News from the Appalachian Laboratory

Appalachian Laboratory honors Allegany College's Forestry Department for environmental stewardship

Submitted by Amy Pelsinsky on Thu, 04/25/2013 - 10:23pm
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In honor of outstanding contributions to environmental education in Western Maryland, the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science's Appalachian Laboratory has selected the Forestry Technology Program at Allegany College as recipient of its 2013 Richard A. Johnson Environmental Education Award. Beginning with eight students in 1968, the program has grown to produce 580 graduates who are helping to manage our natural resources, as well as making contributions to the health of our urban forests.

Scientists look to ancient past to better predict how species may respond to climate change

Submitted by Amy Pelsinsky on Mon, 04/15/2013 - 3:40pm
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What do woolly mammoths wandering around the ancient spruce woodlands of eastern North America have to do with predicting how species could respond to climate change? Matt Fitzpatrick of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science's Appalachian Laboratory, along with researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of California-Merced, have received a three-year, $670,000 award from the National Science Foundation to study how plants and animals responded to changes in climate during the ice age to better predict what we can expect in the near future.

Appalachian Laboratory hosts public lecture on shale gas and alternative fuel sources

Submitted by Amy Pelsinsky on Tue, 04/02/2013 - 2:53pm
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The Appalachian Laboratory of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science presents a free public lecture, The Energy Sustainability Dilemma: Powering the Future in a Finite World, by geoscientist and Canadian unconventional natural gas expert David Hughes. The lecture will occur Tuesday, April 23, at 7 p.m. at 301 Braddock Road in Frostburg. According to Hughes, the Energy Sustainability Dilemma is now unfolding and will profoundly impact future generations unless the finite nature of fossil fuel resources is managed for long-term sustainability.

Prairie dogs disperse when all close kin have disappeared

Submitted by Amy Pelsinsky on Thu, 03/07/2013 - 12:49pm
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Prairie dogs pull up stakes and look for a new place to live when all their close kin have disappeared from their home territory--a striking pattern of dispersal that has not been observed for any other species. This is according to a new study published in Science by behavioral ecologist John Hoogland, Professor at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science's Appalachian Laboratory. He has been studying the ecology and social behavior of prairie dogs in national parks in Arizona, South Dakota, and Utah for the last 40 years.

Appalachian Laboratory seeks Marylanders to participate in American chestnut restoration project

Submitted by Amy Pelsinsky on Fri, 03/01/2013 - 11:43am
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The American chestnut once towered over the forest. Known as the redwood of the East, it dominated the landscape from Maine to Florida until its populations were decimated in the early 1900s by a non-native fungus called chestnut blight. Now, the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science's Appalachian Laboratory and the American Chestnut Foundation are working with western Maryland residents to "crack the code" to re-establish American chestnut trees.

Appalachian Laboratory team receives NSF grant to predict how trees will adapt to rapid climate change

Submitted by Amy Pelsinsky on Thu, 01/24/2013 - 5:24pm
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Citizen scientists invited to help monitor changes in forests

Since the climate began warming at the end of the last Ice Age, trees have had thousands of years to adapt to a warmer climate. But how will forests adapt to the rapid pace of current climate change? The National Science Foundation has awarded a $1.5 million grant to Drs. Stephen Keller, Andrew Elmore, Matthew Fitzpatrick, David Nelson, and Cathlyn Stylinski from the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science's Appalachian Laboratory to study climate adaptation in forest trees and predict the areas where trees are most and least adapted to changing climates in the future.

Western Maryland principal honored with environmental stewardship award

Submitted by Amy Pelsinsky on Wed, 04/25/2012 - 1:41pm
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In honor of outstanding contributions to environmental education in Western Maryland, the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science's Appalachian Laboratory selected Dr. Dana McCauley as recipient of its 2012 Richard A. Johnson Environmental Education Award.

Discover hands-on science for the whole family at the Appalachian Laboratory Open House

Submitted by Amy Pelsinsky on Fri, 04/06/2012 - 12:00am
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Saturday, April 21, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

Gear up to celebrate Earth Day with a free Open House at the Appalachian Laboratory in Frostburg, on Saturday, April 21, from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Learn about science with hands-on experiments for the whole family, meet the scientists working in your community, and enjoy activities in a special Kids Corner. 

Mid-Atlantic suburbs can expect an early spring thanks to the heat of the big city

Submitted by Amy Pelsinsky on Thu, 03/08/2012 - 1:00am
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 If you’ve been thinking our world is more green than frozen these days, you’re right. A recent study has found that spring is indeed arriving earlier – and autumn later – in the suburbs of Baltimore and Washington, D.C. The reason? The urban landscape traps heat in the summer and holds it throughout the winter, triggering leaves to turn green earlier in the spring and to stay green later into autumn. The result is a new, extended growing season.

Tomorrow's Scientists

Submitted by Amy Pelsinsky on Wed, 02/01/2012 - 12:30pm
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The saying goes: “Give a man a fish, and he’ll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he’ll eat for a lifetime.” But teach a man the science of fish, and we all benefit. 

Every year more than 100 graduate students come to the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science to work side-by-side with some of the best environmental scientists in the world. Studying everything from the effects of development on stream ecosystems to new ways to feed fish in aquaculture, these men and women are training to solve environmental problems today so we have a better world tomorrow.