Patrick Center for Environmental Research
Understanding, protecting and restoring the health of watersheds since 1947
More than 60 years ago, Dr. Ruth Patrick created a powerful vision for how science could help society protect environmental quality and founded a new program (the Department of Limnology) at The Academy of Natural Sciences in pursuit of that vision. Now renamed the Patrick Center for Environmental Research, this department consists of a multidisciplinary group of environmental scientists and engineers devoted to:
- understanding aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, including the effects of natural processes and human activities;
- applying this knowledge to assess ecosystems health and developing watershed-level strategies for enhancing environmental quality;
- working with diverse stakeholders, including government, community groups, industry and environmental organizations to improve environmental stewardship
Expertise
Nearly 20 Ph.D. scientists and engineers work together in the Patrick Center. Their areas of expertise include:
- Biogeochemistry
- Biological Monitoring (algae, aquatic insects, fish, non-insect macroinvertebrates and other vertebrates).
- Ecosystem Ecology
- Ecosystem Modelling
- Ecotoxicology
- Geomorphology
- Hydrology
- Land-Water Interactions
- Microbial Ecology
- Molecular Ecology
- Spatial Analysis using Geographic Information System (GIS)
- Water Chemistry