Profile Page

Robert 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, 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, Narrow River Preservation Association, and Kimball Wildlife Refuge. He lectures regularly through the URI Speakers Bureau and leads frequent birding and natural history walks for the Audubon Society of Rhode Island.

Students

George O. Klein Melissa R. Patrician Cheryl L. Schroeder Jessica A. Ward

M.S. M.S. M.S. M.S.

current 2005 2000 1999

Publications:

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.

Baumgartner, M.F., C.A. Mayo, and R.D. Kenney. 2007. Enormous carnivores, microscopic food, and a restaurant that’s hard to find. Pp. 138-171 in: S.D. Kraus and R.M. Rolland (eds). The Urban Whale: North Atlantic Right Whales at the Crossroads. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.

Jiang, M., M.W. Brown, J.T. Turner, R.D. Kenney, C.A. Mayo, Z. Zhang, and M. Zhou. 2007. Springtime transport and retention of Calanus finmarchicus in Massachusetts and Cape Cod Bays, USA, and implications for right whale foraging. Marine Ecology Progress Series 349: 183-197.

Myers, R.A., S.A. Boudreau, R.D. Kenney, M.J. Moore, A.A. Rosenberg, S.A. Sherrill-Mix, and B. Worm. 2007. Protecting endangered whales by better fishery management. Current Biology 17: R10-R11.

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:

"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.

"North Atlantic Right Whales: The Legacy of a Millenium of Whaling," Rhode Island Audubon Society lecture series--Man's Pursuit of Nature, Bristol, Rhode Island, March 2005.