Issue 114 - November 2024
Hydrologic Modeling from MSU Scientists Lends Insight Into How Water Can be Conserved, Managed
EAST LANSING, Mich. — In grade school, you may have learned about the water cycle. Water falls from the sky as varied forms of precipitation, exists on the Earth as groundwater or surface water, evaporates or transpires into the atmosphere as gas, and condenses back into a liquid (or solid) state.
However, that depiction doesn’t describe the entire breadth of how water moves today.
Newly appointed Michigan State University AgBioResearch-affiliated scientists are diving deeper into the water story, working to better understand water movement and the human impact on it.
Adaptive modeling shows how human processes influence the water cycle.
Yadu Pokhrel, a Red Cedar Distinguished Professor in the College of Engineering’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, emphasizes through his water models how human activity contributes to the movement, quality and availability of water — ultimately presenting a greater look at how water can be conserved and sustainably managed.

“If you look at the textbook version of the hydrological cycle, it’s no longer the modern-day cycle because human activity has completely disrupted it,” Pokhrel said. “I look at how human activities such as irrigation for food production and the extraction of groundwater impact the water cycle.
“The questions I answer through my models are: How does the hydrological cycle respond when humans take water from somewhere and put it in another pool where it moves elsewhere, and how does water availability change in response to an alteration in the cycle?”
In the U.S., Pokhrel has used funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to examine water availability in the Colorado River Basin, which since 2000 has experienced its driest conditions in over 100 years, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The Colorado River stretches 1,450 miles and supplies water to seven states. In 2021, the Bureau of Reclamation declared the first ever water shortage in the river. As a result, in 2022 Arizona and Nevada — as well as Mexico — reduced the amount of water they’d receive from the basin, with additional states required to develop water conservation strategies.
Climate change and ongoing droughts have made it difficult to predict the river’s water patterns moving forward, and an increase in demand for water has created uncertainty regarding how much states can use. Pokhrel has collaborated with federal agencies and regional partners to map out what the river’s future might look like and how its water might be managed to meet growing needs for people and the environment.
“We’ve been working to better understand what to do in the future if climate change is going to further reduce the water supply and agriculture and other water-based demands are going to increase,” Pokhrel said. “Are there sustainable ways to manage water resources in this region? From a scientific perspective, we’re exploring several different scenarios such as improving water-use efficiency in agriculture, which may mean reducing its agricultural use by a certain fraction.”
Agriculture contributes to about 70% of freshwater consumption globally, according to the 2024 United Nations World Water Development Report.
With funding support from the NSF, Pokhrel has led another project since 2023 examining agricultural demands in the Mississippi River Basin. Spanning over 1.2 million square miles and receiving water from all or parts of 31 states, the drainage basin is the largest in the U.S. and supplies water to a region dominated by agriculture.

Pokhrel said the objectives of this research are to compare the amount of water used in rainfed versus irrigated agricultural systems; model what the need for water might be in the future as agricultural demands grow; and understand how agricultural inputs such as fertilizer and pesticides might respond to an uptick in application and water usage, tracking how their runoff might change and affect surrounding watersheds.
“The project in the Mississippi River Basin is somewhat different from the project in the Colorado River Basin because we’re not looking at water scarcity,” Pokhrel said. “Instead, we’re trying to give insight into how to manage the water in a sustainable way, considering both water quantity and quality with an emphasis on agriculture.”
The model used for this project was applied previously in the Great Lakes Basin. Pokhrel said the information gathered from the Colorado and Mississippi river basins can be used to advance strategies for how to sustainably manage and protect water in the Great Lakes region, which is home to the largest source of freshwater on Earth.
According to Pokhrel, models indicate that the Great Lakes region will become wetter over the next 10-20 years as the climate changes. As growers, industry leaders and researchers prepare for this shift, Pokhrel said the variability in weather patterns from season to season will be just as important to monitor and plan for — a key objective of the novel Agricultural Climate Resiliency Program, a partnership among MSU, the Michigan Plant Coalition and Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.
“What do you do if there’s a one-month dry episode in areas of Michigan where farmers rely on rainfed agriculture?” Pokhrel asked. “Farmers may put infrastructure in to irrigate, and in some cases, they may have to pump groundwater. We need to continue conducting research to better understand how the climate is changing and how farmers can deal with this changing variability.”
Hydrologic modeling in the Great Lakes region leads to informed recommendations on water conservation and management.
Phanikumar Mantha, a professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, studies the movement and quality of water — including groundwater — in the Great Lakes region.

