LSU and Ohio State Battle on Football Field, Collaborate in Research FieldJanuary 07, 2008Universities partner to save America's wetlands LSU and Ohio State University will battle for the BCS National College Football Championship in the Superdome early next week, but if the game was held in the Louisiana wetlands instead, the entire field would disappear before halftime. Louisiana's wetlands are being lost at the rate of approximately one football field every 38 minutes. To fight against this rapid destruction, the two universities joined forces in 2003, forming an ongoing research partnership with the goal of rebuilding the vanishing coastal wetland ecosystem that makes up 30 percent of the nation's total coastal marsh.
Researchers also aim to reduce the flow of nitrogen and other chemicals that pour into the Mississippi River each spring from America's heartland. This causes an overabundance of nutrients that rob the water of oxygen, creating a dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico - more than 975 square miles of low-oxygen water that limits the sustainable fisheries of the region. "This is a multi-billion-dollar problem that affects our entire nation," said LSU Chancellor Sean O'Keefe. "While we battle on the football field, we collaborate in the research field to tackle the issue of coastal wetlands loss." Louisiana's wetlands help to make the state the nation's leader in crude oil production and second in natural gas production, according to America's Wetland Foundation. These fragile ecosystems also support 25 percent of the nation's total commercial fishing haul and provide storm protection to five of the country's largest ports. Wetlands are essential because of their capability to filter the nutrients that would contribute to the dead zone before they get carried into the Gulf; they're also vital for hurricane protection in storm-sensitive areas like New Orleans. "Louisiana has both the largest amount of wetland loss and the largest dead zone in the country," said Robert Twilley, associate vice chancellor of research and economic development at LSU, director of the Coastal Systems and Society Agenda, professor of coastal sciences and leader of the Shell Coastal Environmental Modeling Laboratory, or CEML. "We're working hard to rebuild our wetlands and reduce nutrients to the Gulf of Mexico, but we can't do it alone." That's where OSU comes in. While LSU scientists focus on Louisiana, addressing the issues of dramatic wetland loss and the continuously growing dead zone, OSU researchers are developing wetlands upstream so that nutrient loads in the Mississippi that would increase the size of the dead zone will be dramatically reduced by the time they reach the delta region. "John Day, professor emeritus at LSU, and Bill Mitsch at the Ohio State University, have really come a long way with this partnership," said Twilley. "It's not something that's going to happen overnight, but if we're going to make any progress, it's got to be a collaborative effort throughout the Mississippi River basin. The basin is over 40 percent of the United States' land mass - this partnership is critical in getting the message out from Minnesota to Mississippi. That's what makes this partnership so unique - its potential for real impact." Louisiana State University | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Related Wetlands Current Events and Wetlands News Articles Beavers: Dam good for songbirds The songbird has a friend in the beaver. According to a study by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), the busy beaver's signature dams provide critical habitat for a variety of migratory songbirds, particularly in the semi-arid interior of the West. 'Fingerprinting' method tracks mercury emissions from coal University of Michigan researchers have developed a new tool that uses natural "fingerprints" in coal to track down sources of mercury polluting the environment. Researchers document world's mammals in crisis From majestic African elephants to tiny and often unappreciated rodents, mammals on Earth are in a state of crisis. One in four mammal species on Earth is being pushed to extinction, according to the Global Mammal Assessment, the most comprehensive assessment of the world's mammals. Bays on US Gulf Coast vulnerable to flooding The most comprehensive geological review ever undertaken of the upper U.S. Gulf Coast suggests that a combination of rising seas and dammed rivers could flood large swaths of wetlands this century in one or more bays from Alabama to Texas. Commercial aquatic plants offer cost-effective method for treating wastewater Nursery and greenhouse operations depend on the use of fertilizers, growth regulators, insecticides, and fungicides. Growers also rely on the use of soilless media, or substrate, in the production of container crops. Common insecticide can decimate tadpole populations The latest findings of a University of Pittsburgh-based project to determine the environmental impact of routine pesticide use suggests that malathion--the most popular insecticide in the United States--can decimate tadpole populations by altering their food chain, according to research published in the Oct. 1 edition of Ecological Applications. Wetlands Restoration Not a Panacea for Louisiana Coast Counting on wetlands restoration projects to protect storm buffeted infrastructure along the Louisiana Coast is likely to be a "losing battle" that provides "false hope" and prevents endangered communities from clearly planning for their future, says a researcher from Western Carolina University (WCU). Evaluating ecosystem services Environmental conservation efforts have traditionally focused on protecting individual species or natural resources. Scientists are discovering, however, that preserving the benefits that whole ecosystems provide to people is more economically and environmentally valuable. At the Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of America (ESA), ecologists will explore the application of ecosystem services approaches to conservation. Rising energy, food prices major threats to wetlands as farmers eye new areas for crops Critical food shortages and growing demand for bio-fuels and hydro-electricity due to high fossil fuel prices rank among the greatest threats today to the preservation of precious wetlands worldwide as farmers and developers look for new areas for agriculture, energy crop plantations and hydro dams. Mangroves key to saving lives The replanting of mangroves on the coasts of the Philippines could help save many of the lives lost in the 20-30 typhoons that hit the islands annually. More Wetlands Current Events and Wetlands News Articles |
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