“A club at The Ohio State University is working to tackle the problem of birds colliding head-on with building windows.” So begins our latest CFAES Story, which features CFAES’ Ornithology Club and was written by Yianni Sarris. Sarris is an Ohio State political science major and a student writer with CFAES’ Marketing and Communications unit.
Continue reading Student club watching, protecting campus birds
CFAES’ Healthy Land-Water Systems: Water Quality, Economics, and Human Behavior program, whose diverse team of scientists identifies ways to improve water quality while supporting agricultural production, won the Multi-disciplinary Team Award at last week’s CFAES Annual Research Conference. Find out more.
CFAES economist Mark Partridge says that since 2010, job growth in Ohio’s rural areas has been strong—nearly the same as in the state’s major cities. “As long as this economic expansion continues,” Partridge says, “rural Ohio is going to fare pretty well compared to the rest of the U.S.” Read the story.
It’s bad enough that the emerald ash borer has killed millions of native ash trees. “Now,” CFAES entomologist Joe Boggs says, “you have standing (dead) trees that are starting to break apart”—and that can threaten home, life, and limb. Here’s what you should know and do. (Photo: Getty Images.)
CFAES’ Stone Laboratory, already the home of extensive long-term Lake Erie water quality efforts, is adding a new research building at Put-in-Bay and new monitoring equipment on the Maumee River, Lake Erie’s largest tributary, thanks to funding provided by Senate Bill 299, the bipartisan Clean Lake 2020 Plan.
Continue reading Stone Lab to ramp up its work for Lake Erie
Harmful algal blooms aren’t just a thing in western Lake Erie. They happen in the lake’s central basin too, and when they do, they sometimes produce toxins.
So says a new study led by Justin Chaffin of CFAES’ Stone Laboratory, which set out to learn more about the central basin’s less-studied blooms, including what drives them and whether they produce toxins called cyanobacterial toxins. The toxins, which can threaten human health, must be removed by facilities that treat drinking water.
Continue reading Study: Keep tabs on algae in central Lake Erie
Friday, April 26, is Arbor Day, and CFAES is hosting two celebrations of it, one in Columbus, one in Wooster.
CFAES’ Secrest Arboretum in Wooster hosts a Guided Spring Walk at 2 p.m. Wednesday, April 24. “Take a stroll through the arboretum and listen as our experts point out the signs of spring,” the event description says. “Keep an eye out for early bloomers.” Find further details.
A good sign: Wednesday’s forecast by the National Weather Service calls for sun and a high of 63 degrees. (Photo: Saucer magnolia, Getty Images.)
Forbes writer Bruce Y. Lee featured the work of CFAES scientist Rattan Lal, Distinguished University Professor of Soil Science, in an April 14 article titled “Here Is a Major Soil Problem That Will Affect Health.”
“The dirt on soil,” Lee writes, “is that it may be playing a major role in climate change, food security, and thus human health.”
Lal and Ohio State President Michael V. Drake, MD, are both quoted in the story on how, around the world, erosion, depletion, and other problems caused by poor soil management are threatening people’s ability to grow enough food.
Lal received the 2019 Japan Prize, one of the most prestigious honors in science and technology, in an official ceremony on April 11 in Tokyo.
He speaks on the award and his work in the video above.
CFAES’ Secrest Arboretum in Wooster, a place that’s all about practicing, showing, and teaching ways to sustain healthy plant life, will soon have its first-ever visitor center. Called the Secrest Arboretum Welcome and Education Center (pictured), you can check it out plus buy some plants on Saturday, May 11.
Learn more. (Photo: Ken Chamberlain, CFAES.)