University of Rhode Island

About: University of Rhode Island is a education organization based out in Kingston, Rhode Island, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Bay. The organization has 11464 authors who have published 22770 publications receiving 841066 citations. The organization is also known as: URI & Rhode Island College of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts.

The Gulf Stream—Barrier or Blender?

Abstract: The Gulf Stream ’60 hydrographic survey has been used to examine the distribution of water properties across the Gulf Stream as a function of potential density. This survey covered a half million square miles of Slope, Gulf Stream and Sargasso Sea Waters in the western North Atlantic. Quantities plotted as a function of density are acceleration potential, potential temperature, desso1ved oxygen and potential vorticity. The transition from Sargasso Sea Water to Slope Water in the upper thermocline (σ0<27.1) is sharp and coincides closely with the dynamical boundary of the Gulf Stream, defined by the gradient of acceleration potential. This indicates that water mass exchanges across the Gulf Stream-Slope Water front are limited at these levels. Below the 27.1 Σ0 surface, the gradient of acceleration potential still reveals the position of the Stream, but there is no coincident water man boundary. This and the uniformity of potential vorticity across the Stream suggest that the deep property fields ...

Evidence-Based Practice at a Crossroads The Timely Emergence of Common Elements and Common Factors

Abstract: Social work is increasingly embracing evidence-based practice (EBP) as a decision-making process that incorporates the best available evidence about effective treatments given client values and pre...

Use of optical scattering to discriminate particle types in coastal waters

Abstract: The particulate scattering characteristics of coastal waters were examined at nine locations around the United States, including near-shore sites in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The scattering measurements were used in conjunction with inversion models to estimate particle size distributions and bulk refractive indices of the suspended particles. The relationships between various scattering properties and chlorophyll concentration were also investigated and compared with previous relationships described for case I waters. Although the general patterns of scattering and particle characteristics in coastal waters were fairly consistent, fine-scale variability within the water column was substantial. Combining optical measurements with inversion techniques provided a more informative view of the environment and a better understanding of the nature of particle populations in the coastal ocean.

From individuals to ecosystem function: toward an integration of evolutionary and ecosystem ecology

Abstract: An important goal in ecology is developing general theory on how the species composition of ecosystems is related to ecosystem properties and functions. Progress on this front is limited partly because of the need to identify mechanisms controlling functions that are common to a wide range of ecosystem types. We propose that one general mechanism, rooted in the evolutionary ecology of all species, is adaptive foraging behavior in response to predation risk. To support our claim, we present two kinds of empirical evidence from plant-based and detritus-based food chains of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. The first kind comes from experiments that explicitly trace how adaptive foraging influences ecosystem properties and functions. The second kind comes from a synthesis of studies that individually examine complementary components of particular ecosystems that together provide an integrated perspective on the link between adaptive foraging and ecosystem function. We show that the indirect effects of predators on plant diversity, plant productivity, nutrient cycling, trophic transfer efficiencies, and energy flux caused by consumer foraging shifts in response to risk are qualitatively different from effects caused by reductions in prey density due to direct predation. We argue that a perspective of ecosystem function that considers effects of consumer behavior in response to predation risk will broaden our capacity to explain the range of outcomes and contingencies in trophic control of ecosystems. This perspective also provides an operational way to integrate evolutionary and ecosystem ecology, which is an important challenge in ecology.