Wednesday 11 November 2015 at 3:00pm

Title: “Case studies of geo-spatial statistics: stillbirth prevalence in Iowa and water hyacinth spread in Louisiana”

Speaker:
Dr. Dong Liang, UMCES Chesapeake Biological Laboratory

Abstract:
Stillbirths are estimated to impact 6 per 1,000 deliveries, yet major risk factors for these adverse birth outcomes remain elusive. Using data from our population-based Iowa Registry for Congenital and Inherited Disorders, we identified six principal clusters of stillbirths in rural areas and one in an urban area. Identification of these clusters in mostly rural areas merits further investigation of parental socio-economic and lifestyle characteristics, as well as potential parental exposure to naturally occurring or anthropogenic contaminants.

Water hyacinth is one of the worst nuisance plants in the world a. Biological control, or the intentional introduction of a host-specific organism to suppress a target specie, was seen as a potentially more cost-effective, but the economic benefits of water hyacinth control have not been evaluated. We conducted a case study in Louisiana by calibrating a parsimonious spatial logistic population model to the existing long term treatment records. Our results show that a variety of Ecosystem Good Services changes due to biocontrol could be reasonably well quantified with current data and modeling.

Host: Dr. Yantao Li, Ph.D.