Tagged: biology

Where the wild things are—on NIU’s campus

Urban ecologist John Vanek has seen (and photographed) it all

  • February 26, 2020
DeKalb, Ill. — If you’re hoping to spot a deer, fox or coyote while strolling through campus at NIU, graduate student John Vanek is your man. While working toward his Ph.D. in…

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Spearheading protection of Malagasy rainforest

Creation of preserve is a dream come true for professors Mitch Irwin and Karen Samonds

  • April 9, 2018
An international nonprofit organization founded by two Northern Illinois University professors and a foreign colleague is now spearheading the creation of a 65,000-acre, high-altitude rainforest preserve in Madagascar. Anthropology professor…

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Fixing damaged ecosystems: How much does restoration help?

Study: Nature can bounce back but full recovery is elusive

  • February 28, 2018
DeKalb, Ill. – Across the globe, billions of dollars are spent annually on repairing ecosystems damaged by people. Forests denuded by logging. Rivers polluted by industry. Grasslands converted to agriculture….

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Reclaiming the prairie

Study finds Nachusa Grasslands restoration is working in the soil, too

  • July 18, 2017
Summer is abloom at Nachusa Grasslands, where the warmth of July is igniting an explosion of color. Purple coneflowers point to the sky. Big bluestem grass sways in the breeze….

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Study examines life history of Midwestern rattlesnake

Scientists show how climate, geography impact endangered Eastern Massasauga

  • February 14, 2017
Most Midwesterners have never encountered a rattlesnake—but the snakes do indeed exist in these parts, though their numbers are dwindling. While you won’t find them slithering along Chicago’s Michigan Avenue,…

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Bird’s-eye view

NIU researchers using drone to study effect of bison return to Nachusa

  • October 12, 2016
The Nachusa Grasslands near Dixon, Ill., just a 45-minute drive from the NIU campus, had a new visitor flying overhead this past summer, but it wasn’t one of the nature preserve’s many…

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Colorful past

NIU biologists help sequence petunia genomes

  • July 12, 2016
Two Northern Illinois University biologists are key members of an international consortium of scientists that has sequenced and analyzed the DNA of two wild varieties of petunia—a four-year effort that…

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