rkenney | URI Graduate School of Oceanography

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Robert D. Kenney

Assoc. Marine Research Scientist

Professor-in-Residence

Room 5, Marine Building

rkenney@gso.uri.edu

(401) 874-6664

Educational Background

Ph.D., Biological Oceanography
B.S., Natural Resources/Aquatic Science

University of Rhode Island
Cornell University

1984
1978

Areas of Specialization

Research

Dr. Bob Kenney's research interests include the ecology, behavior, and conservation of marine vertebrates, especially mammals and turtles; management of endangered species; and the effects of natural and anthropogenic environmental changes on marine food chains and apex predators. His main research is on the North Atlantic right whale, the world's most endangered whale species, as part of a long-term cooperative project involving a number of institutions in the eastern United States and Canada. He is also involved in several environmental impact assessment projects for the Navy and other agencies. He also has a non-professional research interest in early New England history and genealogy.

Teaching

Bob Kenney teaches summer courses at Cornell University's Shoals Marine Lab (marine vertebrates, wildlife forensic science) and has taught a variety of courses at URI (biology of marine mammals, vertebrate biology, ecology, behavior, oceanography, and botany).

Outreach

Bob Kenney serves on the Atlantic Scientific Review Group, the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Team, the Boston Harbor Outfall Monitoring Science Advisory Panel, and several other regional advisory bodies, and on the boards of the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium, Rhode Island Natural History Survey, Friends of the National Wildlife Refuges of Rhode Island, and Kimball Wildlife Refuge. He lectures regularly through the URI Speakers Bureau (http://www.uri.edu/news/speakers/) and leads frequent birding and natural history walks for the Audubon Society of Rhode Island.

Students

Tara S. Stevens
C. T. Harry
George O. Klein
Melissa R. Patrician
Cheryl L. Schroeder
Jessica A. Ward

Ph.D.
M.S.
M.S.
M.S.
M.S.
M.S.

current
current
deceased
2005
2000
1999

Publications:

Kenney, R.D., and K.J. Vigness-Raposa. 2010. Marine Mammals and Sea Turtles of Narragansett Bay, Block Island Sound, Rhode Island Sound, and Nearby Waters: An Analysis of Existing Data for the Rhode Island Ocean Special Area Management Plan. Final Technical Report to the Rhode Island Office of Energy Resources and Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council. University of Rhode Island, Graduate School of Oceanography, Narragansett, RI. 340 pp.

Kenney, R.D. 2009. Right whales Eubalaena glacialis, E. japonica, and E. australis. Pp. 962-972 in: W.F. Perrin, B. Würsig, and H.G.M. Thewissen, eds. Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals, second edition. Academic Press, San Diego, CA.

Pershing, A.J., N.R. Record, B.C. Monger, C.A. Mayo, M.W. Brown, T.V.N. Cole, R.D. Kenney, D.E. Pendleton, and L.A. Woodard. 2009. Model-based predictions of right whale distributions in the Gulf of Maine. Marine Ecology Progress Series 378: 245-257.

Vanderlaan, A.S.M., C.T. Taggart, A.R. Serdynska, R.D. Kenney, and M.W. Brown. 2008. Reducing the risk of lethal encounters: vessels and right whales in the Bay of Fundy and on the Scotian Shelf. Endangered Species Research 4: 283-297.

Kenney, R.D. 2007. Right whales and climate change: Facing the prospect of a greenhouse future. Pp. 436-459 in: S.D. Kraus and R.M. Rolland (eds). The Urban Whale: North Atlantic Right Whales at the Crossroads. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.

Kraus, S.D., M.W. Brown, H. Caswell, C.W. Clark, M. Fujiwara, P.K. Hamilton, R.D. Kenney, A.R. Knowlton, S. Landry, C.A. Mayo, W.A. McLellan, M.J. Moore, D.P. Nowacek, D.A. Pabst, A.J. Read, and R.M. Rolland. 2005. North Atlantic right whales in crisis. Science 309: 561-562.

[For reprints: (http://www.gso.uri.edu/~rkenney/reprints/)]

Presentations:

"Predicting the Effects of Climate Change on North Atlantic Right Whales and Other Marine Mammals," Still Stranding After All These Years: Northeast Regional Stranding Conference 2008 (invited keynote address), Mystic Aquarium & Institute for Exploration and Cape Code Stranding Network/International Fund for Animal Welfare, Warwick, Rhode Island, April 2008.

"What's Wrong With the Right Whale?" Boston University Marine Program Seminar, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, February 2008.

"Are Gulf of Maine Right Whales Approaching Carrying Capacity?" 17th Biennial Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals (poster), Society for Marine Mammalogy, Cape Town, South Africa, December 2007.

"Is Global Warming Impacting North Atlantic Right Whales?” 2007 Lowell Lecture Series, New England Aquarium, Boston, Massachusetts, May 2007. (http://forum.wgbh.org/wgbh/forum.php?lecture_id=3572)

"The History of North Atlantic Whaling," Portsmouth Historical Society, Portsmouth, Rhode Island, May 2007.

History

Member for: 5 years 27 weeks