Massachusetts Agricultural Experiment Station

This research considers ways that "social infrastructure" and "green infrastructure" can mitigate the impact of climate change and severe climate emergencies on vulnerable populations in Springfield, Massachusetts and similar cities. While there is ample research on ways to protect vulnerable populations (elderly, low-income, and minority populations) from climate change, very little research addresses the role that social infrastructure and green infrastructure can play.

The concept of the current experiment is to study carbon storage and possible cycling in soils which alternate between saturation and nonsaturated conditions on an annual basis. To allow the data to be considered robust, or applicable to numerous locations and soil types it will be necessary to have multiple years of data, but to also have data that 'repeats' or replicates itself.

Soil organic matter acts like a sponge within the soil, retaining water, carbon, and nutrients. It also serves as a source of carbon, or food, and nutrients, like nitrogen, for soil microbes. Because soil microbes demand carbon and nutrients in specific ratios, the quantity of soil organic matter and how nutrient rich it is compared to carbon may determine: how much nitrogen is kept within microbial bodies, how much is held within soil organic matter, and how much is transformed by microbes into a plant-available form for uptake or leaching loss.

We are testing how plant viral infection impacts the effect of cover crops on soil carbon, greenhouse gas emissions, and soilnutrient status. We expect that the virus impact will vary with cover crop species and soil type. Our results are expected toinform how virus infections of cover crops may impact soil health. To quantify changes in soil carbon, greenhouse gas emissions, and nutrient status of soils subjected to virus infected covercrops, we are using a combination of field trials and pot experiments as well as basic and advanced soil characterizationtechniques.

In this project, we will work with other participating regional research project investigators to assess aging adults' perceptions and recommendations for community environmental supports for a food secure, culturally appropriate and healthy eating environment. The purpose of these studies is to identify the most important and modifiable enablers and behaviors of healthy eating among aging adults. To accomplish this, mixed methodology approaches will be used, including both qualitative and quantitative methods such as focus groups and consumer surveys.

We will be exploring the utility of small bio-reactive molecules for use in controlling viruses and protozoan pathogens without harming bees.

The world fisheries production has levelled off and most of the main fishing areas have reached their maximum potential. In contrast, the global human population is increasing; thus, the demand for aquatic food products also increase. Global aquaculture production attained 90.4 million tons in 2012, generating an incomes US$ 144.4 billion, and the production of food fish was 66.6 million tons. Epitheliocystis is a serious skin and gill disease in fish, believed to be caused by pathogenic intracellular bacteria.

Reliable, sustainable sources of clean water are increasingly hard to come by. But did you know that there are a lot of additional benefits from cultivating and protecting freshwater wetlands at the source of some of these waters? Wetland ecosystem services include, but are not limited to, providing verdant habitat and food supply for a large diversity of plant, animal and insect species, water filtration, slowing and spreading of floodwaters, limiting erosion, storage of carbon and other nutrients, temperature buffering, pollinator habitat and forage lands, and water storage.