Marcella Kelly, assistant professor of fisheries and wildlife, is currently researching how to find hard-to-track animals, such as large cats in Belize or coyotes and red wolves here in the U.S.
She initially studied information including population size and status of different species with traditional techniques, such as the use of remote cameras on trails.
However, Kelly began a pilot study in 2007 using retired drug and bomb-detector dogs such as those commonly used in airports.
"It's a new technique people should be made aware of -- to use dogs to, strangely enough, find cats," Kelly said.
Katharine Knowlton, associate professor of dairy science, among many other scientists in the dairy science department, is currently working on an incentive payment program with approximately 200 dairy farms, most of which are in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed.
The program is funded by the Natural Resources Conservation Service and the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation.
The goal of the program and the research Knowlton and her colleagues are working on is to decrease the amount of phosphorus runoff from dairy cow manure, particularly into the Chesapeake Bay.
Phosphorus runoff is an environmental problem because when it runs off into surface water, algae blooms aggressively, and when the algae eventually dies off the oxygen is sucked out of the water, Knowlton said.
This results in the suffocation of thousands of fish and other animals.
The dairy scientists have looked at two specific approaches to reduce the amount of phosphorus excreted from dairy cows.
One is to change the diet of the cows so that they consume only as much phosphorus as they need in their diet.
The incentive payment program focuses on this technique for phosphorus reduction, and the farmers who are within 15 percent of their phosphorus intake requirements receive an incentive payment.
Knowlton said that about 60 percent of the farmers have received this payment so far and many are very supportive of the program and the research currently being conducted to reduce phosphorus excretion.
"By changing the diet I can reduce phosphorus content of manure by 20 to 30 percent," Knowlton said. "That's huge. That's phosphorus that the farmer doesn't have to pay for, won't run off and won't end up in the Chesapeake Bay."
The dairy scientists are also working with Tech engineers to pull phosphorus out of manure. They are one of few groups in the country working on this technique and have been very successful so far.
"A lot of industries don't want people telling them what to do, but our industry wants this and supports it," Knowlton said. "They don't want to be causing problems with the water quality."
John Little, professor of civil and environmental engineering, focuses on research on emissions of contaminants from building materials or consumer products into the indoor environment.
"I think it's important that people are aware that there are lots of contaminants in the indoor environment," Little said. "A lot of attention goes to drinking water and ambient air or air pollution, but we all spend 90 percent of our lives indoors, and the concentration of contaminants is way higher indoors."
Building materials or consumer products such as vinyl flooring in many homes consist of chemical contaminant compounds, such as plasticizers, which are associated with many health concerns the of which the general public is largely unaware.
For the most part, Little's research focuses on how the contaminants come out and the rate at which they are emitted.
"A lot of research funding goes toward controlling contaminants in drinking water, for example, or outdoor air, but not much funding goes toward contaminants that come out of these building materials or consumer products in our homes, and most of the exposure we get comes when we are indoors," Little said. "If we are worried about all these environmental contaminants, we should pay more attention to indoor air, too."
These environmental studies, among many others, were featured in the 2008 Virginia Tech Summer Research magazine.
Published twice a year, the magazine is run and funded by the Office of the Vice President for Research.
watershed, phosphorus, kelly, knowlton
