BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The sixth annual Noreen Clough Memorial Scholarships for Females in Fisheries have been awarded to Iowa State University student Madeline Lewis and Noel Schmitz, who is studying at Ohio State University. 

Ecologist Cathy McMullen talks with Charity Nebbe on Iowa Public Radio's Talk of Iowa about wildflowers that bloom in the Iowa woodlands and the state's restoration efforts. Listen to the full audio.

The Iowa State University Office of the Vice President for Research announced Robert Brown and Lisa Schulte Moore will serve as co-directors of the nationally renowned Bioeconomy Institute (BEI).

Brown, Anson Marston Distinguished Professor in Engineering and Gary and Donna Hoover Chair in Mechanical Engineering now serves as BEI Director of Engineering Technologies. Schulte Moore, Professor of Natural Resource Ecology, Director of the Consortium for Cultivating Human and Naturally reGenerative Enterprises (C-CHANGE) and 2021 MacArthur Fellow, is serving in the role of BEI Director of Regenerative Agriculture.

AMES, Iowa — In 2021, Iowa licensed nearly 270,000 anglers, whose pastime is estimated to represent more than $500 million annually in economic activity.  

Michael Weber, associate professor in the Department of Natural Resource Ecology and Management, studies a variety of issues that impact fisheries and success for anglers, with help from dedicated graduate students and state biologists. One component of their research seeks to better understand the factors that influence survival rates of stocked fish.

Among the sought-after game fish that attract anglers to the state’s reservoirs and lakes are Walleye and Muskellunge. As these species do not naturally reproduce in Iowa reservoirs, their existence here depends entirely on the success of stocking.

When students graduate from Iowa State University and enter their careers, they are like birds taking flight. Annie Hatch, senior in animal ecology, has spread her wings in the classroom and on the volleyball court. Her work as a research assistant is pointing her in the direction of where she will fly next.

Growing up in Mesa, Arizona, Hatch’s fascination with wildlife began when she was young – camping in the mountains, going fishing and hunting with her dad, and interacting with nature in the woods. Years later, her interests led her to Iowa State’s animal ecology program when she was being recruited to play volleyball for the university.

AMES, Iowa – Birds captured Adam Janke’s imagination years ago.

Janke recalls how he and his brother fashioned their own makeshift trap to net dark-eyed juncos, a species of small gray sparrow, that visited their mother’s feeder during their childhood in northwestern Indiana. The young brothers built a contraption that resembles a bownet trap, a common device used to safely snare various species of birds.

AMES, Iowa – It looks like the risks are paying off.

Lisa Schulte Moore, a professor of natural resource ecology and management at Iowa State University, has made some unorthodox decisions in pursuit of her vision of agricultural systems that meet the demands of a growing global population while protecting the environment. She’s reached far outside the confines of her discipline to bring new perspectives to long-term problems. She’s led grant applications where all of the funding supported research outside her lab, and she’s taken it upon herself to spend a lot of time on outreach, far beyond the expectations of her appointment.

Finding ways to grow local fruits and vegetables sustainably. Teaching children about agriculture, culinary science, natural resources and more. Learning to collect data to determine animal population numbers in certain locations. These are just a few examples of the many service-learning opportunities in which Iowa State University students take part at the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences’ three satellite campuses. The activities allow students to take what they have learned in the classroom and apply it to real-world situations, all while helping others.

Sixteen miles down a gravel road, surrounded by state and federal lands, in a place where one can hike for five days and not see any roads lies the perfect location for students to gain hands-on learning in the areas of forestry, fisheries and wildlife. And it’s the quintessential spot for outdoors-loving faculty.

ISU Animal Ecology alum Corey Lange, now working as a wildlife biologist for the Bureau of Land Management, was featured in a recent episode of PBS documentary series Outdoor Nevada. In the clip starting at 18:10, Corey talks with series host John Burke about his work in the Big Dune Recreation Area in Nevada and the unique mating season of the local scarab beetle population.

ISU Animal Ecology alum Corey Lange, now working as a wildlife biologist for the Bureau of Land Management, was featured in a recent episode of PBS documentary series Outdoor Nevada. In the clip starting at 18:10, Corey talks with series host John Burke about his work in the Big Dune Recreation Area in Nevada and the unique mating season of the local scarab beetle population.

AMES, Iowa – Lisa Schulte Moore, a professor of natural resource ecology and management at Iowa State University, has been named a 2021 MacArthur Fellow. The prestigious awards, sometimes called “genius grants,” identify scientists, artists, entrepreneurs and others who have demonstrated exceptional creativity and who show promise for important future advances.

Schulte Moore is the first ISU faculty member to receive a MacArthur Fellowship. She's conducted groundbreaking research as a landscape ecologist working closely with farmers to build more sustainable and resilient agricultural systems.

Coady Lundy (’15 animal ecology), wildlife biologist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, provides federal leadership and expertise to resolve wildlife conflicts to allow people and wildlife to coexist. In his role, Lundy specifically serves as the lead wildlife biologist for Seymour Johnson Air Force Base (SJAFB) in Goldsboro, North Carolina, overseeing all Bird Aircraft Strike Hazard mitigation efforts to reduce the risk of bird-aircraft collisions.

Dr. Ann Russell is part of the leadership in the Midwest Big Data Innovation Hub Learning Innovation Fellows program, housed at the University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability. This program enables teams to form for work toward better understanding of the intersections of the Hub’s “Cyberinfrastructure and Data Sharing” and “Data Science Education and Workforce Development” themes.

As fall 2020 approaches, the following plans and guidelines are available for Science II:

Science II Guidelines

Students in this Spring semester's course "Conserving Biodiversity in Urban Regions" took a close at conservation efforts in Polk County.

What they found has been compiled into a comprehensive, interactive presentation within Prezi, covering sites managed by the Polk County Conservation Board, Parks departments in the Des Moines and West Des Moines, and the Iowa Association of Municipal Utilities.

Click here to view their presentation, titled "Where the Wild Things Could Be".

Based on recent recommendations from both the CDC and Governor Reynolds, the decision has been made to cancel this year’s NREM Recognition Banquet. It is unfortunate that we will not be able to honor our students for their achievements but we also want to ensure our NREM and Iowa State community remains safe. I will try to come up with an alternative way of recognizing our scholarship and award recipients. If you have any suggestions, I would very much appreciate receiving them.

Amanda achung@iastate.edu

After consulting with multiple faculty members, including NREM Department Chair Dr. Steve Dinsmore, the NREM Graduate Student Organization has decided to cancel ALL Spring 2020 NREM seminars. This is disappointing news, but this follows to current university restrictions on group gatherings, and we deem this decision to be in the best interests of public health and travel logistics in light of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Sincerely,

Ben West and the NREM GSO

The Iowa Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit at Iowa State University is leading research on two projects focusing on oxbow restorations and the federally endangered Topeka shiner. These projects have provided insight into the habitat preferences and fish assemblage associations of Topeka shiner in oxbows, compared the occurrence and abundance of the species in restored and unrestored oxbows, updated the status of Topeka Shiner in Iowa, and developed GIS tools to identify potential sites of future oxbow restorations within the region.