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UT professor to discuss impact of COVID-19 on ecology, evolution

Posted at 11:20 pm September 30, 2020
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

Nina Fefferman

A University of Tennessee professor will discuss the effects of COVID-19 on ecology and evolution during an online presentation on Tuesday.

Nina Fefferman will be the speaker at the League of Women Voters event. Fefferman is a professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and the Department of Mathematics at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

Fefferman is the associate director of UT’s One Health Initiative, and she is a member of the Covid-19 Outbreak Response Experts (CORE-19) at UT.

The principle investigator at the Fefferman Lab at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville since 2008, Fefferman focuses on disease in the human population and how disease and disease-related behavioral ecology can affect the short-term survival and long-term evolutionary success of a population during and after a pandemic, a press release said. She has done extensive work with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on pandemic preparedness and has drawn on her expertise to develop models to shape policy to keep populations safe during and after pandemics.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Community, COVID-19, Health, Top Stories Tagged With: COVID-19, ecology, evolution, League of Women Voters of Oak Ridge, Lunch with the League, Nina Fefferman, University of Tennessee

DOE: National labs, including ORNL, helped found study of ecology

Posted at 7:27 pm August 6, 2017
By Oak Ridge Today Staff 2 Comments

Ecologist Dan Nelson hauling in a gill net as part of the fish population survey of the Clinch River Study. (Photo by Oak Ridge National Laboratory via U.S. Department of Energy)

Ecologist Dan Nelson hauling in a gill net as part of the fish population survey of the Clinch River Study. (Photo by Oak Ridge National Laboratory via U.S. Department of Energy)

 

Researchers at federal sites such as Oak Ridge National Laboratory first developed many of the concepts and tools that ecologists still use today, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

“The study of ecology is likely to evoke images of recycling signs or the ‘blue marble’ Earth from space associated with the environmental movement of the 1960s,” the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science said in an article published online on June 28. “But in reality, ecology as a field largely developed to meet the need to monitor radioactive contamination in the Atomic Age.”

The federal government had a major knowledge gap after World War II, according to the article, which was written by Shannon Brescher Shea, senior writer/editor in DOE’s Office of Science. Specifically, the United States government needed to know more about the consequences of nuclear weapons use and production, from the effects of fallout to waste disposal.

The Atomic Energy Commission’s national laboratories were logical places to answer these questions, the article said. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Front Page News, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Top Stories, U.S. Department of Energy Tagged With: AEC, Atomic Energy Commission, Dan Nelson, DOE, ecology, fallout, Jerry Olson, nuclear weapons use, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Office of Science, Orlando Park, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, radiation, radioactive materials, radioactivity, radioecology, Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, Shannon Brescher Shea, Stanley Auerbach, U.S. Department of Energy, waste disposal

ORNL researcher to discuss stream ecology research on Tuesday

Posted at 10:04 pm January 2, 2017
By Sandra Goss Leave a Comment

Natalie Griffiths

Natalie Griffiths (Submitted photo)

Oak Ridge National Laboratory researcher Natalie Griffiths will talk about stream ecology research she’s been involved in and the lessons to be learned from her research at the upcoming Emory River Watershed Association, or ERWA, Annual Meeting on Tuesday, January 3, at the Obed Wild and Scenic River Visitor Center.

The 6 p.m. meeting will also feature a report on the Crooked Fork project by Mike Sale. There is no charge for attending the meeting, and there will be a potluck supper. ERWA will provide sandwiches and beverages, plates, etc., a press release said. There will be a silent dessert auction. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Community, Front Page News, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy Tagged With: Crooked Fork project, ecology, Emory River Watershed Association, ERWA, Mike Sale, Natalie Griffiths, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Obed Wild and Scenic River Visitor Center, ORNL, Sandra Goss, water quality

Science: Warming could cause great loss of Great Barrier Reef corals

Posted at 5:18 pm January 25, 2015
By University of Tennessee Leave a Comment

Coral Reef

The coverage of living corals on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef could decline to less than 10 percent if ocean warming continues, according to a new study. (Photo credit: Catlin Seaview Survey/Underwater Earth)

 

KNOXVILLE—Living corals covering Australia’s Great Barrier Reef could decline to less than 10 percent if ocean warming continues, according to a new study that explores the short- and long-term consequences of environmental changes to the reef.

The study was done by an international team of ecologists at the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis, or NIMBioS, at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. It is available pre-print online in the journal Ecology at http://bit.ly/1JmaLk0.

