Beauty and function
By Anna Gray
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| For URI researchers, Rhode Island’s historic stone walls are more than remnants of the past; they are studying how these structures may support wildlife biodiversity across the state. (URI Photo / Robin Baranowski) |
For Madalyn Stoltz, a master’s student in the University of Rhode Island’s environmental science and management program, Rhode Island’s historic stone walls are more than remnants of the past. Through camera trap research and ecological fieldwork, she is studying how these structures may support wildlife biodiversity across the state.
Researching Rhode Island’s stone walls
A native of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Stoltz is working
alongside professors Kathleen Carroll and Shelby Rinehart on
the Stone
Wall Project, which examines how historic stone walls compare with natural
features in supporting local biodiversity and ecosystem resilience. The project
addresses a largely understudied topic and aims to contribute new understanding
of Rhode Island’s natural history.
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| URI graduate student Madalyn Stoltz is investigating how stone walls contribute to biodiversity and ecosystem resilience in Rhode Island, with support from the Rhode Island Natural History Survey. (URI Photo / Chris Hickling) |
Stoltz recently received the Godzala Research Award from the Rhode Island Natural History Survey to support her work. “Receiving the Godzala Research Award means that I can put more time and focus into my research,” she said. “This grant directly supports my work by providing me with a stipend and funding for supplies. I will be deploying more camera traps later this year, and I am able to do so because of this grant.”
“Maddy is one of only a handful of MESM students to receive
grant awards in support of their major papers,” said professor Michelle Peach,
one of the coordinators of the master’s program. “This recognition from RINHS
is a testament to Maddy’s hard work and professionalism, as well as the value
and quality of her research.”
Stoltz’s involvement in the Stone Wall Project began when she reached out about opportunities for her MESM major paper, the culminating project for the degree. As part of her conservation biology specialization, she sought a project that would connect ecological research with real-world conservation and biodiversity management challenges.
“I wanted to get involved partially because of how great Doctors Carroll and Rinehart are,” she said. “They are amazing mentors and I’m so lucky to get to work with them.” She says that when she reached out about potential projects, the stone wall research was a natural fit given her interest in biodiversity and human impacts on the environment.
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| Stoltz is using a stone wall map created by URI Ph.D. candidate Elliot Vosburgh ’18 ’24, who mapped Rhode Island’s stone walls for his URI capstone project. (Photo / E. Vosburgh) |
“Stone walls are one of the most common features on Rhode
Island landscapes, and are culturally significant, but we know little about
their lasting impacts on local ecology,” Stoltz said. “Structural features on
the landscape provide refuge, nesting habitat, movement corridors, and
thermodynamic stability for wildlife. We predict that our stone walls may also
be serving these purposes.”
Mapping wildlife and field methods
Stoltz and collaborators are using a stone wall map created
by MESM alum Elliot Vosburgh ’18 ’24 — who is now back at URI pursuing a Ph.D.,
working with Professor Jason Parent — along with RIGIS spatial data to identify
field sites. They are also drawing on data from a long-term camera trap network
operated in partnership with the Rhode Island Department of Environmental
Management and URI from 2018 to 2025.
“We evaluated wildlife biodiversity near dry stone walls
using existing camera trap data collected across Rhode Island from a
collaborative long-term study between RIDEM and URI from 2018 to 2025,” she
said. “We used the data collected from these camera traps to calculate species
richness.”
Preliminary analyses suggest that stone walls may be
indicators of wildlife biodiversity, particularly for small mammals and managed
species such as deer, foxes, coyotes, and game birds in Rhode Island. The
findings could inform conservation planning and land management in Rhode
Island, where stone walls face increasing pressure from development,
environmental change, and physical removal.
“Stone walls are increasingly threatened by strip mining,
theft, sea-level rise, and intentional burial,” Stoltz said. “We hope to
provide a scientific basis for protecting stone wall habitats and equip local
governments and residents with the tools to make informed, place-based
decisions about land management.”
Stoltz hopes the work also helps broaden public
understanding of these familiar features.
“I see the primary audiences for this research being land
managers, historians, and New Englanders,” she said. “I’d like the general
public to know that stone walls may have unrealized value beyond cultural and
historical significance.”
Stoltz adds that the project fills a major gap in ecological
research. “The impacts of stone walls on wildlife communities has never been
studied in the United States, making this a novel study,” she says.
To learn more about the New England Stone Wall Research Project, indicate interest in donating stone walls for research, or to receive a newsletter, please visit their website or contact kathleen.carroll@uri.edu or shelby_rinehart@uri.edu. Donations are also welcome to help support stone wall research.
