applied ecology

May 7, 2020

How To Promote Shade Coffee Farming In Puerto Rico

Like many other communities in the United States, farming on Puerto Rico is a challenging balance between protecting crops from climate change, supporting conservation, and maximizing capital. New research shows how coffee farmers make decisions on which crops to grow and what can be done to encourage shade farming practices.

Apr 1, 2020

10,000 Photos of the Wild Life in Homes (and Counting)

Roughly a year and half ago we set out with participants around the world to begin cataloguing the animals living in homes with iNaturalist. Thanks to more than 2000 participants, we can now tell you what we're finding.

A young woman wearing waters stands in a pond holding a net.

Mar 28, 2020

Knee-Deep in Dragonfly, Water Quality Research

April Sharp is an Applied Ecology minor, studying environmental sciences and entomology. She is researching the composition and distribution of aquatic macroinvertebrates like dragonflies.

Young woman next to a small tent collecting data for research

Feb 21, 2020

Tiny Tents on Campus are Bee Research at Work

College of Natural Resources student Kirsten Keleher collects insect data for a research project about ground-nesting insects and bees. She's working with Applied Ecology assistant professor Elsa Youngsteadt on the project.

Man looking through a microscope in a lab

Jan 22, 2020

Target: Healthy, Strong Bee Populations

Mario Simon Pinilla-Gallego's research focuses on understanding gut pathogens in bees to maintain healthy and strong pollinator populations.

A female student looks through a microscope in a lab

Jan 17, 2020

Researching Climate Change Effects in Costa Rica

Applied Ecology student Ana Meza Salazar is looking at how climate change might alter stream ecosystems in Costa Rica via acidification.

Jan 17, 2020

How Do You Count Fish in a Creek?

Counting fish in a quickly flowing creek or river presents some obvious challenges. As any angler will tell you, most fish are pretty good at not being caught. So how can scientists reliably count fish in these ecosystems?

Man looking through a tiny magnifying glass.

Jan 9, 2020

Citizen Scientists Help Solve Ant Enigma

Where did these ants come from, anyway?

CALS researchers have found that the North African outdoors are most similar to U.S. indoors. Here, a giraffe eats a tree outdoors.

Mar 20, 2019

U.S. Indoor Climate Most Similar to Northeast African Outdoors

If you’re like the American citizen scientists who reported information about their home climate, you keep your home as close as possible to the outdoor climate of west central Kenya, according to a new paper by Applied Ecology's Rob Dunn and Lauren Nichols.

Applied Ecology PhD Student Bonnie Myers

Feb 8, 2019

Extreme Events And Caribbean Fisheries: Ph.D. Student Bonnie Myers

Growing up hiking the Ozark Mountains, Bonnie Myers developed a love of nature and a concern for good stewardship. Now, she's a Ph.D. researcher in the Department of Applied Ecology and the Southeast Climate Science Center, studying the impact of climate change on natural resources.