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 In the News
WHYY Radio Highlights an Ambitious Project to Barcode the World’s Freshwater Species 
The International Barcode of Life (iBOL) project, which hopes to assemble a DNA sequence library of the world’s species using barcode technology, has appointed Dr. Bernard W. Sweeney, Director of the Stroud™ Water Research Center, to colead its Freshwater Surveillance group. One of iBOL’s ten working groups, each of which is focused on different organisms and environments, the Freshwater Surveillance group is particularly important as freshwater ecosystems are the most threatened by human activity, freshwater species are of particular socio-economic import, and they are also the standard metric used by scientists in environmental assessments such as water quality monitoring. WHYY health and science reporter, Kerry Grens asked Dr. Sweeney to explain the project’s mission and why it matters. The interview, which hit radio airwaves on July 13th and still resides online, features both Sweeney and iBOL’s Scientific Director and Integrative Biology Professor at the University of Guelph, Paul Hebert. Said Sweeney of the project, “Our initial focus will be on macroinvertebrates and fish, mainly because macroinvertebrates and fish are widely used for evaluating water quality throughout streams, rivers, and lakes throughout the world.” Listen to an audio file or read the news brief at:
New Critical Zone Observatory Seeks to Answer Climate Change Questions With data from a new Critical Zone Observatory in the Christina River Basin, scientists are hoping to answer questions about how erosion caused by humans is affecting the carbon cycle and may affect climate change. The $4.3 million grant awarded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to the University of Delaware and Stroud Water Research Center makes this one of six Critical Zone Observatories in United States. Rachel Kipp of The News Journal covered the story at: You can learn more by reading coverage by the University of Delaware’s UDaily: Considering the Role of Inland Waters in the Carbon Cycle and Climate Change Mitigation Strategies In a paper published in the September issue of Nature Geoscience, scientists from Uppsala University in Sweden, the University of Vienna, University of Antwerp, and the Stroud Water Research Center argued that lakes, rivers, streams and wetlands (inland waters) play a significant role in the sequestration, transport and mineralization of organic carbon. Their hope is that the role of fresh waters will be considered by the 192 global leaders who will gather at the December 2009 UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen (COP15) to develop global strategies to mitigate manmade carbon emissions and address climate change. Allan Loudell of WDEL news talk radio interviewed Anthony Aufdenkampe for the story. Read the press release: For more information about Nature Geoscience, go to: http://www.nature.com/ngeo/about_journal.html
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