From the Office of Public Affairs | http://www.news.ku.edu

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Research offers a reason why diversity in plant species causes higher farming yield, solving ‘a bit of a mystery’

LAWRENCE — A study appearing in Nature Communications based on field and greenhouse experiments at the University of Kansas shows how a boost in agricultural yield comes from planting diverse crops rather than just one plant species: Soil pathogens harmful to plants have a harder time thriving. The research argues against the industrial-agricultural practice of planting a single food crop over many acres of land, according to James Bever, senior scientist with the Kansas Biological Survey & Center for Ecological Research and Foundation Distinguished Professor of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at KU.

KU Center for Public Partnerships & Research to lead statewide needs assessment of substance use disorder systems

LAWRENCE ­— The Sunflower Foundation has announced that it has selected the University of Kansas Center for Public Partnerships & Research to conduct a yearlong, comprehensive statewide needs assessment of substance use disorder systems and related work in Kansas that will be used to guide the future, long-term investment strategies of the Kansas Fights Addiction Grant Review Board.

Full stories below.

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Contact: Brendan Lynch, KU News Service, 785-864-8855, [email protected], @BrendanMLynch

Research offers a reason why diversity in plant species causes higher farming yield, solving ‘a bit of a mystery’

LAWRENCE — A study appearing in Nature Communications based on field and greenhouse experiments at the University of Kansas shows how a boost in agricultural yield comes from planting diverse crops rather than just one plant species: Soil pathogens harmful to plants have a harder time thriving.

“It’s commonly observed that diverse plant communities can be more productive and stable over time,” said corresponding author James Bever, senior scientist with the Kansas Biological Survey & Center for Ecological Research and Foundation Distinguished Professor of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at KU. “Range lands with numerous species can show increased productivity. But the reason for this has been a bit of a mystery.”

While crop rotation and other farming and gardening practices long have reflected benefits of a mix of plants, the new research puts hard data to one important mechanism underpinning the observation: the numbers of microorganisms in the soil that eat plants.

“Diverse agricultural communities have the potential to keep pathogens at bay, resulting in greater yields,” Bever said. “What we show is that a major driver is the specialization of pathogens, particularly those specific to different plant species. These pathogens suppress yields in low-diversity communities. A significant advantage of rangeland diversity is that less biomass is consumed by pathogens, allowing more biomass for other uses, such as cattle. The same process is crucial for agricultural production.”

The new data was developed at the University of Kansas using field experiments at the KU Field Station, along with greenhouse assays and feedback modeling using computers. This project was supported by large collaborative grants to KU from the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

“We conducted an experiment manipulating the number of plants in a plot and varying precipitation levels — we had from one up to six species in a plot,” Bever said. “Then, we evaluated the composition of the soil-pathogen microbiome. What we found is that the variation in pathogen composition in monocultures significantly predicted the yield when combined. When there are distinct pathogen communities, mixing them leads to a greater release of pathogens from your neighbors. The worst scenario is when a neighboring crop has the same pathogens. In that case, you’re experiencing double density — your crop pathogens and those from your neighbor crop.”

At KU, Bever’s collaborators included associate specialist Peggy Schultz as well as Haley Burrill and Laura Podzikowski, both of whom earned doctorates at KU and now are postdoctoral researchers at the University of Oregon and KU, respectively. Lead author Guangzhou Wang worked at KU as a postdoctoral researcher and now is affiliated with China Agricultural University in Beijing, where he worked on the investigation there with co-authors Fusuo Zhang and Junling Zhang. They were joined by co-author Maarten Eppinga of the University of Zurich, Switzerland.

According to Bever, the research argues against the industrial-agricultural practice of planting a single food crop over many acres of land, often referred to as “monoculture.”

“Regarding monoculture practices, the philosophy of promoting plant diversity seems to counter prevailing practices,” he said. “Monoculture — planting vast areas with a single crop — is driven by technological reasons rather than biological ones. Practical aspects of planting and harvesting have motivated this approach. Traditional Native American agriculture and practices in the tropics involve polycultures with multiple species. In China, there’s a movement towards mechanized polyculture production, challenging the predominant monoculture model in the United States. It’s essential to view monoculture as a cost-benefit model with increased inputs and explore alternative methods like crop rotation to manage pathogens over time.”

