Thorne Lab Happenings
New Publication: Microplastic abundance in gull nests in relation to urbanization
We are excited to announce a new publication in Marine Pollution Bulletin! Entitled: Microplastic abundance in gull nests in relation to urbanization: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0025326X21000928 Plastic pollution is an increasingly recognized...
Welcome Tziporah Feldman!
The Thorne Lab warmly welcomes its newest student member, Tziporah Feldman! Tziporah is joining us from University of Cincinnati, where she earned a B.S. in Biology in addition to a certificate in GIS and a minor in Math. Her current research interests include...
An epic start to our 2020 humpback whale field season!
The Thorne lab has been diligently searching the New York Bight for humpback whales since mid-May. After a few days of wishfully scanning the horizon, we finally had three epic survey days filled with humpback whales! We found our first whales very close to shore...
A deep dive into movement data from Southern Ocean albatross
We're very excited to have completed the first season of albatross research at Bird Island, a remote seabird and seal colony in the sub-Antarctic. Research scientist and seabirder extraordinaire Dr. Rachael Orben set out in late November 2019 for the British Antarctic...
New York Bight Monitoring Project: A Year in Review
It has been a busy year for our ocean monitoring project in the New York Bight! The project, funded by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, is an interdisciplinary multi-trophic level project that provides key information on the status of the...
2020 Gull Season Wraps Up!
We have recently wrapped up our 2020 gull field season, led by MS student Kim Lato. Kim began studying herring gulls (HERG) and great black-backed gulls (GBBG) at nesting colony in Stony Brook in 2019 as part of the lab’s ongoing gull project investigating gull...
Albatross research on South Georgia- first field season at Bird Island!
Dr. Rachael Orben set sail for South Georgia earlier this week to conduct field studies on black-browed (Thalassarche melanophris) and grey-headed albatrosses (T. chrysostoma) at the British Antarctic Survey’s Bird Island Research Station. Rachael will be deploying...
Deep Divers of the New York Bight – July 2019 Research Cruise
Risso's dolphins (Grampus griseus) in the Hudson Canyon area. Photo: Julia Stepanuk Now in the second year of research cruises funded by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, researchers from the...
Marine mammal madness in the New York Bight!
New York is not typically thought of as a whale watching hotspot, but there are many favorable conditions for marine mammals just off the coast of NYC. Together with the labs of Drs. Janet Nye and Joe Warren from SoMAS, the Thorne Lab began the first of a multi-year...
Introducing Master Matthew Fuirst!
Matt Fuirst presented his thesis on herring gull foraging ecology and microbiome characteristics along an urban gradient, and successfully defended his MS at SoMAS in July. Matt's thesis represents the culmination of three intense field seasons at three different...