Roughly 45% of people in Michigan utilize groundwater for drinking water, and well over 1,510 million gallons per day are withdrawn from the region, according to research led by Alan Steinman, the Allen and Helen Hunting Research Professor at Grand Valley State University’s Annis Water Resources Institute.
However, in some parts of the state, not enough water is recharging into the underground aquifers located closer to Earth’s surface, so water is being pumped from deeper within the ground. In Ottawa County, officials have found that water located deep in the ground has high levels of salinity — mostly in the form of chloride salts — that can be detrimental to irrigated crops.
To understand if (and to what extent) pumping water from these aquifers is sustainable, Mantha has modeled what these aquifers look like and the processes behind how water is recharged into them.
“Several MSU colleagues and I worked with Ottawa County officials to address the questions of why saline water is being extracted from these aquifers and what can be done about it,” Mantha said. “These models help eliminate possibilities for why this is happening and support hypotheses as to why one factor might contribute more to the problem than another.”
Together, they published a report in 2018 that Ottawa County officials have used to make informed decisions about how to manage groundwater. Steinman, who’s also a member of the Ottawa County Groundwater Board, said this research has helped decision-makers and the public better understand what groundwater trends might look like in the future if nothing is done.
“Dr. Mantha’s modeling information was critical in bringing awareness to elected officials and the general public that even though we can see Lake Michigan and all its water, there’s a water crisis here in Ottawa County,” Steinman said.
The models used by Mantha and his team are applicable beyond groundwater as well. Two of Mantha’s current research priorities are to examine how the quality of coastal water within the Great Lakes is affected by the circulation of different contaminants and how water moves and transports chemical and biological agents throughout the region’s watersheds.
Funding from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and USGS has allowed Mantha to carry out research equipping beach managers with the information needed to determine when a Great Lakes beach needs to be closed due to poor coastal water quality.

“When people go to swim at a beach on a beautiful day, the last thing they think about is getting sick from contaminated water,” Mantha said. “We’re working with sensors in the water and along coastlines that can upload data in real time for models to generate recommendations on whether a beach should remain open or closed. Our team has successfully tested this approach for numerous Chicago beaches in the past, and the availability of better sensors and machine learning models make this approach even more attractive today.”
Another way Mantha monitors the quality and quantity of water in the Great Lakes is to model the environmental flow of water in and out of the lakes across the region’s watersheds.
“Integrated or linked models, along with effective monitoring, are key to decision-making,” Mantha said. “At a minimum, you can monitor the turbidity, conductivity and temperature of the river water, and you’ll see a clear signature of the river out in the lake. If you’re able to see a clear signature of the river, that means you’re also able to see a signature of the pollution the river is bringing into a lake.
“These easily measured water-quality variables, which have been adopted to make improved predictions on water quality at our beaches, may additionally serve as proxies for other types of contamination.”
Steinman said monitoring this movement of water is equally necessary to evaluate the rate at which water is recharged into groundwater aquifers, noting a lack of information in this area statewide and a need for it moving forward.
“Can you imagine if a business didn’t know the stocks and flows of its commodity? It’d be out of business within a year,” Steinman said. “The work Dr. Mantha does is absolutely essential for us to get a better understanding of what the stocks and flows are for these major watersheds.”
In conjunction with these research topics, Mantha said a priority of his MSU AgBioResearch appointment over the coming years will be to address questions on energy in agricultural activities, examining the role of renewable energy sources in pre- and post-harvest productions.
Michigan State University AgBioResearch scientists discover dynamic solutions for food systems and the environment. More than 300 MSU faculty conduct leading-edge research on a variety of topics, from health and climate to agriculture and natural resources. Originally formed in 1888 as the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station, MSU AgBioResearch oversees numerous on-campus research facilities, as well as 15 outlying centers throughout Michigan. To learn more, visit agbioresearch.msu.edu.
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Issue 114 - November 2024
Secretive Slugs Could Hold Key to WA’s Hidden Marine Biodiversity
Curtin University researchers, in collaboration with international experts, are searching WA’s northern coastline for an important and abundant but little-known group of marine slugs, the Onchidiidae.
These air-breathing slugs live on rocky and muddy shores where they hide at high tide and emerge at low tide to feed and reproduce, playing a major role in coastal ecosystems. However, despite their high numbers, they’ve never been properly documented along any part of Australia’s coastline until now.
Visiting from Pennsylvania State University, Adjunct Professor Benoît Dayrat from Curtin’s School of Molecular and Life Sciences said the research filled a crucial knowledge gap – “WA’s northern coastline is incredibly biodiverse, rivalling the Great Barrier Reef, yet there are many species we still know very little about. More than 5000 marine species in the Pilbara and many more in the Kimberley have been documented over the past few decades, however groups such as the Onchidiidae family of marine slugs, remain poorly understood. This project places a microscope on these slugs, which might seem unremarkable but hold valuable clues about our coastal ecosystems, how they function and how they might be protected in the future.”
Part of the eDGES (eDNA for Global Environmental Studies) partnership between Curtin University and BHP, the project involves DNA sequencing and preservation of specimens collected from Carnarvon, Learmonth, Port Hedland and Broome, with further field studies planned soon for Dampier and Onslow.

