The Ever-Shifting River
John Spencer Grant recipient and National Geographic Explorer Anuja Mital works to understand how turtles move across the dynamic Brahmaputra River valley.
Study: People are altering decomposition rates in waterways
A new study co-authored by RBC Associate Director Krista Capps and Affiliate J.P. Schmidt gathered data from 550 rivers across 40 countries and found that human intervention increases the rate of decomposition of plant matter, depriving freshwater life of food at a faster rate than usual, as well as potentially exacerbating climate change.
Imperiled frogs are dying off at alarming rates. Here’s what researchers know.
As the longleaf pine ecosystem becomes smaller and wildlife populations become more isolated, amphibians face many challenges. Among these are disease and habitat fragmentation, which are more relevant now than ever. Since April of this year, frogs that rely on these wetlands have been dying at alarming rates in some regions. The amphibian infection and mortality event appears to be widespread, according to University of Georgia researchers and their collaborators.
RBC affiliates team up to explore federal freshwater policy
All scientific research is collaborative, but this group of River Basin Center affiliates exemplified why interdisciplinary work is so important- with compelling results for freshwater policy. The Odum School of Ecology’s Rosemond Lab teamed up with policy experts to evaluate the efficacy of policies to reduce nutrient pollution.
Q&A with RBC intern Gabriel Stephenson
Gabriel Stephenson is a first-year student pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Ecology and a minor in Film Studies. He’s working as a communications intern for the River Basin Center this semester and is excited to be a part of this community!
What it means to be a researcher: Water science and community connections in rural Brazil
Plenty of scientists leave their comfort zone for research, but few relocate to another continent— anthropology graduate student Cydney Seigerman has done it twice. In 2014, they worked as a Fulbright Teaching Assistant in Madrid, Spain. Today, they live in the small city of Quixeramobim in Ceará, Brazil, and have been working there since August […]
Alumni, students, water equity experts gather for River Basin Center Policy Symposium and Celebration
From Sept. 16 to 17, over 100 people gathered in person and online to hear from experts in water policy, to celebrate the career of Laurie Fowler—former River Basin Center director of policy—and to brainstorm the future of UGA’s Environmental Practicum. Na’Taki Osborne Jelks of Spelman College, Linda Mendez-Barrientos of the University of Denver and […]
Burning questions: The mysteries of pyrogenic carbon and the effects of prescribed fire on soil
When you think of a forest on fire, you aren’t usually thinking about what’s happening in the soil- but graduate student Ali Moss is. The Spencer Research Grant winner and Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources student’s research investigates the relationship between prescribed fire and carbon cycling, specifically studying an organic material known as […]
A Day in the Life of a Pond: Measuring Small-Reservoir Emissions to Inform Infrastructure Decisions
By 7:45 a.m. on Tuesday, June 21, Laura Naslund had already spent over an hour in a canoe on a little pond on the east side of Athens, Georgia. Naslund, a graduate student in the Odum School of Ecology and a 2022 Spencer Grant recipient, was finishing up the first field sampling event of her […]
On Stream Warming and Food Chains: RBC Undergraduates present at UGA CURO Symposium
Olivia Allen and Ally Whiteis, undergraduate students in the Odum School of Ecology (and working with doctoral students Nathan Tomczyk and Carolyn Cummins) presented their research results at the UGA CURO symposium on April 4th. Both students found that stream organisms and food resources changed due to streamwater warming. Their experiments ranged from field measurements […]