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People take measurements in a dry field site.
Drylands like this lichen field in Namibia are vulnerable to degradation that increases sources of sand and dust storms.

A new approach to mitigate harmful wind erosion, sand and dust storms uses land potential to better match land management practices with the needs of a particular area. The paper was recently published in Land Degradation and Development by UW–Madison assistant professor Kristina Young.

Sand and dust storms affect millions of people around the world, causing immense damage to infrastructure and health. To help address this issue of land degradation, the United Nations’ Convention to Combat Desertification designated 2025-2034 the Decade on Combating Sand and Dust Storms.

A diptych of two images, on the left a leaf with a red hue, on the right, a container of ground up red dust.

Professor Hiroshi Maeda worked with CALS scientists to create a sustainable and healthy red dye from soy beans. Read more in the latest edition of Grow Magazine, produced by the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. Photo by Michael King/UW CALS

A circular logo with the UW–Madison W crest in the middle and the word "Biology" below it.

Answers to frequently asked questions about the new Department of Biology.

A photo of a person presenting a research poster hanging behind them.

Zaira Malloy-Salgado spent the summer as an inaugural HHMI Cech Fellow. A few years ago, research was still daunting and intimidating but thanks to Biology 152, she was encouraged to take the leap.

A young adult in a red jacket and pink baseball cap smiles at the fist full of fluffy seeds she holds up to be caught in and carried by the wind. They stand in a field of short green-brown grass that is patched with burn marks from a previous prescribed burn.

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