Bever said mixing plants in various plots would be beneficial to home gardeners and others who cultivate plants.

“When you’re gardening, you’re not relying on mechanical planting and mechanical harvesting,” he said. “It’s definitely to your advantage to mix your crops — to plant them in heterogeneous mixes in the plot. For convenience, we might plant alternating rows of different crops. That’s going to do a better job of controlling pathogens than if you just had many rows of the same crop next to each other. If you had four plots in your backyard that were discrete, you wouldn’t want to put all tomatoes in one and all squash in another, and a third with herbs — you’d want to mix them in. You’ll reduce pathogens by doing that. It’s what our data shows.”

Finally, Bever said his team’s findings that show biodiversity prohibits pathogen growth isn’t as clear-cut outside the plant kingdom. In fact, the idea is contentious in animal systems like Lyme disease.

“Our clear result in the plant world contrasts with the complexity of this literature in the animal world,” he said. “In the context of recent attention on pathogens, such as with COVID, the study of pathogens in ecology has been controversial. The impact of diversity on pathogen impacts, whether it increases or decreases, has been debated. Our findings for plants indicate the bigger concern is the reduction of pathogen spread with increased diversity, rather than an increase. In our study, pathogens, including soil-dwelling ones, were examined. Similar patterns were observed with foliar pathogens, as detailed in an upcoming paper. The controversy arises from differences between how pathogens affect the animal kingdom versus plants.”

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Contact: Brett Riggs, Sunflower Foundation, [email protected], @SunflowerFDN; Nina Yun, Center for Public Partnerships & Research, [email protected], @CPPRMedia

KU Center for Public Partnerships & Research to lead statewide needs assessment of substance use disorder systems

LAWRENCE ­— The Sunflower Foundation has announced that it has selected the University of Kansas Center for Public Partnerships & Research (CPPR) to conduct a yearlong, comprehensive statewide needs assessment of substance use disorder (SUD) systems and related work in Kansas that will be used to guide the future, long-term investment strategies of the Kansas Fights Addiction Grant Review Board.

The board oversees the KFA Grant Program, which provides funding to eligible state agencies, governmental entities and nonprofit organizations that deliver services in Kansas aimed at preventing, reducing and treating substance abuse or addiction. In 2023, the KFA board awarded more than $10 million for projects across the state using money recovered by the Kansas Attorney General’s Office through legal settlements with pharmaceutical companies, distributors and related firms that have fueled the addiction crisis.

Sunflower Foundation, as administrator for the grant program, has been tasked with coordinating completion of the needs assessment.

One of the founding centers of the Achievement & Assessment Institute at KU, CPPR partners with agencies and organizations to improve the lives of children, youth and families. Through this partnership with the foundation, CPPR is tasked with conducting a needs assessment that will provide an in-depth view of the state’s SUD system across the lifespan and including all sectors, from early childhood and prevention through treatment and long-term recovery.

Through the needs assessment, the KFA board seeks to gain a better understanding of SUD system needs and identify where innovation is both necessary and possible to further reduce substance abuse and addiction, save lives and improve systems of care.

“We are honored and humbled to be selected by Sunflower Foundation to conduct a comprehensive needs assessment in support of the Kansas Fights Addiction Grant Review Board and its long-term investments in prevention, harm reduction, treatment and other strategies,” said Jackie Counts, CPPR executive director. “Having seen the glaring signs of the opioid crisis through work helping children, youth and families overcome systemic challenges, we are eager to partner with Sunflower Foundation to delve deeper into the devastating legacy and evolving fallout of the opioid epidemic.”

While previous system assessments have provided a solid foundation of data and helped jump-start the KFA grant program, a more complete, cross-systems analysis is necessary. To that end, CPPR will be looking to engage stakeholders and the public at the community level in search of new, innovative strategies that are succeeding in reducing SUDs and improving systems of care.

“Looking across the lifespan at all sectors and systems is essential to provide a roadmap for the KFA board and our state as they work to create a more comprehensive, innovative and multipronged strategy for identifying transformative solutions to the substance use disorder crisis in Kansas,” said Billie Hall, president and CEO of Sunflower Foundation. “Sunflower Foundation is eager to provide the results of this needs assessment to the KFA board as it seeks to gain a more thorough understanding of the way connections across systems influence substance use disorders.”

