News from UMCES

Dr. Keith Eshleman honored with President's Award for Science Application

Submitted by Amy Pelsinsky on Mon, 05/13/2013 - 11:05am
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Dr. Keith Eshleman, a professor at the Appalachian Laboratory and an expert in the field of watershed hydrology, has been honored by the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science with the President's Award for Excellence in Application of Science. Eshleman was recognized for his leadership in preparing a landmark report on best management practices for unconventional natural gas extraction, also known as fracking, as part of the Marcellus Shale Safe Drilling Initiative established by Governor Martin O'Malley.

Making an Impact: Maryland's economy is fueled by science

Submitted by Amy Pelsinsky on Wed, 05/08/2013 - 3:41pm
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2012 ANNUAL REPORT

New study finds that oyster restoration can help clean the Bay

Submitted by Amy Pelsinsky on Mon, 04/29/2013 - 1:47pm
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For the first time, scientists have been able to measure the amount of nitrogen that restored oyster reefs can pull out of the water to help clean the Chesapeake Bay. According to a recent study by Jeff Cornwell, Mike Owens, and Ken Paynter of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science and Lisa Kellogg of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, oyster reef restoration can significantly increase the amount of nitrogen removed from the Bay’s waters by oysters that turn it into a harmless gas and even use it build their shells.

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.

U.S.-Australia environmental education partnership is being led by Horn Point Professor Judy O'Neil

Submitted by Amy Pelsinsky on Mon, 03/25/2013 - 4:20pm
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Professor Judy O'Neil of the Horn Point Laboratory joined U.S. Ambassador Jeffrey Bleich and Australia’s Minister for School Education Peter Garrett in Canberra, Australia, on March 22 to launch the U.S.-Australia Virtual Environmental Partnership, or US/AUS-H20, a program is designed to promote science education and raise awareness of environmental issues. This virtual environmental partnership will create a web platform between Australian and American high school students to investigate the sustainability of local water cycles.

RESEARCH CRUISE: Coral reveals climate in the Middle Ages

Submitted by Amy Pelsinsky on Fri, 03/15/2013 - 10:08am
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Hali thanks the National Science Foundation for funding and with their continued support we hope to be back for more next year!

Some time between 1200 and 1450--when the Black Plague was ravaging Europe, Geoffrey Chaucer was writing his Canterbury Tales, and Marco Polo was traveling the world--a giant tsunami washed part of a reef onto the beach in what is now the British Virgin Islands.

Those corals are still there, and hold the key to what was going on with the climate during a key period between one of the warmest known eras on our planet and the coldest phase since the last Ice Age.  

Paleoclimatologist Hali Kilbourne and geochemist Johan Schijf of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science's Chesapeake Biological Laboratory are there right now to sample the corals on the beach to reconstruct the climate of the region at that time. 

Follow their 2013 research cruise in Anegada here:

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.

Biologists lead international team to track Arctic response to climate change

Submitted by Amy Pelsinsky on Wed, 02/20/2013 - 11:54am
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Biologists Jackie Grebmeier and Lee Cooper from the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory have been visiting the chilly area north of Alaska near the Bering Strait for more than 20 years, but it's only in the last few years that they have seen things really start to change. And fast. Last summer was the highest ice retreat in the Arctic record, and eight of the last ten years have seen the lowest ice on record.

Horn Point Laboratory Graduate Student Wins Coveted Fellowship

Submitted by Anne Gauzens on Wed, 02/06/2013 - 3:30pm
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 Jennifer Bosch, a doctoral student at Horn Point Lab in Cambridge, will spend a year as a Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship recipient at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) headquarters in Silver Spring, MD.

Reclaim the Chesapeake Bay

Submitted by Amy Pelsinsky on Mon, 02/04/2013 - 11:47am
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Whether we live near the water or miles from it, our everyday actions have a profound effect on our local water quality and the Chesapeake Bay. The University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science has joined partners from State and federal agencies, non-profit organizations, academic institutions and advocacy groups to kickoff Maryland’s Reclaim the Bay public awareness effort.

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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Subtitle: 
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.

Atlantic menhaden study will help identify balance between fishing and preserving

Submitted by Amy Pelsinsky on Mon, 12/17/2012 - 1:00am
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Millions of tiny Atlantic menhaden swim in the Chesapeake Bay and are the favorite menu item of prized rockfish. They are also the heart of a major fish oil industry on the East Coast. However, their numbers have been declining.

Thanks to a grant from the Lenfest Ocean Program, renowned fisheries scientists from the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science will investigate the balance between fishing for menhaden and the value of the fish in the ecosystem. The goal is to help develop fishing management guidelines to ensure that this tiny but mighty species, whose population is currently at its lowest point in more than 50 years, survives and thrives along with the other Bay creatures that depend on them.

Pat Glibert elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science

Submitted by Amy Pelsinsky on Thu, 12/06/2012 - 4:51pm
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Dr. Pat Glibert, a Professor at the Horn Point Laboratory of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, has been elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

This prestigious award is presented to scientists who have made distinguished contributions to the advancement of science. Dr. Glibert is internationally renowned in the field of marine ecological research, particularly regarding the harmful effects of algal blooms and the effects of nutrient pollution on coastal marine ecosystems, such as the Chesapeake Bay. 

NOAA funds study to explore impact of oil spills on blue crab development

Submitted by Amy Pelsinsky on Fri, 11/30/2012 - 12:54pm
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A new study by scientists from the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science will help determine the potential impact of an oil spill on the development of the blue crab. NOAA and the Coastal Response Research Center at the University of New Hampshire has awarded a $150,000 grant for a one-year study of the effects of chemical dispersants and dispersed oil on larvae of the commercially important blue crab, a keystone species of the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic coast, and its larvae.

Dr. Fredrika Moser named Director of Maryland Sea Grant

Submitted by Amy Pelsinsky on Thu, 11/29/2012 - 12:13pm
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Marine research leader and policy analyst Dr. Fredrika Moser has been named director of Maryland Sea Grant College following more than a decade of service to the program as its assistant director for research and, since 2011, as its interim director.

Professor Ed Houde named Vice President for Education

Submitted by Amy Pelsinsky on Thu, 11/01/2012 - 12:08pm
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Professor Ed Houde, respected fisheries scientist at the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, has been named Vice President for Education. In this critical new position at the University ofMaryland Center for Environmental Science, he will lead the accreditation process for joint graduate degrees and certificates, work with administrators at collaborating universities regarding joint degree programs, and develop an effective organization for the management of faculty and student participation in graduate education.

Chesapeake Biological Laboratory research pier undergoes repair

Submitted by Amy Pelsinsky on Wed, 10/10/2012 - 3:14pm
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Construction has begun on the repair and enhancement of the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory's research pier in Solomons, which was heavily damaged by Hurricane Irene in 2011. The pier has been the site of both research and outreach activities since it was built more than 65 years ago.

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