Department Homepage
EEB grad Marisol Valverde Montellano spent the summer focused on freshwater soundscapes and species community structure and dynamics with a focus on fishes, primarily through work at the Mamirauá Sustainable Development Reserve in the Brazilian Amazon.
Steph Tran is a second year doctoral student in our department. Steph earned a B.S. in general biology at the University of Texas at Arlington and now studies how organisms adapt to rapid environmental changes in the Gordon Lab. Steph is broadly interested in natural history and how organisms adapt to rapid environmental changes.
EEB's Flecker, McIntyre and Power research programs among six funded by Cornell Atkinson’s annual Academic Venture Fund. Seed funding will support research teams across five colleges and 11 departments, many with external partnerships that strengthen research and speed pathways from innovation to impact.
EEB's chemical ecologist prof, Andre Kessler, makes an argument for plant intelligence in a recent paper in the journal Plant Signaling and Behavior. Goldenrod can perceive other plants nearby without ever touching them, by sensing far-red light ratios reflected off leaves. When goldenrod is eaten by herbivores, it adapts its response based on whether or not another plant is nearby.
EEB prof and CUMV curator Bemis co-authors study with fellow Cornell researchers: Foxes’ sharp snouts penetrate snow during "mousing" with little resistance, minimizing potential tissue damage during headfirst dives. When mousing in snow, the fox’s long snout also allows it to reach its prey earlier, as mice are very sensitive to movements in their environment and can quickly escape.
EEB's research and teaching resource, The Cornell Museum of Vertebrates (CUMV), one of 18 institutions taking part in the oVert (openVertebrate) Thematic Collection Network project: a venture to digitize vertebrate collections in museums and make them freely available online for anyone to access
An avid lepidopterist since childhood, Nabokov was known to spend most of his free time on campus in the Cornell University Insect Collection.
Thirty-one graduate students across three colleges, including A&S, have been awarded research grants from the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability.
EEB's Anurag Agrawal, the James A. Perkins Professor of Environmental Studies helps uncover the ways in which human affairs and natural environments are inevitably and inextricably entangled in Nabokov’s imagination. An avid butterfly collector, Nabokov developed theories, recently proven accurate, about the evolution of a group of butterflies known as the Polyommatus blues. But it was his groundbreaking work in the imperiled habitat of the Karner blue butterfly in upstate New York that has had a lasting impact on environmental legislation and action to this day.
Global climate models and predictions rely on accurate accounting of greenhouse gas emissions and carbon storage, reports EEB assistant prof Meredith Holgerson. Holgerson and her research team are beginning to quantify the significant effects that both human-made and natural ponds have on the global greenhouse gas budget, measurements that aren’t well understood.
CALS Dean and EEB prof Ben Houlton part of UC Davis/Cornell research team: Adding crushed volcanic rock to cropland could play a key role in removing carbon from the air. The process, called rock weathering, can take millions of years — too slow to offset global warming. But by crushing the rock into a fine dust, rock weathering speeds up. The study was published in the journal Environmental Research Communications.
The College hosted a new pre-graduation reception in the Groos Family Atrium of Klarman Hall for December graduates and their families.
In sea fireflies’ underwater ballet, the males sway together in perfect, illuminated synchronization, basking in the blue-like glow of their secreted iridescent mucus.
EEB team from the Lodge Lab reports in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences: the genetic material a species sheds into the environment (eDNA) can reveal not only the presence of the species but also a broad range of information about the genetics of whole populations. The use of eDNA sampling opens new possibilities for protecting endangered and vulnerable species and managing destructive invasive species.
Holgerson Lab joins multidisciplinary team from CALS at EEB's Experimental Ponds Facility to examine how floating solar panels on the research ponds affect the abiotic and biotic parts of water; and how microbes, macroinvertebrates, aquatic plants and fish fare. The three-year project is funded by the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability.
Sudan Kariuki from the Sparks Lab among Cornell graduate student recipients of a Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad award. The Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies – the home of Cornell’s Fulbright program – advises and supports students throughout the application process.
Undergraduate students in scientific field courses often talk about their research with mentors, peers, family and friends and those interactions are important in shaping student views of themselves as scientists, according to research by EEB doctoral student David Esparza from the Smith Lab.
Physicist Carl Wieman will visit campus Sept. 25-29 as an A.D. White Professor-at-Large, working with students and faculty and offering a public talk about his work in science education.
The competitive fellowships send PhD students abroad for up to 12 months to build on their language proficiency, engage with other cultures and complete significant dissertation research on global cultures and societies.
"There is something truly special about on-campus field courses."
The Cornell-led team will conduct studies at two sites – in Hubbard Brook, New Hampshire, and in the Arnot Forest, near Ithaca – to gain a better understanding of the nitrogen cycle.
EEB prof and CALS Dean, Ben Houlton leads new study: state-of-the-art agricultural technology and management can not only reduce that growth, but eliminate it altogether by generating net negative emissions – reducing more greenhouse gas than food systems add. In fact, employing additional agricultural technology could result in more than 13 billion tons of net negative greenhouse gas emissions each year.
Senior author and EEB assistant prof Meredith Holgerson reports: Pond emission measurements improve climate predictions. This new study measures methane and carbon dioxide emissions from 30 small lakes and ponds (one acre or less) in temperate areas of Europe and North America, revealing that the smallest and shallowest bodies of water exhibit the greatest variability over time.
