A Stony Brook student has made it her mission to research climate change, and she's focusing on two of Long Island's waterways.

Alyson Hall is directing attention to preserving the health of the earth's natural resources by researching the impacts of humans.

Hall, an environmental biology major with a minor in marine science, hailing from Owings, MD, is currently working on her honors thesis with Bradley Peterson, associate professor in the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences, and PhD candidate Alyson Lowell.

They are conducting their research on the assessment of climate change conditions, copper treatment, and infection virulence on germination of the eelgrass species in the Shinnecock Bay and Peconic Bay on the South and North Fork of the island.

Hall says eelgrass helps to mitigate high levels of pH in coastal acidification, a likely byproduct of climate change and human impacts.

She says the grasses may offer a pH refuge to organisms that are less tolerant of dramatic swings in acidity.

However, due to many factors including marine pathogens, eelgrass meadows globally have been dying off.

“Our research into the germination rates and infection virulence of these species when exposed to projected increased temperatures and acidic waters will hopefully directly inform restoration methods for eelgrass replanting,” Hall said. “If implemented soon enough, that may help buffer current and future projections of climate change conditions for seagrass meadow organisms.”

Hall says although her research does not prove climate change, it “is working under the future projections of climate change effects on water parameters.”