Indiana University Bloomington atmospheric scientist Rebecca Barthelmie has been honored for her wind energy research by the European Academy of Wind Energy. Barthelmie, a professor of atmospheric science and sustainability, accepted the EAWE's Academy Scientific Award for 2009 at the European Wind Energy Association annual conference and exhibition in Marseille, France, on March 16.

The effects of Amazon deforestation where agriculture production has been ramped up through increased mechanization will receive further study by an Indiana University anthropology professor thanks to a $2.9 million grant from the National Institutes of Health.

Southern Indiana's rolling hills are greener now than they were a century ago, but the region's rate of reforestation may be on the verge of being outpaced by suburban sprawl's deforestation, according to a new report by Indiana University Bloomington and University of Minnesota researchers in this week's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Wal-Mart is Mexico's most important retailer and largest private employer, and it has transformed Mexican business practices, consumption patterns and supply chains. However, Wal-Mart has been unable to transfer its success in Mexico to other countries where it does not have the same advantages over its competitors. The "Walmartization" of Mexico has had a significant impact on the country's small-scale agricultural producers, and many local farmers have been excluded from the new system of food retailing. James Biles, a specialist in economic geography, is studying the consequences of these changes.

Violent storms and terrorist attacks represent two different kinds of threats to the nation that the Department of Homeland Security must anticipate. Planners must stay ahead of threats to critical infrastructure networks of several kinds. Professor Tony Grubesic at Indiana University Bloomington studies the consequences of infrastructure failure and disruption for networked systems such as the interstate highway system, telecommunication backbones, commercial airline networks and the electrical grid.

The great forests that once covered the eastern United States were cut down almost completely by settlers who needed open land for farming and timber for construction. When some areas proved unsuitable for agriculture, they were abandoned by the farmers who had cleared them, and the forests had a chance to grow back. But what grew back was different from what had been destroyed, partly because there was a lot less of it. "Breaking up forests into smaller communities changes the composition of species," said Indiana University scientist Kelly Caylor.

IU micrometeorologist Constance Brown is learning how mountain-top coniferous forests in Arizona have survived a three-year period of extreme drought conditions. These opportunistic trees "turn themselves on" whenever water is available, including in winter when coniferous trees elsewhere are dormant and in summer when sudden heavy rains must be exploited quickly. When water is scarce, the trees greatly reduce their activity.