Despite consumer demand, Indiana Christmas tree farms are declining
Hoosier families are finding fewer and fewer options when they visit their local Christmas tree farms to choose the perfect tree for the holidays. That’s because Indiana tree farms are declining — due in part to farmers aging out of their operations, as well as environmental change and the difficulty of growing short-needled varieties that are highly sought after.
A study led by James Farmer, an associate professor in the Indiana University O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, highlights a 40 percent decrease in Indiana Christmas tree farms since 2002. The study found that the decline is likely to continue.
Indiana is also outpacing the national decline of tree farm operations. According to the United States Department of Agriculture’s census that reflects data collected from 2002 to 2017, across the United States there has been a 27 percent decrease in the number of farms harvesting Christmas trees.
“It looks like in the next five years or so, about 17 to 18 percent of the growers that we surveyed in Indiana, which represents the majority of Christmas tree operations in the state, will stop planting trees,” Farmer said.
While the research points to the steady decline in tree farms, consumer demand for real trees is stable. Because of that demand, farmers still in the business are finding it more difficult to provide the trees that consumers want, unless they sell cut trees bought from wholesale growers.
Consumers want short-needle varieties like firs and spruces, but those trees are tougher to grow in Indiana, Farmer said.
“With the climate and the soils, a lot of these trees need to be shipped in from places like Michigan, Pennsylvania and the Carolinas — though it is a little far — in order to meet consumer demand,” Farmer said.
Read the full article here.
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On edge about graduating and entering the real world? Or feeling a little lost entering college? Well this is the event for you! Learn how to better yourself and become a more well rounded individual with covering topics such as cultural awareness, financial literacy, politics and more!
Wednesday, December 4th
7:00 – 8:30pm
IMU Maple Room
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Stress Management Events for Finals Week
It’s almost time for finals! Keep in mind these activities around campus when you get too stressed to study:
- CAPS Online Workshops – Finals Edition
- More information can be found here: https://healthcenter.indiana.edu/docs/F19-CAPS-Online-Workshops-11×17-Poster.pdf
- Strategies to Beat the Finals Stress – 12/12 at 4:30pm and 12/13 at 10:30am
- Tips to Get Ready for Finals – 12/5 at 4:30pm and 12/6 at 10:30am
- More information can be found here: https://healthcenter.indiana.edu/docs/F19-CAPS-Online-Workshops-11×17-Poster.pdf
- Homeopathy & Healing – Come and learn about Latin American indigenous healing practices, make your own self-care kit, practice meditation, and more!
- Tuesday, December 3rd from 7pm to 8pm at La Casa
- Find more information here: https://events.iu.edu/bloomington/view/event/event_id/97660
- Jump Into Finals – Start finals week off right with your chance to try jumping off the highest platform at the SRSC CBAC! Jump into Finals is a FREE event that allows students to make the progression up the platform and take the 33 foot plunge!
- Sunday, December 15th from 7m to 9pm at the SRSC CBAC
- Find more information here: http://recsports.indiana.edu/aquatics/jump-into-finals.php
Find out about these and more finals week opportunities in our December 2019 Newsletter! Just click on the “Newsletters” tab above and find the newest edition.
Comprehensive Website for Summer 2020 Science Programs
*_Undergraduate Students_
*Paid Summer Research Programs — deadlines are fast approaching!
PathwaysToScience.org has a searchable database of 650+ summer research programs in all STEM disciplines. These are all FULLY FUNDED opportunities including programs sponsored by NSF, NASA, NIH, etc. We also have a selection of resources to help you strengthen your applications:
https://pathwaystoscience.org/Undergrads.aspx
If you are considering graduate school, search FULLY FUNDED graduate programs in a variety of disciplines, and view resources on applying:
https://pathwaystoscience.org/Grad.aspx
If you need help finding a program that’s a good fit, please feel free to email me at ldetrick@ibparticipation.org for assistance. You can also follow us on Facebook for program deadlines and updates.
New fossil pushes back physical evidence of insect pollination to 99 million years ago
A new study co-led by researchers in the U.S. and China has pushed back the first-known physical evidence of insect flower pollination to 99 million years ago, during the mid-Cretaceous period.
