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Researchers show weather variability impedes ability to assess trends in Iowa’s water quality

August 17, 2022

AMES, Iowa – When can we expect to see reduced levels of nutrients in our water if we make positive changes on the landscape? New Iowa State University research shows how complicated it is to give a sound answer to that question.

The research is featured in a recent article in the peer-reviewed Journal of Environmental Quality, co-authored by Ph.D. student Gerasimos J. Danalatos, Professor Michael Castellano and Associate Professor Sotirios V. Archontoulis, in Iowa State’s Department of Agronomy, and Calvin Wolter, a Geographic Information Systems analyst with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.

Trammo teams with Iowa State University and Hart Family to improve nitrogen management and boost crop yield

January 6, 2023

By Madeleine Resener, GeoPols

Nitrogen, one of the most plentiful gases in our environment, is both a friend and foe to our planet and to ourselves.

It makes up 45% of the nutrients used in fertilizers to grow corn, wheat, and soybeans.  That’s why it is essential to crop output. However, nitrogen can be a pollutant – especially when it seeps into water supplies through agricultural run-off or leaching.

Researchers have been exploring various techniques to reduce the nitrogen that ends up in lakes, streams, and other bodies of water.

Beaver dams: Beneficial for watersheds?

February 6, 2023


Billy Beck (right), Iowa State Extension and Outreach forestry specialist, and Andrew Rupiper, graduate student in natural resource ecology and management, at a beaver dam study site in central Iowa. Iowa Learning Farms photo. 

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