Local residents observe that warming has changed the timing of freeze up, affected river ice thickness and melt, and has reduced winter travel safety and access to local ecosystem services. Wildfire reduces access to the land, threatens cultural and historic sites, and reduces wildlife densities for one to several decades (e.g. moose and caribou, respectively)…. Read more »
Credit: CAP-LTER. CC BY-SA 4.0 Anticipating the needs of cities in the future is a key aspect of urban sustainability. One approach to planning for sustainable cities is for researchers and practitioners to work together to develop scenarios that benefit communities as well as ecosystems. Central Arizona Phoenix LTER (CAP LTER) is taking an innovative approach… Read more »
The Gulf of Mexico dead zone is predicted to be a near record size in 2019. By the end of summer, the hypoxic region at the mouth of the Mississippi River is expected to occupy over 22,000 square kilometers—an area the size of Massachusetts. The culprit? Nitrogen-based fertilizers applied to crops across the Midwest that… Read more »
Inspired by several citizen science projects, a team from Bonanza Creek LTER studied how changes to season lengths in Interior Alaska affected native and non-native species.
Researchers at Mo’orea LTER did not observe evidence that corals acclimatize to ocean acidification, but they did observe that some are more sensitive to it than others.
Multidisciplinary research is a positive shift toward understanding the complexity of human-natural systems. However, combining social science and ecological science methods does not necessarily equate to integration of ideas. Drawing from their urban ecology and environmental anthropology backgrounds, a group of LTER researchers propose using conceptual frameworks that go beyond characterizing social-ecological interactions as stepwise… Read more »
Martin Volaric (UVA Environmental Sciences) & Eli Stine (Music) Researchers studying intertidal oyster reefs are using sound recordings as a proxy for reef activity. During Summer 2018, researchers at the VCR-LTER made a series of recordings with two goals in mind:Credit: Cora Ann Johnston1) Pair sound with environmental measurements to study how reefs respond to… Read more »
As part of their current project, researchers at MCM LTER are writing a detailed study on the environmental history of the McMurdo Dry Valleys. The monograph will be available online and published as a book with an academic press. For more information visit the McMurdo Dry Valleys History website.
Each year, art and science teachers are invited to Art and Ecology workshops that link Plein Aire landscape painting and observational drawing to salt marsh ecology and climate change impacts on coastal ecosystems. Nearly 30 teachers per year participate in these professional development opportunities, and over half return for a 2nd workshop. Workshops focus on… Read more »
Biological oceanographer Susanne Menden-Deuer at the University of Rhode Island has an ongoing collaboration with artist Cynthia Rubin. Murals are on display on the doors to Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI) PI labs, while other art is showcased during exhibits and conferences. Project Status: Ongoing
Several WHOI PIs have participated in the “STEAM” program with Falmouth High School art teacher Jane Baker. The STEAM educational movement advocates for the integration of Arts (“A”) into more traditional grouping of STEM disciplines (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). For more information, visit Ann Tarrant’s website. Project Status: Completed
Kansas State University Associate Professor of Art Erin Wiersma creates “paintings” using charred prairie biomass by working directly with the researchers during prescribed watershed burns at Konza Prairie Biological Station. She delivered a public lecture in February 2019 at the Mariana Kistler Beach Museum of Art, Kansas State University (After the Burn: Artist talk by… Read more »
