At the University of Wisconsin Madison, Slow Food UW opens a cafe once per week, offering fresh, local, homemade lunch options. Image credit Amy Verhey.

The 2012 additions to the database come at a time when 661 college and university presidents have signed the Climate Commitment, and 476 of those institutions have Climate Action Plans, committing to reducing carbon emissions and addressing sustainability at all levels of campus operations. This year’s case studies represent institutions that have been practicing campus greening for a substantial amount of time, as well as campuses that are just getting started; thus the projects described span the spectrum, from the installation of solar arrays to the distribution of travel mugs to freshmen. The case study database, searchable by year, state, topic or institution, allows visitors to learn from their peers and colleagues–to gain perspective and fresh ideas for campus sustainability, and to promote solutions to common obstacles along the road to green.

University of New England studied the feasibility of providing a river ferry service for commuters to the Biddeford Campus of UNE across the Saco River. Image credit Dick Buhr.

View the list of campuses that submitted case studies

Over the next few weeks, we’ll be highlighting select campus sustainability projects on the blog, so keep checking back!

Have you found inspiration from our case study database? What is your favorite project, and why? 

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Steffenie Widows is a native of Orlando, Florida, where she received her B.A. in Environmental Studies from Rollins College. A few years ago, she moved to Madison,Wisconsin, to pursue a Master’s Degree in Conservation Biology and Sustainable Development at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Currently, Steffenie is working to publish results of her research and pursuing funding to start a PhD in the field of wildlife ecology. She recently shared with us the following summary of her Master’s research.

As a Masters Degree candidate in the Conservation Biology and Sustainable Development program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, my research evaluated the National Wildlife Federation’s Certified Wildlife Habitat^® program. The main objective of my research project was to determine if yards certified by NWF’s Certified Wildlife Habitat^® program offered wildlife habitat not available in non-certified yards in the same neighborhood.

Gardens certified by the National Wildlife Federation as wildlife habitat

My project focused on neighborhoods within the Orlando, Florida, metropolitan area, covering both Orange and Seminole Counties. I visited:

• 50 certified yards
• 50 neighboring, non-certified yards
• 50 randomly selected non-adjacent, non-certified yards in the same neighborhood.

To evaluate the yards, I used an ecological check-list to determine the quality and quantity of wildlife habitat in each yard. Based on the results of my study, there were significant differences between both the quantity and quality of habitat found in certified versus non-certified yards.  These differences were observed in all of the key habitat components (food, water, shelter) outlined in the certification program. Yards certified in the program offer wildlife habitat that is not available in non-certified yards.

Yards not certified by NWF

However, to improve the Certified Wildlife Habitat program, it is essential that neighbors talk to each other and influence other neighbors to create more certified yards in their neighborhoods. The more wildlife habitat in suburban areas the better! Additional details about my research will be featured in an upcoming issue of National Wildlife magazine.

Photos courtesy Steffenie Widows

Scientists have discovered that American redstarts vary departure dates from a wintering area in Jamaica depending on how much rain falls from January to March. Photo by Darlene Friedman.

Scientists have long believed that changes in day length are the trigger that signals migratory birds wintering in the Tropics to begin flying north for the breeding season. But now that long-held assumption is being challenged by new research focusing on the American redstart, a colorful warbler that breeds across much of North America.

For the past five years, researchers from the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute’s Migratory Bird Center have studied a group of redstarts at a wintering site in Jamaica. To tell one bird from another, each individual was fitted with a unique combination of colored leg bands. Because American redstarts occupy exclusive winter territories to which they return year after year, they “were a perfect species for this study,” says Pete Marra, a research ecologist at the center and coauthor of the study. “These behaviors made it relatively easy to keep track of individual birds over multiple years and document changing spring departures.”

Less Rain Means Less Food

And spring departures did indeed change from year to year. In a paper published this week in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the researchers report that the amount of rainfall during the island’s January to March dry season strongly influenced when a redstart took off on its flight north. The less rain, the later a bird departed. The explanation, say the scientists, is that less rain means fewer insects—which the birds need to fuel their long migrations.

“We found that the same birds changed their spring departure from one year to the next in relation to the amount of rainfall and food in March,” says Colin Studds, a postdoctoral fellow at the Smithsonian center and lead author of the study.

The Climate Change Connection

Because global warming is causing declining and more variable rainfall in many parts of the Tropics, the results are worrisome—not just for American redstarts, but for scores of other bird species that breed in North America and winter in the Caribbean, Mexico, Central America or South America. Delayed departure from wintering grounds may mean these birds have less time to successfully reproduce. Late arrival in North America also “may make it harder for them to remain in sync with their breeding cycle,” says Studds.

Previous research suggests that migratory birds may be suffering other ill effects from global warming. In the current issue of National Wildlife magazine, Stanley Temple, professor emeritus of wildlife ecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison reports on a comparison he made between springtime bird arrivals during two time periods: 1935 to 1948 and 1976 to the present.

As global temperatures have risen steadily in central Wisconsin since the 1930s, he’s discovered that short-distance migrants such as robins, sparrows and blackbirds have advanced their arrival times by a week or more. But long-distance migrants such as fly-catchers, thrushes and warblers have not been arriving earlier. This may put long-distance migrants at a disadvantage “on breeding grounds where competition for scarce resources such as nesting sites can be fierce,” Temple says.

Explore More:

Learn how global warming is affecting wildlife and what you can do to help.

Find out what scientists are learning about the long-distance feats of migratory birds.

Read why birds and other migratory species are in trouble.

Learn how you can help migratory birds at home.

Find out which birds are on the move throughout the spring migration season.

Experts’ Picks: Top spring birding spots across North America.

Make your yard hospitable to migratory birds by turning it into an NWF Certified Wildlife Habitat.