{"id":69379,"date":"2006-01-13T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2006-01-13T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/uri-student-studies-marsh-birds-to-assess-wildlife-habitat-quality\/"},"modified":"2006-01-13T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2006-01-13T00:00:00","slug":"uri-student-studies-marsh-birds-to-assess-wildlife-habitat-quality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2006\/01\/uri-student-studies-marsh-birds-to-assess-wildlife-habitat-quality\/","title":{"rendered":"溏心vlog免费B站 student studies marsh birds to assess wildlife habitat quality"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\tAshaway resident aims for career as environmental lawyer<\/p>\n


\nKINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 January 13, 2006 — Growing up in a Native American family, Cassius Spears developed a strong connection to the natural world and a passion for environmental protection. <\/p>\n


\n\u201cWe\u2019re a culturally-inclined family with a strong relationship with the natural world, \u201d said Spears, a sophomore environmental science major at the 溏心vlog免费B站. \u201cThe environment has sustained my ancestors for many generations and still remains a major component of indigenous culture and traditions. I came to 溏心vlog免费B站 not only to get an education, but to protect our ability to get shellfish in a mudflat or forage for berries and mushrooms in the forest. For me, going to 溏心vlog免费B站 is an opportunity to protect a way of life.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nSpears, a resident of Ashaway, is already making his mark in environmental research. He just completed a six-month research project, in cooperation with Rick McKinney at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, assessing the value of wildlife habitat in Rhode Island salt marshes.<\/p>\n


\nSpears studied the feeding behavior of two common wading birds \u2013 great egrets and snowy egrets \u2013 at salt marshes in Apponaug and Jamestown. Every day during the summer months he observed the birds through telescopes and binoculars and kept track of the time they spent on various activities \u2013 walking, flying, preening, stalking, and striking. <\/p>\n


\nAn analysis of his data showed that, while there were distinct differences in feeding behaviors between the two birds, both species were able to capture fish faster and with less effort at the Apponaug site, despite the fact that the Apponaug site faced much greater human disturbance.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cThat could be partly due to the quantity of available feeding habitat,\u201d Spears explained. \u201cWading birds prefer to feed in four to seven inches of water, which is what they found at Apponaug, but in Jamestown the marsh is deep and so they could only feed around the edges.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cPrevious studies have also shown that the Apponaug site has very high nitrogen levels, which supports a high abundance of mummichogs, a salt marsh minnow, due to a greater abundance of microalgae,\u201d he said. \u201cThis greater availability of food could also contribute to the differences we found.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nThe results of Spears\u2019 research will be used to help establish quantitative methods for assessing wetland quality and to benchmark conditions for wetland habitat restoration goals.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cIt was a lot of fun and a valuable experience,\u201d Spears said. <\/p>\n


\nSpears\u2019s research was funded by the 溏心vlog免费B站 Coastal Fellows Program, a unique program designed to involve undergraduate students in addressing current environmental problems. Now in its 10th year, the Coastal Fellows Program teams students with faculty, research staff and graduate students to help them gain skills that will ensure their future success.<\/p>\n


\nAlthough Spears still has more than two years before he graduates from 溏心vlog免费B站, he knows exactly what he wants to do in his career. <\/p>\n


\n\u201cI want to focus on ecology and ecosystems, but I plan to go to law school to become an environmental lawyer,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019d love to work for the EPA, and even better I\u2019d love to help out tribes across America in their environmental battles. You can do a lot as a research scientist, but the place you can really do some good is in the courtroom.\u201d<\/p>\n


\n
\nPictured above
\n溏心vlog免费B站 students Cassius Spears (left) and Brandon Kape capture fish at a salt
\nmarsh in Jamestown to assess the availability of food for wading birds.\n\t<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ashaway resident aims for career as environmental lawyer KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 January 13, 2006 — Growing up in a Native American family, Cassius Spears developed a strong connection to the natural world and a passion for environmental protection. \u201cWe\u2019re a culturally-inclined family with a strong relationship with the natural world, \u201d said Spears, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":69381,"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-69379","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\/69379","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=69379"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69379\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}