Faculty in the College of Natural Resources are advancing innovation through cutting-edge research that addresses critical environmental and natural resources challenges.

Each month, faculty secure funding from federal and state agencies as well as nongovernmental organizations, supporting initiatives in ecological restoration, biodiversity conservation and more.

This report highlights the grants awarded in May 2026, showcasing projects that advance scientific understanding and deliver real-world solutions.

Click on the projects listed below to learn more:

• Examining Two Species of Aphids in Fraser Fir Production: Control Methods and Drought Effects
• Bird’s Eye Views: Using Remote Sensing and Camera Traps to Understand Life on Earth
• Determining the Right Seedling for the Job
• Continued Monitoring and Building Capacity for Conservation of State Threatened Rio Grande (Western) Cooter in New Mexico
• An Improved Understanding of the Interplay Between Bedrock Properties and Forest Resilience in the Rocky Mountains

Examining Two Species of Aphids in Fraser Fir Production: Control Methods and Drought Effects

• PI: Jamie Bookwalter
• Direct Sponsor Name: NC Christmas Tree Association
• Awarded Amount: $11,602  

Abstract: To determine: A) effectiveness of three types of pesticides targeting balsam twig aphid; B) research methodology to create a root aphid insectary allowing investigations upon drought stress on root aphid populations and root aphid effects upon seedlings; and C) the scale and size of root aphid infestations in western North Carolina.

Bird’s Eye Views: Using Remote Sensing and Camera Traps to Understand Life on Earth

• PI: Josh Gray
• Direct Sponsor Name: National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA)
• Awarded Amount: $553,893 

Abstract: The overarching objective of our proposed work is to integrate heterogeneous satellite observations with ML-derived variables from existing networks of camera traps to better understand the composition of life on Earth through space and time. We will leverage the team’s existing experience in species distribution modeling, camera traps, statistical data fusion and forecasting and satellite image analysis to better characterize habitat features and their changes over space and time. Specifically, we will apply CV methods to camera trap images to quantify aspects of understory structure including vegetation density, greenness, tree stem density and size distribution, plant diversity and downed woody debris. We will then develop relationships between these metrics and heterogeneous satellite data in order to estimate the understory structure variables across the landscape. We have devised four example science questions meant to showcase the utility of these improved data across a variety of questions by evaluating the importance of our new understory characterization to: 1)  as drivers of bird diversity; 2) improving species distribution models for squirrel species; 3) impact on deer demography and health; and 4) impact on wild boar population density. 

The core novelty of our proposed work is to use recent advances in computer vision to extract habitat variables from massive archives of camera trap imagery. Camera trap networks and their associated image archives are expansive but their primary use has been for recording the presence of animal species. However, the images typically contain views of the local habitat which can be extracted using emergent machine learning methods, including new tools that estimate the position and size of features. This type of image “by catch” represents an unexploited source of fine-scale habitat information that is critical in understanding the composition, abundance and movement of animal species. Understory structure measures at the camera trap sites will comprise a large sample of data with which to establish relationships with satellite imagery, including moderate resolution multispectral imagery and lidar (e.g. GEDI) and radar (e.g. Sentinel-1 and upcoming NISAR) that will ultimately permit estimating these variables at unobserved locations.

This work will advance the state or remote sensing and biodiversity sciences by integrating in-situ and satellite observations in order to answer biodiversity questions and so is responsive to the stated goals of the solicitation. The impact of our proposed methodology has the potential to assist in answering many more than the four science questions we propose for demonstration. Moreover, by facilitating a better understanding of the composition of life on Earth our will make progress toward answering NASA Earth Science science questions: How is the global Earth system changing? What causes these changes in the Earth system? and How will the Earth system change in the future?

Determining the Right Seedling for the Job

• PI: Will Kohlway
• Direct Sponsor Name: NC Christmas Tree Association
• Awarded Amount: $3,000 
• Abstract: The North Carolina Christmas tree industry stands as a cornerstone of the state’s agricultural economy, contributing over $144 million annually. Resources are being committed to increasing Fraser fir seedling production within North Carolina, but little research exists for the performance of different seedling sizes in the field to help guide North Carolina Fraser fir seedling production. This project will help determine the above and below ground production gains associated with different Fraser fir planting stock sizes.

Continued Monitoring and Building Capacity for Conservation of State Threatened Rio Grande (Western) Cooter in New Mexico

• PI: Ivana Mali
• Direct Sponsor Name: New Mexico Department of Game and Fish
• Awarded Amount: $55,000 

Abstract: This project aims to achieve the following objectives:

• Survey populations of Western River Cooter as needed to update the status of those populations. These populations are located within the Black River Drainage in Eddy County, New Mexico and the Pecos River Drainage in Chaves and Eddy counties, New Mexico.
• Collect biological information on captured turtle species, particularly Western River Cooter, to update knowledge of the condition of turtle populations in the identified drainages.
• Collect information on the habitat for Western River Cooter and, as needed, on potential threats to the populations of Western River Cooter in the identified drainages.
• Obtain appropriate permission and/or any necessary additional permitting for work on parks, refuges, private lands and handling or retention of state- or federally-protected species, including written permission from landowners for release of private-land locality information regarding any New Mexico threatened or endangered species.
• Analyze the trap data using the model of Huggins and account for imperfect detection to update population abundance estimates at each surveyed stretch in the Black and Pecos rivers.
• Evaluate body conditions indices (BCI) of individual turtles and make inferences how different habitat conditions lead to variation in BCI.

An Improved Understanding of the Interplay Between Bedrock Properties and Forest Resilience in the Rocky Mountains

• PI: Matthias Sprenger
• Direct Sponsor Name: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory — University of California – Berkeley
• Awarded Amount: $17,000 

Abstract: The Watershed Function SFA at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory aims to understand how ecosystems adapt to meteorological and environmental stressors based on their inherent traits, thereby simplifying the complexity of mountainous landscapes into key principles that guide ecosystem responses to disturbance. There remains a critical knowledge gap as to how disturbance-induced trait redistribution, following drought, insect infestation, or forest management, impacts ecosystem structure, hydrology and biogeochemical cycling.

Research Focus Area 1 (RFA1) of the project aims to understand how ongoing temperature-driven changes in water-energy balance across elevations impact watershed hydrological, ecological and biogeochemical functions. RFA1 seeks to identify mechanisms and trait-to-function relationships that explain functional responses and resilience to recent past disturbances. One focus is on the interplay between bedrock properties and forest resilience (RFA 1.2), which uses a combination of tree core sampling, remote sensing and biogeochemical and microbial sampling to understand spatial and temporal variation of forest health in response to drought.