Thursday, April 12, 2012
Five University faculty members have received the 2012 Faculty Scholar Medals for Outstanding Achievement. They are Michael Berube, Paterno Family Professor of American Literature in the College of the Liberal Arts, the arts and humanities medal; Venkatraman Gopalan, professor of materials science and engineering in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, the engineering medal; John McCarthy, professor of sociology in the College of the Liberal Arts, the social and behavioral sciences medal; Eric Post, professor of biology in the Eberly College of Science, the life and health sciences medal; and Raymond Schaak, professor of chemistry in the Eberly College of Science, the physical sciences medal. Established in 1980, the award recognizes scholarly or creative excellence represented by a single contribution or a series of contributions around a coherent theme. A committee of peers reviews nominations and selects candidates. (more)
Friday, December 03, 2010
Conservation and international aid groups may be on the wrong course to address the havoc wreaked on tropical rainforests by climate change, according to a commentary co-authored by Penn State Professor of Biology Eric Post appearing in the journal Nature on Dec. 2. "Most of the world's terrestrial biodiversity is contained in tropical rainforests, and climate change is looming ever larger as one of the major threats to these ecosystems, but how humans deal with climate change may be even more important," said Penn State Professor of Biology Eric Post, one of the letter's authors. (more)
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
One of the first-ever analyses of the effects of global warming on endangered primates has examined how El Nino warming has affected the abundance of four highly threatened New World monkeys. All four monkey species showed drops in abundance relating to large-scale climate fluctuations. The study suggests that the consequences of intensified climate fluctuations could be devastating for several primate species. (more)
Monday, August 18, 2008
The impact of global warming in the Arctic may differ from the predictions of computer models of the region, according to a pair of Penn State biologists. The team -- which includes Eric Post, a Penn State associate professor of biology, and Christian Pederson, a Penn State graduate student -- has shown that grazing animals will play a key role in reducing the anticipated expansion of shrub growth in the region, thus limiting their predicted and beneficial carbon-absorbing effect. The team's results will be published in the online Early Edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences sometime between Aug. 18 and 22. (more)
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
New research shows that plant-eating animals in highly seasonal environments, such as the Arctic, face two climate-related challenges in locating nutritious food. Not only are these animals now arriving at their breeding grounds after the plants there have passed their peak nutritional value but new research reveals that animals also are less able to find good food by moving to locations where plants had been available later in the season, before global warming. The new research will be published May 21 in the online edition of Proceedings of the Royal Society B. (more)