Environmental change has caused the loss of more than half the world’s reef-building corals. Coral cover, a measure of the percentage of the seafloor covered by living coral, is now just 10-20 percent worldwide. The Great Barrier Reef, once considered one of the more pristine global reef systems, has lost half its coral cover in the last 27 years. Overfishing, coastal pollution, and increased greenhouse gas emissions leading to increased temperatures and ocean acidification, as well as other human impacts, are all disrupting the delicate balance maintained in coral reef ecosystems. [Read more…]

Filed Under: College, Education, Science Tagged With: coral cover, coral reef, corals, ecology, environmental change, global warming, Great Barrier Reef, James Cook University, Jennifer K. Cooper, John Bruno, Matthew Spencer, National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis, National Science Foundation, NIMBioS, ocean temperature, ocean warming, Queensland, University of North Carolina, University of Tennessee

Roane State faculty members plan record-breaking underwater stay

Posted at 5:50 pm February 7, 2014
By Roane State Community College Leave a Comment

Jessica Fain Diving

Jessica Fain, an adjunct instructor at Roane State Community College, emerges from the moon pool at Jules’ Undersea Lodge. Fain has logged more than 100 hours in underwater habitats and labs. (Photos courtesy RSCC)

HARRIMAN—Two Roane State Community College faculty members plan to live and work under the surface of the sea for 72 days this fall.

While underwater, associate professor of biology Bruce Cantrell and adjunct instructor Jessica Fain will offer the most unique educational experience in the college’s history and raise awareness of issues affecting the oceans. During their stay, Cantrell and Fain will also set a world record for the longest time spent living underwater.

Roane State and the Marine Resources Development Foundation in Key Largo, Fla., are partnering on the Classroom Under the Sea project. Cantrell and Fain plan to start their underwater adventure Oct. 4 and resurface on Dec. 15. They will live in Jules’ Undersea Lodge, which is in the lagoon at the Marine Resources Development Foundation’s facilities.

“Roane State professors have taught in a variety of locations as part of our mission to bring higher education to the communities we serve,” Roane State President Chris Whaley said. “What Bruce and Jessica are planning is certainly new territory. While their project is unique, their expertise, spirit of adventure and passion for teaching are representative of what make community colleges so special.” [Read more…]

Filed Under: College, Education, Education, Slider, Top Stories Tagged With: biology, Bruce Cantrell, Chris Whaley, Classroom Under the Sea, coral reefs, diving, ecology, ecosystems, Guiness World Records, Ian Koblick, Jessica Fain, Jules Verne, Jules' Undersea Lodge, La Chalupa, Marine Resources Development Foundation, MarineLab, ocean, Reef Check Foundation, Richard Presley, Roane State Community College, science, scuba diver, sea, underwater, underwater adventure, underwater habitat, world record

UT professor receives more than $880,000 in DOE funding for carbon cycle research

Posted at 11:21 am November 20, 2013
By University of Tennessee Leave a Comment

UT Students Measure Soil Carbon Flux

Doctoral candidate Jessica Bryant, left; Associate Professor Aimee Classen, middle; and University of Tennessee undergraduate student Kelsey Richesin use Li-Cor 6400, a machine that measure carbon flux from soil. (Photo courtesy UT)

KNOXVILLE—Carbon dioxide is key to life on Earth, but too much of the good thing can overheat the Earth’s surface and hurt the very things it supports. Thus, understanding how carbon cycles through the atmosphere is crucial to predicting its effects.

A University of Tennessee professor in Knoxville has received more than $880,000 from the U.S. Department of Energy to investigate often-overlooked carbon cycle players.

Aimee Classen, associate professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, and her team, which includes Oak Ridge National Laboratory staff members, will examine factors that influence carbon cycling below the ground and are not included in today’s carbon-cycle models.

“We know that tiny things that live in soil, like fungi, can regulate carbon processes in forests. However, our current soil models don’t consider what role fungal and plant root activity may play in soil carbon dynamics. Our project aims to fill this knowledge gap,” Classen said. [Read more…]

Filed Under: College, Education, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Science, Top Stories, U.S. Department of Energy Tagged With: Aimee Classen, atmosphere, carbon cycle, carbon cycling, carbon dioxide, Daniel Metcalfe, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Earth, ecology, evolutionary biology, fungi, Gangsheng Wang, Jessica Bryant, Knoxville, Melanie Mayes, mycorrhizae, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, plants, soil, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences Forest Ecology and Management, U.S. Department of Energy, University of Tennessee, UT, W. Mac Post

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Classifieds

Public Notice: NNSA announces no significant impact of Y-12 Development Organization operations at Horizon Center

AVAILABILITY OF THE FINAL ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT FOR THE OFFSITE HOUSING OF THE Y-12 DEVELOPMENT … [Read More...]

ADFAC seeks contractors for five homes

Aid to Distressed Families of Appalachian Counties (ADFAC) is a non-profit community based agency, … [Read More...]

Public notice: Draft environmental assessment for Y-12 Development Organization at Horizon Center

AVAILABILITY OF THE DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT FOR THE OFFSITE HOUSING OF THE Y-12 DEVELOPMENT … [Read More...]

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