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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Simmons B. Buntin and Megan Kimble engage in a conversation on art and environment in a cross-post with the blog at Terrain.org: A Journal of the Built + Natural Environments.
Contrary to predictions, billions of trees killed in the wake of mountain pine beetle infestations ranging from Mexico to Alaska have not resulted in a large spike in carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere, a UA-led study involving large-scale field studies and satellite observations has found.
Mushrooms are crucial to the environment because they can break down fibrous materials, such as wood waste. They also play an important role in the production of food. Barry Pryor, a professor in the UA department of plant sciences, recently was awarded a grant to study mushrooms and their effectiveness at breaking down both landscape and consumer waste.
For more than three decades, UA neuroscientist John Hildebrand has worked with some of the world's smallest brains - the brains of insects. He studies their sense of smell and how it affects their behavior. Understanding how insect brains handle the business of smelling could give humans new tools for keeping pests at bay.
A UA-developed mobile app provides dust storm alerts and tips for staying safe in a dust storm. Arizona sees some of the worst dust storms in the country during the spring and summer months. Blowing dust can lead to poor visibility and dangerous driving conditions on the state's highways.
Alone in a wilderness of snow and ice, 600 miles from the Earth’s South Pole, a solitary telescope watches the stars. The instrument built by Craig Kulesa and his team at the UA is the first ever to begin mapping the sky in light emitted by atomic carbon and may give astronomers vital information to understand how sweeping star-forming nebulae themselves arise.
As soon as Rich Ayrey saw the 2-inch-long scorpion, he knew it was something new. He also knew there could be great public interest in a new creature found near a major metropolitan area, not in a remote wilderness. "It's a minority sport," Dawn Gouge of the UA department of entomology says about hunting for new scorpion species. "There's lots out there if somebody wants to take the time."
Females of a little-known primate from the rainforests of Madagascar have been known to outlive their male peers by many years, despite no obvious differences in hormone levels or lifestyle. A team led by a UA anthropologist has found the likely answer to the mystery.
Long-term droughts in the Southwestern U.S. often mean failure of both summer and winter rains, according to new tree-ring research from a UA-led team. The finding contradicts the commonly held belief that a dry winter rainy season is generally followed by a wet monsoon season, and vice versa.
Ever wonder how the density of flowers in a patch influences the kinds of insects that visit it? Carla Essenberg of the UA Center for Insect Science did, and she proceeded to develop a mathematical "foraging model" that explores how flower visitors distribute themselves across floral patches differing from each other in density.