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.

Grasslands & Praries
The Cornhusker State has lost 98 percent of the 15 million acres of native tallgrass prairie that once dominated its eastern third. Only about 300,000 acres remain and they are scattered. Owned by a variety of private, public and nonprofit entities, they are managed for a number of different primary goals, from livestock production to environmental education. Many migratory and grassland bird species, now in decline, and a number of state or federally protected wildlife species depend upon these disappearing ecosystems for their survival.

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.

Robert Jackson studies grassland responses to past and future atmospheric carbon dioxide, and ecosystem carbon loss caused by woody plant invasion of grasslands.
tel: (919) 660-7408: e: jackson@duke.edu

Research focus: Ecosystem functioning and feedbacks between global change and the biosphere. Atmospheric science, biodiversity, biogeochemistry, environmental chemistry, global climate change, land use and sprawl, soil science, terrestrial ecosystems, water and air resources.