Category: Environment

2023-24, Ecology, Environment, Natural World

Modeling Marine Turtle Nesting Behavior

By: Kimberly Johnston, Class of 2026 Figure 1: A marine turtle Adult female marine turtles alternate between foraging and nesting phases, with periods of migration in between. Monitoring programs typically obtain data for only part of the nesting season due to a lack of financial support, remote beaches, or a large number of beaches to monitor. To accurately assess population trends, a model must be … Continue reading Modeling Marine Turtle Nesting Behavior

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2023-24, 2023-24, Ecology, Environment, Natural World, Year

Penguin Nesting Behavior: Effects of Tourism at Port Lockroy

By: Kimberly Johnston, Class of 2026 Figure 1:  Gentoo penguin with chicks at Port Lockroy, Antarctica. Antarctic tourism has raised concerns about the effects of human disturbance on gentoo penguins during their breeding season, which coincides with peak tourist activity. For example, the movement of zodiacs used to transport tourists ashore can disrupt the penguins’ normal routes and foraging areas. However, quantifying the effects of … Continue reading Penguin Nesting Behavior: Effects of Tourism at Port Lockroy

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2023-24, 2023-24, Ecology, Environment, Health and Medicine, Natural World, Uncategorized, Year

Modeling Debris Patterns in the Antarctic to Protect Biodiversity

Marie Collison, Class of ‘25 Image 1 Gentoo penguins in Antarctica Marine pollution is a prominent problem in environmental policy and study. Reports of pollution in organisms in the Antarctic are becoming increasingly common, likely due to increasing human activity, growing tourism, and an expanding krill fishing industry. However, the sources of these pollutants along the West Antarctic Peninsula are still poorly understood. There are … Continue reading Modeling Debris Patterns in the Antarctic to Protect Biodiversity

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Biology, Environment, General, Natural World

Exploring the Biodiversity Inhabiting Sponges of the Great Barrier Reef

Author: Marie Collison, Class of ‘25 Sponges are a diverse group of multicellular organisms that inhabit aquatic ecosystems all over the globe. Scientists estimate that there are over 9000 unique species of sponges. The vast diversity of sponges enables them to provide a diverse range of habitats for a variety of aquatic taxa. They provide structure to environments that otherwise have minimal variation in elevation. … Continue reading Exploring the Biodiversity Inhabiting Sponges of the Great Barrier Reef

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2022-23, Ecology, Environment, Evolution, Natural World, Year

21 Million Year Old Fossil Reveals Hominid Environment and Diet

Julia Chivu ’23 The Motroto site in Uganda has recently provided new insights on the evolution of the locomotor versatility, diet, and environment of early hominids. The site is estimated to be twenty-one million years old. Associate professor in the Department of Anthropology at Stony Brook University, Dr. James Rossi, is part of a large research team that has recently examined the fossil remains of … Continue reading 21 Million Year Old Fossil Reveals Hominid Environment and Diet

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2022-23, Environment, Natural World

Adélie Penguins Are at Risk of Extinction by Climate Change

Melanie Karniewich ’25 Climate change is becoming more alarming at an increasing rate across the globe, affecting humanity and other life. Associate professor of ecology and evolution Heather Lynch and other researchers at Stony Brook University traveled to visit Adélie penguin colonies in Penguin Point, Devil Island, Vortex Island, and Cockburn Island. Comparing the population sizes with the severity of climate change in that area, … Continue reading Adélie Penguins Are at Risk of Extinction by Climate Change

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2022-23, Environment, Natural World

Listen to Your Heart: The Risk of Spatial Environmental Factors on CVD-related and All-cause Mortality

Peter Gillespie ’25 Recent research from Dr. Paola Boffetta and his colleagues suggest that spatial and environmental factors around us can negatively affect our well-being. Dr. Boffetta and his team conducted a study that assesses how spatial environmental factors (SEF), or our proximity to both harmful or helpful environmental and social influences, affect both all-cause mortality and mortality due to cardiovascular disease (CVD).  The study … Continue reading Listen to Your Heart: The Risk of Spatial Environmental Factors on CVD-related and All-cause Mortality

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2021-22, Environment, Evolution, Natural World

Color Adaptation in the Brown Shrimp Crangon crangon

Zhifei Zeng ’23 Many animals have the ability to rapidly change color as a means to adjust to different environments, thermoregulate, and even communicate with other members of their species. This color adaptation is a complex subject, often related to environmental factors, animal behavior, visual perception, and cellular physiology. Specifically, for crustaceans living in intertidal systems where biological and environmental factors vary on multiple spatial … Continue reading Color Adaptation in the Brown Shrimp Crangon crangon

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Environment, Evolution

Freshwater Pond on Southampton Island Contains Traces of the Extinct Sadlermiut People

Joyce Chen ’23 The Sadlermiut were a past civilization that lived on Southampton Island in Nunavut, Canada. Accustomed to the harsh weather of Arctic Canada, the Sadlermiut were natural hunter-gatherers and fishermen. Recovery of past artifacts and skeletal remains suggested that the civilization occupied regions of Southampton Island ranging back to 1250 CE up until 1903, when they were wiped out by a pandemic introduced … Continue reading Freshwater Pond on Southampton Island Contains Traces of the Extinct Sadlermiut People

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Environment

Deforestation May Affect Worker Productivity in Rural Communities

Ayesha Azeem ’23 Trees are known for their cooling services through shade and evapotranspiration, the process by which water is transferred from land to the atmosphere through evaporation. Unfortunately, tropical deforestation has accelerated exponentially in the past century, leading to the elimination of these cooling services in low latitude countries. Without such cooling services, local temperatures can increase over a single season, which affects not … Continue reading Deforestation May Affect Worker Productivity in Rural Communities

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Environment

Understanding Algal Calcification May Help Climate Change

Panayiota Siskos ’23 Increased interest in quantifying marine ecosystems’ ability to trap carbon and offset it from the atmosphere has led to efforts for this process to be harnessed in global carbon offset schemes. Early studies to this end were focused on organic carbon, with an underlying belief that marine ecosystems were believed to only have photosynthesizing plants. In time, it was discovered that ecosystems … Continue reading Understanding Algal Calcification May Help Climate Change

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Environment

Discovery of Plant Fossils Beneath Greenland Ice Sheet Hints at Danger from Global Warming

Sooraj Shah ’24 The devastating impact of global warming on the human race is a frightening possibility, which may be more imminent than expected. Recent evidence suggests that the rising atmospheric carbon dioxide levels are not the only factor to blame, but that the surface of Earth itself may also be a contributing factor. A study conducted by Dr. Andrew Christ, professor in the department … Continue reading Discovery of Plant Fossils Beneath Greenland Ice Sheet Hints at Danger from Global Warming

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