Issue 114 - November 2024
SEVENSEAS Travel Magazine – November 2024 – Issue 114

Azores Establishes Largest Marine Protected Area Network in North Atlantic

Ponta Delgada, Azores, Portugal: As the world prepares for the UN Biodiversity Conference (CBDCOP16), the Autonomous Region of the Azores has passed groundbreaking legislation designating the largest marine protected area network in the North Atlantic. Read more…
Scientists Explore the Seafloor of Chilean Patagonia to Reconstruct Impacts of Volcanic Eruptions
An international team of scientists is reconstructing the impact of the 2008 Chaitén volcanic eruption on the marine environment following an expedition onboard Schmidt Ocean Institute’s R/V Falkor (too). Read more…
2024 Blue Parks Small Grants Awarded to Six Marine Conservation Projects
Marine Conservation Institute is excited to announce the six recipients of the 2024 Blue Parks Small Grants. These grants support projects that enhance marine protected areas (MPAs) and strengthen conservation outcomes. Read more…
Standing Strong for Peace and Planet Under Trump
As the world responds to the results of this recent U.S. election, we at SEVENSEAS Media spent the last hours reminding ourselves of the power of resilience and unity. A new Trump presidency will present serious challenges to environmental policies both in the United States and globally. Read more…
Why Environmental Media Matters More Than Ever, and Why It Is Struggling to Survive
In a world increasingly obsessed with measurable outcomes, the field of environmental conservation is no exception. We’re constantly required to provide results- acres of mangroves planted, kilometers of coastlines restored, numbers of species tagged or rescued. Read more…
Adapting Conservation Skills for a Tech-Driven Future
The landscape of environmental conservation has changed dramatically, and it is now much harder to predict where someone will be in their career five or ten years from now. It used to basically be straightforward. If you were a marine biologist, for example, you could reasonably anticipate what your job would look like over time. Read more…
Reef-World Marks Two Decades of Marine Conservation: Strengthening Impact Amid Coral Reef Threats
2024 marks the 20th Anniversary of The Reef-World Foundation’s tireless efforts for global coral reef conservation. The UK charity is the international coordinator of the UN Environment Programme’s Green Fins initiative, known as the leading voice in sustainable marine tourism. Read more…
CCMI Launches Buy-a-Brick Campaign for The Expansion of Marine Education & Research Centre to Inspire The Next Generation
The Central Caribbean Marine Institute (CCMI) is excited to announce the launch of its Buy-a-Brick campaign, a community-driven effort to raise $2.9 million for the expansion of the current site to a, state-of-the-art education and research centre. Read more…
The Ocean Hope Project: Celebrating the High Seas and Rallying Support for a Moratorium on Deep-Sea Mining
Over two thirds of global wildlife is already gone, the climate crisis is wreaking havoc on communities and the environment everywhere. The ocean, which covers most of our planet, faces an onslaught of threats from overfishing to pollution and climate change. Read more…
FEATURE DESTINATION – Unearthing The Rich Biodiversity on Turneffe Atoll
Turneffe Atoll – home to the largest coral atoll in both Belize and the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System – which sustains an extraordinary wealth of marine biodiversity, provides livelihood for local communities, and draws visitors with its array of available marine activities. Read more…
FEATURE DESTINATION – Belize Uncovered: Explore, Conserve, and Connect
In Belize, vibrant coral reefs, lush rainforests, and rich cultural heritage combine with a remarkable commitment to conservation. This isn’t just a travel destination; it’s a pioneering country dedicated to protecting its natural treasures. Read more…
FEATURE DESTINATION – Wild Horizons: In Conversation with Paul Lister & Elma Kay
In 2025, we will host a small group of 8 guests in Belize to engage with the nation’s pioneering NGOs, discovering the nation’s vast ecological wealth and character of environmental stewardship. Read more…
Touch the Earth Lightly, Use the Earth Gently
In Shetland’s Lerwick Harbor, the grey stone buildings stand close together. Rows of houses line streets that march downhill in curving lines to meet the sea. They buttress against the cold winds that race across the northern most fetch of the North Sea. Read more…
FEATURE DESTINATION – A Greener Future: The Female Guardians Saving Belize
A nation of just over 400,000 citizens, Belize was protecting its ecosystems long before the UN’s commitment to protect 30% of the world’s land and sea by 2030. Read more…
Cooling the Gulf of Maine Surface Ocean Waters
None of us are strangers to the reports of the Gulf of Maine heating 97% faster than the world’s oceans. However, the actual reasons for this can be lost in the constant headlines about global warming and rising greenhouse gases. Read more…
Gondwana Ecotours Unveils NEW Norway Western Fjords Adventure
In an era where discerning travellers seek authentic experiences that minimize environmental impact, Gondwana Ecotours presents a meticulously crafted nine-day journey through Norway’s Western Fjords. Read more…
Hydrologic Modeling from MSU Scientists Lends Insight Into How Water Can be Conserved, Managed
In grade school, you may have learned about the water cycle. Water falls from the sky as varied forms of precipitation, exists on the Earth as groundwater or surface water, evaporates or transpires into the atmosphere as gas, and condenses back into a liquid (or solid) state. Read more…
2024 Holiday Gift Guide

