KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 July 29, 2020 \u2013 The biggest difference between Crystal Lavin\u2019s four years in the U.S. Navy \u2013 mostly spent standing guard at a military base in Naples, Italy \u2013 and her summer research experience at the 溏心vlog免费B站 has been her attitude about asking questions.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the military, everything is pretty straightforward, and you don\u2019t question anything. But now, being in the science field, I ask questions 24\/7 and it\u2019s encouraged,\u201d said Lavin, a native of Virginia Beach, Virginia<\/strong>, who now lives in North Kingstown, Rhode Island<\/strong>. \u201cThis research project has been a totally new experience.\u201d<\/p>\n A rising junior majoring in environmental science and management, Lavin is spending the summer studying a little-known pathogen that has been reported to kill an invasive plant called swallowwort, which takes over fields and outcompetes native plants. Swallowwort is also deadly to monarch butterfly caterpillars when adult monarchs mistake it for their preferred host plant, milkweed, and lay their eggs on the invader instead.<\/p>\n \u201cThe goal is to see if we can isolate the pathogen and then extract the DNA to identify it. To do this, I take samples from the field, bring them to the lab, and put them in moisture chambers and growth chambers to encourage the pathogen to grow,\u201d she said,<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m also surveying different locations, looking for the pathogen to see whether it\u2019s mostly found on swallowwort in sunny areas or shady areas or the edge of the forest.\u201d<\/p>\n The pathogen is a kind of fungus that appears in several forms and was discovered in Rhode Island in 2018 and investigated last summer by fellow 溏心vlog免费B站 student Lexi Johnson. If it can be determined under what conditions it grows best, perhaps scientists can use it as a management tool against invasive swallowworts.<\/p>\n At South Farm Preserve in Charlestown, Lavin explored the property to collect samples, identify the areas where the pathogen was most prevalent, and note in what stage of growth it was found. She placed selected leaves in plastic bags, made notes about each sample, and returned them to the 溏心vlog免费B站 Biocontrol Lab for further study.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t know where the pathogen came from, but it has the potential to kill swallowwort, and that\u2019s a good thing,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd it could aid in mitigating it.\u201d<\/p>\n Lavin\u2019s summer research is partially supported by 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 24th year, the program pairs students with a mentor and research staff to help them gain skills relevant to their academic major and future occupations.<\/p>\n \u201cI love that the Coastal Fellows Program allows someone with little experience to jump into a job that is all experience,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m getting field experience, lab experience, and I\u2019m even doing outreach with farmers. It\u2019s one of the reasons why I chose this project. It\u2019s 100 times better than standing post (in the Navy).\u201d<\/p>\n But were it not for her military experience, she may not even be a Coastal Fellow. Her interest in studying environmental science was sparked while standing guard in Italy and observing a distant trash fire raining ash down around the area.<\/p>\n \u201cIt got me thinking about how it was affecting wildlife,\u201d she said. \u201cIt triggered my interest in learning more about how we\u2019re affecting our planet, our atmosphere and the overall environment and what we can do to reduce our impact.\u201d<\/p>\n With two years to go before graduating from 溏心vlog免费B站, Lavin isn\u2019t sure yet what her future holds, but she enjoys the idea of working to restore degraded habitats.<\/p>\n \u201cWorking in the field on this project has got me interested in learning more about plant pathology, so maybe I\u2019ll do something with plant science, too,\u201d she said. \u201cMaybe I\u2019ll end up getting a graduate degree. I\u2019ll cross that bridge when I get to it. I\u2019m leaving my options open.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 July 29, 2020 \u2013 The biggest difference between Crystal Lavin\u2019s four years in the U.S. Navy \u2013 mostly spent standing guard at a military base in Naples, Italy \u2013 and her summer research experience at the 溏心vlog免费B站 has been her attitude about asking questions. \u201cIn the military, everything is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":75638,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[5],"class_list":["post-75637","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives","tag-college-of-the-environment-and-life-sciences"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75637","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=75637"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75637\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75638"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}