The foundation welcomes CPPR’s extensive experience in empowering communities to identify and create systemic change and believes it aligns well with the objectives set out for the KFA Needs Assessment.

“At CPPR, we know that those closest to the problems are best positioned to generate solutions. We believe it is our job to listen to what communities want and need, then equip them with the best research and supports available to generate solutions and deliver services,” Counts said. “We are excited for the work ahead and the opportunity to help communities envision and realize a better tomorrow.”

Sunflower Foundation and CPPR anticipate work on the KFA Needs Assessment will take at least 12 months to complete.

To maximize its effectiveness, the needs assessment will require intensive and broad engagement and input from Kansans and subject matter experts across the state and all disciplines. Anyone interested in providing input as part of the assessment process, or who would like to receive updates regarding the assessment and its results, can share their name, contact information and suggestions by going to the project website and clicking on KFA Needs Assessment.

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KU News Service

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Lawrence KS 66045

Phone: 785-864-3256

Fax: 785-864-3339

[email protected]

http://www.news.ku.edu

Erinn Barcomb-Peterson, director of news and media relations, [email protected]

Today’s News is a free service from the Office of Public Affairs

From the Office of Public Affairs | http://www.news.ku.edu

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Contact: Savannah Rattanavong, Office of the Provost, 785-864-6402, [email protected], @KUProvost

Paul Popiel named dean of KU School of Music

LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas has selected Paul Popiel as the next dean of the KU School of Music. Popiel has served as the interim dean since January. He has been a professor of music at KU since 2010.

“Paul’s extensive understanding and experience as a longtime faculty member and director of bands in the School of Music make him an exceptional choice for the role,” said Barbara A. Bichelmeyer, provost and executive vice chancellor. “I’ve had the opportunity to observe how he works with and supports the faculty, students and staff over the past few years, and I’m confident he will continue to build upon the school’s successes to reach new levels.”

The School of Music seeks to become a model of diverse, creative and innovative approaches to the study and performance of music in the 21st century. The school brings together students and faculty in music composition, education, history, performance, therapy and theory.

“I am honored and exhilarated to have the opportunity to lead the KU School of Music, a place that I have called my professional home as the director of bands for the past 14 years,” Popiel said. “It’s a thrilling time for KU and the School of Music with record enrollments and rapidly growing participation of KU students in music ensembles and music courses from across the university. I am a passionate advocate for making music available to all.”

Popiel is also a conductor in the school and previously was the director of bands from 2010 to 2022. He conducts the Crossroads Wind Symphony and leads the historic Lawrence City Band in its summer concert series in South Park. Popiel recently completed a four-week professional conducting residency with the renowned Osaka Shion Wind Orchestra in Japan and was awarded The American Prize with KU Wind Ensemble for outstanding performance.

His previous appointments include the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music and Oklahoma State University.

Popiel has lectured and performed throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia. He is a contributing author to several volumes of “Teaching Music through Performance in Band” and the Alta Musica journal, as well as the editor-in-chief of The Wind Music Research Quarterly.

He has recorded 10 commercial CDs and his work has been positively reviewed in prestigious media such as The New York Times and Gramophone magazine.

In 2013, Popiel was elected to the membership of the American Bandmasters Association and the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. He has received a number of awards, including the University Scholarly Achievement Award and the School of Music’s Outstanding Teaching Award.

Popiel earned his doctorate in wind conducting from Michigan State University, a master’s degree in trumpet performance from the University of Notre Dame and bachelor’s degrees in instrumental music education and trumpet performance from Truman State University. He also earned a postgraduate diploma in Twentieth-Century Music from the University of Bristol in Bristol, England.

As dean of KU Music, Popiel oversees the school’s strategy, academics, research and creative activities, and is responsible for fostering community engagement and service activities. He will locally and globally guide partnerships to bring an international audience to its program.

Additionally, Popiel will ensure talent development of faculty, staff and student employees and fiscal stewardship of administrative structures and the school’s endowment. In particular, Popiel will assist in KU’s Ever Onward capital campaign, garnering external investment to support music students and research endeavors.

