KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 September 8, 2021 \u2013 Even though the rare saltmarsh sparrow is expected to go extinct by 2050 due to rising sea levels flooding its nesting habitat, 溏心vlog免费B站 junior Jessica Szpila is committed to doing what she can to learn about the birds in hopes of discovering something about them that might delay their disappearance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Szpila, 26, a native of Tiverton<\/strong> who lives in Providence <\/strong>with her husband, stepdaughter and young son, spent the summer collaborating on the Saltmarsh Sparrow Research Initiative at Jacob\u2019s Point in Warren, led by amateur ornithologists Steven Reinert and Deirdre Robinson. Together, they are documenting the nesting success of the sparrows at the marsh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOur goal is to collect as much data as we can and get as deep an understanding of this bird as possible,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s a small endangered songbird that only lives on the East Coast, and its population is decreasing at about 9 percent annually.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n She spent most days looking for nests, monitoring the eggs to see if they hatch, banding the adult birds and nestlings, assessing the vegetation where they build their nests, and documenting if the chicks survive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\u2019re studying their nesting ecology,\u201d Szpila said. \u201cMainly, we\u2019re looking at the variables to nesting success or failure in the marsh.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Because so many chicks die in their nests during high tides, it can be an emotionally challenging job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI definitely learned that working with an endangered species is intense,\u201d she said. \u201cIn some ways, you have to have a strong heart to be able to cope with seeing a lot of death and sadness, and understanding that this species is likely to still go extinct despite our work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou also have to be strong to want to put in all this work,\u201d Szpila added. \u201cMy mentors are inspiring, they care so much about this species, and they\u2019re doing everything they can to help the birds in any way they can. I\u2019ve fed off of that. Being in that environment has lifted me up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite the challenges, she has enjoyed her first field research experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBeing on the salt marsh every morning was quite beautiful,\u201d Szpila said. \u201cAnd there were lots of other beautiful birds out there. It was an amazing opportunity to learn to collect large bodies of data in the field and analyze them at home on the computer. I learned so much about working with a small team on a big project, which meant that I had a lot more responsibility than ever before.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Szpila\u2019s research was 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 25th 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\n\n\n As she completes her Coastal Fellows research project this fall, Szpila is already looking ahead to next year, when she will pursue a senior thesis project on the saltmarsh sparrows and whether the females choose a nesting location higher in the marsh after seeing their first nest become flooded. Eventually she plans to earn a doctorate to continue studying birds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI really enjoy teaching — I\u2019ve done a lot of tutoring — so I\u2019d like to keep doing that,\u201d she said of her career plans. \u201cAnd I want to stay in academia because I\u2019d have a lot of access for continuing research in the field.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 September 8, 2021 \u2013 Even though the rare saltmarsh sparrow is expected to go extinct by 2050 due to rising sea levels flooding its nesting habitat, 溏心vlog免费B站 junior Jessica Szpila is committed to doing what she can to learn about the birds in hopes of discovering something about them […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":77326,"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-77325","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\/77325","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\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77325"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77325\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77575,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77325\/revisions\/77575"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}