NEWS FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
NOVEMBER 2016 

OysterFutures project brings watermen and scientists together
Scientists from the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science are part of a unique project designed to strategize new ways to manage an old industry.  With the fate of the Chesapeake Bay's oyster population in question, stakeholders ranging from watermen to environmentalists hope to look past any differences to reach a common goal--enhance the shellfish resource and fishery.

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Ecologist aims to help farmers grow more while polluting less

Ecologist Xin Zhang at the Appalachian Laboratory has found herself working in agriculture, but not as a farmer. She studies the environmental and socioeconomic impacts of agricultural production and identifies strategies to make agricultural production more efficient, sustainable, and resilient. Find out more about how she ended up in this field in her first-person blog post in Farming First.  READ IT HERE

Science in the First Person: 
Microbiologist Eric Schott tracks disease in blue crabs

"There's a real awakening in the importance of diseases for understanding ecology. I'm working on a virus in the blue crab that was first identified in the mid 1970s. No one understood until recently that it could have a great potential to impact blue crab populations because we didn't have the molecular tools to study it."  
Leaders tackle ocean suffocation

Oceanographer Mike Roman, director of the Horn Point Laboratory, spent time in Paris last month working with colleagues at UNESCO's International Oceanographic Commission on ways to tackle the problem of an oxygen-deprived ocean.   

"Low oxygen areas in the ocean are expanding at an alarming rate and will affect fisheries and ecosystem diversity," said Roman. "It's essential to look at problems that will occur in the next decades and to advise governments on ways to coordinate research to solve them."

Next Generation: 
Andrew Gougherty
Appalachian Laboratory

"I'm studying how intraspecific variation--the biological variability of individuals within a species--of balsam poplar will impact how it will be affected by climate change.   Climate change is going to have a variety of effects on the environment--some changes more intuitive than others. Intra-specific variation is likely to play an important role in how a species is able to cope with climate change over the long term. "

Sing-a-long calls for awareness of ocean impact of carbon dioxide

According to marine biologist (and part-time songwriter) Bill Dennison, we need to raise our voices to make sure seagrasses, an important part of the ocean's ecosystem, thrive. Blue carbon is the term given to the ability of oceanic plants to absorb some of the excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere from fossil fuel burning. We may have the blues since seagrass meadows are declining around the world just when we need them the most. WATCH THE VIDEO 
 

Alumni in the Spotlight:  
 
Reflections on a Journey to the International Space Station 
Frostburg State University's Pealer Recital Hall
Thursday, November 10,  6:30 p.m.

NASA astronaut Ricky Arnold, an alumnus of University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science and Frostburg University, will reflect on his time on the International Space Station during a free, public event. Arnold earned a master's degree in the Marine, Estuarine and Environmental Science program and conducted research at UMCES' Horn Point Laboratory before working as a marine scientist and teaching science around the world.   He is currently  the Branch Chief responsible for the planning and safe execution of spacewalks and space station robotic operations. 

 

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