“My guiding principle in the dean role is to cultivate an inclusive, diverse and vibrant arts community where musical passion thrives and where creativity, exploration and excellence are celebrated,” Popiel said.

“We have remarkable students and alumni doing incredible things all over the world and a terrific faculty and staff going above and beyond to support them. Our best times are surely ahead of us, and I look forward to working with our faculty and staff to reach ever greater heights. I especially want to thank the students, staff and faculty for their patience with me as interim dean over the past year as the search process played out.”

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KU News Service

1450 Jayhawk Blvd.

Lawrence KS 66045

Phone: 785-864-3256

Fax: 785-864-3339

[email protected]

http://www.news.ku.edu

Erinn Barcomb-Peterson, director of news and media relations, [email protected]

Today’s News is a free service from the Office of Public Affairs

From the Office of Public Affairs | http://www.news.ku.edu

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Google Earth creator Brian McClendon is KU’s newest National Academy of Inventors Fellow

LAWRENCE — The National Academy of Inventors has added another Jayhawk to its fellows. Brian McClendon, research professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, was named among the 162 academic inventors in the 2023 Class of Fellows on Dec. 12. Election as an academy fellow is the highest professional distinction awarded solely to inventors.

$1M Mellon Foundation grant will boost transgender studies at KU

LAWRENCE – The University of Kansas Department of Women, Gender & Sexuality Studies has received a $1 million grant from the Mellon Foundation to deepen the department’s work in transgender studies. The grant will allow the department to hire a faculty member next year, increasing KU’s number of transgender studies scholars. In addition, funds will be allocated to the greater community through public programming, community grants and scholarly events.

KU architecture class partners with Lawrence elementary school to construct shade structure

LAWRENCE — A University of Kansas architecture class is bringing a slice of shade to a playground at Lawrence’s Hillcrest Elementary School that’s billed as the first fully accessible playground in Kansas. Third-year students in Keith Van de Riet’s design-build studio course designed and fabricated an 800-square-foot pavilion and companion rain garden with native plantings to provide shade and ecological benefits for the Ryan Gray Playground for All. A ribbon-cutting for the new structure is planned for 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Dec. 15.

Full stories below.

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Contact: Erinn Barcomb-Peterson, KU News Service, 785-864-8858, [email protected], @ebpkansas

Google Earth creator Brian McClendon is KU’s newest National Academy of Inventors Fellow

LAWRENCE — The National Academy of Inventors has added another Jayhawk to its fellows.

Brian McClendon, research professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, was named among the 162 academic inventors in the 2023 Class of Fellows on Dec. 12. Election as an academy fellow is the highest professional distinction awarded solely to inventors.

“Inventions represent the culmination of a long research timeline — from idea creation, to hypothesis testing, to translation of results, to application. Becoming a nationally recognized fellow is a tremendous honor that we can all celebrate,” said Belinda Sturm, interim vice chancellor for research. “We are also proud that Brian is an alum of KU and has chosen to continue his career at KU as a research professor in the School of Engineering.”

McClendon earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from KU in 1986. He spent eight years at Silicon Graphics developing high-end workstation 3D graphics.

In 2001, he was one of the original investors in Keyhole Inc., a software visualization application, where he was the vice president of engineering. Google acquired Keyhole in 2004, and its main application suite, Earth Viewer, formed the basis of Google Earth.

McClendon served as vice president of engineering at Google for 10 years. He was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 2015 for his strategic, technical and managerial leadership resulting in widespread geographic information.

McClendon holds 40 patents.

“Brian McClendon is a brilliant thinker and a great Jayhawk engineer,” said Arvin Agah, dean of the KU School of Engineering. “This well-deserved recognition — and his outstanding overall career — are a source of pride for the entire KU Engineering community.”

Since its inception in 2012, the NAI Fellows program has grown to include 1,898 exceptional researchers and innovators, who hold more than 63,000 U.S. patents and 13,000 licensed technologies. NAI Fellows are known for the societal and economic impact of their inventions, contributing to major advancements in science and consumer technologies. Their innovations have generated more than $3 trillion in revenue and generated 1 million jobs.

