Press Releases

Media Contact:
Amy Pelsinsky
apelsinsky@umces.edu
410-330-1389

FROSTBURG, MD (May 16, 2013)—Dr. Keith Eshleman, a professor at the Appalachian Laboratory and an expert in the field of watershed hydrology, has been honored by the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science with the President's Award for Excellence in Application of Science. Eshleman was recognized for his leadership in preparing a landmark report on best management practices for unconventional natural gas extraction, also known as fracking, as part of the Marcellus Shale Safe Drilling Initiative established by Governor Martin O'Malley. 

CENTREVILLE, MD (May 16, 2013)—This Friday, students from Queen Anne’s County High School will kick off a two-year environmental science project that spans the globe. The Eastern Shore high school is one of eight schools in the country that will be working with a sister school in Australia to learn about the sustainability of local water cycles as part of the U.S.-Australia Virtual Environmental Partnership, a U.S. State Department program designed to promote science education and raise awareness of environmental issues.

FROSTBURG, MD (April 25, 2013) – In honor of outstanding contributions to environmental education in Western Maryland, the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science's Appalachian Laboratory has selected the Forestry Technology Program at Allegany College as recipient of its 2013 Richard A. Johnson Environmental Education Award. Beginning with eight students in 1968, the program has grown to produce 580 graduates who are helping to manage our natural resources, as well as making contributions to the health of our urban forests.

FROSTBURG, MD (April 16, 2013) – What do woolly mammoths wandering around the ancient spruce woodlands of eastern North America have to do with predicting how species could respond to climate change? Matt Fitzpatrick of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science's Appalachian Laboratory, along with researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of California-Merced, have received a three-year, $670,000 award from the National Science Foundation to study how plants and animals responded to changes in climate during the ice age to better predict what we can expect in the near future. 

FROSTBURG, MD (March 7, 2013)—Prairie dogs pull up stakes and look for a new place to live when all their close kin have disappeared from their home territory--a striking pattern of dispersal that has not been observed for any other species. This is according to a new study published in Science by behavioral ecologist John Hoogland, Professor at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science's Appalachian Laboratory. He has been studying the ecology and social behavior of prairie dogs in national parks in Arizona, South Dakota, and Utah for the last 40 years.

FROSTBURG, MD (March 1, 2013)--The American chestnut once towered over the forest. Known as the redwood of the East, it dominated the landscape from Maine to Florida until its populations were decimated in the early 1900s by a non-native fungus called chestnut blight. Now, the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science's Appalachian Laboratory and the American Chestnut Foundation are working with western Maryland residents to "crack the code" to re-establish American chestnut trees.

Citizen scientists invited to help monitor changes in forests

FROSTBURG, MD (January 28, 2013)--Since the climate began warming at the end of the last Ice Age, trees have had thousands of years to adapt to a warmer climate. But how will forests adapt to the rapid pace of current climate change? The National Science Foundation has awarded a $1.5 million grant to Drs. Stephen KellerAndrew Elmore,Matthew FitzpatrickDavid Nelson, and Cathlyn Stylinski from the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science's Appalachian Laboratory to study climate adaptation in forest trees and predict the areas where trees are most and least adapted to changing climates in the future.

COLLEGE PARK, MD (November 29, 2012)--Marine research leader and policy analyst Dr. Fredrika Moser has been named director of Maryland Sea Grant College following more than a decade of service to the program as its assistant director for research and, since 2011, as its interim director.

SOLOMONS, MD (December 17, 2012)—Millions of tiny Atlantic menhaden swim in the Chesapeake Bay and are the favorite menu item of prized rockfish. They are also the heart of a major fish oil industry on the East Coast. However, their numbers have been declining.

BALTIMORE, MD (December 3, 2012)— Probiotics like those found in yogurt are not only good for people--they are also good for fish. A new study by scientists at the Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology found that feeding probiotics to baby zebrafish accelerated their development and increased their chances of survival into adulthood.

More than 880 million oyster spat add to Bay restoration effort

CAMBRIDGE, MD (October 4, 2012) —The Horn Point Laboratory Oyster Hatchery of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science produced a record number of oysters in 2012 as part of its efforts for the restoration of Chesapeake Bay. In partnership with the Oyster Recovery Partnership and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, the Horn Point Hatchery produced more than 880 million oyster spat (young oysters that are attached to a larger oyster shell) this year. This is the fifth year in a row that production has exceeded half a billion.

BALTIMORE, MD (September 6, 2012)—A new study shows that when enough bacteria get together in one place, they can make a collective decision to grow an appendage and swim away. This type of behavior has been seen for the first time in marine sponges, and could lead to an understanding of how to break up harmful bacterial biofilms, such as plaque on teeth or those found on internal medical devices like artificial heart valves.