Browsing Category "RIDEM"
URI Tracks Mako Sharks

URI Tracks Mako Sharks

  First published in the Providence Journal 9/6/20. Story and photos copyright Hugh Markey. URI Professor Brad Wetherbee seems to think his favorite shark may need a better press agent. “Makos are like a high-performance car, like a Lamborghini. They’re fast, fast, fast,” he says, lightly pounding the rail of the boat for emphasis. “Certainly, these makos are impressive animals. They get to be 13 feet long and 1400 pounds. […]

Read more
If you build it, will they come? R.I.’s first artificial reef

If you build it, will they come? R.I.’s first artificial reef

It’s been done using decommissioned ships, oil rigs, and even subway cars. Now it’s being done for the first time in Rhode Island. The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and RI DEM have teamed up to create the state’s first artificial reef, situated off Sabin Point in Providence. TNC’s communications manager Tim Mooney says the hope is that adding complex structure to the floor of Narragansett Bay will improve recreational fishing and […]

Read more
DEM’s Canada Goose Roundup

DEM’s Canada Goose Roundup

  It’s a warm June morning as a flotilla of five kayakers makes its way to a pond in Tiverton. They fan out across the diameter and quietly approach a small island. As they approach, a flock of Canada geese break off from their breakfast of sea grass and nervously begin to stir. The guardians stretch their long necks up, trying to assess the situation, making low sounds to each […]

Read more
Using Accelerometers to Track Shark Stress

Using Accelerometers to Track Shark Stress

  If we catch and release a shark, does that mean it lives happily ever after? Find out when you read my post and watch a very cool film by visiting Untamed Science. And don’t forget to follow me on Facebook at www.facebook.com/scienceandnatureforapie and on Twitter at @HughMarkey1  

Read more
Never Underestimate a Seaweed

Never Underestimate a Seaweed

Breathe in deeply. Hold it. Aaannd release. Feel better? Thank a seaweed. Yes, a seaweed, because about half of all our oxygen comes from that green or red stuff that so often annoys beach goers in the summertime. Dr. Lindsay Green-Gavrielidis of URI’s Department of Natural Resources sung the praises of the ignominious seaweed in a recent lecture at the Rhode Island Natural History Survey (RINHS). It turns out that […]

Read more
The Secret Life of Bee (Keepers)

The Secret Life of Bee (Keepers)

Childhood obsessions are pretty common. Some children love a particular line of dolls, trading cards, or teddy bears. As they grow, the obsessions are set aside, sometimes to literally gather dust. In other cases, though, the obsessions simply morph into something new. “When I was little, it was a unicorn obsession, and as I grew older it went from unicorns to something legitimate like bees.” At 26, Azure Giroux’s childhood […]

Read more
BioBlitz:  Counting All Creatures Great and Small

BioBlitz: Counting All Creatures Great and Small

Picture this: you’ve been dropped into the middle of 1000 acres of woodlands, fields, and water. Your job is to count everything. Not just the birds flying by. Not just the types of trees in the forest. Nope. Your task is to count every plant, insect, fungus, bat, snake, fish, clam, flower, in fact to count every species of every living thing that calls that region home. And you have […]

Read more
Burn it down to build it up: Controlled burns at Trustom

Burn it down to build it up: Controlled burns at Trustom

Trustom Pond has been scorched. The path that normally leads visitors to a lush meadow now leads them to a scar that blackens a third of the field. The smell of burnt grass and brush can be pungent, and the rectangle is almost offensive in contrast to the rest of the region. Yet the scar is not the result of vandals, nor even of a lightning strike. The burn at […]

Read more
PROTECTING PLOVERS: USFW calls for volunteers

PROTECTING PLOVERS: USFW calls for volunteers

How do you help a bird that seems bound and determined to put itself in harm’s way? The Piping Plover, a small bird that frequents South County beaches, has a habit of building its nests right on the sand. The same camouflage that makes its eggs remarkably difficult for predators to see also means they may be accidentally stepped on by beachgoers and their pets. Fortunately, US Fish and Wildlife […]

Read more
Moving Microscopes and Monkey Skulls: RI Natural History Survey Relocates
By     |    Jan 24, 2016
Posted in: Natural Science, RIDEM, RINHS, Roger Williams Park Zoo, Uncategorized     |    No Comments

Moving Microscopes and Monkey Skulls: RI Natural History Survey Relocates

Note: There is a photo gallery at the bottom of this story. Click once to see a thumbnail, then again to see a larger file. Moving out of somewhere you’ve lived for a long time is no one’s idea of fun. There are books, papers, and computers. Sorting through what to keep and what to throw out. Movers can help, but you need friends to pack things up, especially the […]

Read more