Earth and Environment

In Touch With...Victoria Braithwaite

5/17/12

Fish farming is booming to keep up with increased demand for seafood—but better aquaculture practices are needed to design healthier and more humane fisheries, says Victoria Braithwaite, professor of fisheries and biology. A decade's worth of research by Braithwaite and her colleagues suggesting that fish feel pain has had a ripple effect among fish farmers, anglers, and animal ethics groups.

Penn State researcher receives Grand Challenges Explorations grant

5/14/12

A Penn State researcher has been chosen to receive a grant through the Grand Challenges Explorations program, an initiative funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. David Hughes, assistant professor of entomology and biology, will pursue an innovative global health and development research project, titled "Taking Out the Bodyguards: A Novel Solution to Ag Disease." Hughes' project aims to reduce the incidence of plant diseases -- and consequently crop losses -- by reducing the population of ants that act as protectors for various crop pests. Grand Challenges Explorations (GCE) funds individuals worldwide to explore ideas that can break the mold in how we solve persistent global health and development challenges.

Endangered species, languages linked at high biodiversity regions

5/8/12

Biodiversity hot spots -- the world's biologically richest and most threatened locations on Earth -- and high biodiversity wilderness areas -- biologically rich but less threatened -- are some of the most linguistically diverse regions on our planet, according to a team of conservationists.

Distinguished Professor elected to National Academy of Sciences

5/8/12

Susan L. Brantley, Distinguished Professor of Geosciences at Penn State and director of the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences' Earth and Environmental Systems Institute (EESI) has been elected to membership in the National Academy of Sciences for her excellence in original scientific research. Membership in the NAS is one of the highest honors given to a scientist or engineer in the United States.

Research project develops collaborative tool for water quality data

5/2/12

Scientists with federal and state agencies, academic researchers, environmental consultants, and watershed group volunteers have collected water-quality data for years as part of efforts to monitor the health of Pennsylvania's waterways. However, while there is virtually a deluge of water-quality data, much of it has never been incorporated into a sustainable database accessible to both researchers and the public.

That has just changed. A new database, using a platform supported by the National Science Foundation that channels available water quality data into a searchable format, was demonstrated at the Shale Network 2012 Workshop at Penn State's University Park campus in April. The workshop was part of the Shale Network, a multi-institutional initiative funded by NSF to track potential impacts of gas shale activity, including that of the Marcellus.

Probing Question: What is the the jet stream?

5/2/12

It's a river of wind, usually about 200 miles wide and about two miles deep, that flows about five to seven miles above the earth's surface, says climatologist Paul Knight. What most people don't realize is that the jet stream is the major player in how our weather changes.

Inexpensive, abundant starch fibers could lead to 'ouchless' bandages

5/1/12

A process that spins starch into fine strands could take the sting out of removing bandages, as well as produce less expensive and more environmentally-friendly toilet paper, napkins and other products, according to Penn State food scientists.

Three Penn State faculty members awarded Evan Pugh Professorships

4/26/12

Three Penn State faculty members have been named Evan Pugh Professors, joining a list of only 62 recognized since the title's inception in 1960. Even Pugh Professorships are the highest honor the University bestows on its faculty.

The latest honorees are Jainendra K. Jain, Erwin Mueller Professor of Physics, Eberly College of Science; James F. Kasting, Distinguished Professor of Geosciences, College of Earth and Mineral Sciences; and Bruce E. Logan, Kappe Professor of Environmental Engineering, College of Engineering.

Study suggests shale-gas development causing rapid landscape change

4/20/12

As the Marcellus natural-gas play unfolds in Pennsylvania, several trends are becoming increasingly clear, according to researchers at Penn State.

First, most of the development is occurring on private land, and the greatest amount of development falls within the Susquehanna River basin. Second, a regional approach to siting drilling infrastructure is needed to help minimize development in core forest and productive agricultural lands and to decrease the potential risk to waterways.

Researchers aim to lessen clash between raptors, wind turbines

4/17/12

Golden eagles love Pennsylvania's ridge-and-valley region. The hunched-up topography, with its long linear corridors running southwest to northeast, makes a perfect thruway for their spring and fall migrations. Sustained updrafts along the ridge crests are a particular boon to these and other large raptors, who rely on lift for soaring long distances.

Deep Impact

4/4/12

The 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill had a serious negative impact on deep-sea coral communities more than seven miles from the spill site in the Gulf of Mexico. That's the verdict after a series of underwater investigations led by Penn State Professor of Biology Charles Fisher.

Probing Question: What causes trees to be diseased?

4/4/12

The disease known as Elm yellows threatens the health of over 200 majestic American elms on the Penn State campus. Elm yellows is just one of many tree diseases that contribute to the decline and death of trees in the United States. What are the main causes of American tree diseases and have we made progress in preventing and treating them?

Research reveals deep-ocean impact of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill

3/26/12

Compelling evidence of the impact of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on deep-sea corals will be published online in the Early Edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences during the week beginning March 26. The diverse team of researchers, led by Penn State Professor of Biology Charles Fisher, used a wide range of underwater vehicles, including the research submarine Alvin, to investigate the corals. They also used comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography to determine precisely the source of the petroleum hydrocarbons they found.

On the Wing

3/22/12

Biological clocks are found in any animal, from worms and flies up to humans, says Paul Bartell, assistant professor of avian biology. Working in concert with daylight and other environmental cues, these innate regulators control not just patterns of sleeping and eating, but hormone releases and many other cell processes as well. In songbirds, they dictate the delicate timing of migration.

