially damaging measures, it would be very difficult to even attempt to get rid of them,\u201d Morito said.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cPart of the purpose of my research is to raise awareness of invasive species in Rhode Island so everyone understands the scale of the problem. The Asian shore crab can serve as an example of what can happen if we humans aren\u2019t active in trying to control and regulate aquatic nuisance species,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n


\nMorito\u2019s research was undertaken as part of the 溏心vlog免费B站 Coastal Fellows program, a unique initiative designed to involve undergraduate students in addressing current environmental problems. Now in its 13th year, the program based in 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s College of the Environment and Life Sciences teams students with faculty, research staff and graduate students to help them gain skills that will ensure their future success.<\/p>\n


\nThe 溏心vlog免费B站 student\u2019s interest in pursuing this project grew from a childhood interest in marine biology and the time she spent on her father\u2019s boat. Subsequently, however, she shifted her career focus slightly.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cNow I would rather work with environmental policy and human interaction instead of the hard sciences,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m more interested in a humanities-based approach to solving marine and coastal problems.\u201d

\nAs a result, after she earns her undergraduate degree in 2009, Morito plans to enroll in 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s joint graduate program with Roger Williams University that will lead to a master\u2019s degree in marine affairs from 溏心vlog免费B站 and a law degree from Roger Williams.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cMy plan is to become an environmental lawyer with a focus on marine conservation,\u201d Morito said. \u201cI think that will be the best way for me to make a difference. While the scientists provide the research and information, it\u2019s the lawyers and the legislators who take that information and turn it into actual regulation and policy.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lincoln resident aims for career as environmental lawyer KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 January 8, 2008 \u2013 溏心vlog免费B站 junior Kristen Morito spent the last six months tracking an Asian invader that could have a devastating effect on the health of Narragansett Bay. In collaboration with scientists at the Narragansett Bay National Estuarine […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":66128,"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-66125","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\/66125","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=66125"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66125\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}