Multiscale crop modeling effort required to assess climate change adaptation
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.
ACES graduate sparks interest in nature however she can
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.
Bad-science busters shift keen minds to COVID-19
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.
Hummingbirds show up when tropical trees fall down
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.
Turned-down temperatures boost crops’ penchant for production
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.
New satellite-based algorithm pinpoints crop water use
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.
Corn productivity in real time: Satellites, field cameras, and farmers team up
URBANA, Ill. – University of Illinois scientists, with help from members of the Illinois Corn Growers Association, have developed a new, scalable method for estimating crop productivity in real time. The research, published in Remote Sensing of Environment, combines field measurements, a unique in-field camera network, and high-resolution, high-frequency satellite data, providing highly accurate productivity estimates for crops across Illinois and beyond.
Nine new faculty members join ACES
URBANA, Ill. – The College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois is proud to welcome nine faculty members who have joined since fall semester, 2019. Their expertise will add to the existing strengths in five academic units, as well as University of Illinois Extension, which is housed in the college.
Environmental DNA study successfully detects alligator snapping turtles in southern Illinois
URBANA, Ill. – The prehistoric-looking alligator snapping turtle may be the largest freshwater turtle in North America, but that doesn’t make it easy to spot. The up-to-200-pound armored beasts have only been officially recorded in Illinois 16 times since the late 1800s. But, in a recent study, University of Illinois scientists have demonstrated an effective new method to detect the secretive reptiles in the wild.
Southern Illinois’ Len Small levee likely to fail even if repaired, says University of Illinois study
URBANA, Ill. – Alexander County sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, at the southernmost tip of Illinois. The sparsely populated jurisdiction is perhaps best known for devastating floods resulting from repeated failures of the Len Small levee in 1993, 2011, and 2016. Homes and businesses have been severely damaged, residents stranded, and rich agricultural land irreversibly degraded by sand deposition and erosion.