The ongoing spread of non-native mussels in the Great Lakes has caused "massive, ecosystem-wide changes" throughout lakes Michigan and Huron, two of the planet's largest freshwater lakes, according to a new University of Michigan-led study. The blitzkrieg advance of two closely related species of mussels—the zebra and quagga—is stripping the lakes of their life-supporting algae, resulting in a remarkable ecological transformation and threatening the multibillion-dollar U.S. commercial and recreational Great Lakes fisheries.
SNRE Professor and Associate Dean Arun Agrawal was one of 180 recipients of the 2011 Guggenheim Fellowship. The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation supports scholars, artists and scientists selected from 3,000 applicants on the basis of prior achievement and exceptional promise. Professor Agrawal will use the fellowship support to complete a book called "Poverty and Adaptation."
Biologically diverse streams are better at cleaning up pollutants than less rich waterways, and a University of Michigan ecologist says he has uncovered the long-sought mechanism that explains why this is so. Bradley Cardinale used 150 miniature model streams, which use recirculating water in flumes to mimic the variety of flow conditions found in natural streams. He grew between one and eight species of algae in each of the mini-streams, then measured each algae community's ability to soak up nitrate, a nitrogen compound that is a nutrient pollutant of global concern.
When local residents are allowed to make rules about managing nearby forests, the forests are more likely to provide greater economic benefits to households and contain more biodiversity, two University of Michigan researchers and a colleague conclude from an analysis of forest practices in tropical developing countries of East Africa and South Asia. Lauren Persha and Arun Agrawal of the University of Michigan and Ashwini Chhatre of the University of Illinois used evidence from more than 80 forest sites in six tropical countries to test how local participation affects social and ecological benefits from forests.
More than 1.5 million U.S. jobs are directly connected to the Great Lakes, generating $62 billion in wages annually, according to a new analysis by Michigan Sea Grant at the University of Michigan. The analysis, released today, is based on 2009 employment data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and represents a conservative estimate of direct employment related to the Great Lakes in several industries, according to the authors, Michigan Sea Grant's assistant director, Jennifer Read, and research specialist Lynn Vaccaro.
Ten students at the School of Natural Resources and Environment have been named Scholars and Fellows by two prestigious environmental organizations. Eight have been named Doris Duke Conservation Fellows as future leaders in nonprofit and public sector conservation. The Wyss Foundation awarded fellowships to two students as future leaders in Western land conservation issues.
The Wyss Foundation has awarded fellowships to two students at the University of Michigan' School of Natural Resources and Environment (SNRE) as future leaders in Western land conservation issues. The 2010 Wyss Scholars (listed with their SNRE field of academic study) are Martha Campbell (Sustainable Systems) and David O'Connor (Conservation Biology).
University of Michigan researchers are available to discuss the potential impacts of President Obama's proposal, announced Monday, to reduce funding for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.
A wave of reptile extinctions on the Greek islands over the past 15,000 years may offer a preview of the way plants and animals will respond as the world rapidly warms due to human-caused climate change, according to SNRE Associate Professor Johannes Foufopoulos and his colleagues. As the climate warmed at the tail end of the last ice age, sea levels rose and formed scores of Aegean islands that had formerly been part of the Greek mainland. At the same time, cool and moist forested areas dwindled as aridity spread through the region.
A wave of reptile extinctions on the Greek islands over the past 15,000 years may offer a preview of the way plants and animals will respond as the world rapidly warms due to human-caused climate change, according to a University of Michigan ecologist and his colleagues. The Greek island extinctions also highlight the critical importance of preserving habitat corridors that will enable plants and animals to migrate in response to climate change, thereby maximizing their chances of survival.
Jackie Turner, a U-M undergraduate with a double major in the Program in the Environment (PitE) and Screen Arts and Cultures, found that her interests in environment, sustainability, developing nations and documentary filmmaking converged when she traveled to Mpala, a 48,000-acre wildlife conservancy and biodiversity research center in Kenya, as part of a class taught by SNRE professors Rebecca Hardin and Johannes Foufopoulos.
A postdoctoral research fellow at SNRE's International Forestry Resources and Institutions (IFRI) research initiative, Lauren Persha, along with co-investigator and SNRE Professor Arun Agrawal, have received a nearly $400,000 grant from the International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie) to investigate the outcomes of Tanzania's ongoing forest management systems.
Michigan Sea Grant has been awarded more than $1.5 million from the federal government to lead two Great Lakes restoration projects that will restore native fish habitat and help clean up marinas across the region. It will also assist on five federally funded projects focused on issues including endangered fish, beach contamination, sound boating practices and marina operations, and water pollution.
Bradley J. Cardinale, who joins SNRE's faculty in January, has received a $2-million National Science Foundation grant as part of the agency's efforts to expand knowledge and understanding of Earth's biodiversity. Assistant Professor Cardinale is the principal investigator on a project titled, "Can evolutionary history predict how changes in biodiversity impact the productivity of ecosystems?" He and his colleagues will examine how evolutionary processes among algae generate and maintain the diversity of genes, and whether genetic diversity can explain the productivity of freshwater lakes.
SNRE Professors Dave Allan and Ivette Perfecto were honored Tuesday (Oct. 5) with university-wide awards for their contributions to research and service. Professor Allan received the 2010 Distinguished Faculty Achievement Award. Professor Perfecto received the 2010 Faculty Recognition Award.