School of Natural Resources and Environment

Kevin Merrill's blog

Dean Bierbaum helps release White House report on ecosystems, environmental capital

The federal government should launch a series of efforts to assess thoroughly the condition of U.S. ecosystems and the social and economic value of the services those ecosystems provide, according to a new report by the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), an independent council of the Nation's leading scientists and engineers. The report also recommends that the Nation apply modern informatics technologies to the vast stores of biodiversity data already collected by various Federal agencies in order to increase the usefulness of those data for decision- and policy-making.

Perfecto to receive ESA Diversity Award

SNRE Professor Ivette Perfecto is receiving this year's ERHC Diversity Award from the Ecological Society of America during its Annual Meeting next month.

The award recognizes her "outstanding contributions to increasing current and future diversity in the ecological community"  and is given by the ESA's Education and Human Resources Committee (EHRC). The EHRC Diversity Award recognizes long-standing contributions to increasing the diversity of future ecologists through mentoring, teaching, or outreach.

Growing 'dead zone' in Gulf of Mexico an "ecological time bomb"

A report released by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicts a 2011 Gulf dead zone of at least 8,500 square miles, which would make it the largest dead zone on record, due to increased stream flows from the flooding of the Mississippi River. "Stream flows were nearly double normal during May, delivering massive amounts of nutrients to the Gulf, and that's what drives the dead zone," said Don Scavia, Special Counsel to the U-M President for Sustainability, director of the Graham Sustainability Institute and SNRE professor and a member of NOAA's Gulf hypoxia research team.

Researchers predict record Gulf of Mexico "dead zone" due to Mississippi River flooding

Extreme flooding of the Mississippi River this spring is expected to result in the largest Gulf of Mexico "dead zone" on record, according to a University of Michigan aquatic ecologist and his colleagues. The 2011 forecast, released today by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), calls for a Gulf dead zone of between 8,500 and 9,421 square miles, an area roughly the size of New Hampshire.

Reo named Toihuarewa Visiting Indigenous Fellow, will travel to New Zealand to study tribal natural resource issues

Post-doc researcher Nick Reo has received the Toihuarewa Visiting Indigenous Fellowship, designed is to attract international indigenous scholars to Victoria University to build indigenous research capacity and enhance engagement and collaboration with Victoria'ss M' ori research program.

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