Produce safety future focus of supermarkets, farmers and consumers

3/20/12

Shoppers will continue to see the Fresh Local Produce sign in supermarkets, but stores will increasingly require growers to show proof of good agricultural practices, according to Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences researchers. Good agricultural practices -- GAPs -- are food-safety standards that reduce the risk of on-farm produce contamination, according to Daniel Tobin, a doctoral candidate in Agricultural and Extension Education and the principal investigator in the study.

Biting the Plant that Feeds You

9/1/98

She's part pilgrim and part vampire, purplish black and pear-shaped. Moments after her April birth, the aphid creeps along the smooth witch hazel leaf until she finds a suitable intersection of veins. She thrusts her needle mouth into the junction and begins to feed, sucking the sweet sap from the plant.

GridSTAR Net Zero Energy Demonstration Project under way at The Navy Yard

5/13/13

A powerful collaboration of researchers, manufacturers and economic development officials are embarking on a groundbreaking demonstration project for smart-grid, net zero energy buildings called the GridSTAR Center — a Smart Energy Campus initiative at The Navy Yard in Philadelphia. Spearheaded by Penn State with support from the U.S. Department of Energy, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation (PIDC), the GridSTAR Net Zero Energy Demonstration Structure is the first phase of the GridSTAR Center.

man and woman posing near big horn sheep

Scientists make strides toward restoring bighorn sheep in the American West

5/2/13

As pneumonia continues to limit recovery of the once nearly extinct bighorn sheep population in the western United States, a research team including scientists from Penn State’s Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences has made key discoveries that lead to a better understanding of the disease and how it might be more effectively controlled.

Katherine Freeman, Penn State's College of Earth and Mineral Sciences

Freeman elected to National Academy of Science

5/1/13

Katherine Haines Freeman, professor of geosciences, Penn State, has been elected to membership in the National Academy of Sciences for her excellence in original scientific research. Membership in the NAS is one of the highest honors given to a scientist or engineer in the United States.

Penn State to host international conference on pollinator health

4/29/13

With populations of wild and domesticated pollinators, such as honeybees, in decline, some of the world's foremost scientists in the field will converge on Penn State this summer to discuss the latest research aimed at understanding and overcoming challenges to pollinator health. Hosted by the Center for Pollinator Research in the College of Agricultural Sciences, the second International Conference on Pollinator Biology, Health and Policy will be held August 14 to 17 at The Nittany Lion Inn.

Probing Question: Are we running out of helium?

4/22/13

Some scientists are sounding the alarm about the wastefulness of using helium -- a rare, non-renewable gas -- to fill party balloons. Why? As an essential resource in technologies such as medical imaging, rocket engines, and surveillance devices, it turns out that helium does a lot more than give our balloons a lift. And despite being the second most abundant element in the universe, most of our supply in the Earth’s atmosphere simply floats off into space and is lost.

Ozone masks plant's volatiles, plant-eating insects confused

4/2/13

Increases in ground-level ozone, especially in rural areas, may interfere not only with predator insects finding host plants, but also with pollinators finding flowers, according to researchers from Penn State and the University of Virginia.

Suppression of naturally occurring blazes may increase wildfire risk

3/26/13

Penn State geographer Alan Taylor studied a mixed conifer forest in the Lassen National Forest in northern California known as the Cub Creek Research Natural Area, site of a wildfire in 2008. He compared burn patterns from the 1880s, before fire suppression policy took effect, with those from the 2008 fire. Taylor analyzed satellite data and field measurements using a statistical model known as "Random Forest," which predicts fire severity patterns based on characteristics of the terrain, fuels, vegetation, and weather. He found that, in general, the burning patterns were similar but with one important difference.

Alley receives AAAS Public Engagement Award

3/21/13

Richard B. Alley, Evan Pugh Professor of Geosciences, was named the recipient of the 2012 American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Public Engagement in Science Award. He received this award at the 2013 AAAS annual meeting for "his decades-long, broad-based and exceptionally effective efforts communicating the best of climate science to excite the interests of the general public and policy makers."

State horticulture organizations fund Penn State research projects

3/19/13

New and ongoing tree-fruit research in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences received a boost with the recent awarding of funds totaling more than $182,000 by the State Horticultural Association of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Apple Marketing Board.

Earth-sized planets in habitable zones are more common than previously thought

3/12/13

The number of potentially habitable planets is greater than previously thought, according to a new analysis by a Penn State researcher, and some of those planets are likely lurking around nearby stars.

An adult male caribou, photographed in Greenland

Large herbivores may buffer effect of climate change on plant communities

2/25/13

Whether existing ecological communities can persist intact as temperatures rise may depend as much on biological interactions that shape communities themselves as on the effects of climate change, according to a Penn State biology researcher.

Jets’ contrails contribute to heat-trapping high-level clouds

2/21/13

Condensation trails that airplanes produce mean not only a white-streaked sky on some days, but an increase in the amount of high-level clouds and, by extension, warming temperatures, according to a Penn State researcher.

Change in Presque Isle Bay status based on Penn State Behrend analysis

2/21/13

The U.S. Department of State’s decision to lift Presque Isle Bay’s designation as an area of environmental concern was based on more than 20 years of research, much of it led by the staff at Pennsylvania Sea Grant, a partnership of Penn State Erie, The Behrend College; the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Malaria infection risk influenced by daily temperature variations

2/19/13

Identifying areas of malarial infection risk depends more on daily temperature variation than on the average monthly temperatures, according to a team of researchers, who believe that their results may also apply to environmentally temperature-dependent organisms other than the malaria parasite.

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