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Division Of Research And Economic Development Monthly Report For January 2018, Uri Division Of Research And Economic Development

Reports (Research and Economic Development)

The monthly reports include statistics for project proposals and awards received by individual academic and administrative departments at the University of Rhode Island.

Division Of Research And Economic Development Monthly Report For March 2018, Uri Division Of Research And Economic Development

Reports (Research and Economic Development)

The monthly reports include statistics for project proposals and awards received by individual academic and administrative departments at the University of Rhode Island.

Division Of Research And Economic Development Monthly Report For July 2018, Uri Division Of Research And Economic Development

Reports (Research and Economic Development)

The monthly reports include statistics for project proposals and awards received by individual academic and administrative departments at the University of Rhode Island.

Division Of Research And Economic Development Monthly Report For October 2018, Uri Division Of Research And Economic Development

Reports (Research and Economic Development)

The monthly reports include statistics for project proposals and awards received by individual academic and administrative departments at the University of Rhode Island.

Division Of Research And Economic Development Monthly Report For September 2018, Uri Division Of Research And Economic Development

Reports (Research and Economic Development)

The monthly reports include statistics for project proposals and awards received by individual academic and administrative departments at the University of Rhode Island.

Division Of Research And Economic Development Monthly Report For April 2018, Uri Division Of Research And Economic Development

Reports (Research and Economic Development)

The monthly reports include statistics for project proposals and awards received by individual academic and administrative departments at the University of Rhode Island.

Selling Anthropocene Space: Situated Adventures In Sustainable Tourism, Amelia Moore

Marine Affairs Faculty Publications

The Anthropocene is a proposed technical term for a new geological timeframe, but it is also a conceptual tool with the potential to redefine the stakes of contemporary environmental politics. One facet that is often overlooked is that the Anthropocene is a concept with commercial potential, even if the term itself has not been widely adopted. This article presents an investigation of the commercial potential of the Anthropocene idea through the lens of self-described sustainable tourism ventures in The Bahamas. These examples demonstrate some of the ways in which Anthropocene imaginaries participate in the recreation, redesign, and rebranding of specific …

Momentum: Research & Innovation For Spring 2018, University Of Rhode Island

Publications (Research and Economic Development)

The Spring 2018 issue of Momentum: Research & Innovation, a periodical focused on research at the University of Rhode Island.

Momentum: Research & Innovation For Fall 2018, University Of Rhode Island

Publications (Research and Economic Development)

The Fall 2018 issue of Momentum: Research & Innovation, a periodical focused on research at the University of Rhode Island.

Spatial Ecology Of Carcharias Taurus In The Northwestern Mid-Atlantic Coastal Ocean, D. E. Haulsee, M. W. Breece, L. M. Brown, Bradley M. Wetherbee, D. A. Fox, M. J. Oliver

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

The sand tiger shark Carcharias taurus is a highly migratory coastal species with declining populations worldwide. This species exhibits many behaviors that make coastal sharks difficult to manage, including aggregatory behavior, sexual segregation, and large-scale migrations through shallow coastal waters with many opportunities for human interactions. Sand tigers from the Western North Atlantic subpopulation are known to seasonally inhabit Delaware Bay and surrounding coastal waters. This region has been recommended as a habitat area of particular concern for the Western North Atlantic sand tiger population, and increased understanding of their movements and habitat requirements will facilitate management efforts. We developed …

Comparing Fishers' And Scientists' Estimates Of Size-At-Maturity And Maximum Body Size As Indicators Of Overfishing, Elizabeth Layli Mclean, Graham E. Forrester

Natural Resources Science Faculty Publications

We tested whether fishers’ local ecological knowledge (LEK) of two fish life-history parameters, size at maturity (SAM) at maximum body size (MS), was comparable to scientific estimates (SEK) of the same parameters, and whether LEK influenced fishers’ perceptions of sustainability. Local ecological knowledge was documented for 82 fishers from a small-scale fishery in Samaná Bay, Dominican Republic, whereas SEK was compiled from the scientific literature. Size at maturity estimates derived from LEK and SEK overlapped for most of the 15 commonly harvested species (10 of 15). In contrast, fishers’ maximum size estimates were usually lower than (eight species), or overlapped …

