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Ecology, water and biodiversity enter ethanol debateOklahoma Vegetation scientists have concerns about the nation's increasing race to plant fuel crops, and Oklahoma State University department of botany professor Mike Palmer recently highlighted many of them. Speaking at the Natural Resource Ecology and Management Seminar on the Stillwater campus March 28, Palmer focused on biofuel feed stocks, biodiversity and ecology. In his presentation "Biofuels for Biodiversity: Choosing the Right Path," he brought attention to difficulties inherent in using plants for fuel. Palmer is involved with research at the Nature Conservancy's Tall Grass Prairie Preserve and other sites that focuse on aiding efforts in conserving and restoring native grasslands around the world. He also studies issues relating to sustainability in biofuel research. "Currently, there is a major landscape level change," Palmer said. "Instead of food and fiber and a little conservation, the landscape is being expected to produce fuel." Renewable fuel mandates of 2007 will see corn ethanol continue to increase, he said. Palmer said ethanol is only one of the fuel demands being placed on the worldwide landscape. He also cited rapidly growing palm plantations whose development has drastically decreased Asian forestlands. "The question is--do ecologists have something to say about this?" Palmer said. "This is not just in the future. It is currently happening," Palmer said. "Corn ethanol is going to more than double." Palmer spoke of record amounts of virgin soil being turned in North America's prairie lands. He also stressed the consequential demands increasing cropland will have on water resources. "The Ogallala Aquifer cannot support the current expansion of the ethanol effort," Palmer said. The Ogallala Aquifer supports agriculture efforts in an eight state area of the High Plains. "Maize is a very energy intense crop. Do the 'energetics' balance? Are we homogenizing the landscape? Are we poisoning the landscape? Are we hurting the poor with higher food prices?" The pursuit of biofuels is at least partially responsible for the increase in the price of food worldwide, Palmer said. Other concerns about turning to marginal lands for new crops are engaging biologists who study both plant and wildlife habitat and diversity. "People are concerned about wildlife in Southeast Asia and in the New World, as well," he said. Palmer mentioned the expansion of the dead zone in the Gulf area where, he said, $750 million worth of nitrogen dumps out of the Mississippi River annually. "We are seeing more and more very highly enriched waters," Palmer said. The amount of nitrogen from agricultural fertilizers washed through watersheds into the Gulf financially constitutes "more than is spent on sub-Sahara Africa," he said. Palmer is concerned that focusing on yield alone will not address all of the concerns and could short change research in other promising areas, particularly that of low impact-high diversity grasslands. Palmer referred those at the NREM seminar to the "LIHD biofuels for the sake of biodiversity blog," at http://cas.okstate.edu/debo/blogs, where current research information and reports are available. 4/7/08 Date: 4/2/08
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