New study published by EEB's Moeller Lab finds that hundreds of bacterial groups have evolved in the guts of primate species over millions of years, but humans have lost close to half of these symbiotic bacteria. Strikingly, the results showed that these ancestral symbionts are being lost rapidly from the human lineage.
Ethan Duvall is a doctoral candidate in ecology and evolutionary biology from North Bend, Washington state. He attended Western Washington University in Bellingham, Washington, and now studies how wildlife populations respond to human impacts on ecosystems under the guidance of Alex Flecker at Cornell.
The Clark Lab project: "Developing an endangered equid as an integrative model for understanding species persistence and extinction," among projects awarded as part of the College of Arts and Sciences New Frontier Grant program. The projects span across the sciences, social sciences and humanities in this latest round, for novel investigations ranging from quantum computing to foreign policy development and from heritage forensics to effects of climate change.
On May 16, several Arts and Sciences affiliated graduate students were among those honored for leadership and commitment to diversity, inclusion, outreach, and student engagement.
This summer, 101 students in the College of Arts and Sciences will take part in groundbreaking research on campus with 61 faculty as part of the Nexus Scholars Program. For many of these students, this will be their first research opportunity and they’ll work on projects with faculty across the college – in the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences and mathematics.
A&S faculty members will delve into questions ranging from quantum computing to foreign policy development and from heritage forensics to effects of climate change.
This summer, 101 students in the College of Arts and Sciences will take part in groundbreaking research on campus with 61 faculty as part of the Nexus Scholars Program.
EEB graduate student Ethan Duvall lead author in new study: The mutually beneficial relationship is described in “A Win-Win Between Farmers and an Apex Predator: Investigating the Relationship Between Bald Eagles and Dairy Farms,” which published March 10 in the journal Ecosphere.
EEB assistant professor Leslie Babonis et al., report: Single-cell atavism reveals an ancient mechanism of cell type diversification in the sea anemone, Nematostella vectensis when disabling a gene, called NvSox2 -- this causes a transition from a piercing cell, to a sticky, ensnaring cell.
EEB prof emerita Drew Harvell is among 12 Cornell faculty elected fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world’s largest general scientific society. Harvell was honored for distinguished contributions to the fields of ecology and oceanography, particularly for increasing our understanding of disease resistance in marine invertebrates and impacts of climate change, and communicating these findings in award-winning books, including 2019’s “Ocean Outbreak.”
EEB and MBG prof Andrew Clark's Lab and collaborators investigate the expression of genes related to the fruit fly circadian clock: The findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could help explain how this protein, called sex peptide, alters the female’s behavior.
“This one gene controls a switch between two alternative cell fates," said Professor Leslie Babonis.
Lovette Lab postdoc and co-author Benjamin Van Doren collaborates to develop new computer model: BirdFlow will predict migratory bird movement giving new insights into migration timing, stopover sites, response to climate change, and light pollution, as it learns the patterns and variations in movement for individual species.
An interdisciplinary collaboration used tree ring and isotope records to pinpoint a likely culprit: three straight years of severe drought in an already dry period.
New York’s Climate Action Council member Prof Howarth advises state senators in drafting the Climate Action Council Final Scoping Plan which will serve as the blueprint to implement the groundbreaking New York State Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) – the state’s key environmental law for mitigating climate change.
A paper by Cornell researchers suggests maslins have the unique capacity to adapt in real time to extreme weather.
Professor emerita, Drew Harvell one of seven U.S. researchers named 2023 U.S. Science Envoys by the Department of State, in partnership with the nonprofit Meridian International Center. The U.S. Science Envoys will engage internationally at the citizen and government levels to enhance relationships between other nations and the United States, develop partnerships and improve collaboration.
A longitudinal study of course participants connects participation with higher rates of publications and faculty positions.
Butterfly wing patterns have a basic plan to them, which is manipulated by non-coding regulatory DNA to create the diversity of wings seen in different species, according to new research. New study explains how DNA that sits between genes – called ‘junk’ DNA or non-coding regulatory DNA.
Cornell is one of nine universities worldwide selected to join the Schmidt AI in Science Postdoctoral Fellowship, a program of Schmidt Futures, to accelerate the next scientific revolution by applying AI to research in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
The rock dust project is one of several “smart carbon capture” studies being led by scientists in CALS that not only address the existential threat of a changing climate, but also support farmers, human nutrition, wildlife and more. “The only way to address the climate crisis is to develop holistic solutions that also create co-benefits, especially for industry, landowners and farmers who are critical allies in this fight,” says Houlton.
Benjamin Z. Houlton, the Ronald P. Lynch Dean, has announced the appointment of Corrie S. Moreau as the inaugural senior associate dean of diversity and inclusion for CALS. Her three-year appointment is effective Jan. 2, 2023, and will run through Dec. 31, 2025.
The minor is distinctive in including courses from many disciplines, from across Cornell’s schools and colleges.
The program matches undergraduate students with summer opportunities to work side by side with faculty from across the College.
The Howarth Lab will develop tools to help New York governments consistently estimate greenhouse gas emissions as part of the 2030 Project: A Cornell Climate Initiative, which is mobilizing faculty to develop and accelerate tangible solutions to a warming world.
This semester our department welcomed new faculty members Swanne Gordon and Andrés López-Sepulcre helping to advance our department's commitment to pursuing purpose-driven science while promoting diversity and inclusion initiatives.
EEB associate prof Vitousek co-authors study: In an adaptation to climate change, tree swallows have become smaller over the last three decades, an ongoing study based in Tompkins County has found.