Oceans Of Plastic: A Research Agenda To Propel Policy Development, Elizabeth Mendenhall

Marine Affairs Faculty Publications

Although the phenomenon of marine plastic debris is now widely recognized as a problem for the international community, significant gaps in understanding still inhibit the creation and implementation of effective policy responses. This paper reviews the state of scientific knowledge about the causes and consequences of marine plastic debris, including its sources, pathways, composition, location, and impacts on ecosystems and human activities. Much remains unknown about the large scale impacts of plastic debris on ecosystem functions and human health, among other information gaps. Additional scientific research about the nature, extent, and harms of marine plastic debris could increase the political …

Surfo Technical Report No. 18-01, Surfo

SURFO Technical Reports

The 2018 technical reports written by undergraduate students participating in the SURFO (Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships in Oceanography) Program while at the University of Rhode Island.

Signals Of Forest Degradation In The Demography Of Common Asian Amphibians, Nancy E. Karraker, Samantha Fischer, Archalee Aowphol, Jennifer Sheridan, Sinlan Poo

Natural Resources Science Faculty Publications

Background: Lowland areas in tropical East and Southeast Asia have a long history of conversion from forestland to agricultural land, with many remaining forests being chronically degraded by wood cutting, livestock grazing, and burning. Wetland-breeding amphibians that have evolved in lowland forests in the region have adjusted to changes in habitat composition caused by humans’ activities, and populations continue to persist. However, we have little understanding of the impacts of forest disturbance on these species beyond assessments of abundance and distribution, and species considered to be common and widespread have been largely neglected.

Methods: We examined body condition …

Adaptive Management Of Animal Populations With Significant Unknowns And Uncertainties: A Case Study, Brian D. Gerber, William L. Kendall

Natural Resources Science Faculty Publications

Conservation and management decision making in natural resources is challenging due to numerous uncertainties and unknowns, especially relating to understanding system dynamics. Adaptive resource management (ARM) is a formal process to making logical and transparent recurrent decisions when there are uncertainties about system dynamics. Despite wide recognition and calls for implementing adaptive natural resource management, applications remain limited. More common is a reactive approach to decision making, which ignores future system dynamics. This contrasts with ARM, which anticipates future dynamics of ecological process and management actions using a model‐based framework. Practitioners may be reluctant to adopt ARM because of the …

There Is No 'Obstetrical Dilemma': Towards A Braver Medicine With Fewer Childbirth Interventions, Holly M. Dunsworth

Sociology and Anthropology Faculty Publications

Humans give birth to big-brained babies through a bony birth canal that metamorphosed during the evolution of bipedalism; they have a tighter fit at birth between baby and bony birth canal than do our closest relatives the chimpanzees; and they are incapable of grasping onto caregivers as early as infant chimpanzees develop the skill. Since the mid-20th century, these observations and more have been linked together into the "obstetrical dilemma" (OD): human babies are helpless because they are born early to escape before they outgrow the mother's pelvis, the expansion of which is prevented by natural selection for bipedalism. The …

These Aren’T The Loci You’Re Looking For: Principles Of Effective Snp Filtering For Molecular Ecologists, Shannon J. O'Leary, Jonathan B. Puritz, Stuar C. Willis, Christopher M. Hollenbeck, David S. Portnoy

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Sequencing reduced‐representation libraries of restriction site‐associated DNA (RADseq) to identify single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) is quickly becoming a standard methodology for molecular ecologists. Because of the scale of RADseq data sets, putative loci cannot be assessed individually, making the process of filtering noise and correctly identifying biologically meaningful signal more difficult. Artefacts introduced during library preparation and/or bioinformatic processing of SNP data can create patterns that are incorrectly interpreted as indicative of population structure or natural selection. Therefore, it is crucial to carefully consider types of errors that may be introduced during laboratory work and data processing, and how to …

