CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, Ill. – It’s early evening as I follow the researchers to their work site on the Phillips Tract, just east of Urbana. When we get there, I immediately notice two things: We are standing in a vast grid of prairie plots with neatly mowed paths between them, and there are tents – dozens of dollhouse-sized tents.

URBANA, Ill. – Conventional agriculture relies on the application of phosphorus from fertilizers or animal manure to deliver adequate amounts of the essential element to growing crops for maximum productivity. However, unintended losses of phosphorus from fields to water bodies can impact aquatic ecosystems.

A University of Illinois study reveals soil phosphorus concentrations can vary greatly across a single field translating to sub-field variability of dissolved phosphorus, a readily available form promoting algal production, in tile (artificial subsurface drainage) water.

URBANA, Ill. – Underground tunnels have been used by warriors and smugglers for thousands of years to infiltrate battlegrounds and cross borders. A new analysis published in the Open Journal of Soil Science presents a series of medieval and modern case studies to identify the most restrictive and ideal soil and geologic conditions for tunneling.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Northern bobwhites are attracted to a habitat based on whether other bobwhites are present there, researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign report. This phenomenon, called conspecific attraction, could aid conservation efforts.

Read more from the Illinois News Bureau.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Crop modeling is essential for understanding how to secure the food supply as the planet adapts to climate change. Many current crop models focus on simulating crop growth and yield at the field scale, but lack genetic and physiological data, which may hamper accurate production and environmental impact assessment at larger scales.

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK—While Kate Owen prefers teaching face to face, reaching young students online from Yellowstone National Park during the COVID-19 pandemic still produces the rewarding moments that drive her passion and career.

Besides, who wouldn’t want to learn the history of human/bison interaction or the importance of water quality at the Grand Canyon from Owen? You can see the sparkle in the education technician’s eyes just as clearly on Zoom.

URBANA, Ill. – Twice a week, Ming Kuo’s cheerful face completes a checkerboard of about 30 undergraduate students in an online classroom. They’re meeting for a University of Illinois course called Environmental Social Science Research Methods, but Kuo calls it “Detecting Bad Science.”

The course isn’t normally online, but six weeks into the university's switch to distance learning amid the COVID-19 pandemic, this year is decidedly different. And the course material is, too.

URBANA, Ill. – When the tree fell that October in 2015, the tropical giant didn’t go down alone. Hundreds of neighboring trees went with it, opening a massive 2.5-acre gap in the Panamanian rainforest.

Treefalls happen all the time, but this one just happened to occur in the exact spot where a decades-long ecological study was in progress, giving University of Illinois researchers a rare look into tropical forest dynamics.

URBANA, Ill. – Drought and heat put stress on plants and reduce grain yield. For some farmers, irrigation is the answer. Many of us assume the practice boosts crop yields by delivering soil water, but it turns out irrigation’s cooling effect on crops is important in its own right.

In a recent U.S.-based study, a research team led by University of Illinois scientists discovered 16% of the yield increase from irrigation is attributable to cooling alone.

URBANA, Ill. -- The growing threat of drought and rising water demand have made accurate forecasts of crop water use critical for farmland water management and sustainability. But limitations in existing models and satellite data pose challenges for precise estimates of evapotranspiration — a combination of evaporation from soil and transpiration from plants. The process is complex and difficult to model, and existing remote-sensing data can’t provide accurate, high-resolution information on a daily basis.