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 Environmental science graduate student Ray Montez thinks small, microscopically small, in fact.
“For every gram of soil, you can see up to a billion microorganisms if that soil is healthy,” he said.
Montez said that despite their diminutive stature, the multitude of single-cell organisms that live in the soil, water and air play an integral role in ecosystem function through symbiotic relationships with plants and animals. Because each of these microorganisms has different nutritional requirements, changes in the chemical composition of their primary medium, such as water, can result in drastic changes to their species composition. This, he said, can ultimately contribute to changes within the broader ecosystem.
Under the direction of SFA’s Dr. Alexandra Van Kley, professor of biotechnology, and Dr. Daniel Saenz, research biologist with the U.S. Forest Service, Montez is examining the difference between the chemical composition of invasive Chinese tallow tree leaves and the leaves of native East Texas species to determine how those variances may contribute to changes in East Texas’ microbiological communities. To do so, Montez assembled mesocosms, controlled environments that simulate the natural world. There, he compared the decay rate of leaves from native species and the Chinese tallow and tracked the chemical changes that occurred in the water as leaf decomposition took place.
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 Technological developments have drastically transformed modern agricultural production, facilitating increased yields more efficiently than ever before. While this efficiency results in increased food supplies at lower consumer costs, Marife Anunciado, an environmental science graduate student in Stephen F. Austin State University’s Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture, said some resulting effects such as air and water pollution are a concern to public health.
According to Anunciado, concentrated animal feeding operations are one of Texas’ primary food providers. CAFOs supply commodities for items such as chicken, beef and pork products. Due to the sheer concentration of livestock and the subsequent waste produced, these operations are regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency through the Clean Water Act.
Anunciado said ammonia is one of the most generated waste byproducts of livestock production; therefore, its management is a top priority.
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 A group of Environmental Science seniors and graduate students recently attended the Sixth Annual Environmental Challenges and Innovations Conference - Gulf Coast which is hosted by the Texas Association of Environmental Professionals in Houston. SFA students Melissa Bozarth and Melissa Ferguson were recognized at the conference as TAEP scholarship winners.
 SFA senior Environmental Science student Eric Kauffman was one of 29 undergraduate and graduate students, from 28 colleges and universities nationwide, selected to participate in the six week NASA Airborne Science Program. During the internship program, Kauffman learned how to sample and test air quality from aircraft.
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Eighteen senior and graduate students of the SFA Environmental Science program recently attended the Environmental Challenges and Innovations Conference: Gulf Coast in Houston, which is hosted annually by the Texas Association of Environmental Professionals (TAEP). SFA undergraduate students Sean Pessara and Paul Swartz were recognized at the conference as TAEP scholarship recipients. SFA graduate students Rachel Blodgett and T. Wells Shartle presented research papers at the conference. Blodgett’s paper was titled: Utilizing Industrial Ash to Stabilize Arsenic in Chromated Copper Aresenate (CCA) Contaminated Soil. Shartle’s paper was titled: Fate of Phosphorus in Constructed Wetlands for Water Reuse.
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