Faculty:
Robert Denno, William Lamp, Margaret Palmer
Description of Focus Area:
Insects function as vital components of freshwater and estuarine ecosystems,
serving critical roles in organic matter processing, herbivory of micro-
and macrophytes, predation of invertebrates and vertebrates, and as food
for higher trophic levels. As a consequence, species of aquatic and semi-aquatic
insects are valuable to researchers as model systems to study insect
population and community ecology, as well as to study the functioning
of aquatic ecosystems. Because individual taxa of aquatic insects respond
differently to physical and chemical conditions of freshwater habitats,
they are commonly used as biological indicators of environmental stresses
caused by humans and as measures of restoration efforts. In addition,
many species of aquatic insects are important pests, such as mosquitoes
and black flies, and others are the focus of conservation efforts.
The University’s location near the Chesapeake Bay creates many opportunities
for research and courses that contribute to our understanding of what controls
the health of such watersheds and their tributaries. The coastal fringe
comprises less than one-fifth of the contiguous United States land but
accounts for over one-half of the nation's population and housing supply.
This development has led to complex environmental problems in our waterways
and the Chesapeake Bay watersheds are no exception. Many faculty at the
University of Maryland have large research programs with the aim to understand
the interplay of complex social and environmental factors that influence
the Bay’s health. In the Department of Entomology, Dr. Denno has
an extensive research program based in marsh grass systems while Drs. Lamp
and Palmer work throughout sub-watersheds of the Bay (freshwater tributaries)
from the Coastal Plains to the upper Piedmont.
Maryland’s waterways are crucial to the economic and ecological vitality
of the region, yet their health is currently threatened to a staggering
degree. Restoration of these ecosystems is therefore being emphasized and
receiving enormous financial support. Both the development of restoration
ecology as science and the success of restoration projects depend on linking
the practice with the science. Many thousands of stream restoration activities
take place annually, only a fraction of which benefit from the combined
insights of practitioners and scientists. Restoration ecology – including
work on the Chesapeake Bay tributaries and marshes – is an area of
active work among this group of faculty. For example, the home base for
the National River Restoration Science Synthesis project – a joint
effort between academic scientists and the conservation organization American
Rivers – is at the University of Maryland.
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