April 2011

MSU team honored for work to save fish habitat

April 25, 2011

A collaborative team of researchers from Michigan State University and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) was honored for their work to protect, enhance and restore fish habitat in both freshwater and marine systems of the United States.

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Spartan Sagas: Understanding the human-nature dance

April 14, 2011

Center doctoral student Neil Carter is the latest Spartan Saga to appear on the MSU website. MSU is collecting the stories of the Spartans -- alumni, students, faculty and staff -- who are contributing to the common good in ways both big and small.

Carter explains his research on tiger conservation in Chitwan National Park in the story.

Watch Neil Carter's Spartan Saga.

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Center researchers using grant to help keep lake whitefish harvesting ecologically and economically viable

April 7, 2011

As climate change causes the surface temperatures of the Great Lakes to rise, lake whitefish are expected to move further north and deeper in the water column, potentially changing the value of this $16-million-per-year industry.

To help fish managers develop optimal harvest strategies in the face of this migration, Abigail Lynch, university distinguished fellow and fisheries doctoral student, and William Taylor, University Distinguished Professor in global fisheries systems, have received a grant from the Great Lakes Regional Sciences and Assessment Center (GLISA) to develop a decision support tool.

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To see the world clearly means opening windows in higher ed's walls

April 6, 2011

Meshing the natural sciences with social sciences to tackle some of the world’s most pressing environmental issues often flies in the face of business-as-usual for universities. 

Yet the approach of coupled human and natural systems (CHANS) – holistically seeking to understand both the human systems and natural systems – offers promise of better understanding and greater impact on problems. 

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2011 NASA-MSU awards honor promising environmental scholars

April 4, 2011

Twenty-two promising landscape ecology scientists will make presentations at the 2011 annual symposium of the U.S. Regional Association of the International Association for Landscape Ecology (US-IALE) in Portland, OR, April 3-7 as recipients of a NASA-MSU Professional Enhancement Award.

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Faculty conversations: Tom Dietz

April 1, 2011

The Earth’s climate is changing, and it is largely due to human activities.

That’s the conclusion — with 80 to 90 percent certainty — that Tom Dietz and the other members of the Panel on the Advancing the Science of Climate Change came to in their report submitted to Congress two years ago.

“Each of those conclusions comes from several different lines of research,” said Dietz, a professor of sociology and affiliated with the Environmental Science and Policy Program.

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