Predator-Driven Natural Selection On Risk-Taking Behavior In Anole Lizards, Oriol Lapiedra, Thomas W. Schoener, Manuel Leal, Jonathan B. Losos, Jason J. Kolbe

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Biologists have long debated the role of behavior in evolution, yet understanding of its role as a driver of adaptation is hampered by the scarcity of experimental studies of natural selection on behavior in nature. After showing that individual Anolis sagrei lizards vary consistently in risk-taking behaviors, we experimentally established populations on eight small islands either with or without Leiocephalus carinatus, a major ground predator. We found that selection predictably favors different risk-taking behaviors under different treatments: Exploratory behavior is favored in the absence of predators, whereas avoidance of the ground is favored in their presence. On predator islands, …

Aboard Gso: A Newsletter For Alumni And Friends Of The University Of Rhode Island’S Graduate School Of Oceanography For Winter 2018, Uri Graduate School Of Oceanography

Graduate School of Oceanography Publications

The Winter 2018 issue of Aboard GSO: A Newsletter for Alumni and Friends of the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography, a periodical about GSO events, faculty research and essays by alumni.

Dna Base Sequence Effects On Bulky Lesion-Induced Conformational Heterogeneity During Dna Replication, Ang Cai, Katie A. Wilson, Satyakam Patnaik, Stacey D. Wetmore, Bongsup P. Cho

Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences Faculty Publications

4-Aminobiphenyl (ABP) and its structure analog 2-aminofluorene (AF) are well-known carcinogens. In the present work, an unusual sequence effect in the 5′-CTTCTG₁G₂TCCTCATTC-3′ DNA duplex is reported for ABP- and AF-modified G. Specifically, the ABP modification at G₁ resulted in a mixture of 67% major groove B-type (B) and 33% stacked (S) conformers, while at the ABP modification at G₂ exclusively resulted in the B-conformer. The AF modification at G₁ and G₂ lead to 25%:75% and 83%:17% B:S population ratios, respectively. These differences in preferred conformation are due to an interplay between stabilizing …

T Cell Epitope Engineering: An Avian H7n9 Influenza Vaccine Strategy For Pandemic Preparedness And Response, Leonard Moise, Bethany M. Biron, Christine M. Boyle, Nese Kurt Yilmaz, Hyesun Jang, Celia Schiffer, Ted M. Ross, William D. Martin, Anne S. De Groot

Cell and Molecular Biology Faculty Publications

The delayed availability of vaccine during the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic created a sense of urgency to better prepare for the next influenza pandemic. Advancements in manufacturing technology, speed and capacity have been achieved but vaccine effectiveness remains a significant challenge. Here, we describe a novel vaccine design strategy called immune engineering in the context of H7N9 influenza vaccine development. The approach combines immunoinformatic and structure modeling methods to promote protective antibody responses against H7N9 hemagglutinin (HA) by engineering whole antigens to carry seasonal influenza HA memory CD4⁺ T cell epitopes – without perturbing native antigen structure – by …

University Manual 2017-2018, Uri Faculty Senate

University Manual Archive

No abstract provided.

Urinformed Fall 2018, Urinformed

URInformed: The URI Employees' Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Urinformed Summer 2018, Urinformed

URInformed: The URI Employees' Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Regulating Animals With Gene Drive Systems: Lessons From The Regulatory Assessment Of A Genetically Engineered Mosquito, Zahra Meghani, Jennifer Kuzma

Philosophy Faculty Publications

For the purposes of conservation or suppression of species, gene drive technology has significant potential. Theoretically speaking, with the release of even relatively few animals with gene drive systems in an ecosystem, beneficial or harmful genes could be introduced into the entire wild-type population of that species. Given the profound impact that gene drives could have on species and ecosystems, their use is a highly contentious issue. Communities and groups have differing beliefs about nature and its conservation or preservation, as well as concerns about the ecological safety of the eradication, replacement or enhancement of particular species of animals by …

Comparative Assessment Of Seaport Vulnerabilities To Climate Change: Pilot Study For North Atlantic Medium And High-Use Seaports, R. Duncan Mcintosh, Austin Becker, Elizabeth Layli Mclean

Marine Affairs Data Sets

The Third U.S. National Climate Assessment indicates that seaport infrastructure is already being damaged by sea level rise, heavy downpours, and extreme heat, and that these damages are expected to continue with continued climate change.