KU was named a member of the National Academy of Inventors in 2013. Since then, six faculty members have been named fellows while at KU:

2023 — Brian McClendon
2018 — Mark Shiflett, Foundation Distinguished Professor of Chemical & Petroleum Engineering
2017 — Cory Berkland, Solon E. Summerfield Distinguished Professor in KU’s departments of Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Chemical & Petroleum Engineering
2016 — Raghunath Chaudhari, Deane E. Ackers Distinguished Professor of Chemical & Petroleum Engineering
2015 — Val Stella, distinguished professor emeritus in the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, and Bala Subramaniam, the Dan F. Servey Distinguished Professor in the Department of Chemical & Petroleum Engineering
The 2023 class of fellows will be honored and presented their medals at the National Academy of Inventors 13th Annual Meeting in June 2024.

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The official university Twitter account has changed to @UnivOfKansas.

Refollow @KUNews for KU News Service stories, discoveries and experts.

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Contact: Heather Anderson, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, 785-864-3667, [email protected], @KUCollege

$1M Mellon Foundation grant will boost transgender studies at KU

LAWRENCE – The University of Kansas Department of Women, Gender & Sexuality Studies has received a $1 million grant from the Mellon Foundation to deepen the department’s work in transgender studies.

The grant will allow the department to hire a faculty member next year, increasing KU’s number of transgender studies scholars. In addition, funds will be allocated to the greater community through public programming, community grants and scholarly events.

“This grant is a remarkable achievement for an outstanding department,” said Arash Mafi, executive dean of the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences at KU. “The Mellon grant is a reflection of their outstanding contributions in this area, and we look forward to witnessing the continued impact of their research on shaping the future of transgender studies.”

The grant will enable the department to build a curriculum that will allow students to access and explore transgender studies as an academic field, to aid the larger community in making Lawrence and Kansas at large a more trans-friendly and trans-flourishing landscape and to catalyze further research in this field across the country in ways that will have great influence on the discipline and the larger society.

“Trans studies is an exciting and innovative scholarly branch of WGSS that is producing some of the most exciting theoretical frameworks and real-world applications,” said Katie Batza, professor and chair of the women, gender & sexuality studies department. “We are thrilled to be at the heart of this generative and impactful scholarly area.”

Beyond a new hire and community outreach work, the department also plans to use grant money to dedicate a graduate teaching assistant line to developing various classes in the program, which has been requested by students. A cohort of transgender studies scholars from across the country will be brought together for a weeklong retreat, also funded by the grant.

“The retreat will generate community, scholarship and a strong trans studies network across the country that will allow this relatively young academic subfield to grow,” Batza said.

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation was founded in 1969 with a mission to strengthen, promote and defend arts and humanities work crucial to democratic societies. Through grants, the foundation works to build communities by enhancing critical thinking. At the end of 2022, Mellon’s total endowment reached approximately $8.1 billion since the establishment of the foundation.

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Contact: Dan Rolf, School of Architecture & Design, 785-864-3027, [email protected], @ArcD_KU

KU architecture class partners with Lawrence elementary school to construct shade structure

LAWRENCE — A University of Kansas architecture class is bringing a slice of shade to a playground at Lawrence’s Hillcrest Elementary School that’s billed as the first fully accessible playground in Kansas.

Third-year students in Keith Van de Riet’s design-build studio course designed and fabricated an 800-square-foot pavilion and companion rain garden with native plantings to provide shade and ecological benefits for the Ryan Gray Playground for All and are spending the last few weeks of the semester on site for construction and installation. Van de Riet, associate professor of architecture, said this is one of the largest projects ever undertaken by one of his classes.

“These projects are so rich with real-world content for the students,” he said. “I can’t imagine a better experience for them to get the holistic picture of what it takes to build even a relatively simple structure. We have only four months to complete the project, which includes obtaining a construction permit from the city of Lawrence. The weather can sure throw a wrench into our plans, as it did this year with the snow and heavy rains around Thanksgiving week.

“I’m completely impressed with my students’ resilience in the challenges we’ve faced, from re-digging our footings after heavy rainfall to snow and mud removal across the site,” Van de Riet said. “Hillcrest is certainly exposed to the elements — the windy, cold weather has only added to the challenge. Not to mention the tornado sirens located adjacent to the playground – we’ve had to literally cover our ears in pain because of the proximity to it. The students have persevered through it all this semester.”