The revelation is based upon a tumbling flower beetle with pollen on its legs discovered preserved in amber deep inside a mine in northern Myanmar. The fossil comes from the same amber deposit as the first ammonite discovered in amber, which was reported by the same research group earlier this year.
The newly reported fossil is described Nov. 11 in the journal of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The fossil, which contains both the beetle and pollen grains, pushes back the earliest documented instance of insect pollination to a time when pterodactyls still roamed the skies — or about 50 million years earlier than previously thought.
The study’s U.S. co-author is David Dilcher, an emeritus professor in the IU Bloomington College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Earth and Atmospheric Science and a research affiliate of the Indiana Geological and Water Survey. As a paleobotanist studying the earliest flowering plants on Earth, Dilcher has conducted research on the process of amber fossilization.
The co-lead author on the study is Bo Wang, an amber fossil expert at the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, where the specimen was procured and analyzed.
According to Dilcher, who provided a morphological review of the 62 grains of pollen in the amber, the shape and structure of the pollen shows it evolved to spread through contact with insects. These features include the pollen’s size, “ornamentation” and clumping ability.
The grains also likely originated from a flower species in the group eudicots, one of the most common types of flowering plant species, he said.
The pollen was not easy to find. The powdery substance was revealed hidden in the insect’s body hairs under a confocal laser microscopy. The analysis took advantage of the fact that pollen grains glow under fluorescent light, contrasting strongly with the darkness of the insect’s shell.
The insect in the amber is a newly discovered species of beetle, which the study’s authors named Angimordella burmitina. Its role as a pollinator was determined based upon several specialized physical structures, including body shape and pollen-feeding mouthparts. These structures were revealed through an imaging method called X-ray microcomputed tomography, or micro-CT.
“It’s exceedingly rare to find a specimen where both the insect and the pollen are preserved in a single fossil,” Dilcher said. “Aside from the significance as earliest known direct evidence of insect pollination of flowering plants, this specimen perfectly illustrates the cooperative evolution of plants and animals during this time period, during which a true exposition of flowering plants occurred.”
Prior to this study, the earliest physical evidence of insect pollination of flowering plants came from Middle Eocene. The age of the new fossil was determined based upon the age of other known fossils in the same location as the fossilized beetle’s discovery.
Other authors on the study were Tong Bao and Jianguo Li of the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology. Bao is also affiliated with the Institute of Geosciences and Meteorology at the University of Bonn in Germany.
This work was supported in part by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the National Natural Science Foundation of China.
Read the full article here.
Environmental Science Seminar: “Resource Subsidies in the Anthropocene: Lessons from Forests, Frogs, and Fish”
Presentation by:
Available Research Assistant Positions: Spring 2020 onward
The Comparative Cognition Lab is looking for ambitious undergrad research associates to join our team and assist a doctoral student with ongoing behavioral neuroscience research. To learn more about The Comparative Cognition Lab,*check out the summary, website, and latest news features links provided at the end of this announcement.
Fall 2019 African Languages Festival
Join us for an evening of performances in African Languages and Cultures by students of Akan, Bamanankan, KiSwahili, Yoruba, IsiZulu, and Kinyarwanda. North African Food by Swakin Food Truck will be served. This program is organized by the IU African Languages and Cultures Club with sponsorship from IU Funding board.
Friday, November 8th| 5:30pm | Willkie Auditorium (150 North Rose Ave)
Brought to you in part by the African Studies Program, Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies
Attend IU Research Day on Saturday, November 16! Free, and breakfast and lunch are provided
IU Research Day
Saturday, November 16, 9am – 4pm
Cedar Hall, IUB
Join the IU Journal of Undergraduate Research (IUJUR) for our annual Research Day. Research Day provides the opportunity for undergraduate students to engage in a variety of research related workshops, network with researchers and professionals, and learn how to get involved in research. If you’re interested in graduate school, medical school, or the job force, this event will prove valuable, as research is an integral part of all of these career paths. This event benefits undergraduate researchers of all levels and all disciplines to develop as scholars, network with similarly-minded students, gain insight from research professionals, enhance a variety of research-based skills, and more!