News
Environmental variability and global change are discussed more and more frequently in news articles and programs as the general public becomes increasingly aware of the rapid environmental transformations taking place around the world. The Institute of the Environment produces general interest articles about current UA research relevant to the environment, spotlights that chronicle the work of IoE faculty, and other articles, including a series on drought in the Southwest. The most recent articles are listed below. Older articles and links to UA News press releases also are available in the News Archive.
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Four University of Arizona faculty members have been named 1885 Distinguished Scholars for valued contributions to the teaching, research and outreach missions of the University.
Rafe Sagarin and Eric Magrane discuss observation, art, science, aesthetics, and biomimicry in a wide-ranging conversation on art and environment.
Sharon B. Megdal, director of the UA Water Resources Research Center, WRRC, has been elected president of the National Institutes for Water Resources, NIWR.
UA researchers using a technique called remote sensing have found that a wetter winter usually means a milder summer fire season. In remote sensing, satellites capture reflected sunlight, which can be processed and analyzed to study the Earth. Modeling rainfall and vegetation makes it possible to produce maps that show places at risk for wildfire.
Tree-ring research is helping scientists build climate and wildfire history in Arizona, including how severe long-ago fires were. When lower-severity fire damages the outer bark of a tree, it leaves behind a scar that can be seen in the tree's rings. When a higher-intensity fire wipes out an area of forest, that area is replaced by new trees of about the same age.
Arizona Daily Star reporter Tony Davis reported live about findings from the Assessment of Climate Change in the Southwest United States, a landmark study about the climate and its effects on the people in the region.
In an era of increasing climate instability, the U.S. Southwest faces strained water resources, greater prevalence of tree-killing pests, and potentially significant alterations of agricultural infrastructure. Such threats and challenges, as well as others, are detailed in a new book that includes major contributions from 13 UA scientists.
If greenhouse gas emissions continue on their current path, by mid-century Tucson will have a projected additional 34 days a year of 100-plus degree days and 25 more 110-plus degree days. We must prepare for the impacts we cannot avoid and slow climate change dramatically, says UA scientist Gregg Garfin.
BioView, produced by students in the UA's fall 2012 science journalism class, is a 32-page full-color magazine that captures the past, present, and future of Biosphere 2.
A three-time alumnus with a joint appointment at UA’s Southwest Center, Sheridan has never been too long gone from the Sonoran Desert he loves.