The students on the project are third-year architecture majors who bring prior experience with drawings, conceptual development, computational design and model making, according to Van de Riet. He said the goal is to advance the student’s education in these areas with the project serving as a case study.

“These projects bring about a collaborative vibe that is always great to see, but the Hillcrest Elementary children on the playground have made the project so memorable – they make signs, chant and cheer for us and even bring treats for the KU students. I’m watching the KU students become role models in front of the children – it’s about all you could ask for as an instructor.”

Van De Riet said he expects the project to be complete by the end of the finals week in December.

Initially opened in 1993, the playground honors Ryan Gray, a former Hillcrest student with disabilities who served as a good luck charm of sorts for the 1988 KU men’s basketball national championship team. He died in 1990. In 2016, the playground underwent a $375,000 renovation and at the time was considered the first fully accessible playground in Kansas.

A ribbon-cutting for the new structure is planned for 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Dec. 15, which is also Gray’s birthday.

In addition to the in-kind and donated materials from KU, the Hillcrest Elementary PTO and Lawrence Community Foundation raised around $40,000 in private funds to support the project.

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KU News Service

1450 Jayhawk Blvd.

Lawrence KS 66045

Phone: 785-864-3256

Fax: 785-864-3339

[email protected]

http://www.news.ku.edu

Erinn Barcomb-Peterson, director of news and media relations, [email protected]

Today’s News is a free service from the Office of Public Affairs

From the Office of Public Affairs | http://www.news.ku.edu

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Contact: Heather Anderson, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, 785-864-3667, [email protected], @KUCollege

KU ecology and evolutionary biology professor receives NSF CAREER Award

LAWRENCE – Kelly Matsunaga, assistant curator of paleobotany and Thomas N. Taylor Assistant Professor of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, has received a Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award from the National Science Foundation.

The grant, which totals over $946,000, will fund research and education on how conifers, including the tallest and longest-lived organisms, have evolved over the last 300 million years in response to a changing planet. Conifers include pines, junipers and redwoods.

“We are thrilled for Dr. Matsunaga and the recognition her groundbreaking research is receiving,” said Arash Mafi, executive dean of the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences at KU. “Her innovative approach and exceptional contributions to her field align perfectly with our mission to foster excellence and drive progress in scientific inquiry.”

The researchers — a team of undergraduates, graduate students and postdocs — will work with information on living species and the extensive fossil records of conifers. This information will be used to reconstruct evolutionary relationships, investigate evolutionary dynamics throughout time and test hypotheses on conifer reproductive organ evolution.

“The award means I have the freedom to pursue a new and exciting research agenda that I’ve been dreaming up for the last few years and the opportunity to teach a course on my favorite subject,” Matsunaga said.

The project combines several outreach components, implementing a new course in the College and a museum exhibition.

“The CAREER will allow us to offer a new research-based course on plant anatomy and development and will also create new research opportunities for undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral scholars,” Matsunaga said. “In addition, we will develop a new exhibit in the KU Natural History Museum based on this research.”

The award is the NSF’s most prestigious award for early-career faculty, providing support as they guide advancement in their departments and act as academic role models in the research and education landscapes. The annual award’s grant continues over a five-year span.

Matsunaga’s research group studies the evolutionary history of plants using approaches that span the fields of evolutionary biology, paleontology and developmental biology. When she was a graduate student, Matsunaga’s work was funded by a Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant from the National Science Foundation and recognized through multiple awards, including the Isabel Cookson award from the Botanical Society of America and John Dorr Award from the University of Michigan. Matsunaga joined the KU faculty in 2020.

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KU News Service

1450 Jayhawk Blvd.

Lawrence KS 66045

Phone: 785-864-3256

Fax: 785-864-3339

[email protected]

http://www.news.ku.edu

Erinn Barcomb-Peterson, director of news and media relations, [email protected]

Today’s News is a free service from the Office of Public Affairs

From the Office of Public Affairs | http://www.news.ku.edu

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Contact: Brendan Lynch, KU News Service, 785-864-8855, [email protected], @BrendanMLynch

Scholars say it’s time to declare a new epoch on the moon, the ‘Lunar Anthropocene’

LAWRENCE — Human beings first disturbed moon dust on Sept. 13, 1959, when the USSR’s unmanned spacecraft Luna 2 alighted on the lunar surface. In the following decades, more than a hundred other spacecraft have touched the moon — both crewed and uncrewed, sometimes landing and sometimes crashing. The most famous of these were NASA’s Apollo Lunar Modules, which transported humans to the moon’s surface to the astonishment of humankind.

