Researchers Study Stress On Horseshoe Crabs By CBS Connecticut18 May 2013FAIRFIELD, Conn. (AP) — With their spiky, armor-plated shells, they look like miniature tanks mounting a surprise invasion on local beaches — except they have been at it for nearly a half-billion years. But the American horseshoe crab, the homely, humble distant relative of ancient [...]

Historic Nitrate Levels in Des Moines Water Works Source Water By Des Moines Water Works13 May 2013DES MOINES, Iowa (May 13, 2013) – Nitrate levels in Des Moines Water Works’ source water reached historic levels last week, at 24 milligrams per liter (mg/l) in the Raccoon River and 17.87 mg/l in the Des Moines River. [...]

Spring Rains Bring Life to Midwest Granaries but Foster Gulf of Mexico 'Dead Zone' By ScienceDaily9 April 2013 Dead zones form where river water carrying sediment and pollutants meets ocean water of the Gulf. (Credit: NASA Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center) The most serious ongoing water pollution problem in the Gulf of [...]

Cuts would jeopardize dead zone research By Nikki Buskey, Houma Today24 April 2013 Nancy Rabalais, executive director of Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium, explains the workings of an oxygen meter Wednesday at the LUMCON W. J. DeFelice Marine Center in Cocodrie.  Chris Heller/Staff A long-running project aimed at mapping the annual dead zone that forms off [...]

La. agencies to address dead zone nutrients in the Gulf By AMY WOLD, The Advocate11 March 2013Four state agencies have begun work on a plan that will address Louisiana’s contributions to the nutrients that end up in the Gulf of Mexico and help create the “dead zone” of low oxygen that appears every summer. The [...]

'Genius grant' recipient studying Gulf dead zones traces career path from Coastal Bend By By Mark Collette2 December 2012CORPUS CHRISTI — As a student in Port Aransas, Nancy Rabalais never had money, but she always had the sea. "Fish and oysters, crabs — whatever we needed we could always get something to eat somehow," she said. [...]

DEAD ZONE: Runoff from Midwest farms plagues Gulf By Perry Beeman Gannett, theNewsStar.com3 November 2012 CHAUVIN — For shrimpers, crabbers and oystermen who work these waters, locating their harvest has become an increasingly taxing game of hide-and-seek. Nitrates from the fertilizer and manure that Iowa's farmers apply to their fields, mixed with sewage and runoff [...]

Our Views: Rabalais gets genius grant By Opinion, The Advocate, Baton Rouge3 October 2012We congratulate marine ecologist Nancy Rabalais for receiving a MacArthur Foundation “genius grant” in recognition of her important work advancing the preservation of Louisiana’s coastal environment.   The nonprofit MacArthur Foundation awards grants to a select group of artists, scientists and other [...]

Q and A: Tracking a Worrisome Dead Zone By RACHEL NUWER, Green Blog, NY Times15 October 20012 John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur FoundationNancy Rabalais, a marine ecologist who has studied the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico and fostered public awareness of the problem and its causes, in Cocodrie, La. For over a [...]

Louisiana "dead zone" scientist wins $500,000 MacArthur "Genius Grant" By Mark Schleifstein, The Times-Picayune 5 October 2012Each fall, marine ecologist Nancy Rabalais pours a bottle of oxygen-starved water from the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico into an urn at the Unitarian Church of Baton Rouge. It’s part of an annual water rite at the church. Most [...]