The lovely Rappahannock River that flows through Fredericksburg has been a place of recreation, inspiration, and education. Over the years, UMW faculty and students from various UMW departments–from Biology, Earth and Environmental Science, to Geography and Spanish–have partnered with Friends of the Rappahannock (FOR), a local non-profit group whose mission is “to be the voice […]
Some human activities intended for good reason, have terrible effects, particularly with sand-mining. Senior biology major Lauren Chartier studied the effects sand-mining has on soil quality because soil biology, chemistry, and physical structure are key determinants of unique qualities that ultimately determine what can grow there. Chartier analyzed land-use (LU) histories twenty-six years following reclamation […]
Earth and Environmental Sciences student Thanh-Binh Duong has been conducting ecotoxicological research, investigating the occurrence and toxicity of microplastics in freshwater systems. She has researched the presence of microplastics in sediment and water samples collected throughout the Potomac and Rappahannock River, and analyzed the interactive effects of microplastics and organochlorine pesticides on the viability and […]
One of the largest means of producing electricity is through the combustion of coal. Coal ash, its waste product, contains trace metals that can become mobile in the environment. Catherine Crowell, a sophomore majoring in environmental science, examined trace metal contamination within sediment and water samples collected near a coal-burning power station using ICP-OES. Synthetic […]
In recent years the magnitude of the problem of plastics in the marine environment has become increasingly well-known, but less research has been done in freshwater systems. Thomas Bustamante, a junior majoring in biological sciences, examined the gizzards of five species of water fowl, in order to document the presence of plastic particles and identify […]
