Category Archives: Environmental Science

Invasive Species: How They Affect the Environment

Invasive Species: How They Affect the Environment
One consequence of globalization is that in addition to people and products moving across the globe, wildlife has been transported as well. This practice of transporting animals from their native regions to new areas dates back thousands of years. The Roman Empire frequently brought back animals from foreign lands to use for entertainment in the…
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History of Agriculture

History of Agriculture
There are many options for those wishing to study an agriculture-based degree due to the nature of the breadth of the subject. With the exploration of modern concepts such as GM, environmental change, sustainability as well as the business and scientific sides, potential students are spoiled for choice for employment and degree options. In most…
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Why Environmental Engineering Is Vital for Our Future

Why Environmental Engineering Is Vital for Our Future
Humanity has always engineered the environment around us. From the earliest days of wetland drainage and the need to acquire fresh water, to keep it flowing and keep it clean enough to drink, building cesspits to take away our waste and to stop pollution of vital waterways, we have always strived to maximize our sanitation…
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Birds in a Changing Climate

Birds in a Changing Climate
Birds have been a prominent feature of life on Earth for eons. The adaptations commonly associated with this group of animals, such as feathers, hollow bones, and air sacs, evolved in piecemeal fashion almost as soon as dinosaurs arose over 230 million years ago.1 Present day birds evolved from theropod dinosaurs, a lineage that includes…
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Introduction to Botany

Introduction to Botany
Whether you call it botany, plant science or plant biology, it is one of the world’s oldest natural sciences. That means that most colleges and universities will have a botany or plant science degree in their Natural Science or Biology department. Many of the top universities have botany degrees, but there has been a decline…
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Phytoliths: What They Are and What They Tell Us

Phytoliths: What They Are and What They Tell Us
Phytolith studies require an understanding of several disciplines at once. Though the method is used primarily as a tool of archaeology and anthropology (the study of humans in the past) it does require a solid background in plant biology. Therefore, people who go on to research and study phytoliths will often have a heavy focus…
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Entomology 101: Study of Insects

Entomology 101: Study of Insects
What is Entomology? Entomology is now a well-established degree and with the scope of the environmental sciences continuing to expand, the evidence that we can acquire from it is expected to continue to have the broadest possible appeal. Though classed as a subsection of zoology, it is a deep enough subject to require specific undergraduate…
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The Concrete Jungle: Study of Urban Landscapes as Environmental Science

The Concrete Jungle: Study of Urban Landscapes as Environmental Science
Many universities in North America and in Europe now offer studies of the urban environment BAs/BScs MAs/MScs in such subjects as Urban Studies and Urban Archaeology. The growing importance of our towns and cities means they are now a subject of major academic study – an area that is only expected to grow as we…
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Birds as Environmental Indicators

Birds as Environmental Indicators
Humans have invented a variety of instruments to monitor the health of ecosystems.  For example, to examine water quality in a wetland, an environmental scientist may use a sensor to measure dissolved oxygen in the water or perform chemical assays in the lab to examine heavy metals in the soil. However, in some cases we…
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With Palynology We Can See the Tiniest Details

With Palynology We Can See the Tiniest Details
Palynology – the study of micro organic material such as spores, pollen, dinoflagellates and microfossils (1) - is a method employed by a range of disciplines all concerned with the environment. It is not an undergraduate degree subject due to its limited scope, and though there are some Master’s programmes in most countries, those wishing…
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