Alexandra Murphy

Earth Notes: Caddisflies Inspire Medical Innovation

Alexandra Murphy — Wed, 15 May 2013 16:20:42 +0000

Imagine an adhesive that could take the place of pins and plates when fixing broken bones, or that could replace staples and sutures during surgery. But creating a glue that sticks to a wet surface is no easy task. That's why University of Utah researchers are taking their cues from a proven master of the art - the diminutive caddisfly.

Earth Notes: Glen Canyon Dam - What Flows In (And Not Out)

Alexandra Murphy — Wed, 08 May 2013 14:52:55 +0000

Two hundred miles upstream from Glen Canyon Dam, the Colorado River roars through Cataract Canyon in a rust colored tumult, thick with silt and clay. Each year, the Colorado and its tributaries carry, on average, some 61 million cubic yards of sediment into Lake Powell, enough to fill more than 200,000 railroad boxcars.

Earth Notes: Restoring a Watershed, One Russian Olive at a Time

Alexandra Murphy — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 11:00:00 +0000

Those who have bloodied hands or arms on the inch-long thorns of a Russian olive, or dulled a chainsaw on its dense wood, know that it takes determination and brute force to clear away these tough nonnative trees. Since 2000, this formidable task has been underway along the Escalante River in southern Utah.

Introduced in the 1940s to combat soil erosion, Russian olives took to the Colorado Plateau with gusto. They have crowded out native willows and cottonwoods, forming virtually impenetrable thickets along hundreds of miles of washes and river bottoms.

Earth Notes: Bumblebees on the Colorado Plateau and Beyond

Alexandra Murphy — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 11:00:00 +0000

With bee populations declining worldwide, news is often grim in the world of bee research. But last August, entomologists from the University of California at Riverside found something to cheer about: they spotted three members of a bumblebee species long feared extinct.

Last documented in 1956, the Cockerell’s bumblebee of south-central New Mexico is the country’s rarest bumblebee.

Earth Notes: Exploring Fish Ecology in the Colorado River Drainage

Alexandra Murphy — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 07:00:00 +0000

Over the past hundred years, people have introduced dozens of non-native fish species into the Colorado River and its tributaries. During that time, populations of native fish species have dropped, in some cases dramatically. It’s easy to guess at the causes of native species decline, like predation and competition for food. But it’s far more difficult to prove.