News / Research
Student Research Featured on NPR
Henry DeBey, MESc 2010, [profile] and Sarah Bahan, MESc 2010, are collaborators on a research project in Bonaire. Henry was among the researchers featured in two National Public Radio stories about the project; “Tiny Damselfish May Destroy A Caribbean Reef”…Study: Most Polluted Ecosystems Recoverable
Most polluted or damaged ecosystems worldwide can recover within a lifetime if societies commit to their cleanup or restoration, according to an analysis of 240 independent studies by researchers at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies. Their findings…Survey Finds Americans Lack Consensus on Global Warming
Americans fall into six distinct groups regarding their climate change beliefs, attitudes and behaviors, according to a new report, “Global Warming’s Six Americas,” by researchers at Yale and George Mason universities. The researchers, who surveyed 2,129 American adults last fall,…Americans Support Action on Global Warming Despite Economic Crisis
Contact: Dave DeFusco, Director of Communications, 203 436-4842 New Haven, Conn.—Even in the midst of a growing economic crisis last fall, over 90 percent of Americans said that the United States should act to reduce global warming, according to a…
Americans Eager to Reduce Their Energy Use
Many Americans have already taken action to reduce their energy use and many others would do the same if they could afford to, according to a national survey conducted by Yale and George Mason universities.Americans Willing To Pay More For Eco-Friendly Products
Many Americans, including those who are enduring financial hardship, are willing to pay more for environmentally friendly products, according to a survey conducted by GfK Roper Public Affairs & Media and the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies.
Reducing Carbon Emissions Could Help, Not Harm, U.S. Economy
A national policy to cut carbon emissions by as much as 40 percent over the next 20 years could still result in increased economic growth, according to an interactive website reviewing 25 of the leading economic models being used to…
2008 Doctoral Conference
Friday, February 29, 2008 8:45 am–5:30 pm Bowers Auditorium in Sage Hall 205 Prospect Street 8:45 am Breakfast 9:00 am Welcome, Dr. Gaboury Benoit 9:15 am Environmental Quality and Management Panel Katrina Jessoe Improved Source, Improved Quality?: Demand for Clean…Doctoral Student Publications
Nicole Ardoin Ardoin, N. (In press.). Behavior Change in Free Choice Environmental Learning. In: Free Choice Learning and the Environment, ed. Falk, J, J. Heimlich and S. Foutz. Lanham: AltaMira Press. Powell, R., M. Stern, and N. Ardoin. 2006. A…
Yale Study Offers New Paradigm on Ecosystem Ecology
Predators have considerably more influence than plants over how an ecosystem functions, according to a Yale study published today in Science.Vegetation-Environment Relations of the Chisos Mountains, Big Bend National Park, Texas
Published: USDA Forest Service Proceedings RMRS-P-36. 2005. The Sky Island Archipelagos of the Sierra Madre Oriental and Occidental contain a unique array of endemic flora and fauna. Plant species composition in these elevationally restricted forests is thought to vary in…Variability in Needle Morphology and Water Status of Pinus cembroides across an Elevational Gradient in the Davis Mountains of west Texas, USA
Published: Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society 134(2), 2007, pp. 281-288 The pinyon pines are a widely distributed group of site generalist species that dominate many of the middle to upper elevation semi-arid regions of North America. We investigated the…Native Land Tenure, Conservation, and Development in a Pseudo-Democracy: Sabah, Malaysia
Published: Journal of Peasant Studies, vol. 34, no 3-4, pp. 474-497 This article explores the interacting politics of native customary law, conservation, and rural development in Sabah, Malaysia. Drawing on the specific details of native property rights in a rural…A Hierarchical Approach for Scaling Forest Inventory and Fuels Data from Local to Landscape Scales in the Davis Mountains, Texas, USA
Published: March 12, 2007, Forest Ecology and Management 244 (2007) 1–15 This study combined hierarchical cluster analysis and classification and regression tree algorithms to quantify vegetation and fuel characteristics and to generate spatially explicit vegetation and fuels maps for forest…Environmental Controls on Dominance and Diversity of Woody Plant Species in a Madrean, Sky Island ecosystem, Arizona, USA
Published online: 13 January 2007, Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2007 The Sky Island archipelagos of the Sierra Madre Occidental contain diverse, highly endemic, and topographically complex ecosystems, yet the local and landscape-scale controls on woody plant dominance and diversity patterns…Drought Response of Two Mexican Oak Species, Quercus laceyi and Q. sideroxyla (Fagaceae), in Relation to Elevational Position
Published: American Journal of Botany 94(5): 809–818. 2007. To investigate the relationship between the altitudinal distribution of Quercus laceyi and Q. sideroxyla and their physiological responses to drought, we measured relative water content, water potentials, photosynthesis, stomatal conductance, chlorophyll fluorescence,…Switzerland Tops 2008 Environmental Scorecard at World Economic Forum
Switzerland tops the global list of countries ranked by environmental performance according to the 2008 Environmental Performance Index (EPI) produced by a team of environmental experts at Yale University and Columbia University.
Agriculture Changing Chemistry of Mississippi River
Midwestern farming has injected the equivalent of five Connecticut Rivers and more carbon dioxide annually into the Mississippi River during the past 50 years, according to a study published today in Nature by researchers at Yale and Louisiana State universities.