Explore SEVENSEAS Media’s 2024 Holiday Gift Guida. A simply curated selection of unique items chosen by our team. This collection highlights some favorite finds, from ocean-inspired treasures to unexpected picks that celebrate sustainability and artistry. Whether you’re searching for something special or simply browsing for inspiration, our guide offers some fun choices you might not have heard of before. See more…
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To sign up for free, click here or email us.
Since 2004, SEVENSEAS Media has fostered an informal and non-partisan platform to promote understanding of key issues and challenges while building partnerships across an increasingly diverse group of marine conservation professionals and students.
Our mission is to promote communication and build partnerships across the global marine community and to identify and address gaps in the community’s work. SEVENSEAS Media achieves this through multimedia promotion and partnerships. The community consists of a diverse and growing group of participants, including non-governmental organizations, government agencies, foundations, bilateral and multilateral agencies, fellowship programs, independent consultants, and academia/students.
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Feature Destination
FEATURE DESTINATION – Wild Horizons: In Conversation with Paul Lister & Elma Kay
Photo banner credit: Kevin Quischan
All photographs are credited to Blancaneaux Lodge
In 2025, we will host a small group of 8 guests in Belize to engage with the nation’s pioneering NGOs, discovering the nation’s vast ecological wealth and character of environmental stewardship.
The journey will be personally hosted by Roni Martinez, one of Belize’s top nature guides, and Paul Lister, founder of The European Nature Trust.
Ahead of the journey, Ross Westgate, journalist and Ambassador to The European Nature Trust, spoke with Paul and Elma Kay, Director of Belize Maya Forest Trust, to learn more about Belize’s conservation efforts and what guests can hope to gain from their visit next year. Here are some things we learned from their inspirational Fireside Chat.