To facilitate far-sighted planning for a climate-resilient Marine Transportation System (MTS) the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), in collaboration with University of Rhode Island researchers in the Department of Marine Affairs, are piloting a climate-vulnerability indexing method that is driven by data and informed by expert knowledge.

This research will contribute to a better understanding of the regional distribution of climate-vulnerability across North …

Elevated Potential For Intraspecific Competition In Territorial Carnivores Occupying Fragmented Landscapes, Pranav Chanchani, Brian D. Gerber, Barry R. Noon

Natural Resources Science Faculty Publications

The distribution of mammals is determined by a suite of endogenous and exogenous factors. In territorial, polygynous species like tigers (Panthera tigris), males often center their space-use around female territories, repelling competitors from these areas. Competition among males for females leads to increased mortality of both sexes and infanticide of unrelated cubs, which can lead to population declines. We hypothesized that increased territorial overlap among adult male tigers and elevated levels of inter and intra-sex competition would be manifest in populations with male-biased adult sex ratios (ASR). We also assessed whether inter-sex variation in adult survival or degree …

Living In The Big City: Preference For Broad Substrates Results In Niche Expansion For Urban Anolis Lizards, Andrew C. Battles, Malcolm Moniz, Jason J. Kolbe

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Persistence of animals in urban habitats, a stark environmental contrast to natural habitats, can be explained through evaluating the mechanisms behind organism-habitat interactions. One of the most notable effects of urbanization is the change in structural habitat; vegetation is removed and modified, favoring large trees and adding artificial structures in cities, which may alter how organismal preferences for aspects of the habitat are realized. We evaluated the mechanisms by which structural habitat changes associated with urbanization alter the available vegetation and substrates on which two species of Anolis lizards perch in urban and natural forest sites in Miami, FL. We …

Miami Heat: Urban Heat Islands Influence The Thermal Suitability Of Habitats For Ectotherms, Andrew C. Battles, Jason J. Kolbe

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

The urban heat island effect, where urban areas exhibit higher temperatures than less‐developed suburban and natural habitats, occurs in cities across the globe and is well understood from a physical perspective and at broad spatial scales. However, very little is known about how thermal variation caused by urbanization influences the ability of organisms to live in cities. Ectotherms are sensitive to environmental changes that affect thermal conditions, and therefore, increased urban temperatures may pose significant challenges to thermoregulation and alter temperature‐dependent activity. To evaluate whether these changes to the thermal environment affect the persistence and dispersal of ectothermic species in …

Bloom-Forming Macroalgae (Ulva Spp.) Inhibit The Growth Of Co-Occurring Macroalgae And Decrease Eastern Oyster Larval Survival, Lindsay A. Green-Gavrielidis, Fiona Mackechnie, Carol S. Thornber, Marta Gomez-Chiarri

Natural Resources Science Faculty Publications

Macroalgal blooms have increased in frequency worldwide due to anthropogenic activities. Algal blooms can disrupt recreational activities, interfere with fisheries, and deplete oxygen during decomposition. Narragansett Bay has experienced macroalgal blooms dominated by blade-forming macroalgae of the genus Ulva for over a century. Evidence from other systems has suggested that Ulva can negatively impact other organisms. The first objective of this study was to determine whether bloom-forming U. compressa and U. rigida inhibit the growth of co-occurring macroalgae—Gracilaria vermiculophylla, Cystoclonium purpureum, and Chondrus crispus—during co-culture via laboratory based assays. We found that U. compressa and U. …