What does sustainability science mean to us?
As we enter an age of finite resources, newly evolving climactic patterns, expanding populations worldwide, and a demand for more critical resources than ever before, those involved in the science of sustainability work to provide real solutions to novel problems. In a word, the main goal of sustainability is resilience.
Resilience is a system’s ability to resist major collapse in the face of chaotic events and drastic change. Today, although anthropogenic influence is at its highest, we still depend on the environment as much as ever. In order to maintain the resiliency of ecologically and human driven systems, and make improvements that enrich both the human and the environmental aspects of our world, we need to make efforts to transition into a sustainable society.
Our approach works to enhance the collaborative science and practice of sustainability through soultions-driven research that encompasses concerned scientists, community leaders and policy makers. So, that through our interdisciplinary scope and combined effort, real effective change can be implemented.
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- Dr Sarker, Oliver Edelson, and Ali Kariotis weighing fish during the first day of a growth experiment. Each individual fish’s weight will be recorded so that growth can be precisely measured.
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- Water from our recirculating aquaculture systems is high in nitrate, and form of nitrogen that plants love. Here the team is discussing how best to move the effluent to plants in need.
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- There’s no doubt that food is the best way to bring people together. Here’s the team enjoying a mid-summer cookout.
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- Bead filter’s capture solids and simultaneously convert ammonia into more a inert and plant friendly compound, nitrate. The weekly biofilter cleaning, referred to as a backflush, is a key maintenance task. Truly a team effort.
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- Madi Gamble ’13 conducts a micro-algae based feeding experiment with Nile Tilapia in the new Class of ’78 Life Sciences Center. In spring 2013, Madi completed thesis research on managing phosphorus discharge from tilapia aquaculture with microalgae-supplemented diets.
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- Marcus Welker dissecting olfactory rosettes (i.e. the noses) of juvenile Atlantic salmon at Berkshire National Fish Hatchery in New Marlborough, MA. Read more about his current research under “Our Team.”
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- PhD student Tyler Pavlowich works with artisanal fishermen in the Dominican Republic to provide sound scientific guidance on ecosystem-based fisheries management. His research includes detailed assessments of the fish community, coral cover, and fish harvest.
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- Research Assistant Professor Pallab Sarker and Research Assistant Mariah Coley ’11 conduct marine micro-algae based feed experiments with tilapia in the new Life Sciences Center.
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- Professor Kapuscinski delivers the First Year Summer Reading Lecture to the Class of 2016 in the BEMA at Dartmouth. The book she selected, Strange as This Weather Has Been, by Ann Pancake, follows a contemporary family living in West Virginia as they cope with mountaintop removal coal mining that is destroying the environment and their way of life.
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- Dr. Pallab Sarker presenting some of the lab’s research at the 2015 ABO summit.
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- Research Assistant Professor Pallab Sarker represents our lab at the 2015 Algae Biomass Summit in Washington, DC.
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- Drs. Kapuscinski and Sarker explain how their new RAS modules provide cleaner water for the fish.