It’s important to feel dwarfed by nature
Speaking about one of the lightbulb moments that struck Paul’s lifelong interest in Belize, he shares the wonder he felt at the vastness of nature and why he thinks it’s so important to experience nature’s magnitude.
“Chris took us to meet Rafael [Executive Director of Friends for Conservation and Development] in Las Cuevas, which is part of the trip itinerary with Journeys With Purpose, and we stayed at the research station there. There’s a beautiful bird tower on top of this hill overlooking the incredible forests that lie between Guatemala and the sea, and I remember going up there and seeing the immense enormity of this ocean of trees. I saw all the lush vegetation and I thought to myself “my God, these are the lungs of the earth!” and I fell in love with the natural beauty and incredible nature of the country there and then.
That was a really powerful moment for me and I think it would have brought a lot of people to tears. When you stand in a place like that, it creates an emotion and really makes you connect and think “wow, there’s something far greater than humankind in this natural world. Experiencing nature’s vastness is very special, and even more so in Belize, where 80% of the country is undeveloped.”

It’s possible to see jaguar everywhere in Belize, but in Belize Maya Forest, it’s probable
Explaining Belize Maya Forest Trust’s work and the protected areas they preserve Elma Kay observed how your best chances of spotting jaguar in Belize may likely be within Belize Maya Forest, where our guests will spend the first two nights of their itinerary.
“Your opportunity to spot jaguar will be when you are with us in Belize Maya Forest and in the private Gallon Jug area. Between the Rio Bravo, Belize Maya Forest and the small private forest of Gallon Jug estate, we consolidate half a million acres of protected forest in the northwest, and this is one of the areas where I can safely say that you’re likely to see a jaguar. I don’t think there’s many places even in the rest of Belize where you can say that, even though it’s possible.
We know jaguars are there but they’re elusive. In our space, because of the level of protection of the area, I would say they’re a lot more visible.”

Ecotourism connects visitors to Belize’s conservation mission
The last tourism master plan developed for Belize looked at focusing on overnight and ecotourism.
“It’s the type of tourism that gives back to the country and it’s the type of tourism we want to encourage. The more visitors are exposed, the more they’ll gain a deeper understanding of Belize’s conservation, our goals and sustainable development needs. We definitely want more of these tourists. We want people to connect with us. We want people that are interested in what we have to offer as a country – our culture, our heritage, our people, and our biodiversity as well.”

Belizean conservation also protects its culture
There is a real mix of culture and cuisine in Belize, and of people’s heritage. Extraordinary ancient Mayan ruins and amazing temples are just sitting in the middle of the jungle, waiting to be explored.
“The conservation work we’re doing is also work to preserve our cultural heritage. It’s amazing in the Belize Maya Forest; there is so much to be studied and potentially excavated and looked at. It just blows my mind. Saving 136,000 acres with Belize Maya Forest isn’t just saving the trees and wildlife, it is saving the part of our heritage that we need to understand.
But I don’t think we often see these two parts as connected. We see saving archaeology as its own thing and saving wildlife as another, but we need to remember that this was a landscape that the Mayans were all over. I would say most of us still have that indigenous part of us and of course we still have Maya villages that live within the traditional ways. These exist alongside other indigenous communities, our creole population, and just about everything else you can think of.
Belize is very, very diverse. It’s a fascinating part of our culture that we’re extremely proud of in terms of being able to live together.”

Belize will give you hope
“Everything we do is about giving a sense of inspiration and hopefulness that some of the work we are doing here can be done in your own backyard. We want people to go home and also be inspired to conserve what’s wild – because what’s wild is good for humanity.
Obviously we want people to fall in love with Belize and to potentially stay in touch with us and connect us to others who want to be in touch with Belize, but beyond that we want to demonstrate which things are working well and the level of support and investment that is allowing us to scale up these initiatives.
There are a lot of reasons to not have hope with global climate change issues, and so many things make us feel that we don’t have the power to implement change. But I think when people visit Belize and see how much we are doing and are able to achieve, and the opportunity to do more, people will leave with a sense of hope that will translate into some of the actions they take in their own backyards.”
To learn more about our Journey to Belize, get in touch with our team at connect@journeyswithpurpose.org.
This article is writen by Lara Webster

Journeys With Purpose offers immersive conservation and ethical travel experiences. Through private and hosted trips with pioneering conservationists, guests experience rewilding and restoring biodiversity in the wildest corners of the world. Our “Seven Worlds, One Planet” approach is a global curriculum focused on recovering and conserving vibrant landscapes, biodiversity, wildlife and livelihoods across all seven continents.
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