Videos: 'Urban Contaminants' and 'Urban Lakes and Streams' Teams
In October 2023, the University of Minnesota College of Biological Sciences produced videos highlighting the work of our 'Urban Contaminants' and 'Urban Lakes and Streams' grad students and postdocs - including Lindsey Kemmerling, Natalia Mossmann Koch, and Katie Polik. You can finds the original post here.
Investigating Urban Butterflies: A Closer Look at Butterfly Tolerance to Heavy Metal Pollution
MSP LTER postdoc Lindsey Kemmerling discusses her work with the Urban Contaminants team, which maps the presence--and investigates the impacts--of toxins like heavy metals throughout the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. Here, Lindsey explains how heavy metals affect insects like butterflies--and how tracking those effects reflect larger public health impacts in the area.
Check out this lead exposure map from the Minnesota Department of Public Health.
Other notes on heavy metal contaminants from the Minnesota Department of Public Health can be found here.
Investigating Urban Air Quality: Using Lichens as Inexpensive Air Quality Monitors
MSP LTER researchers Daniel Stanton and Natalia Mossman Koch discuss how they use lichens to investigate the impact of air pollution on urban areas. Lichens are an innovative, cost-effective, and accessible way community members can track changes in their urban environment.
Investigating Urban Lakes & Streams: A Holistic View of Current Lake Treatment Methods
PhD student Katie Polik works as part of the Urban Lakes & Streams team to investigate the impacts that different stressors like nutrient loading have on Minneapolis-St. Paul waters. Here, she discusses her research exploring how management responses like alum treatments impact complex aquatic ecosystem dynamics.