Traveling west along the Gaviota coast on the afternoon of May 19, 2015, Santa Barbara Coastal (SBC) Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) scientists Mark Page and Jenny Dugan and graduate student Nicholas Schooler first noticed a very strong smell of oil starting about a mile east of Refugio State Beach. They decided to park along… Read more »
What exactly does the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s recent reinterpretation of the Endangered Species Act portend for endangered species? Michael P. Nelson, the Principal Investigator of H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) program and John A. Vucetich (an ecologist at Michigan Technological University), tackle that question in a recent opinion piece… Read more »
KBS LTER director Phil Robertson was part of team that authored a report that, for the first time, provides uniform scientific methods for quantifying the changes in greenhouse gas emissions and carbon storage from various land management and conservation activities. Read more: http://msutoday.msu.edu/news/2014/msu-helps-shape-usda-greenhouse-gas-policy/
From the KBS LTER – Every year the American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and the Soil Science Society of America (ASA-CSSA-SSSA) hold a Congressional Visits Day (CVD) in Washington, D.C. during appropriations season. The goal is to have a strong presence of faculty, students, and crop advisors advocating for agricultural and… Read more »
Biofuel experts identify a way to meet 25 percent of Congress’ 2022 cellulosic energy production goals Marginal lands unsuited for food crops can serve as prime real estate for meeting the nation’s alternative energy production goals. In the current issue of the journal Nature, a team of researchers working at the MSU’s Kellogg Biological Station… Read more »
A study by scientists at the Central Arizona-Phoenix (CAP) Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) site found that residential yards in urban areas with native vegetation support local bird species better than those with traditional grass lawns, essentially providing “mini refuges.” The study, published in the online journal PLoS ONE, looked at residential landscapes in Phoenix,… Read more »
