The University of Michigan Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum has received a grant of nearly $127,000 from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. The grant enables a two-year project to locate and assess at-risk plant communities growing on the four properties managed by Matthaei-Nichols. The project runs through May 2013. Part old-fashioned fieldwork, part high-tech information-gathering, the project is contemporary natural history for the long term. Pivotal to the project is the use of technological recording and tracking tools to create an in-depth accounting of existing natural communities, said Matthaei-Nichols director Robert Grese. Read More
News From U-M
U-M’s Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum receives grant to assess at-risk plants
Invasive mussels causing massive ecological changes in Great Lakes
The ongoing spread of non-native mussels in the Great Lakes has caused "massive, ecosystem-wide changes" throughout lakes Michigan and Huron, two of the planet's largest freshwater lakes, according to a new University of Michigan-led study. The blitzkrieg advance of two closely related species of mussels—the zebra and quagga—is stripping the lakes of their life-supporting algae, resulting in a remarkable ecological transformation and threatening the multibillion-dollar U.S. commercial and recreational Great Lakes fisheries. Previous studies have linked the mussels to far-reaching changes in Lake Michigan's southern basin. Now a paper by two UM ecologists and a colleague shows that the same dramatic changes are occurring in northern Lake Michigan and throughout Lake Huron, as well. Read More
Five U-M faculty members awarded Guggenheim Fellowships
Five U-M faculty were recently awarded prestigious Guggenheim Fellowships by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. The fellowships went to 180 individuals, from a pool of 3000 applicants, for distinguished achievement in the past and exceptional promise for future accomplishment. The U-M fellows are Arun Agrawal, professor and associate dean for research, School of Natural Resources and Environment; Jeffrey Gardner Heath, professor of linguistics; Mark Mizruchi, professor of sociology and business; Endi Poskovic, artist and associate professor of art and design; and Jennifer Ellen Robertson, professor of anthropology. Read More about their projects
Biodiversity improves water quality in streams through a division of labor
Biologically diverse streams are better at cleaning up pollutants than less rich waterways, and a University of Michigan ecologist says he has uncovered the long-sought mechanism that explains why this is so. Bradley Cardinale used 150 miniature model streams, which use recirculating water in flumes to mimic the variety of flow conditions found in natural streams. He grew between one and eight species of algae in each of the mini-streams, then measured each algae community's ability to soak up nitrate, a nitrogen compound that is a nutrient pollutant of global concern. Read More
Study: More than 1.5 million jobs, $62 billion in wages directly tied to Great Lakes
More than 1.5 million U.S. jobs are directly connected to the Great Lakes, generating $62 billion in wages annually, according to a new analysis by Michigan Sea Grant. The analysis, released today, is based on 2009 employment data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and represents a conservative estimate of direct employment related to the Great Lakes in several industries, according to the authors, Michigan Sea Grant's assistant director, Jennifer Read, and research specialist Lynn Vaccaro. Read More
Have we changed our ways due to the BP oil spill?
On the heels of last week's federal recommendations to help prevent another BP oil spill disaster, a University of Michigan researcher says the tragedy has come close to acting as a catalyst for deeper change—but not quite. "The BP oil spill is, potentially, a 'cultural anomaly' for institutional changes in environmental management and fossil fuel production," saidys Andrew Hoffman, professor of management and organizations at the Ross School of Business and a professor at the School of Natural Resources and Environment. "But true change in our approach to handling issues related to oil drilling, oil consumption and environmental management have yet to occur." [Read more...]