CARBONDALE (Ill.) – A group of students and professors from Southern Illinois University Carbondale (SIU), are exploring how the Mississippi River wetlands can benefit human life and the environment.
Jonathon Remo, Associate Professor in School of Earth Systems and Sustainability, at SIU, says that this study requires more than just students and faculty.
Federal agencies and the NGO community, non-government organizations communities. Remo stated that they were working with the USDA, NRCS and other federal agencies, as well as the natural resource conservation service, the nature conservancy (and the American rivers).
The SIU research group is also made up of different departments from the university. This includes: hydrologist; microbiologist; zoologist; and geologist.
Remo stated that this is important because we were trying to figure out the value of these wetlands/floodplains for nutrient processing.
Remo told me that he has been studying rivers for almost 20 years.
Students and professors are working together to reduce nitrogen pollution in wetlands near the Mississippi River.
Liliana Lefticariu is the Assistant Professor at SIU School of Earth Systems and Sustainability. She believes that seasons play a part in determining how we live.
This is why it is so important to capture natural variability and how it affects the way nutrients are processed within floodplains. Lefticariu said that temperature is another important factor. Different seasons can mean different things.
Researchers are also interested to learn how fertilizers impact the wetlands.
Lefticariu said that flooding is one example.
Lefticariu believes it’s a complex system. She also told me that some nitrogen species could be dangerous for our health.
The main chemical element that is necessary for life is nitrogen. This includes all life forms, including animals and humans. Lefticariu stated that nitrogen can be found in drinking water because of the amount we use to increase agricultural productivity.
Salukis and his team are working to understand how nutrients are processed.
Remo said that this allows us to achieve a better balance between the human demands on the landscape, our rivers, and the natural processes which control or mitigate our lives.
According to the university’s research team, wetlands are five times more effective at reducing nitrogen pollution than the best land-based strategy.
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