Plans to Cap Greenhouse Gases Target Fossil Fuels at Their Source
It’s rare when scientists, economists, policy wonks, environmentalists, corporate CEOs, the American public and members of Congress from both parties all want to paddle the ship of state in the same general direction. Just such a blue-moon consensus has formed…Dean's Message: Green By Design
By Dean James Gustave Speth, from the Fall 2007 issue of Environment: Yale magazine. All of us concerned about the environment’s future have known for a long time that we should be doing more in the area of designing positive…
Science of Sustainability Focus of Hawaii Gathering
Marian Chertow [profile], center, associate professor of industrial environmental management at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, discussed her research in industrial ecology at a gathering of Hawaiian business leaders and 40 Yale alumni at the Pacific Club…Punctuating Which Equilibrium? Understanding Thermostatic Policy Dynamics in Pacific Northwest Forestry
A key theme among seminal contributions to policy studies, including Baumgartner and Jones (1993; 2002), Sabatier and Jenkins-Smith (1993), andHall (1989; 1993), is that “external perturbations” outside of the policy subsystem, characterized by some type of societal upheaval, are critical…Can Non-State Global Governance be Legitimate? An Analytical Framework
In the absence of effective national and intergovernmental regulation to ameliorate global environmental and social problems, ‘‘private’’ alternatives have proliferated, including selfregulation, corporate social responsibility, and public–private partnerships. Of the alternatives, ‘‘non-state market driven’’ (NSMD) governance systems deserve greater attention…Turnover in an Amphibian Metacommunity: The Role of Local and Regional Factors
Ecologists have long realized that stable species richness values can mask rapid turnover in species composition. Because turnover occurs as a consequence of both local and regional processes, understanding the responsible factors provides insight on processes influencing community structure at…Amphibian Species Richness Across Environmental Gradients
These results enable us to identify the factors associated with the patterns of amphibian species richness on complex environmental gradients, and pose hypotheses concerning the mechanisms responsible. There was a clear effect of annual variation in hydroperiod on species richness;…The Energy Benefit of Stainless Steel Recycling
The energy used to produce austenitic stainless steel was quantified throughout its entire life cycle for three scenarios: (1) current global operations, (2) 100% recycling, and (3) use of only virgin materials. Data are representative of global average operations in…Evolutionary Responses to Climate Change
In their paper Malcolm et al. (2006) use climate-warming scenarios to estimate up to 43% loss of species within biodiversity hotspots. This prediction is based on a climate-envelope approach that assumes the distribution, and hence extinction, probability of every species…Sampling Strategies for Natural Resources and the Environment
Written by renowned experts in the field, Sampling Strategies for Natural Resources and the Environment covers the sampling techniques used in ecology, forestry, environmental science, and natural resources. The book presents methods to estimate aggregate characteristics on a per unit…Understanding and Reaching Family Forest Owners: Lessons from Social Marketing Research
Social marketing–the use of commercial marketing techniques to effect positive social change–is a promising means by which to develop more effective and efficient outreach, policies, and services for family forest owners.The Philosophy of Qi, The Record of Great Doubts
Kaibara Ekken (1630-1714) was a prominent Japanese scholar who spread Neo-Confucian ideas and moral teachings throughout Japan. He was also known as the "Aristotle of Japan" for his studies of the natural world. Of his many writings, The Record of…The Ailing Invader
The nature of biological invasions prompts researchers to focus on questions of great importance: How far will a nonnative species go? How fast? And what are the consequences to native species? To crops? To us? This perspective had crystallized long…
Arctic River Science
Professor Peter Raymond's [profile] research on organic carbon exported to the Arctic Ocean from arctic rivers is currently featured on the USGS website.More Poor Countries Gain Access to Scientific Research
Contact: Dave DeFusco, Director of Communications, 203-436-4842 November 7, 2007 New Haven, Conn. -- Thirty-six countries have been added to a roster of developing nations that have access to one of the world’s largest collections of environmental science research online.…
Doctoral Student's Research Featured on NPR
Jennifer Balch is part of a research team using experimental burns to study the effects of fire in the transitional forests of Brazil.
Doctoral Students Awards/Fellowships - 2007/2008
Congratulations to our 2007-08 Award and Fellowship recipients.
Majority of Americans Want Local Action on Global Warming
Nearly three in four Americans would pay more for their own city or local government to do more to reduce the heat-trapping gases that cause global warming, according to a new survey.Americans Consider Global Warming an Urgent Threat
Contact: Anthony Leiserowitz, 203-432-4865 September 26, 2007 New Haven, Conn.–Sixty-two percent of respondents to a national survey believe that life on earth will continue without major disruptions only if society takes immediate and drastic action to reduce global warming. Further,…American Opinions on Global Warming: Summary
A Yale University / Gallup / ClearVision Institute Poll Principal Investigator: Dr. Anthony Leiserowitz School of Forestry & Environmental Studies Yale University (203) 432-4865 (ofc) anthony.leiserowitz@yale.edu Executive Summary Overall, a large majority of the American public is personally convinced that…
American Opinions on Global Warming
A Yale University / Gallup / ClearVision Institute Poll Principal Investigator: Dr. Anthony Leiserowitz School of Forestry & Environmental Studies Yale University (203) 432-4865 (ofc) anthony.leiserowitz@yale.edu - Press Release on Survey Results - Executive Summary of Survey Results
Eco-Rating System Created for Land Development
The Land and Natural Development (LAND) Code: Guidelines for Sustainable Land Development, published by John Wiley & Sons, provides architects, engineers, landscape architects, developers and city officials with a science-based rating system that awards either a silver, gold or platinum…Cane Toads Gaining Ground in Australia
The cane toad’s (Bufo marinus) increasing ability to invade Australia is revealed by a dynamically updated range modelAir Pollution Lowers Weight of Newborns
The exposure of pregnant women to air pollution can increase their risk of having low-birth-weight infants, according to a Yale study. Researchers at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies and the Yale School of Medicine found that the…
Stephen Kellert Wins Research Award
Yale professor Stephen Kellert [profile] has won the North American Association for Environmental Education award for “Outstanding Contributions to Research.” Kellert, Tweedy Ordway Professor of Social Ecology at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, will be presented…
