Rutgers scientists track the decline at New Jersey and Pennsylvania farms asking what’s behind this dramatic trend A dramatic decline in the bee population at fruit farms in New Jersey and Pennsylvania has Rutgers scientists wondering whether it is a natural phenomenon or a warning about a future threat to the world’s food supply. In a study published in the science journal Insect …
Ninth Annual Personal Bioblitz Results Break All Records, Again!
The Personal Bioblitz was launched in 2014 by Lena Struwe, director of the Chrysler Herbarium and professor of botany in the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Natural Resources, challenging participants to observe and report as many wild species as possible from everyday life using the global community science website and free app, iNaturalist. Congratulations to the top winners—every species and person—and to the Personal …
Offshore Wind Farms Expected to Reduce Clam Fishery Revenue, Study Finds
An important East Coast shellfish industry is projected to suffer revenue losses as offshore wind energy develops along the U.S. Northeast and Mid-Atlantic coasts, according to two Rutgers studies. The studies, which appear in the ICES Journal of Marine Science (here and here), examined how offshore wind farms planned for the eastern United States could disrupt fishing of the Atlantic surfclam, a major economic …
Rutgers Launches Citizen-Led Project to Combat Tick-Borne Diseases
The Center for Vector Biology (CVB), part of the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station at Rutgers University-New Brunswick, launched New Jersey Ticks 4 Science!, a citizen-led science project supported by the state that asks New Jerseyans to submit tick specimens they find to help track tick populations and help prevent tick-borne illness. “The purpose of the effort is to better understand who …
Addressing Food Insecurity in New Jersey
By Carol Peters Rutgers University Faculty members and students have contributed to two recent reports that provide recommendations to help to help state and local governments, schools, childcare providers, community-based and faith-based organizations, emergency food providers, and others, to help mitigate hunger across the state. More must be done to alleviate food insecurity in New Jersey, argues a new report, Hunger …
RU COOL Awarded $2.5 Million Funding for New Jersey Offshore Wind Studies
The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) recently announced the award of funding for studies to provide enhanced scientific information on the impacts of offshore wind energy development off New Jersey’s coastline as well as the state’s entry into a regional offshore-wind science collaborative. The development of New Jersey’s offshore wind resources is …
Rutgers Oyster History Preserved!
After longtime Rutgers Haskin Shellfish Research Laboratory (HSRL) associate Walt Canzonier passed away in June 2021, a box containing historic data was returned to the lab. Canzonier had designed and overseen much of the construction of the current lab in Bivalve, NJ, according to professor David Bushek, Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences and director of HSRL. The box contained old weather and tide information …
NOAA Launches New Marine Species Mapping Tool Developed in Collaboration with Rutgers
NOAA Fisheries has launched the Distribution Mapping and Analysis Portal, a new tool developed in collaboration with the Global Change Ecology and Evolution Lab at Rutgers University, to better track the location and movement of marine fish in U.S. waters. An interactive website, this tool reveals that the ranges of many marine species are shifting, expanding and contracting in response to changing ocean …
How You Can Help Mobilize Rutgers for Climate Action
Registration is open for the May 4 event Mobilizing the University for Climate Transformation As Rutgers advances a climate action plan, which includes a university commitment to achieve carbon neutrality by 2040, President Jonathan Holloway and the Office of Climate Action are inviting the university community to help develop and advance equitable climate solutions and to contribute to the decarbonization of Rutgers, New …
New Jersey’s Temperatures Rise by 4 Degrees Fahrenheit, Twice the Global Average Since 1900
Heavy rainfall, flooding, increasing heat waves and heat-related illness are likely to become more common in New Jersey by 2100, according to a report by researchers from Rutgers University-New Brunswick, the Office of the New Jersey State Climatologist and the University of Delaware. State of the Climate: New Jersey 2021 is an annual overview for state and local decision-makers, hazard planning …