Researchers at Virginia Tech are developing a computer model to track invertebrate behavior in mountain streams. Aquatic invertebrates like crayfish and mayflies are important because they are essential to food webs and are used as an indicator of freshwater health. Associate professor of biological sciences Bryan Brown hopes that the model will be used by land [...]
VIMS Assistant Professor Matt Kirwan on Hog Island, VA where he is simulating overwash fan deposition to measure the impacts of storms on marshes. Photo by David Walters. Dr. Matt Kirwan of VIMS has received the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Early Career Development (CAREER) award. This award recognizes faculty who show potential as academic [...]
Algal blooms in the Chesapeake Bay, courtesy of VIMS The Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) recently received three awards totaling $2.5 million over three years to study harmful algal blooms, or HABs, positioning VIMS as a major player in quantifying the negative effects of HABs. VIMS received two grants through NOAA's ECOHAB program that focuses on [...]
From L: VIMS Ph.D. student Lydia Bienlien works with professors Donglai Gong, BK Song, and Kim Reece to control the drone in flight. (VIMS) Dr. Donglai Gong, an assistant professor in physical oceanography at VIMS was practicing with his drone over the York River not long ago and noticed some strange streaking colorations in [...]
A photo from the demonstration project at the Horn Point Laboratory Researchers at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science Horn Point Oyster Hatchery are studying ways to cultivate oysters as efficiently as possible. Small marine creatures like barnacles and bryozoans often settle on oyster cages and prevent a clean flow of water [...]
The Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC), West and Rhode Riverkeepr, and Ogburn Consulting are coordinating a novel, community focused, watershed restoration program for the Rhode River in Maryland. The project, entitled Rhode to Restoration, has just been awarded funding through a National Fish & Wildlife Foundation Chesapeake Bay Stewardship Fund Small Watershed grant. The effort is inspired by the [...]
A professor from Old Dominion University will be hosting an event in conjunction with the "Catch the Tide" project on November 5th. The Virginian-Pilot and media partners at the Daily Press, WHRO Public Media and WVEC-TV have come together to raise awareness about sea level rise at an astronomically high tide, called the king tide. [...]
Researchers at Old Dominion University's Center for Coastal Physical Oceanography (CCPO) are studying how floating ice sheets melt in three Arctic locations. Using ocean circulation models, they are observing how ocean water inundates the base of the ice sheets, causing them to melt. The research is being conducted by John Klinck, director of CCPO, and two research [...]
Researchers at Penn State University have created an inexpensive, eco-friendly alternative to plastic coatings. Jeffrey Catchmark, a professor of agricultural and biological engineering in Pennsylvania State University’s College of Agricultural Sciences, has found a way to combine cellulose from trees and chitosan derived from the exoskeletons of crustaceans to make a plastic-like coating. Prof. Catchmark pictured [...]
A Masters student in hydrogeology at Pennsylvania State University is studying how nutrients like nitrates move from agricultural lands into local watersheds. Callum Wayman wanted to add an agricultural site to a group of constantly monitored sites run by the Susquehanna Shale Hills Critical Zone Observatory. He started field work in fall of 2016 by deploying [...]
