Research in the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences stretches from building a better apple to finding out what makes some communities stronger in a crisis. An apple named Juliet not only tastes good but is resistant to apple scab; twenty-five years of data reveal that climate change has affected the red-winged blackbird population; and a study of community emergency response teams showed that rural communities are better equipped to handle disasters.
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From winter storms, to earthquakes, to terrorism -- when a disaster strikes a community, who fares better, a rural community or an urban one? A new study at the University of Illinois attempts to understand the differences in how rural and urban citizens across the US respond to disaster. Preliminary results show that although rural residents may be more directly involved in responding to crisis, their location also makes them more vulnerable.
Global warming strikes again. A University of Illinois researcher reports that a red-winged black bird population in Ontario, Canada has decreased by 50 percent since 1972. The decrease is related to a positive shift in the North Atlantic Oscillation which has resulted in warmer, wetter winters in the southeastern United States.
An apple a day may keep the doctor away, but what keeps the doctor away from the apple? And when that apple is infected with apple scab, the prognosis is grim for the entire tree.