DRI
Awards First Governor Kenny Guinn Environmental Research
Research Fellowship
The
first Governor Kenny Guinn Environmental Research Fellowship
has been awarded to Frank Stewart, a graduate research assistant
at the Desert Research Institute and a student in the Ecological
Toxicology graduate program at the University of Nevada,
Reno. The fellowship provides a one-year award of $15,000,
an office at DRI, and use of the Institute's computer and
laboratory facilities.
Stewart is a
graduate of Bishop Manogue High School in Reno and received
a Bachelor of Arts in Biology at Middlebury College in 1999.
Following the announcement of his fellowship, Stewart departed
Reno to spend several months aboard an icebreaker in the
Antarctic winter ice pack.
He is involved
in a study of the biological, chemical, and physical factors
affecting the overwintering capability of Antarctic krill
in waters surrounding the Antarctic Peninsula. Krill are
planktonic crustaceans that form an important link in the
marine food chain supporting animals such as fish, penguins,
and whales.
Stewart has already
made one research trip to Antarctica under the direction
of his advisor, DRI scientist Dr. Christian H. Fritsen.
Stewart's research interests are directed at developing
knowledge regarding the function of natural systems, how
human activity can adversely affect that function, and the
remedies to environmental disturbance.
DRI President
Stephen G. Wells announced the Kenny Guinn Environmental
Research Fellowship at the 2001 Nevada Medal Dinner, noting
that it was a fitting expression of appreciation for the
governor's establishment of the Millennium Scholars Program
and his general support for education in Nevada.
Daniel
Obrist Earns Warden Award
DRI Graduate
Research Assistant Daniel Obrist won the Institute's 2001
Colin Warden Award competition with a paper suggesting that
increasing concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide-already
being blamed for global warming-may also increase the susceptibility
of certain grassland plant species to damage from late spring
freezes. A Swiss native, Obrist earned an M.S. in plant
ecophysiology at the University of Basel in 1998, and is
now pursuing a Ph.D. in hydrology at the University of Nevada,
Reno. His winning paper was based on a project for his master's
thesis in which a Swiss grassland was exposed to elevated
CO2 for more than six years. Obrist's paper was recently
accepted for publication in the Annals of Botany.
Obrist's analysis
indicated that the observed decrease in freezing resistance,
along with strong differences in freezing resistance observed
among the tested plant species, may represent a heightened
risk of losing species that have inherently weak resistance
to freezing.
"This could
be an unforeseen way in which increased greenhouse gases
may result in a reduced biodiversity of a grassland ecosystem,"
Obrist says. "This type of grassland includes many
rare species-including orchids-and that makes it particularly
precious from a conservation standpoint."
The species Obrist
found particularly susceptible to increased damage from
freezing included Cirsium acaule (dwarf thistle from the
sunflower family), Salvia pratensis (Meadow Cleary from
the mint family), and Trifolium medium (zigzag clover from
the pea family). He says those three species make up approximately
five percent of total plant biomass in the Swiss study area's
grassland.
The annual Colin
Warden Award provides $750 to a graduate student involved
with a DRI research project or who has a DRI faculty member
directing his or her graduate research while enrolled at
a University of Nevada campus in Reno or Las Vegas. Applicants
must submit a research paper based on original research
related to the identification or resolution of an environmental
problem. The award's endowment was established at DRI by
the family and friends of Colin Warden after his death in
1991.
