This past summer, CGRER members were asked to share a single way in which they have addressed global change issues over the past year. Their responses portray the diversity of approaches that are being used to counteract the multiple alterations of our environment. Here are some examples of how professors at the University of Iowa and at Iowa State are addressing global change issues in the laboratory, field, and classroom.

Most are contributing to the knowledge base through their research. For example, Witold Krajewski (Iowa Institute of Hydraulic Research, UI) has been selected as a science team member of the joint US-Japanese, satellite-based Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission, which is amied at improving understanding of effects of the all-important tropical zone on global circulation and weather patterns. Diane Debinski (Animal Ecology, ISU) initiated a project using remotely sensed data to monitor temporal variation in the montane meadows of Yellowstone National Park, focusing on plant, bird, and butterfly communities. Joe Simeonsson (Chemistry, UI) is developing new analytical methods for the measurement and speciation of arsenic and selenium at "trace" and "ultratrace" levels. Such methods are necessary for understanding alterations in the natural cycling of these trace elements. And Gene Takle (Geological and Atmospheric Sciences, ISU) and Bill Gutowski and Ray Arritt have been instrumental in establishing an Earth Systems Simulation Laboratory at Iowa State, under the Project to Intercompare Regional Climate Simulations. This laboratory, with its ten high-performance work stations and other computer hardware, will prepare ten-year simulations of present and future climate, using three regional models, for the upcoming International Panel on Climate Change's Thrid Assessment Report.

Sharing new understandings with colleagues is equally crucial. Many CGRER members report that they have done so through papers that they published or presented orally. Holmes Semken (Geology, UI) looking at ancient mammal communities, co-authored a paper demonstrating that while the analysis of animal remains collected from archaeological sites is most greatly enfluenced by the site's prehistoric traits and uses, the influence of the ancient environment is also obvious. Dick Baker (Geology, UI) along with CGRER members Art Bettis (Iowa Geological Survey Bureau, DNR, Iowa City), Luis Gonzalez (Geology, UI), Diana Horton (Biological Sciences, UI), Mark Reagan (Geology, UI) and others, authored a major monograph that took a detailed look at past changes in vegetation, climate, and stream hydrology in northeastern Iowa.

These examinations of changes in the distant past help researchers such as George Malanson (Geography, UI) understand the probably responses of plant (and animal) communities to coimate change in the future. Malanson participated in an international workshop on this subject and as a result co-authored an American Scientist article, "Plant Migration and Global Climate Change," and also was appointed Task Leader for Dispersal Modeling on an International Geosphere-Biosphere Program committee.

Other researchers have been examining current changes in the global environment. For example Dale Zimmerman (Statistics and Actuarial Science, UI) presented a paper on statistical methods that allow one to compare maps of environmental contaminants and to assess, with a known level of confidence, the changes in level or distribution of contaminants over time. The paper will appear in the Journal of the American Water Resources Association this fall. Allen Bradley (Iowa Institute of Hydraulic Research, UI) has authored two papers resulting from a CGRER seed grant on the effect of climate variability on extreme rainfall. These papers, submitted to the journals Water Resources Research and the Journal of Hydraulic Engineering, ask whether climate variability has, over time, changed the probability of extreme weather events, as many reports have speculated.

Direct human involvement with environmental change was addressed by Tad Mutersbaugh (Geography, UI) who attended a Mexican conference to present a paper examining why some native Latin American communities protect their forest resources and prohibit timber cutting, while other such communities are unable to prevent uncontrolled logging by wood products companies. At the UI's Public Policy Center, David Forkenbrock and a colleague have developed GIS-based methods to correlate levels of vehicle-generated air pollution with the presence of low income and minority populations. Their work is presented in a book-length monograph that comprehensively addresses the new U.S. Department of Transportation Environmental Justice Order.

Professors are also integrating their insights into the classroom. Diana Horton (Biological Sciences, UI) has added E.O. Wilson's book, The Diverisity of Life, as required reading in both her Systematics and Biogeography courses. Diana considers this book, which explains the importance of preserving biodiversity through a readable presentation of fundamental biological concepts, to be a must for anyone with an interest in the environment and such issues as global change. Mark Reagan (Geology, UI) incorporates global environmental changes over the past 4.5 billion years, as well as present-day effects of greenhouse gasses and CFCs, into his class on Geological Hazards. He also conducts research using U-Th disequilibrium to determine the timing of recent climate change for the midcontinental US.

Burton Kross (Preventive Medicine and Environmental Health, UI) traveled to Slovenia to teach a graduate class on the sources and control of air pollutants associated with global change. While comparing environmental policies for measuring and controlling such pollutants in several European countries and the U.S., he presented Iowa's Greenhouse Gas Action Plan as a case example. And Edgar Fold (Physiology and Biophysics, UI) taught a class Integrative Environmental Physiology to medical students. He covered climate change, natural adaptations to changing climate (acclimatization, habituation, etc.), and aspects of human ecology and evolution that relate to changing environments.

Finally, Paul Greenough (History, UI) placed himself on the receiving end of the learning spectrum when he participated in a study tour of teh Sardar Sarovar dam and associated installations on the Narmada River in western India. There he heard about the social and economic issues of such mega-development projects, which can both instigate and result from large-scale environmental changes. In addition, local environmental experts taught participants about resulting large-scale shifts in agriculture, population, industry, climate, and pollution that slide the weight of development to the "overload" end of the scale. Closer to home, Paul co-coordinated the UI's Global and Environmental Health Task Force that stimulated the formation of CGRER's Climate Change and Human Health seminar held last fall.