Fellows come from all over the university, bringing their particular passions and living out the public purpose of their discipline through teaching and researching in, with and for community.
See Details
Ponds are globally abundant: over 95% of waterbodies worldwide are small enough to be considered ponds (< 5 hectares). In addition to naturally occurring ponds, humans construct ponds for agriculture and aquaculture, industry, restoration, water and fire management, recreation and aesthetics. Despite their abundance and significance, ponds and their uses are poorly characterized: ponds are rarely monitored for water quality and there is little research on how people use ponds and perceive their water quality. Given that water quality standards are set by considering both ecological data AND public perception, there is a critical need to explore pond water quality data alongside data of how people use ponds and perceive pond water quality. Therefore, this project represents a partnership between Cornell and the New York State (NYS) Department of Environmental Conservation to:
- Analyze water quality data from ponds and shallow lakes around NYS,
- Analyze data on how private pond landowners and visitors to public ponds use ponds and perceive water quality and
- Integrate these datasets to propose water quality standards for ponds and shallow lakes in NYS.