Conservation Science

Millions of poultry died and thousands of pigs and their waste was washed into local waterways by the millions of gallons, with negative impacts for the health of environmental justice communities and local ecosystems.

The Arctic cryosphere is collapsing, posing overlapping environmental risks. In particular, thawing permafrost threatens to release biological, chemical and radioactive materials that have been sequestered for tens to hundreds of thousands of years. As these constituents re-enter the environment, they have the potential to disrupt ecosystem function, reduce the populations of unique Arctic wildlife and endanger human health.

As the first large-scale Marine Protected Area (MPA) in areas beyond national jurisdiction, the Ross Sea region MPA sets a precedent for design, adoption, and implementation of other MPAs on the high seas. Together with a team of co-authors, Cassandra Brooks recently published a paper in Marine Policy that highlights the strong management in place within the Ross Sea region MPA, including research and monitoring.

Karen Merritt was part of an environmental engineering study resulting in a proposed settlement to clean up mercury contamination in the Penobscot River.

Evidence of plant disease range expansions due to climate change has remained elusive. Switzer Fellow Joan Dudney combined causal inference with stable isotope analysis in a new study that shows climate change and drought contributed to a nonlinear disease range shift into higher elevations.

Rob Moir wrote an op-ed for The Environmental Magazine describing The Ocean Based Climate Solutions Act's efforts to address the ravages of climate change.

“Understanding biological responses to climate change can help us find our place within it,” Hanson writes. “Simply put, if bush crickets, bumblebees, and butterflies can learn to modify their behaviors, then it stands to reason that we can too."

Switzer Fellow Nick Jensen and Patrick Foy published an op-ed in CalMatters in support of legislation to protect native California succulents from poaching. The bill was signed into law in September, 2021.