In the coming years, missions and projects already planned will change the face of the moon in more extreme ways. Now, according to anthropologists and geologists at the University of Kansas, it’s time to acknowledge humans have become the dominant force shaping the moon’s environment by declaring a new geological epoch for the moon: the Lunar Anthropocene.

In a comment published today in Nature Geoscience, they argue the new epoch may have dawned in 1959, thanks to Luna 2.

“The idea is much the same as the discussion of the Anthropocene on Earth — the exploration of how much humans have impacted our planet,” said lead author Justin Holcomb, a postdoctoral researcher with the Kansas Geological Survey at KU. “The consensus is on Earth the Anthropocene began at some point in the past, whether hundreds of thousands of years ago or in the 1950s. Similarly, on the moon, we argue the Lunar Anthropocene already has commenced, but we want to prevent massive damage or a delay of its recognition until we can measure a significant lunar halo caused by human activities, which would be too late.”

Holcomb collaborated on the paper with co-authors Rolfe Mandel, University Distinguished Professor of Anthropology and senior scientist with KGS, and Karl Wegmann, associate professor of marine, earth and atmospheric sciences at North Carolina State University.

Holcomb said he hopes the Lunar Anthropocene concept might help dispel the myth that the moon is an unchanging environment, barely impacted by humanity.

“Cultural processes are starting to outstrip the natural background of geological processes on the moon,” Holcomb said. “These processes involve moving sediments, which we refer to as ‘regolith,’ on the moon. Typically, these processes include meteoroid impacts and mass movement events, among others. However, when we consider the impact of rovers, landers and human movement, they significantly disturb the regolith. In the context of the new space race, the lunar landscape will be entirely different in 50 years. Multiple countries will be present, leading to numerous challenges. Our goal is to dispel the lunar-static myth and emphasize the importance of our impact, not only in the past but ongoing and in the future. We aim to initiate discussions about our impact on the lunar surface before it’s too late.”

While many outdoors enthusiasts are familiar with “Leave No Trace” principles, they don’t seem to exist on the moon. According to the authors, refuse from human missions to the moon includes “discarded and abandoned spacecraft components, bags of human excreta, scientific equipment, and other objects (e.g., flags, golf balls, photographs, religious texts).”

“We know that while the Moon does not have an atmosphere or magnetosphere, it does have a delicate exosphere composed of dust and gas, as well as ice inside permanently shadowed areas, and both are susceptible to exhaust gas propagation,” the authors wrote. “Future missions must consider mitigating deleterious effects on lunar environments.”

While Holcomb and his colleagues want to use the Lunar Anthropocene to highlight the potential for humanity’s potential negative environmental impact to the moon, they also hope to call attention to the vulnerability of lunar sites with historical and anthropological value, which currently have no legal or policy protections against disturbance.

“A recurring theme in our work is the significance of lunar material and footprints on the moon as valuable resources, akin to an archaeological record that we’re committed to preserving,” Holcomb said. “The concept of a Lunar Anthropocene aims to raise awareness and contemplation regarding our impact on the lunar surface, as well as our influence on the preservation of historical artifacts.”

The KU researcher said this field of “space heritage” would aim to preserve or catalog items such as rovers, flags, golf balls and footprints on the moon’s surface.

“As archaeologists, we perceive footprints on the moon as an extension of humanity’s journey out of Africa, a pivotal milestone in our species’ existence,” Holcomb said. “These imprints are intertwined with the overarching narrative of evolution. It’s within this framework we seek to capture the interest of not only planetary scientists but also archaeologists and anthropologists who may not typically engage in discussions about planetary science.”

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KU News Service

1450 Jayhawk Blvd.

Lawrence KS 66045

Phone: 785-864-3256

Fax: 785-864-3339

[email protected]

http://www.news.ku.edu

Erinn Barcomb-Peterson, director of news and media relations, [email protected]

Today’s News is a free service from the Office of Public Affairs