2023-11-13
- Ozone (O3) in the troposphere negatively impacts crop growth and development, causing significant decreases in crop yield worldwide. This airborne pollutant does not come directly from smokestacks or vehicles, but instead is formed when other pollutants, mainly nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds, react in the presence of sunlight. In an increasingly polluted atmosphere, understanding...
2023-10-26 - As if frogs aren’t reason enough to leap into this profile, researchers are starting to see more clearly what the creatures can tell us about animal behavior and biological organization. Eva Fischer, professor of evolution, ecology, and behavior and Lincoln Excellence for Assistant Professors Scholar, is uncovering what “charismatic frogs”—her affectionate term for her...
2023-10-25 - CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Researchers report that a single, simplified model can predict population fluctuations in three unrelated realms: urban employment, human gut microbiomes and tropical forests. The model will help economists, ecologists, public health authorities and others predict and respond to variability in multiple domains, the researchers say. The new findings are detailed in the...
2023-09-27 - Representatives from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign broke ground Wednesday, Sept. 27, 2023, on a state-of-the-art greenhouse in the Research Park. The planned greenhouse will support the Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation (CABBI), which is led by Illinois Professor Andrew Leakey and nearly 60 other investigators across the country. CABBI is a $252.5M U.S....
2023-09-18 - Dr. Andy Suarez spoke with Book Club Chicago about the recent increased activity of flying ants in the Chicago area. The sudden onslaught of flying ants likely means the tiny winged creatures were having their annual “nuptial flight." BEVERLY — Morgan Park resident Tim Blackburn was enjoying a lovely picnic with his family last weekend when they were swarmed by hundreds of unexpected...
2023-08-31 - Four SIB professors are participating in the Team Science Leadership Program offered by the IGB this fall. The Team Science Leadership Program is a new program being offered by the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, consisting of a series of workshops that bring together faculty from all over campus. The workshops are tailored to mid-career faculty, and focus on leadership...
2023-08-31 - URBANA, Ill. — Artificial roosts for bats come in many forms — bat boxes, condos, bark mimics, clay roosts, and cinder block structures, to name a few — but a new conservation practice and policy article from researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign suggests the structures haven’t been studied rigorously enough and may harm...
2023-08-31 - The College of LAS has announced 33 faculty promotions to take effect during the fall semester. The promotions include 15 faculty members who were promoted from associate professor to professor; 13 who were promoted from assistant professor to associate professor; and five who received specialized faculty promotions. “We are proud to grant these well-deserved promotions to our faculty members,”...
2023-08-31 - A five-year study at the University of Illinois Energy Farm found applying ground-up silicate rock to Midwestern farm fields can capture significant amounts of carbon dioxide and prevent it from accumulating in the atmosphere. Working with Eion Corp., researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the Leverhulme Centre for Climate Change Mitigation (LC3M) developed a new method...
2023-08-25 - Paleobotanists at the University of Illinois understand one thing better than perhaps anyone in the world: Studying coal balls is a long-term commitment. The late plant biologist Tom Phillips began hauling the prehistoric objects out of the ground more than a half-century ago and filled a warehouse with tens of thousands of them. He passed away in 2018, but the coal balls have revealed only a...
2023-06-29 - A new report reveals that U.S. beekeepers lost roughly half of the honey bees they managed last year. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign entomology professor Adam Dolezal, who...
2023-06-28 - The University of Illinois hosted the special event “Feeding a Heating Planet” — the third and final edition of the PBS NewsHour series “Tipping Point: Agriculture on the Brink” on May 24, 2023. During the 90-minute livestreamed event, Emmy-award-winning science journalist and...
2023-06-27 - More than four decades ago, field ecologists set out to quantify the diversity of trees on a forested plot on Barro Colorado Island in Panama, one of the most intensively studied tracts of forest on the planet. They began counting every tree with a trunk wider than a centimeter. They identified the species, measured the trunks and calculated the biomass of each individual. They put ladders up...
2023-06-08 - Like many ecological scientists, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign plant biology professor James O’Dwyer has spent much of his career searching for ways to measure and predict how specific plant communities will fare over time. Which species in a diverse population will persist and coexist? Which will decline? What factors...
2023-06-06 - I am walking in a forest and listening to a concert of birdsong at dawn. I pick one song out of the chorus – a fast chatter full of melodious whistles – the sound of the sooty ant tanager. “Today, we will probably get to know this bird up close,” I think. My colleagues and I set up and open our mist nets. Now we are ready to document and study the avian wonders of this corner of the world. We...