2008 An Environmental Crossroads

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Global warming clouds our future. Pollution degrades our air, soil and water. Environmental toxins compromise the health of our children. Misuse threatens the sustainability of our forests, fisheries, wetlands and coasts, and the health of species that live there.

But there is reason for hope.

Through sound science and policy research, we're finding answers to these problems. Airborne lead and acid rain have been dramatically reduced. Industrial water pollution has decreased. Habitats are being preserved.

Faculty members from the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences at Duke University are part of the effort to help find these answers and establish new environmental practices and policies to safeguard our natural resources for generations to come.

To contact our experts or learn more about what we're doing in states across the nation, click on the state you're interested in.

Forests & Wetlands
Arkansas, the Natural State, is covered by more than 18 million acres of beautiful, diverse and productive forests. Forest managers must carefully balance economic and environmental concerns to preserve healthy forests for future generations. The state’s wetlands are home to numerous threatened species, and provide important flood and erosion control for communities and ecosystems in the Mississippi floodplain. More than 70 percent of Arkansas’s original forest wetlands have been filled in, logged or developed, making conservation of its remaining wetlands, such as Bayou Meto in Arkansas County, especially important.

Norm Christensen is an expert on forest ecology and sustainable forest management.
tel: (919) 613-8052 e: normc@duke.edu

Research focus: Community ecology. Disturbance and succession. Sustainable forest ecosystem management. Forest fires.

Christensen's research focuses on the effects of disturbance on structure and function of forest populations, communities and ecosystems. Ongoing studies include an analysis of patterns of forest development following cropland abandonment as these are affected by environment, stand history and plant demographic patterns.

James Clark is an expert on forest biodiversity and on the ecology of forests and grasslands.
tel:(919) 613-8036: e: jimclark@duke.edu

Research focus: Ecology of forests and grasslands, especially how they are affected by global climate change. Statistics and population genetics, as they relate to biodiversity.

James Pahl is an expert on wetland ecology and estuarine plants. He has conducted extensive field studies on restored wetland and riparian ecosystems.
tel:(919) 613-8007 : e: jimpahl@duke.edu

Research focus: Pahl’s general academic interests are the influence of both abiotic and biotic factors on the ecology of wetland and estuarine plant communities and how this information can be applied to natural resource management. He has conducted field studies in the Everglades and North Carolina.

Kenneth Reckhow is director of the Center for the Analysis and Prediction of River Basin Environmental Systems.
tel:(919) 613-8026: e: reckhow@duke.edu

Research focus: Reckhow is an expert on water quality assessment and management, risk assessment, water quality modeling and decision analysis.

Recent work by Reckhow and his research team has focused on the assessment of nonpoint source pollution on surface water quality and the development of "Total Maximum Daily Loads" (TMDLs). One current project involves the modeling and assessment of allowable nitrogen loads to the Neuse River estuary in North Carolina in order to achieve compliance with the chlorophyll standard. Reckhow was recently chair of the National Academy of Sciences Committee assessing the scientific basis of the EPA TMDL program.

Curt Richardson studies long-term ecosystem response to large-scale distrurbances such as acid rain, toxic materials, trace metals, flooding or nutrient additions. He is director of the Duke University Wetland Center.
tel: (919) 613-8006 : e: curtr@duke.edu

Research focus: Wetland ecology and restoration. Role of wetlands in water quality, environmental health and flood mitigation. Phosphorus biogeochemistry.